The forensic science of fingerprinting in criminal investigations is barely 100 years old. As we know, fingerprints are as unique as snowflakes. No two are alike. Fingerprints harvested from crime scenes lead to more suspects and generate more evidence in court than all other forensic techniques combined.

Today we are investigating the forensic evidence of God’s fingerprints. Do the prints we leave behind match the classification and the finer points of comparison of God’s? Or are we hoping to wipe the crime scene clean of all evidence that we were there?

God has revealed himself in and through Jesus, the scriptures, and creation. But how is he revealing himself in and through us—his church? Are we leaving behind God’s fingerprints—evidence that God was here?

- How are we being “Out-Jesus-ed” by people who don’t know him?
- Who is your Samaritan? Your Jew?
- How will we: “Go and love that person who is most unlike us?”

On March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered on the streets of New York. While many people heard her cries for help, no one came to her aid. This event and its consequential reporting inspired a new category of research in the field of social psychology.

The Genovese Syndrome or the Bystander Effect is studied and discussed in every textbook on the subject. And here’s what they have found. During such an event, the probability of help is inversely proportional to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.

As a follower of Jesus, whose responsibility is it to love and to help the stranger, the foreigner, the neighbor, or even the enemy? Jesus was pretty clear on this.

Will we roll over in bed, ignore the cries for help, and hope that someone else will do our job?

- Tell us about an incident where you were a witness or you needed a witness or you needed help.
- Why are we so slow to step in to help?
- Who are the writers of scripture talking about when they use the phrase “one another?”

Knowing God in the Christian tradition has Eastern origins. But the movement across continents has affected the way we perceive and know God. The Western mindset deals in collecting information. But the culture of the Bible adds experience to information.

Unfortunately, America has added its own twist to approaching God. Attributed to Rev. Sam Pascoe the following is called a Short History of the Church:
“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship;
It moved to Greece and became a philosophy;
It moved to Italy and became an institution;
It moved to Europe and became a culture;
It came to America and became an enterprise.”

This indictment against the negative effects of culture on the church inspired today’s conversation. Here’s the question of the day: Do we respond to God as a lover or as a prostitute? What’s the difference?

Add your voice to the conversation. How do you approach God?

- What is the best part of being in love?
- What percentage of your faith is based in reason? In experience? In doubt?
- Why do you (or do you not) follow God?

Some people have a disconnect with the fact that graduation exercises are called a “Commencement.” We have a tendency think of graduation as an ending rather than what it is. It is a beginning. It is the start of a new story.

This weekend we celebrate the new beginnings of the class of 2009. Congratulations, graduates! But, as always, the next step is the most important.

Every day is an opportunity to start a Brand New Story. The question for each graduate as well as for each of us is: Who will write the next
chapter of our lives?

Let’s explore together what it might look like to let God write our stories…beginning today.

- Who did your commencement address?
- Have you ever been afraid that God might call you to do something you didn’t want to do? Explain.
- How do you feel about letting people know the real you?

It is said that thoughts turn into beliefs; beliefs become actions; actions form habits; habits shape character; and character defines destiny.

In the middle of all that is the little word: habit. Whether the habits we form are good or bad, they will shape us. They do shape us.

Instead of concentrating solely upon the three instructions all new converts seem to be given: Pray, Read Your Bible, and Go to Church, what if we were to develop a new habit? One that didn’t require a special “quiet time” or a particular place that we have to go to in order to do it?

I suggest we constantly Search for God; in every place, in every medium, at all times.

God has promised us that “[T]hose who look for me find me.” – Proverbs 8:17 (MSG).

- What is your least favorite habit? Why?
- Are you a person of routines, habits, or addictive behaviors? Explain.
- What habit would you like to develop? Why?

I have been guilty of enjoying a movie or an art show or a theatrical production only to walk out of the venue and miss the beauty and the artistry of God’s creation that was right outside the front door. Has this ever happened to you?

There have been other times when I have felt the walls closing in on me, so I walked outside. And once I’m there, just a breath of fresh air, a look at the stars or the clouds, and my mood changes drastically.

God has revealed himself in the written word through the scriptures that have been preserved for thousands of years. But even before the written evidence, right up to today, God has revealed himself in his creation.

The Psalmist said, “The heavens express the glory and beauty of God.” Let’s explore the revelation of God in beauty.

- What is your favorite art medium? Why?
- What are some other ways to get to know God than through the scriptures?
- What is it about beauty and nature that points you to God?

Across history and civilizations, on virtually every continent one finds representations of what is known as the axis mundi. This Latin phrase literally means axis of the world or center of the universe.

Symbolically it generally refers to a sacred place where heaven and earth, the sacred and the mundane meet.

For some it is represented by something in nature: a tree, a mountain, or a vine. For others it is something manmade, like a totem pole, an obelisk, or a steeple.

In the Bible, the Tree of Life in its various manifestations would qualify. In the Garden of Eden from Genesis, in the New Heaven and New Earth from the book of the Revelation, or in Messianic terms, the cross.

As you watch the Nooma video entitled “Trees” presented by Rob Bell keep these thoughts in mind. Then, let’s explore what it means to “live between the trees.”

- Is life getting easier or harder, better or worse?
- Does your faith make your life easier or harder?
- What are some of the places in the world where you experience God?

Almost everyone knows the story of Easter. Jesus Christ who had been crucified three days earlier rose from the dead that first Easter morning. His resurrection defeated death once and for all, and now we have a hope of resurrection one day.

But there are other stories associated with the Passion Week which we seldom talk about. One of those is the procrastination of Pontius Pilate—the man who had the unenviable position of being both judge and jury for the public trial of Jesus.

But perhaps Pilate is best known for his reluctance to condemn Jesus to death although the mob threatened to riot. His procrastination of a final decision is legendary. Almost as legendary as the decision itself.

Today we ask ourselves the same question Pilate asked the blood-thirsty crowd. What will I do with Jesus?

- What causes you to procrastinate?
- How do we daily answer the question, “What will I do with Jesus?”
- What is the message of the resurrection?

On this, the Sixth Weekend of Lent, we celebrate the so called Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. However, from the animal upon which he rode to the entourage which accompanied him, this was the very antithesis of a triumphal march.

It didn’t look or sound or feel anything like the ones they had witnessed from the occupying Roman Army. It seems that Jesus was determined to show in the most obvious ways that his kingdom was nothing like the kingdoms of this world.

His kingdom was one without a hierarchy, a kingdom of laws written on our hearts, a kingdom where the poor and the rich sit down together at table, and a kingdom without armed force.

Join the conversation as we explore What Kind of King rides the colt of a donkey instead of a great white steed.

- What is your favorite statue or memorial?
- Why would Jesus downplay his claim to be king?
- What is your rank in the kingdom?

This week’s story comes from John 11. It is the Miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Here’s what happened in a nutshell:
“Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’” – John 11:44 - 46
Notice that Jesus asked Mary, Martha, and the disciples to take off the grave clothes and set him loose. Among all of the messages, this may be the most significant.
This past week, our friend John had open heart surgery. He’s doing well for a man whose heart was taken out of his body and laid up on his shoulder… But the valve they went in to repair is doing great, and he’s getting better every day. However, there’s one thing they warn you about.
When you wake up from this surgery, you will find that you have been intubated. It is temporary. So, try not to fight it. You will feel like you’re choking. It is one of the most terrifying experiences you can have while alive. But if you can relax and realize that you aren’t really choking, it won’t last too long.
The shock of waking up from a surgery that invasive is probably as close to being raised from the dead as someone can experience without actually dying. We don’t know what Lazarus experienced, but being mummified and then awakening still wrapped up like that can’t be fun. But unwrapping him and giving him his life back had to be a satisfying experience for his loved ones.
Can anyone else see the parallels of a loving community helping to remove the grave clothes from those who receive their lives back? You see, like all the stories and miracles we have talked about during the Lenten season, there is a community aspect to this story also. Jesus gives us a job to do even after the dead have been raised. Loving support and caring for one another are requested by Jesus. And it applies to the good times and the bad. Jesus hands us the responsibility of removing the grave clothes.

- Tell us about a time you survived when someone else did not.
- Why do you think Jesus wept?
- How do we help to remove the grave clothes from survivors whom we encounter?

Over the years, those of us who are church people have heard numerous sermons on the miracle of the loves and the fishes. Those of you who don’t have that background may have heard of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.

On this fourth weekend of Lent, we are examining the traditional fourth Sunday subject of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. It is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels.

More often than not, I heard how the little boy’s lunch got multiplied back many times over. But it was never clear to me that the little boy got to take home the 12 basketfuls that were left over.

Perhaps that wasn’t the real message of the miracle. What if Jesus was saying, “If you offer what little you have to help meet human need, and you do it simply out of compassion, then God will multiply it”? And how he multiplies it is left up to him.

Join the conversation as we continue to prepare our hearts and minds for Easter. For those of you who are fasting, don’t grow weary in doing well.

- What is your favorite or least favorite seafood dish?
- Why is the church so enamored with numbers?
- What can you offer to God that He can multiply?

“I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time—just one, one, one. So you begin. I began. I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person, I wouldn’t have picked up forty-two thousand…The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community. Just begin—one, one, one.” - Mother Teresa

During Passion Week, Jesus did some rather odd things. One of the oddest was his Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is an act that has been depicted in movies and in art as an angry tirade of violence against some unwary people who were doing the same thing there that had been carried out for hundreds of years.

This act seems so at odds with the character and nature of Jesus. So, is it possible that we have been mistaken about the meaning and the significance of this event?

On this, the third weekend of Lent, we are looking at the traditional message of the Temple Cleansing, and asking ourselves what it really means.

Join the conversation as we seek to answer three important clues to its meaning: What did the Temple represent? What did Jesus come to do? How does that affect the way we understand the Cleansing of the Temple?

More Questions to discuss:

- Tell us about your experience with Spring Cleaning.
- What were your previous ideas about the Temple Cleansing?
- What do you see now as the message of the Temple Cleansing?