The Lutheran Zephyr

Sunday School Lesson Planning

I'm in the midst of a three-week stint teaching Senior High Sunday School.  Last week we looked at several passages that show God's preference for life (healings, etc.), and next week we're going to look at various stories of death and violence in the Bible.

Life.  That's easy.

Death.  That's harder.

I could easily hand-pick stories that, though dealing with death, are somewhat easy to explain.  Or, I could whip out stories like Judges 19 (especially vs. 22-30) and just let some of those difficult passages hang out there for these kids to read and wrestle with.  Cain and Abel resolves somewhat cleanly with God wagging a divine finger at Cain.  Elijah and the prophets of Baal is a bloodbath that looks like a precursor to the Crusades.  The entire Egyptian Army is killed when the Red Sea recedes after Moses and the people of Israel cross it, but our 21st Century sensibilities are not offended by this story (we like David and Goliath, Robin Hood, underdog-justice kind of stories).  There are the seven plagues in Revelation 16, and even the crucifixion story in Mark, which (according to several ancient and reliable manuscripts) ends on a dark note tinged with fear and trembling.  We can also look at the various crucifixion stories and the suffering servant images and discuss how they have been miscontrued so as to permit domestic violence . . . This list is only the tip of the iceberg.  Are there other "good" stories of violence and death I should consider?

Well, I promised the kids that we'd look at death and violence in the Bible this week (you know, those stories that our elementary Sunday School curricula appropriately avoid), but I'm not entirely sure how to procede.  Any ideas?

Lutheran School Expells Suspected Lesbians

The California Lutheran High School, affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, recently expelled two girls whom the Principal suspected of being lesbians.  "(The Principal) acknowledged that officials had seen no physical contact between the girls but said their friendship was "uncharacteristic of normal girl relationships and more characteristic of a lesbian one," the AP news report says.

My question is this: if such schools and churches constantly kick out all the gays and lesbians, how do they possibly know what characterizes a lesbian/gay relationship?

And the fear factor in this story is amazing.  They expell two students without any evidence or proof or anything - just based on the suspicion that they have a lesbian relationship.  What was it about their relationship that was so suspicious?  And are other students - especially those that don't quite fit into the mold of this narrow, conservative tradition - now afraid that their behaviors might be misconstrued into violations of the school's ethical code?

Well, the AP did an alright job reporting this, but I only wish they had identified the denominational affiliation of the school.  WELS Lutherans represent a very particular, narrow and conservative tradition in this country, not exemplary of most Lutherans and Lutheran institutions.

Teaching Sr. High Sunday School

Today I taught the Sr. High Sunday School class. We read and acted out passages from the Bible that relate to life and healing, one of which was the story of the adulterous woman (John 8:2-11). I asked them for their reactions to this story, and one girl spoke up: "What about the guy? I mean, what about the guy she was caught sleeping with. Why wasn't he brought to the synagogue to be stoned?"

I love the questions kids ask.

(We also read the law regarding the treatment of aliens, healing of Naaman, the valley of dry bones, the raising of Jairus' daughter, and the "I came that they may have life" passage).