{"id":9675,"date":"2023-02-28T08:02:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T13:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=9675"},"modified":"2023-02-27T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T20:52:40","slug":"march-5-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/march-5-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"March 5, 2023&#8211;Survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Steven Alloway, Granada Hills, CA<\/b><\/p>\n<h4><b>Warm-up Question<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Have you ever been in a seemingly hopeless situation, then been given a second chance?<\/p>\n<h4><b>Survivors<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>When a building collapses, there\u2019s an estimated 48-hour window during which trapped victims might be rescued. More generous estimates expand that to five or six days, maximum. Beyond that, the odds of survival decrease significantly. But after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey on February 6<sup>th<\/sup>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/02\/18\/health\/turkey-quake-rescues\">rescue teams were still pulling survivors from the rubble nearly 10 days later!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-9687 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676-524x350.jpg 524w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/iStock-615424676.jpg 1254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One 13 year old boy, Mustafa, was trapped for 228 hours. \u201cI have no clue how he survived,\u201d said rescue worker U\u011fur Sevgin. \u201cBecause as the excavator was in operation, there was more debris falling all around\u2026 Then from the rubble, we got him out, digging him out by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rescue worker \u00d6zer Aydinli added, \u201cWhen [they] said, \u2018We found a person alive,\u2019 we thought, \u2018No, they must be hallucinating.\u2019 We couldn\u2019t believe it. But it is a miracle. The only thing we can say is that this is a great miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><b>Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Why do you think rescue workers have been able to find these survivors so far past the 48-hour window?<\/li>\n<li>Do you think the survivors\u2019 lives will be different going forward? How do you think Mustafa and the others will choose to live, having so narrowly escaped death?<\/li>\n<li>If you were trapped somewhere and feared there was no hope of rescue, what would you regret not doing? What\u2019s the first thing you would do once you were rescued?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Second Sunday in Lent<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=544078389\">Genesis 12:1-4a<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=544078422\">Romans 4:1-5, 13-17<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=544078462\">John 3:1-17 <\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Text links are to <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/\">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 A at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elca.org\/Our-Work\/Congregations-and-Synods\/Worship\/Lectionary\/YearA\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\">Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n<h4><b>Gospel Reflection<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>This has to be one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. John 3:16 is one of the first verses most of us learn and we can recite it by heart. But what does it really mean? More importantly, what does it mean in the context of the rest of the passage? Well, there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s become one of the core teachings of Christianity: because the stakes are life and death.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When Nicodemus comes to Jesus, hoping to learn from him, Jesus tells him something puzzling: \u201cYou must be born again.\u201d An old man can\u2019t go back into his mother\u2019s womb, can he? But Jesus clarifies that this new birth isn\u2019t a physical one, but one of water and the Spirit. Nicodemus remains confused, but to us, the message is clear: Following Jesus means much more than just seeking guidance from a wise teacher. It means having an entirely new life.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus continues the new life imagery in a different way when he references Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. In Numbers 21, God sends venomous snakes into the Israelite camp, as punishment for their latest round of blasphemy. Many are bitten and dying.<\/p>\n<p>But then God tells Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Any of the Israelites who look at the bronze snake won\u2019t die, but will instead be healed. In using this analogy, Jesus demonstrates the stakes \u00a0to Nicodemus. Without being born again of water and the Spirit, we will surely die.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that we don\u2019t have to. Just as Moses lifted up a snake on a pole to save the Israelites, Jesus was also lifted up\u2014on the cross. And if we look to the cross and believe in him, then we too can be saved from death. \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><b>Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Nicodemus was a Pharisee. In light of how some Pharisees viewed Jesus, what do you think it meant for Nicodemus that he went to seek guidance from Jesus? Do you think visiting him was a tough decision?<\/li>\n<li>Part of being given new life means leaving your old life behind. What are some aspects of your old life that you need to leave in the past, in order to follow Jesus?<\/li>\n<li>Like Mustafa and the other survivors pulled from the rubble in Turkey, how will you choose to live going forward, knowing that you too have escaped death?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><b>Activity Suggestions<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Read the story of Moses and the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:4-9. Make a list of the ways the story mirrors our salvation from sin.<\/p>\n<h4><b>Closing Prayer<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Lord Jesus, help us to turn from our old lives and fully embrace our new lives in you. Grant that we may always look to the cross, so that when death comes to us, we can be assured of eternal life. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steven Alloway, Granada Hills, CA Warm-up Question Have you ever been in a seemingly hopeless situation, then been given a second chance? Survivors When a building collapses, there\u2019s an estimated 48-hour window during which trapped victims might be rescued. More generous estimates expand that to five or six days, maximum. Beyond that, the odds of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>March 5, 2023-Survivors - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/march-5-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"March 5, 2023-Survivors - Faith Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steven Alloway, Granada Hills, CA Warm-up Question Have you ever been in a seemingly hopeless situation, then been given a second chance? 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