Contributed by Jocelyn Breeland, Fairfax, VA

Warm-up Question

Would you make a good eyewitness?  Why?

Taking Notice

How perceptive are you?  In their book, The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons relate an experiment that sheds an interesting light on our ability to perceive events around us.

In the experiment, a man on a sidewalk in the middle of a college campus asks a pedestrian for directions to the library. While the pedestrian is giving directions, two other men approach carrying a door on their shoulders and, instead of walking around the first two men, they walk right between them, temporarily blocking the pedestrian’s view of the man to whom he was giving directions. At that moment, one of the men with the door switches places with the man who asked for directions, and resumes the conversation.

The pedestrian continues his directions, seemingly unaware of the change. In fact, although the original direction seeker and his replacement are wearing different clothes, differ in height by three inches, have different builds and noticeably different voices, nearly half of the subjects in the experiment failed to notice the switch.

This experiment highlights the phenomena of “change blindness.” We can miss even some pretty obvious changes in our environments when we aren’t expecting them.  This is just one of many ways in which our perception of the world around us can differ from reality. At any moment, our expectations, our previous experiences, our focus or lack thereof can have a dramatic effect on how we experience the world around us.

See this short video http://youtu.be/FWSxSQsspiQ of the Door Study in action.

[Note to Leaders: More videos from the research can be found here: http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html The Monkey Business Illusion (under two minutes’ duration) could be especially interesting when paired with this week’s Gospel message. Consider presenting it to the group.]

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think the pedestrian in the experiment didn’t notice the change in questioners?
• Being able to focus completely on a task has its advantages. Are there disadvantages?
• Have you had an experience where your memory of an event is different from that of someone else who was also there? Why do you think this happens?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 22, 2011 (Fifth Sunday of Easter)

Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

(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

Today’s Gospel message brings to mind the words of the Cheshire Cat of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. He told Alice if she didn’t know where she was going, it didn’t matter which way she went.

Jesus wants to make sure his followers understand where they’re going. The promise was not just new life after death, but rich, satisfying life with Jesus right now. Knowing Jesus had made this promise must have been a comfort to the disciples in the difficult times during their lives and ministry, and it is a comfort to us as well.

Like the disciples, we know our ultimate destination – a place in heaven with Jesus, where we know and are known perfectly. We even understand, in a general way, that the road which leads us there is the path of trusting God’s love and reflecting that love in a godly life. But the road takes us through some difficult territory, strewn with obstacles and distractions. It’s hard to be certain that each step we take is leading in the right direction.  That’s why Jesus calls us to focus on him, on the example of his life and the assurance of his love. If we focus on Jesus, it’s easy to follow the plan that God has for our lives. Jesus really is the way, the truth and the life. He is all we need.

Discussion Questions

• How might your understanding of Jesus’ words be different from that of the disciples?
• In your own experience, how has Jesus been the way, the truth and the life?
• In verse 12, Jesus says “…and greater works than these he will do.” What does he mean?
• Is it possible to focus too much on Jesus in your life?

Activity Suggestion

One of the great works of Christian spirituality is John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. In Bunyan’s allegorical novel, Christian, an everyman character, makes his way from his home town, City of Destruction, to the Celestial City.  Along the way he deals with various dangers, characters,  and distractions such as Mr. Worldly Wiseman, the Slough of Despond, and Giant Despair.  Draw your own map of the Christian journey, labeling the challenges which you see as most significant for someone in your context as a young adult.  For example you might put in an encounter with “Miss Babbling Twitter”, representing the temptation to spend all your time on superficial things.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to show us the way. Help us to keep our eyes on him and to follow the path you have laid out for each of us according to your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. 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 Jay McDivitt, Mequon, WI

Warm-up Question

What is one thing you have learned about “faith” from a grandparent and/or a parent?

Christian Kids Not Really Christian?

Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton and author of Almost Christian, argues that more and more young people in Christian churches are embracing a “watered-down,” and not really “Christian” faith – something she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism” (MTD). MTD doesn’t reject basic Christian beliefs, but it doesn’t really encourage them either. Instead, MTD affirms that “God” created the world and is available to help you feel better when you’re down, but otherwise stays out of the way. God wants us to be nice and happy.  The God of MTD says good people who go to heaven. While these may be common assumptions about faith, Dean argues, these are not the historic claims of the Christian faith.

Why are kids embracing this watered-down version of the faith? Primarily because no one is taking their faith development very seriously. While parents will bend over backwards to drag kids to tutors, coaches, practices, and games to make sure that they learn or even excel in algebra, hockey, dance, soccer, or piano, it seems the name of the game for religion is to “expose” kids to faith – and hope they soak something up. Far from the radical commitments of the first disciples, many Christian churches assume that kids are doing well if they make a few good friends at youth group, have fun at camp, learn how to be nice, and avoid premarital sex or illegal drugs.

The problem lies mostly with parents, Dean argues: Too many parents don’t understand themselves why the Christian faith makes any real difference in their lives or in the world. They get “nice” and “good” – and, perhaps, “pure.” But they either didn’t grow up in the church or they were taught the same watered-down version of the faith.

What to do about it? The jury is still out. Many see a new passion growing among young people who want a faith that matters in a world that seems to be off balance. Others see an increasing decline in Christianity in North America that will bring faith practice here to the same low levels seen in Europe for decades.  One thing is for sure: Dean has started a conversation which will continue for some time as churches, parents, and young people wrestle with what it means to be Christian in the 21^st century.

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of Dean’s suggestion that Christianity has become mostly a religion of “nice” and “happy” people?  Does this sound like the Christian faith you see at church or in your home? Why or why not?
• Other than being “nice” and “happy” – and praying to God when you need help – what does it mean to you to be a Christian? What’s the real Christian faith, if the version Dean talks about is fake?
• When you think about the future, how do you want the next generation of kids (your kids or your friends’ kids) to learn about being Christians? What would you do differently from what you’re experiencing at home and at church today? What would you do the same?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, October 3, 2010 (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

(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 disciples ask Jesus to “increase our faith!” How many of us have asked the same thing? When we read about tragedies around the world—or experience them ourselves in cancer, car accidents, or parents losing jobs—it’s hard for a lot of us to believe that God is real and doing good in the world. Faith gets rocked all the time, especially in the confusing and changing and crazy years of the teens and twenties.

Jesus’ response to this very normal request is surprising and a little bizarre: “If you had just a teeny-tiny bit of faith, you could move mountains.” Assuming none of us has ever told a mountain to move and had it obey, this seems like a rather strange exaggeration. Not all that helpful, at least on the surface.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe what Jesus is saying is that the amount of faith isn’t what matters. We sometimes say “That woman is really faithful; she does x, y, and z for the church.” or, “I wish I could have faith like that guy; he’s always got the right answers.” That makes faith all about us—about how often we go to church, when and how we pray, what we do or don’t do on Friday night or Sunday morning, or how many Christian t-shirts or pieces of jewelry we wear. But if faith is all about us, then not only are we off track, we’re doomed.

That’s what is dangerous about the “almost Christian” faith that Dean describes. It’s all about us.  Faith becomes how we feel, about how nice we are – and God only enters the picture when we have a problem that we can’t fix. Then we pray “help me!” and hope God will show up and do something.

But that’s not what faith is all about. Faith is the hope that God has planted in us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith is the trust that God didn’t just create the world—and occasionally shows up to fix things when we ask for help—but rather, God is turning the whole world upside down and inside out. God is the one moving mountains, destroying death, forgiving sin, healing divisions, and changing lives. Faith is the gift God gives us to see that “this is most certainly true” and the encouragement to tell the world about what we have seen.

Believing that God is turning the world upside down means that we will see, live, and talk differently. It means we will question more about “the way things are” and believe more about what God is doing. And it means we will have to practice seeing, speaking, and living the faith. Christian faith is a sheer gift, but it does not come naturally; it comes with practice. And practice takes patience and time.

That’s why it is so important for us to listen to our ancestors. Part of the problem of “MTD” is that it is all about “here and now” – it’s about my issues and my life. But Christianity is about the Beginning and the End; it’s about how Jesus is the first and last Word in creation. And that message has been given to us by those who have gone before us. The reading from 2 Timothy is a great example: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you…Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.”

By the gift of baptism, we have living in us the same faith that was given to our parents, our grandparents, and all those who have gone before us. It is solid stuff which makes bold claims about the past, present, and future of creation that go way beyond being “nice” or “happy.” And it is ours to live, to grow in, and to pass on to those who come after us. Since we believe that we “rely on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to God’s own purpose and grace,” we know that whatever we do with this gift, God will keep on giving it to us and to our grandchildren, now and forever. And thanks be to God for that.

Discussion Questions

• What is different about what your grandparents believed and what you believe? If your answer is “not a lot,” why? If it’s “a lot,” what do you think created the difference?
• When have you ever wished for “more faith”? What happened?
• What difference does Jesus actually make in your life? In your parents’ lives? In the life of your church?

Activity Suggestions

• Arrange for a few older members of the church to come and talk about thier faith life. What was confirmation like for them? Did they ever leave the church? Why or why not? What do they think is the most important thing for young people to learn about Jesus and/or the church? [Perhaps this is a good time to pair each youth with an older adult for a mentoring/prayer partner relationship, if you don’t have one already.]
• Make a “faith family tree.” Have them draw their family trees – including non-“family” members (such as godparents, etc.). Identify what each person did (or didn’t) teach them about Jesus and the Christian life.
• Write a letter to your kids/grandkids/godkids/nieces/nephews. Whatever you imagine for your future in terms of relating to the next generation, pick a kid that you will someday be responsible for. Write them a letter about what you want them to know, learn, and experience as a child of God.

Closing Prayer

God of our ancestors: you have planted in each of us the seed of faith. Help us to grow in a deep and meaningful relationship with you. Teach us the important stuff, and strengthen us to pass it on to those who come after us. Thank you for all the faithful people who have gone before us and for giving us faith, especially when it’s hard to believe. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Contributed by Scott Mims, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Virginia Beach, VA 

Warm Up Question

 As a group list your answers to the following: 

• When you think about the world today and about your future, what are some of the things that make you most anxious or afraid? 
• What are some of the things that make you most optimistic or hopeful? 

Evil at Work?

On June 2, 2010, something went terribly wrong in the life of Derrick Bird.  Bird, a taxi driver, drove his taxi down England’s northwest coast on a three and a half-hour shooting spree that left 12 people dead and 25 others injured before turning his gun on himself.  Many of the shootings appear to have been completely random.  This rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain’s deadliest since 1996, and is especially shocking in a nation where such events are very rare. 

Although the actions of Derrick Bird have deeply shaken the surrounding community, the reasons behind his behavior remain guesses at best.  Like other such attacks, investigators are able to piece together possible factors, symptoms, and signs, but only after the fact.  How then can we understand such things?  Are such seemingly random yet devastating events, as one commentator put it, the acts of greatly disturbed people “gripped by uncontrollable primitive urges,” or are they evidence of the forces of evil at work? 

Discussion Questions

•  Do you believe in the existence of unseen evil forces at work in the world and in people’s lives?  If so, what evidence is there that suggests you are right?  If not, why not?
• Do you believe we have “free will?” What place does human choice play in the events of the world that we would call evil or wrong?  What are some of the circumstances, factors, or situations that might not leave people free to choose?
• Regarding what makes you most anxious of fearful for the future, what part, if any, do random uncontrollable events such as terrorism or war play?
• Regarding what makes you most optimistic or hopeful, did you include God on your list?  Why or why not? 

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, June 20, 2010 (Fourth Sunday After Pentecost)

Isaiah 65:1-9 

Galatians 3:23-29 

Luke 8:26-39 

  (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

 Our gospel lesson this week might well be entitled, “Dialoguing with Demons,” as Jesus confronts the forces of evil at work in the life of a man in the non-Jewish territory of Gerasa. Having recognized Jesus for who he is, the “Son of the Most High God,” the unclean spirits (for it turns out that there are many) submit to Jesus’ command to come out of the man, begging Jesus not to send them back to the abyss but, rather, to allow them to enter into a large herd of pigs nearby.  Jesus gives them permission to do so and the pigs are destroyed.  The man, on the other hand, is made well. 

So what is the miracle here?  How we understand it may have to do with our worldview.  That the man’s behavior is abnormal is not in doubt.  However, the cause behind his actions is.   For many modern readers the surprise in this story is its talk about demons and unclean spirits.  We are perhaps uncomfortable thinking in terms of unseen forces of evil being at work in people’s lives.  Scientific and psychological approaches to this event are much more comfortable for us, and so it is not surprising that many modern interpreters equate the “demons” of this story with some form of mental illness.  The miracle, then, is Jesus’ ability to heal a mentally ill man, restoring him completely to his right mind, something that even the wonders of our modern medical science are often unable to do. 

The surprise in this story for people from earlier times may well have been different.  For them, the existence of evil powers was not in doubt.  What is extraordinary here is the universality of Jesus’ power.  Jesus has, in effect, entered enemy territory.  Yet even here, he has the power to heal, save, and to defeat the powers of darkness with a word.  Not only does Jesus’ ability to defeat evil on its home turf confirm his identity as “Son of the Most High God,” it also demonstrates that God’s saving and healing love are for everyone – Jews and Gentiles alike. 

But there is yet another surprise in this story.  Those who witness these things and the people that they go and tell do not react with joy and thanksgiving over what Jesus has done.  Having seen the power of God at work, they all ask Jesus to leave—all except the man who was healed.  He begs Jesus that he might be with him.  Jesus instead tells the man to go back to his family, friends, and community and to share with any who will listen how much God had done for him.  “So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.” 

Discussion Questions

• Given your discussion on the presence of evil and the two different perspectives offered in the reflections above, what do you think is the most important point this story makes?  If you were to share it with a friend, what would you say about it?
• How do you feel about Jesus’ power as God’s Son to bring healing and renewed life to people? What does this gospel lesson say about Jesus’ ability to deal with some of the “darkness” and the issues or problems in your own life? 
• How important to your faith is it to hear what Jesus has done in the lives of other people?  In terms of being able to share the gospel with those do not know about Jesus, how important is it to begin with being able to share Jesus among ourselves?

Suggested Resource:  The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: a fun yet perceptive take on the forces of evil at work in our daily lives.  

 Activity Suggestions

• Remember your baptism!  Use parts of the Affirmation of Baptism service from Evangelical Lutheran Worship to remind one another of God’s saving and redeeming love in Jesus Christ, and of the Spirit’s renewing power.  Notice, too, the “renunciation of the forces of evil” which begins the Profession of Faith.  You might gather around a bowl of water, blessing one another with the sign of the cross, or, if available, around the baptismal font.
• Share the faith.  How have you seen God at work in your life?  In the world?  Share your personal faith stories of with one another.  Perhaps have an older member of your church or faith community through whom you see God’s presence come and share their faith story.
• Pray for the world.   Using newspaper our other articles that highlight situations of evil and need in your community and in the wider-world, pray together for these needs and for the lives of the people involved.

 Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, as you overcame the forces of evil and darkness and brought healing to many, so deliver us and our world from all that would overcome us. In the power of your Spirit, heal and renew us that we may with good courage and great joy share all that God has done for us.  Amen.

Contributed by Jack Saarela, Lutheran Campus Pastor, Yale University 

Warm-up Question

It is much harder to see spelling and punctuation mistakes in something you have written than in it is to see the same mistakes in someone else’s work.  Why do you think that is? 

Blind Spots

Mark Horvath is a denizen of social media. He tells of a homeless man on Hollywood Boulevard who thought he was invisible. One day a kid handed the man a Christian pamphlet. The homeless man was shocked and amazed, “What?! You can see me? How can you see me? I’m invisible!” 

It isn’t hard to comprehend this man’s spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist. “It’s not that people are bad,” Horvath says, “but if we make eye contact, then we have to admit that they exist, and that we might have a basic human need to care. It’s so much easier to close our eyes and shield our hearts from their existence.” 

By way of invisible-people-tv, Horvath uses the lens of a television camera to tell the stories of homelessness and the organizations trying to help. His stated purpose is to make the invisible visible 

Discussion Questions

• When you have encountered a homeless person on the streets of the town or city where you live, have you found yourself looking the other way? Can you say why? Does Horvath’s explanation above ring a bell?
• Talk about a time when you looked at someone you thought you knew well, but at that moment, you felt as though you were seeing him or her for the very first time.
• Have you yourself ever been in a situation where you felt invisible, as if everyone was looking past you and not seeing you? Say some more about it.

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, June 6, 2010 (Second Sunday After Pentecost)

1 Kings 17:17-24 

Galatians 1:11-24 

Luke 7:11-17 

(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

The woman in this gospel episode has at least two strikes against her, with the third one not far away. She is a widow, meaning, of course, that she has lost a husband. Now she is in a funeral procession behind the body of her only son. She has she lost two people whom she loves, and because in her society (as in many yet today), a woman is totally dependent for economic support on a male to whom she is bound (father, husband, brother-in-law, or son), she now has no means to live. 

One miracle that Jesus performs in this episode is the one identified by the heading for this text in the Oremus Bible Browser: “Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain.”  It’s true; he does, and to give new life to the dead is miracle enough. 

But what strikes me as at least as great a miracle is that out of the midst of the large crowd that came to meet Jesus and his disciples when they entered the town, Jesus should actually see this woman. To be sure, she is in a funeral procession. But in a land where death was regular visitor, a funeral procession would not be as noticeable as it is in our day. 

This woman is very ordinary, and now rendered absolutely powerless and helpless by tragedy in her life. I wonder how many in the crowd looked past her as they rushed to the town gates to see this phenom Jesus who was arriving. But Jesus brought both the crowd’s advance and the funeral procession itself to a halt by seeing the woman, taking notice of her–not only acknowledging her existence, but also addressing her grief and dire economic plight by returning to her the life of her son. 

It’s reminiscent of the New Testament story which is just about every child’s favorite.  Zaccheus climbs up into a tree in order to see Jesus, but is, as it turns out, seen by Jesus, and his life transformed as a result (Luke 19:1-10). There’s real power to heal and raise the dead in Jesus’ sight. 

Discussion Questions

• Can you think of incidents in the gospels where Jesus performs the miracle of giving sight to someone? What role do you think having sight has in the life of a disciple of Jesus? 
• Talk about a time when you were challenged to see someone else’s need in a new way. Did your insight move you to respond to that person’s need in any way? 
• Are there individuals or groups of person who may be “invisible” at your church? Who is missing? Who is there, but hardly ever noticed? 

Activity Suggestions

• Watch a story or two of homeless persons at: http://www.squidoo.com/invisiblepeopletv
•  Pause for a few minutes to reflect on that person’s story. Then write your thoughts in the comments section, or e-mail them to a friend and send them the link to the site.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, healer of our every ill, we thank you for looking upon us and seeing us in all our complexity and need. Heal our vision that we may be able to see others as you see them. Amen.