Faith Lens

Drew Tucker, Columbus, OH

Warm-up Question

Who is an authority in your life that you trust? What makes them trustworthy?

Who Belongs/ Who is Free?

Topics of citizenship and migration remain front page news, not only in the United States, but across the globe. Many factors drive this discussion, such as the reasons for migration and the impacts on both the countries departed and the countries entered. Even more fundamental to this conversation is the question of belonging. Who belongs in what places? What are the factors that affect belonging? Who is the ultimate authority on affirming or denying belonging?

We must remember that this isn’t simply a theoretical topic. Questions of belonging, and who gets to affirm our belonging, affect the day-to-day lives of many migrants of various types across the globe. When I traveled to Europe with my wife this summer, customs agents checked passports every time we crossed a border to ensure we belonged to an acceptable country and had not overstayed our welcome in their land. However, for many migrants, their global travels aren’t simply for leisure. Many, like Miriam Vargas, seek a better, safer life for themselves and their families. Miriam and her young daughters have taken refuge in Columbus’s First English Lutheran Church because the church saw their need for safety after Miriam fled Honduras when gangs threatened her life. As First English declared their building a sanctuary for Miriam and her family, they became part of a wider network of organizations called the Sanctuary Movement, that promises belonging to migrants seeking safety and opportunity in the United States. This is not an isolated incident, either. Hundreds of congregations have stepped up to support the Sanctuary Movement, while the ELCA recently declared itself a sanctuary church body.

To the question of “who belongs,” First English, the Sanctuary Movement, and a growing commitment across the ELCA boldly declare that, because God first welcomed us, all belong. The authority of belonging, then, does not ultimately lie with a particular law or a governmental entity, but with God

To read more about becoming a sanctuary denomination, see this: https://elca.org/News-and-Events/8000. You can also learn more about the sanctuary movement here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-churches-offer-refuge-from-deportation-with-sacred-resisting-11564927200.

Discussion Questions

Share a story about your friends or relatives who are immigrants.
What would if feel like to receive death threats from gangs, run for your life, and then face deportation after making a new life in another country?
How do we balance the authority we give to God and government?

Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Romans 3:19-28

John 8:31-36

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

These verses, commonly used for Reformation commemorations, center on concepts of truth and freedom. Yet, before we considers those central themes, we must address the presence of slavery as an image Jesus employs. Jesus just throws the word slave around like it’s a normal and appropriate thing. And while, for 1st century Palestinians, slavery was a common occurrence and a very different thing than the slavery forced upon African natives by European and American powers for hundreds of years between the 14th and 19th centuries, we can’t read the word slave in the United States without acknowledging Jesus’s metaphor has been forever changed by the oppression white people forced on black people. Especially since this reading appears on a day when we celebrate a movement started by a white European and there’s explicit mention of slave’s not having a place in the household, we should focus our attention on how this imagery impacts people of African descent and make explicit that the freedom Christ promises is for all people, including black people.

Jesus’s first words help us see this importance, for he says “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus, after all, is the way, the truth, and the life, so knowing the truth is knowing Jesus. This is beautifully complex. It means that when we know Jesus, we can comprehend the truth of the world more clearly. Yet, it also means that when we encounter anything that’s true, we’ve encountered a part of God. So when we encounter the Pythagorean Theorem, a² + b² = c², we encounter something of God’s wisdom in creating the universe. When we realize the wonder of evolution, we realize the beauty of God’s creative process that brings to life new and wondrous things across the universe over billions of years. When we engage the equality of humanity, we engage something of God’s wisdom in giving every person the divine image.

To continue in Jesus’s words isn’t simply to read scripture. It’s to live the life of love that Jesus teaches us. Knowing the truth who is Jesus means living the life that Jesus offers us. Despite the problematic imagery, his ultimate point is this: Jesus can offer us the fullness of God’s gifts eternally because he’s forever a part of God’s family. So the freedom we’re offered, the life that we’re offered, the truth that we’re offered, isn’t temporary or limited. When Jesus tells us that we belong, that we’re set free from sin and now a part of God’s household, he does so as one with authority. The authority of our belonging comes from God, who has desires that all people be truly free. Because God sets us free, we all belong with one another and with God.

Discussion Questions

What is something that you’ve learned outside of church – in school, on a team, in your family, or elsewhere – that’s helped you learn more about God?
If Jesus is the ultimate authority in our lives, how should that change the ways that we make decisions?
What’s another analogy that we could use, instead of slavery, to help highlight the point that Jesus is God’s Child?

Activity Suggestions

Imago Dei Game – Make a circle and the person in the middle says, “I am (insert name), the Image of God, and one way I see God is through (blank).” For the blank, insert things like, “people who like math,” “people who can draw,” “people who play an instrument,” and the like. Everyone who identifies with the last statement then has to move to a new spot in the circle, and the person without a spot becomes the next speaker. The goal is to help students see the various talents show perspectives on truth and then create more conversation around how people get to know God in dynamic ways.
Red Light, Green Light – Gather your group on one side of a large room, gym, or playing area. One person acts as the traffic light. When they yell “Green light!” players move toward the other side of the space and “Red light!” to get them to stop. You can add complexity to the game by giving certain players disadvantages, like carrying cup full of water they can’t spill or egg on a spoon. The ones who reach the other side of the space first win. The traffic light can also remove those obstacles, if they so choose. Then, converse about the nature of the authority in the game and how people can use authority to set people free or bind them to unnecessary obstacles.
Read together the ELCA’s talking points regarding our status as a sanctuary church and watch videos related to AAMPARO, (found here: https://www.elca.org/sanctuarychurch). Then discuss how the kinds of freedom that Christ promises relates to the Sanctuary Movement.
If you’d like to donate to support Miriam and her family at First English (mentioned in the first section of this faith lens), visit here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/miriam-and-family-at-first-english?sharetype=teams&member=374504&rcid=r01-153063240238-9a96725777c14416&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w

Closing Praye

Lord God, you release us from the cuff of sin and free us to live a life that belongs to you. Shape our lives to reflect your freedom. Form our hearts to embrace your liberation. Empower us to share this gift not only with ourselves, but with all people in all places. We pray this in the name of our liberator, Jesus: Amen.

Tuhina Rasche, San Carlos, CA

Warm-up Question

How do you pray?
Why do you pray?
What do you hope happens through your prayers?

Your Words Made Flesh

This parable makes me think about my parents, especially my mom. My parents moved to the United States from India in 1970. My mom was a newlywed and eighteen years old. Just a few months after marrying my dad, they packed up two suitcases, with $200 dollars to their names, and boarded a plane to travel halfway across the world. My parents were strangers in a strange land. My dad was super gregarious and could make friends easily. He grew up speaking English regularly, so he was pretty much at ease in public spaces. My mom, while she knew English, was incredibly shy and was uncomfortable speaking in public places. She didn’t make friends as easily, and kept mostly to her close-knit circle of friends who were also from India. Yet my dad was always around to protect her and to advocate for her.

My parents were married for 45 years. My dad died a few years ago, leaving my mom to be a widow. Even though my mom has spent more of her life in the United States than India, she relied on my dad for a lot. Whether we want to admit it or not, men still have a lot of power in society; oftentimes men are taken more seriously than women. Our world is still bound by gendered expectations. My father was the head of the household in every way, and when he died, my mom was at a loss for what had to be done to manage the household she and my dad shared for so many years.

After my dad died, a lot that had to be done. There were the big things, like planning his memorial. But then there were small things that we didn’t immediately anticipate, like canceling his credit cards, stopping his mail, and transferring accounts that were in his name to my mom’s name. My older brother and I helped my mom through this bizarre checklist of things that have to happen after a loved one dies. My brother and I have done everything humanly possible to look after our mom, to make sure she receives just and fair treatment from the institutions and organizations she had to deal with. But we had to be persistent. If she didn’t have my brother and me, where would she be today? The thought is almost too much for me to handle. If she had to navigate this present climate on her own, having so much already that defines her as an outsider (like being an immigrant), she would be even more on the margins. I would be scared for her well-being. She would be a widow without an advocate.

Prayers seriously helped my family after my dad died, and it wasn’t just my family praying for relief and release. There were people who were consistently naming us in their daily prayers, that we would find peace and comfort in the midst of so much loss and sadness. But prayers took other forms, like meals that appeared on our doorstep, a lovely bouquet of flowers delivered, having coffee with friends to gently remind us that we were not alone while we were cooped up in a house making phone calls, sending emails, and sorting through paperwork.

I am forever grateful to those who heard the cries of my mom and my family when my dad died. I hoped that someone would hear our prayers, and not only were our prayers heard, they were embodied! The words became flesh! I also wonder what if no one heard our cries? Are we hearing the cries of the present-day widows around us? Are we not just hearing the cries and prayers, but are we also acting on them out of response to God’s love and grace?

We are called into action, into persistence, into an active, lived, and embodied prayer. I do not know how this will look for you; that is a conversation you have to undertake with your siblings in Christ and with God. We are not called to give into who and what this world wants us to be. We are not called to give into giving into the ways of empire; that will kill us. We cannot look away from one another. We are intertwined with one another; we are accountable to one another. That was professed to us in our baptisms, that we belong to God and we belong to one another. We’re called to do something. We’re called into a form of action. We’re learning that people’s identities and their lives very much depend on how we act or how we do not act. Your prayer is your action; let your action be your prayer.

Discussion Questions

What are ways that you can embody your prayers?
Is there someone in our faith community who is currently struggling? How can you pray for that person, both spoken prayers and putting actions to those spoken prayers?
What keeps you going in tough times when you’re close to giving up?

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 32:22-31

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Luke 18:1-8

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

The primary focal point of this Gospel lesson is a widow with no one to advocate for her but herself. What does this look like in the world of this Gospel lesson? This widow can be considered to be ultimate loser. When it comes to telling stories about marginalized people, she’s lowest of the low for many reasons:

she’s low because she’s just a she;
she doesn’t have a husband or a family to be her advocate and to be her voice; and
she has no property.

Theoretically, her community in this city is supposed to take care of her. That’s all good in theory, but there is something wrong.

This woman repeatedly—over and over and over and over—confronts a judge to grant her justice against an opponent. We’re not given much information on this opponent. Time after time, the judge is unmoved. But then, the judge’s thoughts run away with him. He says to himself, “I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” If we want to get to the nitty-gritty of the translation here, let’s rephrase it to the more honest and more brutal, “I shall avenge her, or she will give me a black eye.”

Only when the judge thinks that violence will be inflicted upon him does he decide to finally act, because heaven forbid that violence be inflicted upon those in positions of power. Yet violence has already occurred with the judge; he should have moved to act without the threat of violence. The judge’s inaction in the face of obvious need is evidence of his own spiritual brokenness. This system of oppression has damaged the judge, too.

It is important to name that both the widow and the judge are under God’s care. Because God’s grace is ultimately unfair, we cannot talk about one being outside God’s grace and the other being the sole recipient. What we must come to understand, especially in situations where we seem to be pitted against one another, where one has offended the other, where one has done damage to the other, is that the Gospel is still for both the widow AND the judge. What they may hear is different. The Gospel comforts, but if it only comforts, we would be a people of cheap grace. The Gospel both challenges and afflicts. We are a people of both/and, simultaneously saint and sinner, and we are to be both challenged and comforted. We cannot just receive grace and not respond to the Gospel message. We are called to respond.

But there was something to the widow’s response in her persistence. She kept coming back to the judge. She kept using her voice to advocate for herself. She used the strength of her voice to advocate for her survival. She spoke out, she moved. This was her embodied and incarnational prayer. This prayer for her survival against her opponent was her life of prayer. In that prayer we need to be persistent. The lives of our neighbors depend upon it. Our prayer should be that of movement, that of action, that response. If our Lord and Savior was of flesh and blood, that can be the embodiment of our prayer life.

Discussion Questions

Has God answered your prayers? Are there unexpected ways in which God has responded to your prayers? How do you feel when God hasn’t answered your prayers the way you wanted?
What are they ways in which the world has been unjust and unfair to those in need? How do you feel called to respond? How have those in Scripture (like Isaiah, who said, “Here I am, send me) responded? How do you think they felt?
Where have modern-day judges not acted justly to present-day widows? Have any of these present-day judges had a change of heart? How do you think that change came about?

Activity Suggestions

Is your faith community hearing the cries of present-day widows? If so, how is your faith community responding? If not, find a way for your faith community to pray for and engage with those who need our help. Is there participation in local, state, national, and international connections? Are there gaps where your faith community can participate? If so, how could your faith community further participate in being connected to the greater world in spoken and active prayer?
Have a conversation on how you can best pray for one another. Spend a few minutes each week praying in the way that you feel most comfortable, holding members in your faith community in prayer. Is there a way you can act on those prayers? Meditate on how such prayers can create an active response.
Prayer can take many shapes and forms. Have you colored while you prayed? Sang? Danced? Explore and try out a form of prayer that is different from what you are used to.

Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving God, you are so wild and free in giving your grace and mercy. In receiving your grace and mercy, may we prayerfully be called to action. In these actions, may we be reminded of your beloved Son Jesus, who both prayed and acted on his prayers. In our prayers and actions, may you continue to guide us to act for justice. Amen.

Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA

Warm-up Question

As you look to the future – both your own personal future and the future of our world – what are some of the greatest challenges that you see?
In terms of the above, what gives you hope?

Gratitude, Good for the Heart

Want to live longer? It turns out that looking on the bright side could save your life. A study recently published in the medical journal, JAMA, found that people who look at life from a positive perspective have about a 35% lower risk of major heart complications, such as a cardiac death, stroke, or a heart attack, compared to those whose outlooks were pessimistic. In fact, this meta-analysis of nearly 300,000 people found that the more positive a person’s outlook, the greater the protection from any cause of death. These results correlate well with prior studies that have also found links between optimism and other positive health attributes.

Yet, as lead author, Dr. Alan Rozanski, notes, it is important not to confuse optimism with happiness. Whereas happiness is an emotion, and thereby transient, optimism is a mindset – a persistent approach to life. The good news in this is that optimism can be learned. You can train yourself to be a positive person. Using mental exercises such as meditation and the practice of gratefulness, we can actually change the structure of our brains in ways that support a positive mindset.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/health/optimism-heart-attack-stroke-wellness/index.html

Discussion Questions

It is said that an optimist sees the glass half-full, while a pessimist sees the same glass half-empty. In general, how would you describe yourself? Is your glass half-full or half-empty? (Or are you an engineer who sees a glass that is twice as big as it needs to be? 😊)

At some point you have probably heard the story of “The Little Engine that Could.” In your own experience, what role does one’s perception or mindset play in successfully (or not) meeting a challenge or overcoming a difficult situation? Can you think of an example from your own life?

It has been shown that regularly practicing gratitude or “gratefulness” can actually help to “rewire” our brains toward a more positive mindset. What do you think of this? What role might “counting our blessings” play in cultivating optimism?

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Luke 17:11-19

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Samaria. Once again Luke reminds us that Jesus’ ultimate destination is Jerusalem and the cross, and this encounter helps to enlarge our perspective on who will be included in his saving ministry. Since Samaritans were generally considered by their Jewish neighbors to be outcasts and only marginally connected to the people of God, the location of this story also serves as a backdrop to the “scandal” at the heart of an otherwise straightforward story about healing.

Jesus’ initial contact with these ten people who suffer from leprosy fits with how lepers were supposed to act according to the Jewish law. Lepers kept their distance from non-lepers and were required to call out in warning so that others would not accidentally come into contact with them. (see Leviticus 13:45-46) In essence, they were totally cut off from their families and communities. So, when these ten see Jesus, they cry out, begging for mercy. And Jesus responds!

Jesus, like the prophet Elisha in this week’s first reading from 2 Kings 5, does not make a big show. Such is the power of God at work in Jesus that he doesn’t need to. He simply tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” This was what people who had already been cured of leprosy were supposed to do in order to be readmitted to the community. (see Leviticus 14:2-32) They go, and, in their obedience, discover along the way that they have been healed. One of them, however, turns back. Praising God with a loud voice, he lays down at Jesus’ feet in an act of gratitude and worship. The scandalous surprise, of course, is that he is a Samaritan! Those who should be most attuned to God and most grateful for the lives they have received back are not, while the despised “outsider” becomes the example of gratefulness and faith. We see this elsewhere in Luke’s gospel and in the book of Acts, with sinners, outsiders, and Gentiles receiving God’s grace with joy and gratitude while the “insiders” seem to miss the point entirely.

In the end, Luke doesn’t say that the other nine former-lepers were any less cured than the Samaritan, though he does imply that they are less thankful. Jesus himself points to a deeper experience for the Samaritan. The word that gets translated as “get up” in verse 19 is a word early Christians would have recognized as having to do with “resurrection.” Similarly, Jesus’ final phrase might also be translated, “your faith has saved you.” The Samaritan has been made “new” by the power of Jesus and he knows it! There is a connection here between grace and gratitude, between faith and salvation.

Discussion Questions

With which of the people in this passage do you most identify? Why?
At the beginning of this encounter with Jesus, the ten lepers were all in the same predicament. How can a shared experience (such as going through cancer or a disaster) break down barriers between people? How does God’s love and grace for all people fly in the face of the distinctions we often make between “insiders” and “outsiders”?
Why do you think the Samaritan was more grateful for Jesus’ actions than the other nine lepers? How might his status as an “outsider” have contributed to his response?
Why is giving praise and thanks to God so important? How do such acts of worship impact/change us?
The lepers in today’s reading experience God’s love and grace both in healing and in being restored to their families and communities. When and where do you experience the grace of God?
What connection do you see between gratitude and faith? How can praying for the small things, seeing God at work, and giving thanks encourage us to pray for larger matters?

Activity Suggestions

Prayer Journals: Encourage participants to keep a list of the people and situations for which they pray. They might even put a check mark besides prayers that are eventually “answered”. The point of this activity is to notice, over time, how God works in and through our prayers, even if in unexpected ways. To help folks get started, you might provide a small, inexpensive pocket-sized notebook for those who are interested.
Count Your Blessings: Have everyone make a list of the people, things, and experiences for which they are grateful. Don’t forget the small everyday stuff that we normally take for granted (e.g. clean water, food to eat, a hot shower). If you have time, have participants share from their list – you may well discover in the course of this discussion that you have even more reasons for gratitude. End the activity by giving thanks to God. You might connect this to the closing prayer by first gathering in a circle and having each person lift up one thing from their list that they are especially grateful for today. Then end with the prayer below, or something similar.

Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving God, source of every good gift, in the waters of baptism you name us and claim us and make us your very own. Thank you for the gift of faith, and for your relentless love that will not let us go no matter what. Help us to count our many blessings, that we may live lives of praise and thanksgiving. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Erin Haligowski, Dayton, OH

Warm-up Question

What is something you could use a little more of? More faith? More money? More talent? More time? More friends? What would having more enable you to do that you can’t do now?

A Little More

Just a couple weeks ago, at 22 years of age, singer/pianist Kodi Lee was named the winner of season 14 of America’s Got Talent. Early in the season, Kodi earned a Golden Buzzer from judge Gabrielle Union to put him directly to the live shows in a performance that went viral online (watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPdRYF7hTQ).

Kodi Lee was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, which causes his blindness, and was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Early in life, he discovered a love of music that, according to his mom, gave him the ability to “withstand living in this world.” “Because when you’re autistic, it’s really hard to do what everyone else does. It actually saved his life, playing music.”

Discussion Questions

What are the things Kodi has been given “more” of in order to get to where he is now?
How does Kodi’s story help to frame your understanding of needing “more”?

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

In today’s gospel lesson, the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith. Maybe with just a little more faith, they could really be good disciples, capable of all that makes up Jesus’ command to “follow me.” Maybe with just a little more faith, they could forgive others over and over and over again. Maybe with just a little more faith they could heal sickness and cast out demons like Jesus.

And then Jesus turns back to them and says, “You’ve got everything you need.” He says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” In Matthew’s gospel, he says “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

So, what does it mean to have “faith the size of a mustard seed”? A mustard seed is tiny—usually about 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. That’s not very much. Surely the disciples must have that much if they have already left their homes and lives to follow Jesus.

So, perhaps the question is not whether or not we have enough faith. Perhaps our concern should instead be about how our faith, even if it is so very tiny, is shaping our lives. Do we trust God to walk with us through the storms and trials in our lives? Are we allowing our faith to shape our actions on a daily basis? Whatever challenge we face, when we walk with God, our faith is enough to do the most impossible things.

Discussion Questions

What are the times in your life when you have wanted to ask God for a little more (or a lot more) faith?
When is it difficult for you to follow Jesus’ example?
How does your faith shape your actions on a day to day basis?

Activity Suggestions

Take 5 Minutes: Invite students to spread out (outside is a great option for this) and take five minutes for some one-on-one time with God. Have them use this time to listen, to pray, and to reflect on how the faith they have is more than enough. Come back together and talk about what that experience was like—Uncomfortable? Relaxing? Refreshing? Easy? Difficult?
Invite some guests to come and talk about their life and faith with your class—some older members of the congregation, or parents, or young adults. What do they think is the most important thing for people to learn about Jesus and the church? How does their faith shape their daily lives?

Closing Prayer

Loving God, thank you for the gift of faith, even when that faith is tiny. Help us to walk with you in our daily lives and to serve others in your world. Surround us with a loving community so that we can always know that we are more than enough in your eyes. Amen.

Seth Moland-Kovash, Palatine, IL

Warm-up Question

When was a time that you felt left out or out of place?

Sharing is Caring

Bullying happens all over the place and it is a common experience in schools. Sometimes a person is bullied and left out for a particular reason and sometimes there is no discernible reason. No matter what the reason, there is no excuse for bullying. But there is often a thing that attracts the attention of those would bully.

In one school near Memphis, Tennessee, a young man was bullied because he repeatedly wore the same clothes to school. Two other classmates saw this happening and decided they could do something about it. They chose to address the fact that he wore the same clothes and gifted him with shoes and clothing from their own closets. You can see a video of the gifts being given in the school hallway here.

Discussion Questions

What are the situations that can cause someone to be left out or bullied at your school?
What are some ways you can help someone who is being bullied?
Do you think the generosity and the kindness of the act is lessened at all for being filmed and put on social media?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Amos 6:1a, 4-7

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Jesus tells a parable about a rich man (who is not named) and a poor man (named Lazarus). Lazarus spends his days begging at the door of the rich man and getting no help. In death, their situations are reversed and the rich man wants some of what Lazarus has. This idea of a “great reversal” is central to what Jesus teaches – that in God’s kingdom the last will be first and the first will be last; the rich will be poor and the poor will be rich.

Having been told he can’t have what Lazarus has, he at least wants to send a warning to his brothers who are still alive so they will learn from his mistakes and not end up in the same situation. He wants Lazarus to go back because his brothers will surely believe someone who has risen from the dead. He is told “if they don’t listen to Abraham, they won’t even listen if someone comes back from the dead.”

It is interesting that Jesus tells this anecdote. He tells it before his own death, but we know what is going to happen. We know that Jesus will die and will come back from the dead. And we wonder sometimes whether we listen even to him.

Discussion Questions

Why do you think the rich man didn’t share with Lazarus while they were both alive?
What would it take to make someone like the rich man start to share?
What can you do to help those who have less in your own school or community?

Activity Suggestions

Closing Prayer

October 27, 2019–Who Belongs/ Who is Free?

October 20, 2019–Your Words Made Flesh

October 13, 2019–Gratitude, Good for the Heart

October 6, 2019–A Little More

September 29, 2019–Sharing is Caring