- \n
- Describe one of the best parties you have ever experienced.\u00a0 Who or what was being celebrated?\u00a0 What made it such a great time?<\/li>\n
- Tell about a time when you were \u201clost,\u201d perhaps as a young child or maybe while you were driving.\u00a0 What was it like?\u00a0 How did it feel to be \u201cfound?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
When Children Go Missing<\/h3>\n
On July 26, Ariel Castro pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and rape over the long-term abductions and captivity of three women from Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 Michelle Knight was 21 years old when she disappeared in 2002.\u00a0 Amanda Berry was just 16 years old when she was abducted in 2003, and Georgina DeJesus only 14 years old when she disappeared in 2004. It wasn\u2019t until May 6 of this year that these women were rescued and reunited with their families.<\/p>\n
![\"shutterstock_59248933edit\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2013\/09\/shutterstock_59248933edit.jpg\")
<\/a>Around the same time that Ariel Castro\u2019s trial was concluding, national media attention was focused on the case of Hannah Anderson, a 16-year old who was kidnapped by James DiMaggio, a long-time family friend who also allegedly killed Hannah\u2019s mother and little brother.\u00a0 After a six-day, frantic multi-state search, Hannah was finally found and rescued, though DiMaggio was killed in the encounter. (See the link below for a collection of articles published by the Los Angeles Times on this story).\u00a0 http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/topic\/crime-law-justice\/crimes\/hannah-anderson-PEOCVC000313.topic?page=1&target=article<\/a><\/p>\nOf course, not all who are lost are abducted.\u00a0 Some \u201cwander\u201d away as in the case of two Michigan teens, Braxton Wood and Jayden Thomas.\u00a0 On August the 26 the pair took off in a Ford Explorer and, as of the writing of this Faith Lens<\/i>, have yet to be located.\u00a0 “It’s tough. It’s kind of crazy. You just can’t imagine not having your child in your house,” Ed Wood,\u00a0 Braxton\u2019s father, is quoted in a news article. “Or imagining life without your child,” said Sarah Kiley, his mother. (http:\/\/www.wnem.com\/story\/23295890\/isabella-co-missing-teens-parents-speak?hpt=us_bn9<\/a>)<\/p>\n
It is a parent\u2019s worst nightmare to have a child go missing, and often times it is only a hope against hope that sustains a family until the lost one is finally found.\u00a0 When that happens, there is great rejoicing which is exactly the point that Jesus makes in our gospel lesson.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Discussion Questions<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Have you ever lost something that was very important or precious to you?\u00a0 How did it feel?\u00a0 What did you do?\u00a0 Did you ever find it, and if so did you celebrate?<\/li>\n
- Read or sing the first verse of Amazing Grace.\u00a0 What kind of \u201clost\u201d do you think the author is talking about?\u00a0 Can you think of other ways in which people can either \u201cwander\u201d or be \u201clost\u201d?<\/li>\n
- Jesus used the word \u201cAbba\u201d when he prayed to God (Mark 14:36), and Paul indicates in his letters that the earliest Christians also addressed God as \u201cAbba\u201d in their prayers (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).\u00a0 Abba is a term of intimacy something along the lines of \u201cDearest Father\u201d or \u201cDaddy,\u201d without any sense of childishness associated with it.\u00a0 What does this suggest to you about the sort of relationship God longs to have with us? Is it easy for you to think of God is such a way?\u00a0 Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/h3>\n
Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 15, 2013 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)<\/h3>\n
Exodus 32:7-14<\/a><\/p>\n
1 Timothy 1:12-17<\/a><\/p>\n
Luke 15:1-10<\/a><\/p>\n
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. 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<\/a>.)<\/p>\n