Anne Williams, Ankeny, IA

Warm-up Question

Think about Christmas; how does your family decide what “fair” is for presents? Is it the same number of presents to open? Is it the amount the presents costs? Why do you think your family does “fairness” that way?

Fairness is Relative

“When it comes to business, fairness is relative,” says banker John Norris. In a newspaper column, Norris, a banker in Birmingham, Alabama, tells the story of a friend who had done well all year and had reached his sales goal for the year by September. His boss told him that doing so meant he had also reached his cap on bonuses and commissions for the year. The boss felt that it wouldn’t be fair for Norris’ friend to earn that much more money than anyone else.   Norris’ friend was none too happy with this decision and told Norris that he wouldn’t negotiate another sale for his company until January, when he could get commission and bonuses again.

Norris’ response to his friend was to say the company was stupid to max him out with three more months to go in the year when this friend could be making more money for the company. Both Norris and his friend know and understood that in business, those contracts and sales pay for everyone’s salary, everyone’s bonuses and cover things like overhead (what it costs to run the business) and health insurance. But Norris’ friend needed an incentive. As Norris writes, “He simply didn’t want to work for free. Why would he? That wouldn’t be fair, would it?”

Discussion Questions

• What do you think about salaries that are based on bonuses and commissions? Would you want a job like that?
• Who’s right, the boss who thinks bonuses above the goal is unfair or Norris who thinks his friend shouldn’t work for “free”?
• Does fairness seem difficult to nail down in this situation? Is it relative? Is it always relative? Is there objective fairness in the world?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

(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 B at Lectionary Readings

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

Gospel Reflection

In this parable, Jesus tells us a story about the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s like a man who owns a vineyard who hires workers for that vineyard at three hour intervals during the day and then pays them all a full day’s wage at the end of the work day.

Here’s your fun fact for the day: a day’s wage, in the ancient world, was enough money to a family to eat for a day. Think about that: earning just enough money each day to buy the food you needed to keep you and your family alive. It’s called subsistence living (Google Dictionary definition of Subsistence: “the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level”).

Now here’s where things get sticky, could the workers who were chosen at 5:00 expect a full days wage? Were they dreaming of that, but trying to limit their expectations to something less? Can you imagine the surprise and maybe even confusion of the workers who got a full day’s wage even after working just one hour?

What about the anger from the other workers who had also been paid the usual daily wage? How would they feel? Here’s what the landlord has to say for himself (verses 12 – 15)

[The workers grumbled], “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

The best part is that Jesus says only this by way of explanation: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Fairness doesn’t always look the same in every situation. It’s not about being first or last, it’s situational.  In this case, fairness in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like everyone having work enough to feed their families. Now by our definition it’s not at all fair that enough work looks like all day for some and one hour for others. The words Jesus gives the God character in this story, the landlord, reflect fairness rules that are pretty foreign to us: It’s more important that everyone have enough to eat than to be fair about work hours, for example. It also implies that fairness has something to do with our values and morals. What’s fair in the Kingdom is that everyone eats rather than everyone being paid hour by hour for their work.

Discussion Questions

• Since we don’t yet live fully in the Kingdom of God, but we really want to, whose fairness rules should we be living by?
• What would it be like to live like God was our landlord?
• What motivates your sense of fairness? What values or morals do you think about when you think about fairness?
• Jesus seems to think that generosity is more important than what we usually regard as absolute fairness. Can you think of cases where you would agree?

Activity Suggestion

Fairness exercise: hide a bunch of candy around the space you’re meeting in (Keep a full sized bar out of sight). When all of the students have found all the candy, give the “prize” to the person with the least candy. Debrief the exercise with questions like, does this feel fair? How does it make you feel that the prize went to the person with the least?

Closing Prayer

God of all things, you command us to love one another and to love you. Help us to show that love in our actions and how we share with others. Remind us that fairness should be looked at from your point of view, not ours and that you make the last first and first last. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Ginger Litman-Koon, Chapin, SC

Warm-up Question

Many relationships, personal and professional, are based on a system of credit and debt. People invest in others with the hope of receiving something in return; employees show up to work with the intention to be compensated later; ER doctors provides treatment with the expectation the cost will be covered. Does a credit/debt system promote the good of all involved? What happens when a debt is forgiven?

Debts Forgiven

For much of history, unpaid debts were legally punishable with prison time. Only fairly recently in history has the use of so-called “debtors’ prisons” been outlawed as a penalty for unpaid debts or fines. Nevertheless, in some states and municipalities, laws still allow for individuals to be jailed for “willful refusal” to pay what they owe. Consider the story of Edward Brown reported on NPR:

On a night last week when the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, Edward Brown, who’s 62 and homeless, slept at the bus stop in front of the Jennings, Mo., city hall in St. Louis County… Brown’s troubles started when he tried to fight the city of Jennings, and his story shows how court fines and fees can grow, turning an impoverished person’s life upside down. The city wanted to condemn his small, crumbling house, where he had lived for 25 years. Officials sent him a citation for letting the grass grow too high. Brown stayed in the house after it was condemned, and received a citation for trespassing. Brown had been bedridden from injuring his back, and was unable to push a lawnmower. He was ticketed, too, for not getting a rabies vaccine for his dog, Matrix. Altogether Brown owed the city $464. But Brown lives on a $488 Social Security check and food stamps, so he didn’t pay his fines. “I went to jail for that,” he says. Since 2009, he’s been jailed several times — once for 30 days, another time for 20 days.

In the case of Mr. Brown, he was jailed because of “willful refusal” to pay his fines, even though he was disabled and unable to work. Others like him have been jailed for defiance of the court because they know they’re be unable to pay, have health problems, have limited access to transportation, or are unable to get the time off from work or child care necessary to go and appear in front of a judge.

While these practices may be legal, they often effectively punish people for being poor, to add indignity to poverty, and to introduce added instability into the lives of those who may already be struggling to get by. One advocacy group that has taken up this cause defines the “human costs” of debtors’ prisons in this way: “Debtors’ prisons waste taxpayer money and resources by jailing people who may never be able to pay their debts [and create a system] in which the poor receive harsher, longer punishments for committing the same crimes as the rich, simply because they are poor.” Advocacy and legal teams have been working in recent years to tackle this injustice on a case-by-case system in the municipalities around the country.

Fines and fees are put in place in order to accomplish certain goals: to deter people from violating laws, to maintain the legal boundaries of municipalities and to raise revenue for the enforcement of laws. Their intent is, at its core, a good thing. However, as we see, the burden of fines and fees on those who live in poverty can become overwhelming and detrimental. Christians are called through our baptisms to be a voice for the voiceless – in this case, for those who wield little political power due to their socioeconomic status. One way we can do that is through advocacy – promoting the rights of the poor and speaking out against unjust policies. The ELCA Advocacy Office makes speaking up for those living in poverty a priority. You can become an advocate by learning more about the laws in your town, by writing a letter to your local officials, by learning more about ELCA Advocacy, or by simply remembering this issue in your prayers and in the work of your church.

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of Mr. Brown’s situation? What parts of his story surprised you or made you think?
• What is prison like? Do you think temporary imprisonment an effective way to get people to pay their debts? Why or why not?
• Many states maintain jail time as a permissible punishment for those who fail to pay owed Child Support. What do you think about that?

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 50:15-21

Romans 14:1-12

Matthew 18:21-35

(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 B at Lectionary Readings

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

Gospel Reflection

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches about forgiveness. He tells his disciples that they should not only forgive, but they should be prepared to forgive (almost) infinitely. Jesus then goes on to tell a story about the slave of a king who was forgiven a seemingly infinite debt. Ten thousand talents was an unimaginable amount for a slave to try to repay. By telling this story, Jesus is comparing us to the indebted slave and God to the merciful king. God has and will forgive all our sins, as infinite as they may seem, and he will continue to do so. Therefore, we are called, not just to forgive, but to become forgiving people – that is, to make it our business to regularly practice forgiveness, just as God regularly forgives us.

However, in this story, the slave who has been infinitely forgiven turns around and does the opposite. He goes to one who owes him a debt and refuses to forgive him. And on top of that, he turns violent and demands that he be jailed as recompense. In prison, not only would that slave have to suffer harsh and inhumane conditions, but he would also miss out on the opportunity to return to work and to provide for his family.

We see two kinds of poverty in this story. The second slave is impoverished financially. He has no money to repay the debt that he owes. He has to work, not only to please his master the king, but also to repay the debt he has accrued by borrowing from another slave. He is at the bottom of this social hierarchy, and he faces further suffering at the hand of a fellow slave. On the other hand, the first slave in the story is impoverished spiritually. He is morally bankrupt, because he is unable to show mercy, even after being shown an incredible amount of mercy by the master himself.

What about us? If we recognize the tremendous mercy that was shown to us – to the point of God sending his own Son to suffer and die for our sake – do we ourselves show mercy? Do we repay the never-ending forgiveness of our loving God by forgiving others? Or do our hearts harbor grudges, judgment, or resentment for those we feel have wronged us, knowingly or unknowingly? And do we use the gifts given to us to provide for the needs of others? Do we use the voices given to us to speak out for those in need? Do we use the faith given to us to bring others to faith?

As Christians, we are rich. No matter what kind of income our families bring home, we are rich because of the love God pours out on us in Christ. God’s love enriches us with an over-abundance of love, forgiveness, mercy, and generosity to share with others. When we use these riches, we are truly living out our baptismal covenants with the God who so richly blesses and loves us.

Discussion Questions

• What are the debts you owe to others…that are owed to you?  Remember this is about more than money.
• The first slave is blind to the absurdity of his being so harsh to a fellow slave on the heels of having received a massive gift from  his master.  Why do you think it is easy for us to take blessings as our right instead of seeing them as tools to help others?

Activity Suggestions

Option A: Forgiveness takes practice. The more we forgive, the more we train our hearts to forgive. Write a short letter thanking God for specific things you have been forgiven of. Then write a letter to someone that you need to forgive. Specify what they did, how it made you feel, and how you are going to move on from it. You don’t have to send the letter, but commit yourself to truly letting go of the grudge/resentment/hate and ask God to free you from that burden. 

Option B: Play the SPENT money challenge and poverty simulator at www.playspent.org

Closing Prayer

Giving God, you provide everything that we need, and you bless us richly with our time, talent, treasures, and your never-failing mercy. Give us grateful hearts for the forgiveness you give us every day and make us generous in giving and forgiving.

Amy Martinell, Sioux Falls, SD

Warm-up Question

Do you forgive easily or do you tend to hold a grudge?

Forgiveness:  Hard Healing Work

For months Margot Van Sluytman traded emails with Glen Flett.  It was not your ordinary email exchange.  In 1978 when Margot was only 16, Flett  killed her father while he attempted to rob the convivence store at which her father worked.  After being released from prison, Flett attended an event aiming at bringing victims and perpetrators together where he received help  connecting with Margot and they begin to email.

According to Margot, “They were emails filled with humanity. His words helped to heal me, but after a while the words weren’t enough and I knew I needed to look into his eyes. So, three months later I met the man who killed my father.”  When they first met, they both sobbed and hugged each other.  Margot shared that after her father died a part of her seemed to go blank, but after this meeting she felt the color begin to return to her life.

This was a long process to get to, at first Margot could not even contemplate forgiveness, it made her too angry.  Later as she began to work through her anger with poetry, she became more open to the concept, and soon as she began to consider forgiveness, she noticed a change in her whole body, that she felt more complete and more at peace.  Forgiveness was a healing process.  Before Van Sluytman begin the path to forgiveness she felt a void full of nothingness, now  that the void has begun to be filled by the friendship she has with the man who killed her father.  This friendship has helped put meaning back into her life.

Margot Van Sluytman’s story is one of the many stories collected by The Forgiveness Project.  The Forgiveness Project is an organization that collects stories of forgiveness to share the power of reconciliation, help build understanding, and empower people to tell their stories and reconcile with the pain of their past. (theforgivenessproject.com)

Discussion Questions

• Margot Van Sluytman was open to forming a relationship with the man who killed her father. In her situation, do you think you would be willing to do so?  Why or why not?
• Margot helped work through her pain and anger by writing poetry. What activities help you when you feel hurt and angry?
• When have been times you have had a hard time asking for forgiveness or accepting others’ apologies?

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Ezekiel 33:7-11

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

(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 B at Lectionary Readings

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

Gospel Reflection

Jesus talks about a truth we all know well.  We know what it feels like to be hurt by others and we know what it feels like to hurt others.  It happens all too often.

We can guess the people who first read Matthew’s gospel were dealing with this problem as well.  “What do we do in our church when people hurt each other?”  In our reading, we have a set of instructions for dealing with conflict.  The focus is on rebuilding relationships, not on handing out punishments.  It is about restoring the person to the community, not about making sure everyone gets what they deserve.

And we restore relationships with face to face talks.  This is hard.  Today it sounds so much easier to send an email or text than to have to tell someone to their face that they have hurt us, but it is when we sit down in person that we are best able to see the other person’s point of view and become open to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Forgiveness is hard work; sometime we need to include others people, sometimes we may need more time before we are ready to forgive, and sometimes the person may not be open to hearing how they hurt us or what they have done wrong.  Forgiveness is hard work, but we can trust that our Lord is with us through the process we can reach out with love and forgiveness.

Discussion Questions

• When you are upset with someone do you prefer to go and talk with them face to face or would you rather do it over text or email? Why might it be important to have these conversations in person?
• When someone close to you has hurt you is it hard for you to trust them again and welcome them back into your community?
• Have you ever been part of a group or team where members were not getting along? How did this affect everyone else?

Activity Suggestions

• Visit The Forgiveness Project website and read another story and discuss together the power of forgiveness.
• Brainstorm different constructive ways to deal with hurt and anger (poetry, exercise, music, etc.). Make a list of all the different options and give students time to explore one or two of the options.

Closing Prayer

Gracious God, you call us to love one another, but it is hard to be in community together.  Forgive the pain and hurt we cause our neighbors and help us to reach out with love and forgiveness when others hurt us.

Brian Hiortdahl, Overland Park, KS

 Warm-up Question

What does success look like?

Success or Bust

Darko Milicic was the number two overall selection in the 2003 NBA Draft, chosen behind only LeBron James, and ahead of several other notable stars.  His professional basketball career is widely considered such a disastrous disappointment that his name has become almost synonymous with the term “bust”:  a colossal failure.  Yet in a lengthy article, Sam Borden offers ten reasons why Darko should be considered a success.  Despite his failure in the NBA, Milicic has become more emotionally mature, financially secure, and at a peace with himself and his history.  He is able to acknowledge past mistakes without being defeated by them.

Discussion Questions

• Would you consider Darko Milicic a failure or a success?  Why?
• Have you ever felt pressure to continue something you really wanted to quit?
• What expectations from others impact you?  In what ways are these expectations positive or negative; how do they help or hurt you?

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

(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 B at Lectionary ReadingsFor lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Peter has just correctly identified Jesus as “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  This title comes with enormous expectations.  Jesus then “sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah” and, as this week’s reading opens, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering… and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  The Messiah was expected to restore power and glory to Israel; being crucified (by Rome) is the complete and exact opposite of this.  Peter tries to talk Jesus out of this nonsense and gets harshly scolded for it.  God has other things in mind.

As Jesus elaborates, he says something very difficult that resonates with Darko’s story:  “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those lose their life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?”  The word “life” can also be translated “soul”—one’s truest self. Expectations and appearances can cloud our understanding of who we really are, and what God wants for us and from us.  Getting there is often a difficult climb beginning with loss that feels like death, “like Old Darko died.”

In our confirmation class, the pastor wrote on the board about twenty responses to the question:  “What do you and your parents hope for in your life?”  The list included answers like happiness, financial security, a home, family, good health and reputation—the things usually associated with success.  Then the pastor said, “Let’s evaluate Jesus on the cross.”  Every last item was eliminated; Jesus was a “failure” on every count.  A total messianic bust.

Things are not always as they appear, the pastor explained.  Maybe the antisocial nerd everyone considers a loser is a future CEO.  Maybe the beautiful and popular student everyone admires is a lonely self-injurer.  Success can be an impossible burden and failure freedom.  The cross reminds us that God has other things in mind than we do, and the truth is usually deeper than the surface suggests.

Discussion Questions

•  How does Darko’s story illustrate what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples?  Where do you detect God’s grace at work in his life?
• Who judges you, and how?  Whom do you judge?  How might you reconsider your evaluation of them?
• When have you experienced a loss that you later saw was the beginning of a blessing?
• What in you, or in your church, needs to die in order for you to live?

Activity Suggestions

• In your group, make your own list of hopes that you and your parents have for your life.  Do any of these describe Jesus on the cross?  Do these hopes enliven or threaten the soul—are they human things or divine things?
• Identify a “bust” you know—someone (or a population) considered a failure or a disappointment.  Pray for them, write them an encouraging letter, and find a way to appreciate or serve them.
• Visit a monastery and share a prayer liturgy with the community there.  Stay and talk afterward.  What new perspectives do you get?

Closing Prayer

Set our minds, Lord Jesus, on divine things.  Show us the truth about ourselves and others and you.  Empower us to shoulder our callings, and give us the courage to follow you through times of confusion and pain and loss to the joy of new life.  Amen

No, no, it’s not that bad.  Faith Lens is just on summer hiatus.  It will be back August 29.