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 Brian Hiortdahl, Chicago, IL 

Warm-up Question

Who are your role models?  Name two of your role models, one you know personally, one you do not.  Why do you admire them? 

Should We Identify Ourselves With This Guy

He did what? Oh, yuck!

Popular and accomplished golfer Tiger Woods has remained in the headlines in recent months after a strange car accident in front of his home led to the disclosure that he has been unfaithful to his wife on multiple occasions with several different women.  Woods took a four month leave of absence from competitive golf to work on repairing his damaged personal life.  These developments caused his many corporate sponsors to question their partnerships with Woods and whether to continue to employ him to market their products.  A handful of sponsors have stuck with him, while many have severed ties, deeming it no longer favorable to connect their companies with his now tarnished image. 

Corporate marketers have analyzed why they associated with Tiger Woods and what message their identification with him was intended to project.  Accenture Consulting, which aligned with Woods to promote its reputation of integrity (with excellent results), decided not to continue using him in its ad campaigns.  Nike, meanwhile, has chosen to retain him as a spokesman, as his athletic prowess trumps his troubled personal life for Nike’s product line and target demographic–people who are seeking shoes and sports equipment rather than guidance in making decisions. 

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/ben-roethlisberger-tiger-woods-nike-flee/story?id=10375523&page=1 

 Discussion Questions

• What is your opinion of Tiger Woods?  What is your basis for that opinion? 
• When should a person’s private life be a “deal-breaker” for public and professional relationships?
• If money were not an issue, would you hire Tiger Woods to be a spokesman for your faith community?  Why or why not?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 2, 2010 (Fifth Sunday of Easter)

• Acts 11:1-18
• Revelation 21:1-6
• John 13:31-35

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.) 

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

Gospel Reflection

Jesus tells his disciples exactly how people will identify them with him—by seeing their love for one another.  The Greek word for “love” that Jesus uses is agape, which is complete and unconditional love, love with deep loyalty and without limits.  This is a serving and suffering love, which Jesus himself demonstrates to them, first, by washing their feet (earlier in chapter 13) and then by dying on the cross.  It is this death on the cross that is Jesus’ “glorification.”  Doesn’t seem very glorious to me. 

Jesus’ new commandment to love as he has loved them leaves the disciples in a position not unlike Tiger Woods’ corporate sponsors:  do they really want to identify with this guy?  When Jesus washed Simon Peter’s feet, Peter objected; later that night he would deny Jesus three times.  Judas never heard this gospel conversation because he had already decided to walk out and betray him.   Only one of these male disciples is left with Jesus by the time he is hanging from the cross (read John 19).  When writing later about that death, Saint Paul used the Greek word from which we get the word “scandal.” (1 Cor. 1:23)  In the eyes of the world around him, Jesus looked powerless and pathetic, an executed criminal humbled by the Romans after he humbled himself by washing the disciples’ feet like a faceless slave.  What American corporation would approach this Jesus to be their spokesman?  What disciple would stick around and follow him to such a bitter end?  Which of us is willing to love at such a cost? 

We often sing and speak about Jesus’ glory, but do we really imagine what it looks like?  We wax poetic about true love.  We identify ourselves as Christians, often with the sign of the cross.  But in our culture, the cross is usually a lovely gold necklace instead of a torture tool, bling not black eye.  To wash feet was shameful, and to die on a cross was worse.  We, so concerned about our cred, our image and our reputation, can scarcely imagine being so concerned about others.  We have a much different idea of glory.  Yet this is Jesus’ brazen invitation to us, to love one another as he loved us.  

Discussion Questions

• What about Jesus attracts you, and what about Jesus scares you?
• Does Jesus threaten your image?  How are you tempted to deny being identified with Jesus?
• Is there someone you find difficult to love?  How might you serve them?  What might you actively do to love them even if you don’t feel like it?
• How would people know that you are a disciple of Jesus?

Activity Suggestions

Write a letter to one or both of your role models (identified in the warm-up question). Thank them for being a blessing in your life and tell them why you admire them and how they remind you of Jesus. 

Closing Prayer

Loving Jesus, open our eyes until we can see true glory.  Open our hearts until they are wide enough to embrace you and to love one another.  Open our hands until we can serve with the true love that you have commanded and shown us.  Amen

Contributed by Daniel Wiessner, Tacoma, Wash.

Warm-up Question

Have you ever done something that you knew was dangerous?  Why did you do it?  Some possibilities: peer pressure, standing up for a friend, pride in your own accomplishments, just for the thrill.

Accepting the Challenge

A number of sports carry hazards. (Football comes to mind.) This year’s Winter Olympics reminds us of the inherent dangers of a person traveling at 90 miles per hour. The luge track at the Whistler Sliding Center, in British Columbia, was touted as the fastest course around, but speed and a small misstep in practice proved fatal for Georgian Olympian, Nodar Kumaritashvili.

While the only other luge-related death in the Olympics was way back in 1964, Kumaritashvili’s death has raised the more general issue of athletes’ safety in professional sport competitions such as the Olympics.

Kumaritashvili had apparently expressed concerns about the safety of this particular track, but he, like his fellow sliders, took on the risk. In the same way, we all accept challenges which pose some sort of danger, be it social, emotional, or even the possibility of physical harm. Even with the risk, the goal of succeeding in our ventures drives our ambition to go for the gold.

Article source:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/15/winter.sports.dangerous/index.html

Discussion Questions

1. Do you know anyone who has ever been hurt in a sport? Do you think the growing intensity of sports today makes them too dangerous?
2. If the chances of serious injury (or even death!) from participating in your favorite leisure time activity increased 5%, would you still do it? 15%? 40%?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 28, 2010 (Second Sunday of Lent)

(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.

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35

Gospel Reflection

In the gospel lesson this week, Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem and begin the climax of the Gospel story.  The Pharisees are warning Jesus about Herod. This is the same Herod who, not long before, was responsible for the death of John the Baptist. Rather than turning tail, however, Jesus gave the messengers another message to deliver: Jesus was going to cure illness and cast out demons like he had been doing the whole time, and then “on the third day” (soon) he will finish his work. Finish his work? Jesus knew exactly what was coming. In the church year, this journey to Jerusalem marks the beginning of the season of Lent, and on Good Friday Jesus will give his life to pay for the sins of the whole world.

Athletes may train their entire lives with dreams of competing at the Olympic Games, despite the dangers of their craft. Similarly, Jesus’ life of selfless acts of saving and healing culminates with his trip to Jerusalem. In the same way that past hazards had not changed his message or direction, Jesus would not be swayed by warnings about a murderous Herod. Athletes risk life and limb for a shot at the gold; Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing that he would give himself as the ultimate sacrifice for us all.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of your personal goals? What are you doing to reach them? What “dangers” are you facing in your pursuit of these goals?
2. Have you ever walked into a situation knowing that it wasn’t going to end well, but also knowing that good was going to come out of it?

Activity Suggestion

Talk to someone you know and greatly respect. Ask what hurdles he or she crossed in order to accomplish major life goals.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the talents you have given us, and our ability to meet life’s tough challenges head-on. Please watch us and keep us safe as we venture through this week. Amen.

Contributed by Scott A. Moore

Warm-up Question

When have you ever helped someone who was “stuck?”

Preparing a Way for Spirit

The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) along with Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) and some partners from other countries around the world have been working diligently to find a way out for a stuck Mars rover named Spirit. Spirit has been stuck for over six months now in an area where the ground is made up of very fine, soft sand. The six wheels (one of them has not been working properly for quite a while now) cannot seem to get the traction needed to move forward in any significant way. NASA is not giving up on Spirit, which along with its twin, Opportunity, has continued to function well for five years longer than the originally planned mission of three months. Teams here on earth are working with sample rovers in artificially created environments trying to recreate the actual conditions in order to find the perfect solution…to find a way out. Some of the attempts range from trying various wheel directions and speeds, to having Spirit try to dig itself out with its robotic arms. Just before the Thanksgiving Day weekend, Spirit was commanded to move its wheels forward. NASA indicated that the rover completed a spin which should have equaled a total of 13 feet. The rover actually only moved 0.2 inches forward, 0.1 inches to the left, and 0.1 inches further down into the sand.

To follow the story   http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html

• Is it worth the time and effort for NASA to get Spirit unstuck?
• When should someone call it quits and move on?
• Have you ever wanted to help someone else get “unstuck?” If you tried to do something, how did that go?
• What kinds of situations frustrate you the most?
• When have you been “stuck” in a situation where someone else kept trying to help you?
• Where in your life, in your congregation’s life, could you use a little “push” to move forward?
• Who are the people in your life, who are usually able to help you move forward?
• How are they able to help you best?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, December 6, 2009 (Second Sunday of Advent)

(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.

• Malachi 3:1-4
• Luke 1:68-79 (78)
• Philippians 1:3-11
• Luke 3:1-6

Gospel Reflection

In the sandy Judean desert, a voice communicates a message of action. The word of God comes to John, son of Zechariah and cousin of a man named Jesus of Nazareth. John is called to go and preach a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The voice of the prophet Isaiah is quoted as the guiding principle of what John is doing. He is preparing the way of the Lord. He is making the Lord’s paths straight. Valleys filled, mountains and hills brought low. Crooked made straight and rough made smooth. He is eliminating every possible barrier between the Lord and the world. 

 A “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” This seems to be the method to remove every barrier. Repentance seems to be the manner of preparing the way of the Lord. Repentance often sounds to us like simply saying sorry. There is certainly an emotional part to repentance but it is much, much more than that. Repentance in the New Testament is based on a word which means “to change one’s mind.” Repentance is seeing things in a new way, turning towards that new way, and living in that new way.  John’s baptism of repentance is a calling, and a gift of God. It is a call to be washed and set on a new path. It is a call to conversion. This call to repentance is a setting of our thoughts and actions in the Lord’s direction. Not only are we to be turned toward him, but we are to be turned to face the same direction our Lord faces.

Repentance means having our minds turned away from ourselves and our often selfish ways and to be shaped by God’s mind. It is seeing the world with God’s eyes. Perceiving and acting in love for the world and for our neighbor.

Being turned in repentance seems like an easy task. John called for a once and for all repentance. Our reality is often much different than that. We are often called by the voice of God to turn in the right direction, but find ourselves stuck and only able to move in tiny increments.  Or, we try so hard to turn ourselves that we overshoot our goal. God is very patient with us. Again and again God calls us to the way. A way of love, a way of sacrifice, a way of Christ.

Our repentance—never perfect, and never permanent—locates us in the central drama of Advent:  preparing the way of the Lord. In the world, and in our real lives. To that we can only say—“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

• What does God’s “way” look like?
• When are you most comfortable living in that “way?”
• When have you had real difficulties seeing things with a godly mind?
• When have you been successful at getting temporarily unstuck?
• What helps you in your own “changing of your mind” or repentance?
• What makes it difficult for you?
• Who helps you to repent?

Activities

Preparing the Way of the Lord for Others
Here is a list of ideas your group might try in order to prepare the way of the Lord for others:

1. Write and deliver invitations for Christmas worship to people you know are not part of a faith community.
2. Think about the things in your congregational community which might create barriers between the world and the Lord.  Take some action to “smooth” them out!
3. How can you visually help members of your congregation to prepare as they come to worship (sidewalk chalk sayings/Bible verses that address people as they come to church, posters and signs that do the same thing, maybe even a play on various traffic signs: one way, yield, stop…around various locations in church like the baptismal font, altar, pulpit, etc.)?
4. Can your group serve as the greeters in worship, helping worshipers “get ready?”
5. Could you literally “roll out the red carpet” (a saying which communicates a generous and honor-filled welcome) in your worship space, or outside your church as a symbol of the way we walk toward God.  Or, roll it out from worship into the world?

Preparing the Way of the Lord for Ourselves
Perhaps your group could write some prayers for yourselves and for other individuals in the congregation to pray at home as a preparation for worship. These could be thematic, scriptural, or guided by the church year. See Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) and Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) for examples.

Closing Prayer

God of mercy, God of strength. We have so often walked a different path than the one you want us to walk. We need your guidance. Turn our minds to be like yours. Guide our steps. Lead us by your grace. We pray in our Lord Jesus’ name. Amen

Contributed by Connor Early (10th grade student), Clive, IA
and Angie Larson, Clive, Iowa

Warm-up Question:  What would you do to help people in need? Are there limits to what you would do?

Jorge Munoz may sound like the name of a typical New Yorker, but he is much more than that. He is a school bus driver! But more importantly, Jorge Munoz, 44, has supplied over 70,000 meals to the homeless over the past four years.

Every night he pulls up in his white pickup truck and unloads as many as 140 meals with hot food, coffee, and hot chocolate. Both food and gas costs are estimated to be about $400-450 a week, which he pays for with his $700 a week paycheck. People of all backgrounds come to receive a meal, usually their first and only for the day.

Jorge says that seeing these people remind him of when he first arrived in America in the 1980’s. He was born in Columbia and his father had died when he was young. His mother had moved to Brooklyn to earn money to support him and his sister, and he soon followed. He achieved citizenship with his mother and sister in 1976. He stood on the streets not looking for work, but as an immigrant, much like the people he serves.

Jorge began his now non-profit meal program in the summer of 2004, naming it “An Angel in Queens, Inc.” His work has consumed much of his time, money, and space, but he or his sister carries the work on every night of the year. When asked why he spends so much time helping people he doesn’t even know, he replied:

“I have a stable job, my mom, my family, a house… everything I want, I have. And these guys [don’t]. So I just think, ‘OK, I have the food.’ At least for today they’re going to have a meal to eat.”

Discussion Questions

1. How is Jorge helping to make a difference in the world? What steps is he taking to reduce hunger?
2. How do you think the people feel towards Jorge’s generosity? What is something they might say to him?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 29, 2009. (first day of Advent)

(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.

• Jeremiah 33:14-16
• Psalm 25:1-10 (1)
• 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
• Luke 21:25-36

Scripture Reflection

In the 1st Thessalonians text, Paul writes about increasing and abounding in love. In Luke, we are reminded to not be weighed down by the worries of this life. Both texts spread news about living a life of abundance instead of a life of scarcity. Often we think that we do not have enough. We do not have enough money. We do not have enough material goods. We do not have enough of whatever it takes to fill our need or want.

The good news is that love abounds and God provides. Jesus tells us that the kingdom is near. The kingdom is within us.

In the Gospel, we are warned against things that lead to a life of scarcity. Jesus tells us to look out for those things that get in the way of living the abundant life that God has planned for our lives. When we look at life as short and precious as it is, we can adopt an attitude of gratefulness; abounding in love.

Jorge Munoz adopts this way of life. He does not let his career as a bus driver or that he’s an immigrant keep him from giving in abundance. Instead, he realizes that he has much to give from his abundance. He is not weighed down by what he lacks, but gives from what he has. We can do the same.

Discussion Questions

1. In what area of your life do you feel like you have scarcity? What is scarcity?
2. Realistically, do you think you would be like Jesus, James and John, or the other ten disciples?

Learn more about: 

• Service and mission opportunities for youth and young adults
• Justice and peace resources for youth
• Make It Simple resource about simplicity and generosity
• ELCA World Hunger 
• Just For Life ELCA Outdoor Ministry Curriculum

Activity Suggestion

Everything I have

Ask your group to write down everything that they own all over a huge piece of paper. Or do it as a huge collage of photos, pictures, and drawings.

1. Step back and look at all the things listed.
2. What’s your first impression?
3. What are your first thoughts about your life, generosity, need, decisions you make, lifestyle, and how you will live life?

Closing Prayer

Blessed Savior, thank you for serving us. Help us to remember to serve others. We know that at times we look towards power and prestige; we ask you to help us redirect ourselves during those times. Bless those who serve others with their lives. Enable us to learn and live extraordinary lives of service. In your name we pray. Amen.