Contributed by Sylvia Alloway, Granada Hills, CA

Warm-up Question

What would you do or say, if you came face to face with someone who wanted to rob you? 

Speaking of Jesus…in All Times

 “I really hate to do this…” began the man with the gun.

 The clerk behind the counter at the wireless phone store did not panic. She began to tell the robber about Jesus.

 “I know you can do whatever you want, but let me tell you about the Jesus I have…Jesus my God.” Nayara Goncalves continued to talk to the man, after he claimed to be a Christian himself, encouraging him to go back to church. They discovered that they had attended the same church in Pompano Beach, Florida and both knew the pastor.

 Still the fellow insisted that he needed $300 for his rent, or he would be evicted. Only when the young lady explained to him that the money he took would be docked from her own wages did he finally relent and back slowly out the door.

 “God bless you!” he said, just before he made his exit. Less then an hour later he was arrested for robbing a nearby shoe store.

 Newsmen from a popular morning TV show [Good Morning America] who reported the incident were impressed by Goncalves’ calm courage.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever been the victim of a robbery or burglary? What would you say to the criminal if you were to meet him?
• Why do you think a person would choose to commit a robbery instead of finding an honest way to get the money he needed?  Are there always honest options?
• Do you think you could ever “witness” (tell someone about Jesus) in a dangerous situation? Why or why not?

 Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, August 15 (Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost) [Some congregations will use  texts observing the lesser festival, “Mary, Mother of our Lord]

Isaiah 61:7-11

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Luke 12:49-56

(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 spoke of bringing peace. Yet here he talks about division and family strife. Is this contradictory?  No, Jesus recognizes that his vision is challenging; many will reject it.  Division between those who commit to following him and those who refuse to embrace his distinctive type of peace is inevitable.

The signs are everywhere, as obvious as the weather. Jesus is doing everything the prophets said the Messiah would do. Conflict with those who resist God’s coming kingdom has been building to the crisis point.  He has one more act to complete, what Jesus calls his “baptism,” that is, his crucifixion and resurrection. When this work is finished, it will be time to choose sides, either worshipping Jesus as Lord, or rejecting him as a fraud. There is no middle ground. 

Talking about Jesus brings division, sometimes even to the strongest family ties. There is no room here for “don’t make waves,” or “anything to keep the peace.” We are to show our devotion to the Lord in thought, word, and deed, no matter what the consequences. They may be good – we may turn away robbers, inspire faith, spread joy. Or we may upset people.

If you looked at the courage of Nayara Goncalves and thought, “I can’t do that,” you’re right, you can’t – alone. But we are not alone. We have the Holy Spirit, who has promised to give us words. We have the example of those who have gone before us (see today’s New Testament lesson, Hebrews 11:29-12:2). And we have each other, fellow Christians, for strength and encouragement. Those abiding in the love of Jesus cannot be divided.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever had to risk rejection or unpopularity because of your faith? What did you do? If you could go back to that incident, would you change your actions?
• Are you or do you know anyone who is the only Christian in his or her family? What kind of support can the Body of Christ, the Church, give such people, so that they can live out their faith and not feel alone?
• When and where do you find it most difficult to behave like a Christian? What suggestions do class members have for staying true to Christ in these situations?

Activity Suggestions

Practice responding to those who question or ridicule Christian belief. List some of the arguments you have heard against belief in Jesus (I don’t understand it.  Following the Christian way is too hard.  It’s only for stupid or weak people, etc.). Come up with answers to those arguments. If time permits, act out some scenarios, with one person playing a skeptic and another, a believer.

Suggested Songs: Onward Christian Soldiers, Lift High the Cross, The Battle Belongs to the Lord (contemporary)

Closing Prayer

Father, we humbly admit that we are weak in our desire and ability to speak out for you. Let us pray for and encourage one another. We ask for your Spirit to inspire in us the words and actions that will best glorify you.  In the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Contributed by Jay Gamelin, Pastor of Jacob’s Porch, Lutheran campus mission to The Ohio State University.

Warm-up Question

 What would you do with ten million dollars?  Go ahead, fantasize away!  Try and be honest.

When I’m 60, I’ll Get Around to That

Something happened to Bill and Melinda Gates.  After the Gates amassed many billions of dollars founding Microsoft and creating Windows software, the two asked themselves what all this wealth was for.  Building more houses, buying more companies, and creating more wealth seemed hollow.

It was then they met Bono, the lead singer for the band U2.  Often outspoken on behalf of the poor, Bono challenged the Gates to understand the challenge of “stupid poverty”, that is, the people who die for want of a $2 pill because they live on $1 a day.  This was enough to draw Gates away from Microsoft years before he intended to shift his focus from making money to giving it away. He and Melinda looked around and recognized the shortcoming of the way in which the world values wealth and its distribution. “Those lives were being treated as if they weren’t valuable,” Gates told FORTUNE in 2002. “Well, when you have the resources that could make a very big impact, you can’t just say to yourself, ‘O.K., when I’m 60, I’ll get around to that. Stand by.'”

So rather than continuing to amass more wealth, the Gates family began to give it away.  With a foundation that is now worth over 30 billion (yes, with a “B”) dollars and growing from a generous contribution from Warren Buffet, the wealthiest man in the world matches all gifts given by the foundation to the tune of another 30 billion dollars.  The fund focuses on ending poverty in the poorest countries and fighting HIV-AIDS and avoidable diseases in the world’s poorest economies.

The Gates saw wealth, not as an end, but as a means to an end, a way they can contribute to ending poverty in this lifetime.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever faced need and not been 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 extravagant wealth somewhere else while you were hungry?  What would you do to support your family?  What if you were not able to do this?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, August 1, 2010 (Tenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23

Colossians 3:1-11

Luke 12:13-21

(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

This is not a lesson about whether or not it is evil to be rich. It is not about creating a guilt trip for those who have.  Nor is it a commendation to be poor.  Poverty is not in itself a value we should embrace.  This is a lesson about questions, the ones we ask ourselves when we have.

The Gates figured out that they had much.  They had amassed a staggering fortune, in fact larger than some national economies.  They had built extravagant homes, formed companies, bought more, and done more.  Yet, despite it all, they still had much.  At this point they had to ask themselves a question: Do we continue to try to grow a fortune or decide that the value is not in possessing wealth but giving it away?  They, of course, answered the call and are now considered two of the biggest philanthropists in the world.

Perhaps it is easy to hold up the Gates family, they have so much to give.  They could give away 90% of their income and still be considered extremely wealthy.  With such wealth, perhaps giving it away is rather painless.  But more than the amount, it was the decision that we focus upon.  They faced a difficult question and answered it the best way they could.

In the text, the rich man has amassed a fortune.  Seeing his fortune grow, he was forced to ask what to do next.  His decision was to build another barn, store more food.  We can see the story and say, “Well, I would never do this!  If I were rich I would give it away!” Would you give it away?  Are you rich?  These are questions to ask yourself: How many outfits do you need in your closet to clothe yourself nicely for a week?  How many pairs of shoes do you possess?  How many cars do you need to own?  How big a house do you really “need”?  How much do you need to eat?  Do you really need that second TV?  Is cable necessary?  How many drinking glasses do you have in your home and how many mouths?

But you might say, “But this means I need to account for every dollar I spend!”  Yes, you do.  We need to be confronted with our own wealth and understand that we are the rich man.  The average American spends enough in a year on food to feed a village in other parts of the world.  This should stop us short in our tracks.

Again, this is not about guilt for being rich.  It is about important questions: What do we have?  What are we doing with it?  What are we doing to help?  What more can we do?  These are the questions rich Christians such as we who read this study, downloaded from the internet on our expensive computers, can and should ask themselves everyday—for  tomorrow our lives are required of us and do not belong to us.  Let us use our riches to lift up others.  In this we become rich in God and not to ourselves.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think you owe anything to anyone else if you are rich?  Why or why not? 
• What advantages do you think someone like Bill Gates may have had as opposed to a person in a third world country?  What advantages did he have in schooling and in the infrastructure of this country?
• What obstacles might a person in a third world country face? How much more difficult is it to give them a hand-up to achieve?

Let’s ask the question again: What would you do with ten million dollars?  What would be OK to keep?  What would be OK to give away?  How much is enough to live on?  How much is enough to give away?

Activity Suggestions

“WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET?”:  To avoid embarrassment, let read ahead and describe the activity.  Find a volunteer to either empty her purse, a back pack, or take everything out of his pockets.  Take a look at what is in there.  Look at what is in the wallet or purse as if you were an anthropologist or perhaps an archeologist.  If you did not know this person, what could you tell about him or her?

Now look at these things as an economist.  Which of these things are necessary for life?  Which are “extra” things?  Which would this person not miss?  Which would they miss?

PROCESS:  We all have things in our lives and there are some things we need and some we do not.  Our hope is that what we have can be used not only for ourselves but to support others, all for the glory of God.  The commercial says, “What’s in your wallet?”  I think it is a good question—what does what I have say about me? What can I use these things for?  How can they support others beyond me?

Closing Prayer

For all that you have given us, thank you God.  Teach us to be blessings of the abundance you have blessed us with.  May we be more and more like you.  AMEN.

Contributed by Bill King, Lutheran Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Warm-up Question

When you have an important school assignment to finish, what distractions are hardest for you to resist?  Why?

Driven to Distraction

If you have watched a basketball game on television you have seen rabid fans seated behind the goal trying to distract an opposing team’s free throw shooter.  “Shirtless” Bill Sproat, a student at Utah State has taken distraction to a new level, making it an art form. Sproat says that he actually hates basketball, calling it a “worthless” sport, but he loves finding new ways to get in the heads of opposing players.  At Aggies’ home games you can find him behind the goal dressed as a  snorkeler, Chippendale, or cupid.  He tries to match his character to the opponent; for example, he showed for a game against the University of Hawaii dressed as a hula dancer.  But his signature move comes in the second half of the game; he strips off his top and lets his ample torso undulate behind the backboard. 

There is some debate in basketball circles over whether the antics of fans like Shirtless Bill actually make any difference.  Top players say that if you are properly focused on the rim you do not even see the fans.  But Bill has his own focus, “If I can get them to laugh then I can get them to miss. If I get them to look at me, they’re in big trouble.”

Discussion Questions

• How do you react to “Shirtless” Bill Sproat?  Do you find him admirable for his passion or a bit desperate in his desire for attention?
• What do you think motivates someone like Bill, who regularly shows up to watch a game he hates?
• Fans’ efforts to distract players are perfectly acceptable at a basketball game but are grounds for ejection at a tennis match or on a golf course.  Why?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, July 18, 2010 (Eighth Sunday after Pentecost)

Genesis 18:1-10

Colossians 1:15-28

Luke 10:38-42

(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’s tempting to choose sides.  In this week’s lesson Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha and we recognize sibling dynamics of many homes.  There is Martha—dutiful, responsible, eager to follow the rules.  She works hard and expects others to do the same.  You want her in charge of your project.  But she is rather high strung and prone to act like a martyr.  Mary, in contrast, takes life as it comes.  Sensitive and solicitous, she’ll drop everything if you call her up with a problem.  She is light and breezy, often artistic, easy to be with—and absolutely maddening if you need her to act on a tight schedule.  Mary and Martha love each other, but you know they drive each other crazy.

Most of us identify with either Martha or Mary, so it’s hard to avoid choosing sides in their little domestic tiff.  We tend to read this story through the lens of our own experience.  If little brother has just trashed our room—yet again—we weigh in on Martha’s side, “Yeah Lord, why shouldn’t Mary do her part instead of sitting on her duff?”  But if our daily experience is being compared to a “perfect” but rather joyless sibling sister we can see why Mary opts out of the hospitality competition.  Still, if we get too caught up in identifying with one sister or the other, we miss the point of the story.

Jesus gently rebukes Martha, not for being who she is, but for allowing herself to be distracted from what is most important.  The hospitality Martha offers is praiseworthy, but in her worrying about all the little tasks of entertaining, she has ignored her guest.  She has forgotten that the issue is not what she can give Jesus but what he can give her, if she will take time to listen.  The good has become the enemy of the best.

A defining characteristic of modern life is the lack of silence.  From morning to night we envelop ourselves in a blanket of distraction; there is no moment when we are not texting, tweeting, talking, or pumping tunes into our ears.  Before we can follow Jesus we have to discipline ourselves to stop and listen for his voice.  The challenge for good church folk is sometimes distinguishing being busy from being faithful.  Can you slow down and listen today?

Discussion Questions

• Where do you find yourself in this story of Mary, Martha, and Jesus?
• Why do you think we tend to fill our day with unceasing sound?
• What “good” things occupy your time which might be distracting you from hearing Jesus?
• Jesus tells Martha she is busy with many things, but has lost sight of what is most important.  What IS most important to you, so important that you will sacrifice everything else to have it?

Activity Suggestions

• Make a list of everything you did in the last 24 hours. Think about how much time you spent in each activity; was it a good use of your time?  Think about how your choices support or undermine your ability to follow Jesus.  Share your list and thoughts with someone in your group.
• In the next week, do a “cyber-fast” for one whole day.  Turn off your phone and computer—no texting, e-mails, calls, Facebook, Web browsing, etc.  At the end of that time think about how your day was different from normal.  What was uncomfortable?  What was good about being disconnected?  Talk about the experience in your group next week.

Closing Prayer

Lord, the alarm just went off and the race is on.  There are so many things I need to do, so many demands on my time, so many people’s expectations to meet.  Help me to take a deep breath, still my racing heart, and listen for your voice amid the noise of this day.  Give me the wisdom to distinguish the urgent from the important, that I may rest in your love and live only for you.  I pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Contributed by Eric Ullestad,West Des Moines, IA

Warm-up Question

If you had to suddenly move to a new town and could only take three things with you, what would you take and why?

Strangers in a Strange Land

Escalating ethnic violence has prompted over 120,000 Kyrgyzstan (KUR-gi-stahn) refugees to flood into the neighboring country of Uzbekistan.  Fighting broke out on June 9 in the Kyrgyzstan city of Osh between ethnic Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks.  Within three days, the violence had spread to Jalal-Abad, which required the interim government leader, Roza Otunbayeva, to declare a state of emergency.  These skirmishes reflect a larger state of unrest in Krygyzstan since president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in April.

The official death toll is around 200, but local Kyrgyz and Uzbek leaders estimate that number will be over 1,000 by the end of the month.  Though the violence was initiated by ethnic groups of Kyrgyzs against Uzbeks, the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan has offered their country as a safe haven for Kyrgyzs who fear for their lives.  The United Nations has declared the situation a “humanitarian crisis” and called for countries all over the world to send aid.  The United States, Germany, and Russia, have been among the first to respond.  “There is an urgent need for food, water, tents, and medical supplies,” said one Red Cross volunteer.  “Nearly half a million people are homeless.  They need help now!”

Discussion Questions

• What have you heard about Kyrgyzstan in the last few weeks?
• How would it feel to be one of the 400,000 displaced by the violence?
• What are ways that our country can help bring an end to the fighting?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, June 27, 2010  (Fifth Sunday after Pentecost)

1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Luke 9:51-62

(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

Much like the news coming out of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the gospel text is about two things – hospitality and urgency.  Prior to the events of Luke 9:51-62, Jesus has been very busy.  He empowered and sent the disciples to preach, teach, and heal.  He fed five thousand men (plus women and children) with five loaves of bread and two fish.  He became transfigured on a mountain in the presence of Peter, John, and James (not to mention the ghosts of Elijah and Moses).  He even healed a demon-possessed boy.  Talk about a busy couple of weeks!

Jesus sets out for Jerusalem and realizes that he will need a place to sleep along the way.  He sends messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to see if they would host Jesus for the night.  Because of ethnic and religious differences, the Samaritans refused to let Jesus into the village.  James and John are ready to respond by wiping the village off the face of the earth.  However, Jesus wants no part of a violent response to the Samaritan’s lack of hospitality.  Instead, they find another village.

The second section of the gospel text demonstrates the urgency of discipleship.  Jesus approaches two people with invitations to follow him.  Both men are willing to follow, but one wants to take a day to bury his dead father and the other wants to say goodbye to his family.  To many these requests seem reasonable.  However, Jesus implores them to follow him immediately and not waste their time with farewells.  Why?  Perhaps he knows that if these people return to their loved ones, it becomes less likely that they will return to follow Jesus.  It’s also possible that Jesus has work for them to start right away and can’t afford to let them waste any time.

We can discern a lot of things about the nature of Jesus from the end of Luke 9.  Specifically, Jesus refuses to use his power to punish people and he has a sense of urgency for people who want to follow him. 

Discussion Questions

• How would you respond to someone who refused hospitality to one of your friends?
• How do you feel about Jesus’ sense of urgency in talking to a would-be follower?  Why wouldn’t Jesus let the man take a day to bury his father before joining Jesus?
• What do you think Jesus means when he says “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”?  How would you feel if Jesus said this to you right after one of your parents died?
• If Jesus were physically present today, what words might he have for the people of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, based on his words and actions in Luke 9:51-62?

Activity Suggestions

Contact your local Red Cross to see how you can help respond to the crisis in Kyrgyzstan.  This might include assembling care packages, writing letters to displaced families, or collecting a special offering for money to send.  Remember to pray for the people who have been affected by the violence in that region.

Closing Prayer

God, help us to show your hospitality and care for those in need.  Give us a sense of urgency in sharing the good news of your son, Jesus, with the whole world.  Thank you for the gifts you give us.  Amen

Contributed by Daniel Wiessner, Tacoma, WA

Warm-up Question

To whom do you turn when you’re not sure what to do?

An (Increasingly) Open Book

Turns out everyone’s Facebook privacy is getting a lot less private all the time and, unsurprisingly, a few feathers are getting ruffled.

Ryan Singel at Wired noted the private interests which are unavoidably public via Facebook. He wrote, “I’d like to make my friend list private. Cannot. I’d like to have my profile visible only to my friends, not my boss. Cannot. I’d like to support an anti-abortion group without my mother or the world knowing. Cannot.”

The recent addition of Facebook’s new “instant personalization” is getting particular attention due to its sharing of your personal information with Pandora, Microsoft Docs, and Yelp, in order to help those sites tailor their advertisements to fit your interests. Users can opt out, but the process is apparently complicated and confusing. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), among other organizations, is rallying against Facebook with claims that “Instant personalization violates user expectations and reveals user information without the user’s consent.”

Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who started this crazy Facebook thing, stated earlier this year that  Facebook is constantly being updated “to reflect what the current social norms are.  A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they’ve built… doing a privacy change for 350 million users is not the kind of thing that a lot of companies would do. … But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner’s mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it.”

Main article from: http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/raw/?p=2351
Wired quote from: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-rogue/#ixzz0nbOC4ojY
Zuckerberg quote from: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php

Discussion Questions

• Are you on Facebook? (Show of hands, for curiosity’s sake.)
• How do you feel about these privacy changes? Does it really matter to you?
• Some people argue that Facebook is causing these shifts in social norms that Zuckerberg spoke about. Do you agree with Zuckerberg (that Facebook is just following the trend) or do you think that it is a driving force in the change? Why?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 23, 2010 (Day of Pentecost)

 Acts 2:1-21

Romans 8:14-17

John 14:8-17 [25-27]

(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

I’m afraid I can’t “tsk” Philip too harshly for his opening line in this week’s gospel lesson because, really, he and I have something in common here: We don’t always pay attention so well. Fortunately for the both of us, we have been blessed to hold the company of some very kind and very patient people who are willing to explain things to us again and again.

If you remember, Jesus is going to be leaving his disciples, Philip included.  Reading the rest of John 14 reveals pretty clearly that the disciples are uncomfortable with the idea. The disciples general response is “But-but-but.. Wait! Where are you going? We feel kind of low on definite instructions. Is there any way we could maybe text you if we have questions?”

Jesus calmly and patiently reassures his disciples that things are going to work out just fine. In fact, he even leaves them a number to call, so to speak, in case they get confused. Jesus promises another advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will “teach [them] everything, and remind [them] of all that [Jesus has] said to [them].”

In the same way, by reminding us of Jesus’s teachings and instructions, The Holy Spirit acts as our own divine guide. This is a great gift when our easily confused moral compass might mistake North for East.

With this promise of the “Spirit of truth,” Jesus closes this week’s lesson with some of the most wonderful, calming words we could ever hear from our Lord and Savior. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Amen, Lord Jesus.

Discussion Questions

• Go back and explore the rest of John 14. Think about how the disciples felt before and after this week’s Gospel lesson. What do you think your reaction would have been?
• Looking back at the news for today, do you think that Zuckerberg’s moral compass is confused? Or is the Facebook privacy issue a moral issue at all? Explain.

Activity Suggestions

Texting Treasure Hunt:

In this exercise, there is one leader and a group of hunters. (For youth groups, I recommend there be an adult leader acting as the “leader” as well as another adult leader in the group of “hunters.”) The leader of this exercise must know the surrounding area well. To assist in delivering accurate directions, it may be helpful for the hunters to have  a GPS-enabled phone  while the leader tracks them via Google Latitude or a similar service.

The leader tells the group of hunters that he or she will be waiting for them somewhere nearby before suddenly leaving them. The hunters then petition text messages from the leader in order to help find their way. The leader may be as cryptic or simple as he or she desires.

After the hunters find the leader, they should explore how they felt during the exercise. Was it unnerving to be unaware of where they were headed? Was it reassuring to know that they could ask and receive directions whenever they needed it?

Closing Prayer

Dearest Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us along your pathways. Thank you for the reassurance you give us every day, through the remembrance of your great sacrifice, that we need never let our hearts be troubled. Amen.