Contributed by Seth Moland-Kovash, All Saints Lutheran Church, Palatine, IL

Warm-up Question

Have you ever been fishing? Are you a “catch-and-release” or “keep-and-eat” fisher?

To Fish or Not to Fish

It seems that we’ve been concerned for decades about overfishing. Commercial fisheries have depleted the stocks of valuable fish for human consumption to the point that the stocks have dried up. Businesses and ways of life for people who depend on commercial fishing have dried up. That could be changing.

Steve Murawski, who was, until recently, the chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service, believes that this year will be the first time on record (since 1900) that US fishermen won’t overfish any species. Read more at http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12571607&page=1

Through management and quota systems, Murawski and others believe that the US has balanced the need to fish now with the need to preserve fish supplies for future years and future generations. Obviously, only time will tell if that is true.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think the government should regulate how much people can fish? Why or why not?
• What do you think is the biggest danger in overfishing? Is overfishing  a greater danger than people losing jobs in fishing?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, January 23, 2011 (Third Sunday after Epiphany)

Isaiah 9:1-4

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Matthew 4:12-23

(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

Jesus met some commercial fishermen. Simon Peter and Andrew weren’t just hobby fishermen. They weren’t having a relaxing day out on the boat. This was their job and their livelihood.  Their families and those they loved depended on them to make a good catch, sell it at the market,  and bring the proceeds home. Jesus invited them to a different way of life.

He invited them to lay down their fishing nets and pick up their people-fishing tools. Of course, in that moment, he did not describe to them how to fish for people or tell them what would be involved. They could only learn that through being with him all through his life: in fact, all the way through his death and resurrection.

And yet, with these seemingly large holes in their knowledge… they did it! They dropped their fishing nets and left their business behind. They left everything behind and followed.

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think Simon Peter and Andrew followed?
• Would you have followed if Jesus had said this to you?
• What is the best “bait” you have to fish for people as Jesus commanded us to do?

Activity Suggestion

Create an imaginary tackle box. Think of all the bait and tackle you have at your disposal to fish for people? What’s in it? What tools has God give you, personally and as a group?

Closing Prayer

Good and gracious God, we pray for your guidance as we fish for people. Give us the words and the tools we need. Most of all, give us the passion and the desire to share your good news with all those around us.  Amen.

Contributed by Jay Gamelin, pastor at Jacob’s Porch, a Lutheran campus mission to The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Warm-up Question

What are some rituals you do every day when you first get up; is there anything special you may do?  Is there something you do every night before going to sleep?  Where do these rituals come from?

We Shall Live!

photo by Carol Guzy/Washington Post

When the two women were trapped under the rubble, all was darkness.  The earthquake had flattened their university classroom in Haiti and the five floors above them were now on top of them.  Only the light of one cell phone showed the situation.  One woman had her leg trapped; the other had just a small pocket of space amid the rubble in which to move.  The two women had shared a class and knew each other’s name.  They became more than friends.  They were companions through a terrible ordeal.

For six days they took turns yelling for help.  When they heard voices they knew it was day.  When the voices were gone they assumed it must be night.  They had nothing to drink and just a few crumbs from a cookie to eat.  But the two prayed, sang hymns, talked about boys, and rested when they could.

After six days, one woman said to the other, “We are not going to live.”  The other encouraged her to hang on and have hope.  She began talking about their life ahead.  She spoke of the conversations they would have in a year, remembering this time together.  Suddenly, the world changed.  Light poured in and they were pulled out.  Malnourished, feeble–but alive, they separated on the way to health stations, hoping to see one another again.

One year later, the women talk and reminisce about the horrific time in that small hole in the rubble.  One woman is missing her leg; the other says she has nightmares.  But they laugh when they meet. They still talk about boys.  They remember that hope is what brought them through the valley of the shadow of death.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever faced need and not able to get what you needed?  If you have, how did this feel?
• If you have not, imagine what it would feel like to see others enjoying great wealth while you were hungry?  What would you do to support your family?  What if you were not able to do so?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, January 9, 2011 (Baptism of Our Lord)

Isaiah 42:1-9

Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 3:13-17

(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

It is confusing: why would Jesus want to be baptized? This Jesus, who has done nothing but live righteously, comes to be baptized, to be “forgiven” of sins.  Clearly John sees this is not the way it should be and tries to stop the event.  But Jesus knows something about this holy moment.  Jesus knows that he is pointing the world to a whole new reality.  Jesus is becoming a model for what the rest of us are to do and be.

When Jesus was baptized, he did this to “fulfill all righteousness.”  Typically this means to be righteous under the law.  Jesus is following a “rule of faith” as a way of showing the rest of us what we are to do.  As Jesus comes up from the water, a voice declares that he is righteous and beloved, a source of pleasure for the speaker.  Jesus is made righteous.  The law is no longer the rule but is fulfilled in baptism.

Often we think this is a voice for Jesus alone, but it expresses as much what God thinks of us as what God thinks of Jesus.  When we are baptized, God is well pleased.  This is done to forgive sins, to be sure, but it makes us family.  We are made righteous.  We are brought from death to life, just as Jesus was brought from death to life.  Baptism binds us to God as Jesus was bound to God.  It shows us that Jesus’ path of suffering and hope is our path also.  Jesus becomes our companion in this journey, as do all who are baptized into God’s family.

The two women in Haiti were baptized by shared suffering into a relationship they had not expected, but it was being bound to one another that brought hope and life.  They lived together through the dark and found one another in the light.  Our baptism is about having a companion in our own darkness and knowing that light is coming.

Discussion Questions

• What is the darkest place you have ever been?  What was it like in the darkness?
• Were you afraid of the dark as a child?  What did you do when you were afraid?  How did this help?
• Think of a dark time in your life.  Who was there to be beside you?  Who was a person that helped bring light to you when you felt the darkness?
• How was this person Jesus for you?  What did this person’s actions tell you about how Jesus is at work in, through, and for you?

Activity Suggestion

“Though I walk in darkness…”

Materials:  Bandanas, cloth, or other way to make blindfolds for half the group.

Break the group into pairs.  Have each person in the pair take a turn being blindfolded and led by their partner. Explain to the group to take this exercise very seriously.  You are to be trusted.  Give the group a destination, perhaps to the sanctuary or other place that they must negotiate their way.  Then the other person is led back to where you began.  You can provide obstacles, or direct them to a tricky route to make the event more or less difficult as desired.

Process:

• Did you trust your partner?  Why or why not?  Were you surprised by anything they did or didn’t do?
• What was helpful about having a partner?  How would this activity be different if you did not have a partner?
• Name some folks in your church who you think are a role model of faith.  What is it about their walk that you admire?  How are they helping you in your walk?  What ways do they help “enlighten” (i.e. teach, show, help, provide an example) you when you feel like you are in the “dark?” (confused, not understanding, or being plain ole’ selfish)

Closing Prayer

God, we are your beloved and with us you are pleased.  Thank you for all you give us to help us in our journey, especially the people who join us in baptism to be your children.  Thank you for our role model, Jesus, who shows us the way.  Thank you for the role models in our friends and church members who lighten the path.  Hear us lift these role models up to you, aloud and in our hearts…. (allow time for names to be spoken or prayed for silently).  Thank you for these partners in hope and light.  We pray this in the name of our savior, Jesus.  AMEN.

Contributed by Jocelyn Breeland, Fairfax, VA

Warm-up Question

Have you ever found yourself in a tough situation with  no good choices?

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

LoHud.com recently reported the suicides of Nejla Akkoc, 71, and her 31-year-old daughter Ayshe who were found dead in their White Plains home.  Ayshe had cerebral palsy and needed a wheelchair.  Nejla, Ayshe’s sole care giver, had recently learned she had terminal cancer.  A note the pair left indicated it had become increasingly difficult for Nejla to care for her daughter, so the two decided to leave the world together.

The challenge of older parents caring for their children with disabilities is not uncommon.  Nationwide, 62 percent of people with disabilities live with family members; more than 700,000 of them live with parents or family members over the age of 60. At the same time, state budget cuts have made it more difficult for families to find services for their loved ones with disabilities.

In Indiana, families report that state workers have suggested they leave people with severe disabilities at homeless shelters.  A spokesman for the Family and Social Services Administration said this is not state policy and the individuals who made this suggestion have been disciplined.

Still, the situation is critical for families in a state where waiting lists for disability services contain more than 20,000 names.  Some of those on the list have been waiting more than 10 years, and 2,000 slots were eliminated in the most recent round of state budget cuts.  A similar story is playing out in just about every state.

“It’s heart-wrenching,as a parent, to watch it.  We are people and they are people,” said one parent, speaking of her son and others with disabilities.  “They have lives that are worth something.”

Discussion Questions

• Put yourself in Nejla and Ayshe Akkoc’s place.  What emotions do you think they felt?
• A common observation by those who work to prevent suicide is that “suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem.”  What might make someone believe suicide is the best of several bad options?  Do you think suicide can ever the best choice in times of crisis?
• Most of Nejla and Ayshe’s family lived in Turkey.  What role might separation from family have played in their feelings about their situation?
• What resources can Christian faith and community offer to people in situations like the Akkocs’?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 14, 2010 (Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost)

Malachi 4:1-2a

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Luke 21:5-19

(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

The Jews of Jesus’ time could be forgiven if they thought that after the coming of the promised Messiah things would get much better, both in the immediate future and for the long-term. In today’s gospel Jesus tells his hearers that not only is the end not coming right away, but there are going to be countless trials before that time.  Jesus anticipates many terrors: wars between nations, natural disasters, persecution in the synagogues, and even division within families.

With nearly 2,000 years of hindsight, we can certainly say these predictions have come true, and we have to expect that these trials will continue throughout our lifetimes.  But despite the certainty of persecution and even death, Jesus does not want us to despair.  “But not a hair of your head will perish,” he says.  “By standing firm you will gain life.”

No matter how difficult a situation, or how limited our choices, we know that Jesus is with us.  In the face of every hardship and disaster, Jesus’ promise of eternal life remains.  He is always with us; in the end, his victory is sure. Knowing this makes our hard choices easier.

Discussion Questions

• Who are the deceivers Jesus refers to in verse 8?
• Do you think knowing that difficulties are inevitable makes it easier to accept and cope with problems when they arise?
• What challenges do you face which are most difficult for you?  How does today’s gospel lesson speak to those challenges?

Activity Suggestion

Sometimes God’s answer to a desperate prayer is us.  Scan your local newspaper for stories of individuals and families faced with difficult choices and consider two questions:

• How is your congregation already engaged in supporting those who face the difficult choices noted in the stories?
• Are there specific ways you, your youth group, or congregation might be help those in these situations?

Offer a prayer, lifting up, by name, the persons mentioned  in the stories you identified.  Ask for God’s intervention in each situation and for the willingness and wisdom to be part of that intervention.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the many blessings you offer us every day.  When times are tough, help us to remember your steadfast promise of eternal life.  Give us the wisdom and strength to always choose your will, your way.  In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our rock and our deliverer.  Amen.

Contributed by Bill King, Blacksburg, VA

Warm-up Question

What challenges have you faced which required a great deal of determination to meet? 

Into the Wind

As part of its “30 in 30” series, which focuses on 30 notable sports stories from the years 1979 through 2009, ESPN recently premiered a new film about perseverance and hope, “Into the Wind.”  This documentary is about Terry Fox, who, in 1980, set out to run across Canada.  A lofty goal you might think, but not necessarily worthy of a feature story on the world’s top sports network.  What sets Terry Fox’s trek apart from stories about buff ironman tri-athletes is that three years earlier he lost his right leg to bone cancer and made his attempt using a prosthetic leg—and ultimately lemon-sized tumors in his lungs.  His run, “The Marathon of Hope,” was an effort to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

He ran for 143 days, covering two-thirds of the distance across Canada, before the spread of his cancer forced him to stop running shortly before his death.  Most days he  ran a marathon, twelve miles in the morning and fourteen in the afternoon.  His run became a national phenomenon and was front page news for months.  Since 1981 the Terry Fox Run has been held annually and has raised over $500 million dollars for cancer research.

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think Terry Fox’s story is so compelling?
• What would motivate someone to take on such a punishing physical challenge?
• What do you think kept him going in the early stages when nobody knew him or cared about his efforts?
• What is the difference between pursuing noble goals and simply being foolish?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, October 17, 2010 (Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost)

Genesis 32:22-31

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Luke 18:1-8

(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

A political ad playing in my area shows a woman posing pointed policy questions to a candidate.  As she becomes increasingly agitated, the camera pans out to reveal she is talking to brick wall.  The implication is clear; Candidate X has no interest whatsoever in what troubles her. 

The woman in the ad does not get any satisfaction from her candidate, but the widow in Jesus’ parable does finally break through the judge’s crooked contempt.  Though she feels like she is talking to a brick wall, she keeps flinging her words against the mortar until cracks appear in his stony apathy.  She does not win the day by superior logic and appeal to a sense of justice.  No, this is closer to the bratty child getting a candy bar at the checkout station by refusing to take “no” for an answer.  Just to shut her up the judge gives her what she wants.

So what are we to make of this parable?  On one level it is fairly clear. Luke even gives us the point as a preface:  “And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart (RSV).”  “Hang in there.  Don’t be discouraged.  Keeping praying and trusting God, even when the odds are long.”  That’s not always easy to do, but at least we understand the teaching.  But then we linger with this parable for a minute more and we begin to feel a little uncomfortable.  Is prayer then like laying siege to the heavenly castle; we get a response only by battering down divine resistance?  Does piety ultimately come down to being a pain in the divine neck? 

The disquiet arises because we are tempted to turn a parable into an allegory:  we mistakenly identify ourselves with the widow and God with the unjust judge.  But that kind of one-to-one correspondence is not what Jesus intends.  Rather this is a parable of contrast, emphasizing the difference between God and the judge.  The sense of the parable is more like, “If even a dirt bag of a crooked judge can be moved by persistence to act honorably, how much more will your loving Father, who longs to give you good things, answer when you call.  So do not despair; God’s care surrounds you, even when it feels like you are talking to a brick wall.  Lay your needs and concerns before the loving Father who longs to bless you.”

Whether we are Terry Fox, running in the cold to defy a faceless enemy, or just trying to master a new math concept, it can feel like we are confronting a brick wall.  In those moments, when we are on the edge of despair, we do well to remember that we are loved beyond measure.  The God who called us into being will not abandon us. 

Discussion Questions

• What do you think is a “good prayer”?  Is anything off limits in prayer?
• God knows our needs better than we do; so what is the point of prayer?
• One writer has called prayer ‘wasting time with God.”  What do you think that means; what does it tell you about the purpose of prayer.
• Most people, if they are honest, admit that their daily prayer life is confined to a few quick table blessings.  Why do you think we often resist praying?
• How does our image of God affect how we pray and the content of our prayers?

Activity Suggestions

• Hands Up/Hands Down—Prayer is like breathing; it involves alternately taking in and a giving out, asking and a receiving.  This exercise helps us get in touch with that spiritual rhythm.  Ask members of the group to sit quietly and close their eyes, slowly breathing in and out.  After a minute or so, tell people to turn their palms so that they are facing down, saying something like, “What is it that you need to let go of today?  Maybe it is anger at a friend.  Maybe it is fear about something.  Whatever it is, pretend it is in your hands and just let it fall on the ground.  Let it go.”  After some time has passed ask, “‘What is it you most need to receive from God to today?’  Turn your hands so that the palms are facing up and imagine God filling your hands with what you most need.”  Depending on your group you may want to talk about the experience or just let it be an experience of prayer.
• As a group come up with a list of seven things or people for which you feel special concern.  Have members of the group to agree to make one of these items the focus of prayer each day in the coming week.

Closing Prayer

Loving God, it is not that you are reluctant to hear our prayers; we are often too busy or too fearful to lay our needs before you.  Guide our asking, that our petitions may reflect your hopes for creation, yet make us bold to believe you long to grant what is truly needful.  Give us patience to keep praying when the silence is deep, confident that we are heard and loved.  Amen.

Contributed by Jen Krausz, Bethelem, PA

Warm-up Question

How do you react when you see someone you know finds faith or grows in their faith? What feelings come up for you at those times?

Rally to Return to God

On August 28, 2010, talk show host Glenn Beck hosted a rally, drawing over half a million people to Washington D.C. But although Beck is a conservative talk show host who often discusses politics, he claimed the reason for this rally was something very different.

The rally was held to benefit the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides college scholarships to children of special operations military personnel killed in the line of duty. 5.1 million dollars has been raised so far.

Beck called his rally “Restoring Honor,” and focused on inspiring those in attendance to turn back to God, to live their lives honorably, and to encourage our country to turn back to God as a whole. In addition to honoring veterans, the rally featured a gospel choir and several pastors who spoke and offered prayers. Awards were given for faith, hope and charity, echoing 1 Corinthians 13. During Beck’s speech, he said that the country had been “in darkness for too long,” and that only with God’s help could we move back in the right direction again. 

According to reporters, the crowd was very polite, waiting nicely for others to disperse and not leaving “a scrap of trash anywhere.”

Critics have accused Beck of using the rally to revive the culture wars.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think our country has turned away from God? What things tell you that this is or is not true?  Has the United States ever been a “Christian nation”?
• Even if the country hasn’t turned away from God, what might be some positive effects of people examining their faith and beliefs?
• Do you think we are in a “culture war” over issues like abortion, gay marriage and immigration?
• What can we, as Christians and as the church, do to bring people of opposing viewpoints together?
• Critics suggest that, far from embodying Christian attitudes, Beck uses “traditional values” as code language to oppose much of the progress won by the marginalized through the Civil Rights struggle.  What core values do you think a follower of Jesus should have?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 12, 2010 (Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Exodus 32:7-14

1 Timothy  1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

(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

The Pharisees had good reasons for everything they did. They formed all kinds of rules to keep themselves from breaking any of God’s commandments. They wanted to be righteous before God. But their rules and ways of living were sometimes  based on man’s logic and reason. Somehow, in the process of making all these rules and keeping them, they neglected their hearts. They made God into some faraway being, too great and above them to have a friendship with. One of Jesus’ main teachings was that God wants to have a relationship with the people. God is at the same time “out there,” beyond all human understanding and right here, wanting to be personally involved in our lives.

God wants our hearts to be engaged, because God’s own heart is engaged. God loves us—that’s as simple as it gets, but how important and profound! In today’s scripture, God rejoices when one lost person finds faith. It gives God joy to have a relationship with us.

It is impossible for us to be one of the 99 “righteous” persons referenced in these verses without Jesus, no matter what we do or how hard we try. Jesus knew that; it’s the reason why he came. His sacrifice makes our righteousness possible. But that whole process involves our minds and our hearts. It requires us to engage God, to get personal. When we get personally involved with God, amazing things happen. A talk show host might even hold a rally dedicated to making people aware of their (and their country’s) need for God!

We might not always understand it, but our lives are changed; we become a part of what God is doing in the world. Who wouldn’t want that?

Discussion Questions

• What makes someone a “righteous” person? Do you think you are “righteous?”
•  How can we have a relationship with God that is personal?  What things can we do to start or maintain such a relationship?
• Why do you think it makes God so happy when people find faith?
• Would you want to “welcome sinners and eat with them” like Jesus did? What would that look like in your life?

 Activity Suggestions

One part of our relationship with God is prayer. Start a prayer journal to write down what you pray about on a daily basis. Leave blank space to record answers to your prayers. Over time  such a journal can be a powerful record and reminder of God’s involvement in your life.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you that because of Jesus we can be righteous in your eyes. Thank you that for wanting to have a relationship with us finding joy when we reach out to you. Help us to keep remembering to reach out to you for guidance in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.