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February 13-20, 2008

Body builders pluck car out of ditch

Warm-up Question:

What do you think is the most amazing thing human beings have accomplished so far?

 

A group of 10 body-builders from a German gym took a break from their normal training routine to help a driver whose car was stuck in a ditch.

The men were training at a fitness studio in Bad Zwischenahn near the western city of Oldenburg when the 38-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle, veered into a meadow and plunged the front of his car into 6 foot deep ditch alongside the road.

"They dropped their sweat towels and water bottles and ran over the road to the crash site," a police spokesman explained. "They then heaved the car out of the ditch. It only took them a few minutes."

The grateful driver joined the men at the fitness studio bar and treated them to a round of energy drinks, the police spokesman said.

While this car moving feat sounds impressive, consider some other amazing feats of human strength and accomplishment:

  • England's John Evans balanced a 352 pound Mini car on his head for 33 seconds in 1999. John himself weighs in at 343 pounds and has a 24-inch neck that’s the only part of his body strong enough to take such immense weights.
  • David Huxley pulled a Boeing 747 jet, weighing 184 tons, a distance of 298.5 feet in 1 minute and 27.7 seconds on October 15, 1997 in Australia.
  • In 2002, Tanya Streeter completed a free dive of 525 feet into the ocean—a length equivalent to a 50-story building—on a single breath of air, setting a new record.
  • Between 1969 and 1972, 12 astronauts explored the moon for a total of 166 hours spent on the moon’s surface. The average distance from the earth to the moon is 238,857 miles.

 

Discussion Questions

  1. 10 sweaty body builders picking up a car… what a sight that must have been! What would have been even more impressive to you?
  2. Name as many as you can of the amazing and seemingly impossible human achievements that have occurred throughout history. (Make a list on newsprint.) Which one is most amazing to you, so far?
  3. What still seems to be beyond human understanding or achievement right now in the world or universe, but is worth trying to accomplish? Why is it worth the effort?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 17, 2008.
(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 A at Lectionary Readings.)

Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121 (1,2)
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17

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

Gospel Reflection
Nicodemus is very confused by the teachings of Jesus and probably about the flurry of rumors and stories circulating around Jesus. Nicodemus and others were very familiar with the laws and instructions that God and religious leaders handed down over the centuries before Jesus. They were pretty clear about how to please God and what you had to do to be accepted into the kingdom of God. It may not have been easy to follow—in fact, pretty darn impossible—but it was logical and clear. You do this, and this will happen. Burn a certain kind of sacrifice, worship on a certain day, dress this way, act this way, eat certain things, never do this, always do that. Pretty logical stuff. You read the laws and teachings and you think to yourself, “Yeah, I can do most of this. I understand.” A follows B follows C, just like a math formula.

Then Jesus comes into the picture and everything suddenly seems up-side-down and confusing. Jesus talks about being born again, the Spirit and water, believing in invisible things, saving the world, and receiving eternal life just by having faith in him. What seemed logical and complicated before is now described as simple and, yet, baffling. Now A does not follow B does not follow C. “How can these things be?” a puzzled Nicodemus asks Jesus. “I don’t understand. What do I need to do? What you’re describing sounds rather unusual and impossible for us.” Jesus replies to Nicodemus, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” Ouch!

Yes, with the birth of Jesus things have changed. We now know that what we thought we could do on our own and accomplish as humans wasn’t possible. But instead of us reaching a dead end (literally), we are given a new life and asked to have faith in what Jesus has promised and accomplished. We need something beyond our own muscle, intelligence, technology, abilities, and will power, and that something is God’s love demonstrated in and through Jesus Christ.

New rules: “…whoever believes in him [Jesus] may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Discussion Questions

  1. What are you most amazed by when you read the Bible, hear people talk about faith, or think about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit? What's most confusing? When are you like Nicodemus and say, “How can this be?”
  2. What is your faith like in the midst of the questions and wondering you must have (we all have)? Where do you turn for answers, support, someone to listen to you, someone to wonder with you, and encouragement? (Prayer, a particular friend, a particular adult, the Bible, church, a special song or musician, something on the Internet, a poem, etc.?)
  3. Listen to these words of the John again (read 2 or 3 times out loud):

“…whoever believes in him [Jesus] may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

What words stand out for you? What do you feel and think when you hear these words?

Activity Suggestions

Promise Cards
Design and make greeting cards, e-cards, or postcards to send out to other youth or members of the congregation. Decide who the cards will be sent to and who might benefit most right now from some simple words of God’s love expressed through you. Let the bold message on the front of the card begin with “Trust this promise, God…” Add text that is from a Bible passage or your own words of faith that communicate promises of forgiveness, hope, healing, and new life. What photos or drawings can be used on the cards to also communicate the promises? Be wildly creative.

  Closing Prayer
Loving and patient God, you know the questions and confusions that burn inside of us sometimes. Thank you for not pushing us away or shrugging us off because of our inability to be perfect, accomplish some things, or even understand you when you're being pretty clear with us. Thank you for the saving love and forgiveness you have given to us through Jesus Christ. Let that same love and forgiveness move us to do both simple and great things in your name in the form of acts and words of love, justice, peace, forgiveness, encouragement, and praise for you. And again we say thanks! Amen
 

Contributed by Rod G. Boriack
Chicago, IL

Permission to reproduce for local use. Copyright © 2008 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ELCA Youth Ministry. 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2447. To offer your comments or responses to Faith Lens, e-mail:  rod.boriack@elca.org.

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