You Are Witnesses!

Sermon Luke 24: 36-48 April 19, 2015 Easter 3

You Are Witnesses!

I have one of those this little garden flag holders in my yard. I like to put little flags for the different seasons of the year or share a phrase of good cheer. As I was mowing yesterday I realized I still had the Easter flag flying. And then as I rode around town I saw the crosses with the white drapes still out in the church lawns and I thought, “it’s two weeks since Easter Sunday and these things are still here reminding us of Easter. 

And I said in my heart, “Thank you for the visible reminders.”

We can forget so quickly.

Jesus said to the disciples, “You are witnesses to these things.”

Yes, they were witnesses to the resurrection 2000 years ago.

Two weeks ago, it might seem like an eternity ago now, yet there we were filled with activities to help us engage with the moment of Christ’s restoration to life.

And in those moments we too were witnesses to the resurrection.

We were witnesses to the presence of Christ among us.

We were witnesses to the joy of life among us,

                    the laughter,

                           the children,

                                          the music,

                                                and the air filled with energy and excitement.

So, here we are again this Sunday.

        And we are witnesses to the resurrection all over again.

              Each week when we gather we celebrate the risen Christ among us.

We celebrate the presence of Christ in our lives as we go from week to week.

            Each week we are greeted with the words of Jesus,

                                                                        “Peace be with you.”

 Yet, we forget so quickly.

And why wouldn’t we forget?

Our schedules are full, our lives are busy, our daily routines keep our heads turned in different directions.

Not to mention all the other bad stuff in the world that keeps our vision blocked and our witness of new life blinded.

Jesus said to the disciples’ “You are witnesses to the resurrection and everything that led up to it and everything that leads from it, share this with the world!”

New life occurred, along with suffering, death, reconciliation, forgiveness, hope, and promise.

It is important that we share with one another the moments that bring life,

            that breathe newness,

                     that offer hope,

                          that restore and reconcile,

                                         that refresh and replenish our souls.

I had printed the prayer of St Patrick, the whole prayer, (so you could have a copy of it to keep with you), but also as an opportunity for us to witness the life giving moment in him. His prayer as I said earlier is a statement of faith, one that we can hold on to.

A statement that spans the generations and holds power even today as people speak it and pray it as their own prayer of faith.

Patrick was 16 years old when he was taken captive from Britain and brought to Ireland to tend sheep. In his years of slavery he recognized the power of God in his life. After six years of captivity he escaped and returned to Britain. There he vowed a life of faith, entered the priesthood and after 12 years of study he returned as a missionary to Ireland. He chose to bring the love and grace of God to the people who had previously held him as a slave. Rather than bitterness for his experience of suffering he was filled with the love of God for the people who had held him. He lived his life as a witness to Christ.

We too in our lives are witnesses to Christ.

The power of Christ to call us his body; we are called the body of Christ, the Church.

As the church we are witnesses of the living Christ among us here today.

We are Easter people, people of the resurrection.

We have been equipped for the task as witnesses by the promise of God through the Spirit.

We’ve been given a direction, a mission and a vision from Christ here in this passage today. Jesus, said, “Go out and share

                               what you have seen

                                                          and heard

                                                                         and touched.”

Our calendars have been full these past two weeks since the Big Easter Sunday and I wonder as we look at the events and moments that took place if we are able to recognize the life giving moments that occurred?

·         Where have we seen the church at work in these moments, where have we seen love and grace, joy and hope?

·         Where have we offered those things?

·         We are the Church and we have all been at work in the world engaging with others.

Just showing up at a funeral, or making a call to check in on someone who has been ill, is the work of the church

and

if you did that this past week, then you can say you’ve not only seen the church at work but you have been the church at work.

As we witness baptisms, new members, participate in communion, we are witnesses to Christ at work in our lives.

When someone stops by to talk with us or interrupts their activities to help us with a project we are witnesses to the church at work in our lives.

When we see the groups of people from the county gather, no matter what they believe, what political persuasion, what church they are from, or what they think about each other,

yet they come to join together in a race or a raffle or a spaghetti dinner, they are witnesses to the church at work in the world.

So how do we forge ahead as the church?

How do we grow and become more like Christ?

How do we receive that contagious enthusiasm that transforms the lives?

Perhaps we need the challenge in our own life over the next few weeks to be alert,

            to be reminded,

to not let go or forget the risen Christ present with us wherever we go,

where ever we are,

 in whatever state we find ourselves.

Perhaps we need to be reminded of all the places we see and hear and touch the living Christ.

Perhaps, we need to ask ourselves these questions:

a weekly testimony as Easter people from now to Pentecost
1. Where have you seen the church at work this week?
2. How has the ministry of the church touched your life this week?
3. How has the church been the agent of the Spirit at work in the world, community, neighborhood?

Good things are happening. There are life giving moments all around us.

You shall be my witnesses, Jesus said.

So, let's testify to what God is doing!

Christ is Risen Indeed!

Sermon Mark 16:1-8 April 5, 2015 EASTER!

Christ is Risen Indeed!

Some of us like surprises; the moment that catches us off guard and fills our hearts with unexpected joy! Moments like final four basketball shots that take our breath away. Or gifts that come to us from a loved one fully out of the blue. We generally love surprises.

Today, this day-Easter Sunday is our greatest surprise!

It is the moment that no one thought God would or could win.

Today is the day when God is exalted.

God’s glory reigns over the world.

Today we not only remember God brought life and light back into a world that prefers the darkness, but we LIVE in the Light of Life who God raised up from the depths of death.

Today, as I shared with the children-the empty egg is our big surprise-the tomb is empty and we all say loud and clear-Christ is Alive!

Yet, today’s resurrection story told in Mark’s gospel-which the experts say end at verse 8-tells us about the women.

The women were filled with terror and amazement! How’s that possible?

 Imagine if we had been the women to first arrive at the tomb.

What would our reaction have been? How would we have responded to the surprise of finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty?

How would we have heard the news of the man sitting inside-the guy sitting on the bench, just next to the empty grave cloths!?-Would we have even heard his words? Or would we have been so obsessed with the fact that the body of our Lord was gone?

Imagine our anxiety over the facts before us. They’d be so high we wouldn’t have heard a word this guy on the bench was trying to say to us. Perhaps we would have been so caught up with the facts that we were unable to see the miracle?

It is valuable to know that an empty tomb can fill us with both terror and amazement.

For in the terror of surprise our fears are recognized-

                                            life is not the same-death and the tomb no longer have the

                                                                          same hold on us as we have always understood.

And in the terror of thought of what should be or could be -God takes the fear and transforms it.

Today, there is a new way.

In our weakness and in our failures God has carved out a path for us that leads us to see him.

In a world that continues to thrive in darkness, a world that seeks to lay claim through the death of the innocent, we are filled with the surprise of terror that people can do that to one another.

And so we peer into the tomb of a missing Savior and

cry out where are you!

We cry out why are you not here where we expect you to be?

We cry out in our own despairs of loss and grief and seek him where he is not to be found.

AND then-we finally hear the words of the angel as we listen again. Yes, the guy sitting at the end of the bench is now clearly seen as an angel of God-we can not only hear his words-but we listen-we listen.

We hear the words of the promise of Jesus as he was with the disciples in the last days. We hear them again as an echo in our minds…I am with you always to the end of the age.

And the surprise of amazement hits us, they are no longer words; but the reality of God with us-we, by the power of God, have our Lord with and within us!

It is true!

And we like the women follow through, we don’t keep silent anymore we run and tell the others as we have been told to do.

We run, not out of fear, but out of wonder and amazement.

We run with joy in our hearts and clear conviction and the power in our feet seems to come from a place of energy we had not known existed.

It is a real and exhilarating feeling inside our bones that resurrects us from all our doubts and all our wonderings. We have been brought into the Light of new Life now and forever!

For we, like the disciples have been along the way with Jesus. We have encountered Jesus in the stories as he met Peter and Nicodemus, the blind man and the women and we have been with him as he was before Pilate. We have journeyed a long way with our Lord. We have sat at Table with him and asked the question, “Is it I?” And today we hear Jesus say to us, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, continue in my love…I have said these things to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.” We are moved as we hear him call us friends! The amazement of all of who Jesus was and is and shall be are now with us and part of who we are. We turn to each other and see Christ!

We too have been raised up to new life.

Can we believe it?

Yes, we can!

Christ is Alive!

Let us rejoice and sing. Today is the festival of Thanksgiving!

Today is the renewal of the great surprise,

                                       the wonder of God,

                                          the joy of salvation,

                                                    the Light of Life is upon us and we will go out with joy!

                                                                                                                                     Alleluia! Amen!

Easter, Holy Week, Preschoolers & Dogs-how do we tell them?

Easter, Holy Week, Preschoolers & Dogs-how do we tell them?

She asked, “Is she going to come alive again too?” Her four year old face looked up at me with those large wondering eyes as if I could provide the answer she was seeking. Her hopeful question struck me and I was staring at her dumb and fumbling for an answer.

We, standing together on the back deck, watched as daddy buried our faithful dog in our pet cemetery yards away. It was Holy Week and of course she had heard about Jesus’ death and resurrection. She wanted to know if the dog we loved so much was going to come back to us in the same way Jesus who loved us so much came back to us. And I stood there not knowing what to say.

How do we share the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus to our little ones?

My mistake was assuming that since she had been raised on a farm she was familiar with the natural cycle of life and death. What I didn’t realize was that when the family pet died it was different from the animals that provided food for the table. The family pet was part of us. The family dog had been the one who snuggled close to our little girl. Our precious dog Sasha had allowed our daughter to dump sand on her, to put hats on her and had allowed her to tumble and roll all over her. It became clear that we had lost a member of our family. Sasha’s death hurt deeply. And to a four year old she wanted to make sense out of this loss. Don’t we all?

I think we all want to make sense out the loss of our loved ones. And in our hope to understand we turn to the story of Jesus. We look to his death and resurrection in the hope that this will bring us comfort. We assure ourselves that our loved ones are resting in the arms of our resurrected Lord.

So, here we are in Holy Week and as adults we too struggle to understand the death of our Lord Jesus. How do we share the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus to our little ones?

Probably the best way is the way in which we share all kinds of information with our children, a little bit at a time. Or as the experts call it-in age appropriate chunks.

For tiny toddlers, they know about happy and sad. They can hear that it was a sad day when Jesus died. They can hear that some people are very mean and do hurtful things. They can hear that Jesus died on a cross (which we do not need to show any gory pictures at this age) because people didn’t understand about love.

Carolyn C. Brown has written an entire book for educators on how to teach children about Lent and Easter. Her work is excellent and it holds many details of different tangible activities that can be done to help children put a grasp on this idea of death and resurrection. One suggestion she has for tiny toddlers is to play with plastic Easter eggs by opening and closing them and being surprised at the empty egg. This surprise is a happy event. Connecting the empty egg with joy and saying, ‘Happy Easter, Jesus is alive!’ is one small way to begin the journey of the Easter story with the little ones.

I think back to my four year old and the sadness she felt. I think about the reality in her mind of the power of God to raise up Jesus. She understood the power of God to bring life. She grasped that concept. So, if God could do that for Jesus wouldn’t God also do that for Sasha, the dog? It was the strongest statement of faith! The trust in God’s strength and love and power proclaimed by a little one!

When a parent hears these words they need not be afraid. They need not think, ‘how cute.’ But, they need to acknowledge the faith that comes from the child in these moments. If a parent fails to witness these questions as declarations of faith then we do harm to the furthering of their faith in the future.

A response to a child who asks this question would be, “Yes, God’s love for us is so strong that God can raise up and bring new life to all of God’s creatures. Isn’t that a blessing? Our Sasha isn’t with us anymore but I trust that God loves all of the creatures God has made. I trust that she is truly in God’s care now and forever.”

The importance of telling preschoolers about the death of Jesus is to connect his death directly to God’s love and power to overcome death. In other words they need to hear that God wins. God has power that is greater than all the bad and all the meanness in the world. They can understand at this age that flowers die in the winter and come alive again in the spring. They love to hear the same story over and over again. Choose to tell them about joy of Easter and the wonder of God’s love. We are all on a journey of faith.

Don’t be surprised at the questions your little ones ask, because in them you will discover a mighty depth of faith. Praise God for this Holy Week and the power of God to give us strength to parent, to tell the story and to be surprised on Easter as we say, Christ is Alive! Alleluia, Amen!

Along the Way…Hosanna!

Sermon Mark 11:1-11 March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday

Along the Way…Hosanna!

There are some things we want to hang on to for a while.

The taste of a delicious pastry.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee.

The feel of the warmth of the sun on our cold bodies as it beams through the window. The joy in our souls as we hear the children singing.

We want these things to linger and stay with us because we know they do fade away and we don’t want to lose the power of these moments on our lives.

These moments can move us into new directions and set us on new paths. They can because these moments bring us hope.

They fill us with wonder.

They renew us in spirit.

Good things feed our bodies and our souls!

Today we can hang on to the moment of the crowd.

Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. This was the time that many pilgrims came to the city and the whole place erupted every year as the parade of visitors came to celebrate and remember all that God has done for them throughout history.

                       

                            It was not unusual for shouts of hosanna-“God save us”-to take place.

 It was not unusual for to shout blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Because as these pilgrims made their way to the city the people lined the streets excited to see their coming and they shouted and cheered much as we do when we have our town parades and we cheer from the sidelines. the crowds and pilgrims were preparing to celebrate Passover, God rescuing them from Egypt, so Hosannas meaning God save us were filled with remembrance of God’s love and power to save!

But this year, there is one that comes and enters riding on a donkey. One who comes ceremonially, regally, and as a king. Jesus gets on a donkey that has never been ridden and everyone there knows that this means he is serious about claiming kingship!

The crowds burst forth with hosanna not as they have in the past-singing, “God save us” but his time they shout to the One, this Jesus, “God save us.”

The crowd is blessing Jesus!

They are recognizing him as the One who can change the course of the way life is for them. Even if they are not sure how this will happen or what will take place for him to lead them, they seek him and praise him with shouts and cries and worship.

We can shout hosanna.

We can be caught up in the moment of awe and wonder at the One who enters ceremonially, royally, riding on a donkey.

We can be witnesses to this moment as if it is happening today.

Who is this?

We might not know how to answer this if someone waving a branch next to us asks us. We might be the one asking the question.

Who is this? This is Jesus!

Perhaps that is all we know.

This is Jesus and we and the crowd are calling out, “blessed is he.”

And perhaps for today that is enough.

For tomorrow is Monday, Holy Monday and we know what happens next, we’ve read the text. Holy Week happens next and those days are the rest of the journey along the way to the cross and to the empty tomb with Jesus.

So, for today, let us hang on to the hosannas.

We can, sing, cry, worship, prepare and invite this moment into our lives.

We can sing out to God.

We can raise our voices in ways we never have before. Could you imagine your neighbor hearing you sing? Ok, so maybe some us of wouldn’t want our neighbors to hear us sing-but then again why not? We don’t mind if they hear us shouting cheer for our sweet sixteen basketball teams, or for college football teams, for our kids little leagues. We can even wave our palms as visibly as we wave our team banners!

We can cry out to Jesus, “Hosanna-God save us!”

We can cry out in loud voices of adoration. We can recall all the psalmist’s words through the ages of how God has heard the cries of God’s people and guided them to safe haven.

We can worship.

We can bow down in prayer, sit in silence, and stand in praise.

We can prepare.

We can prepare our minds and our hearts for the rest of the journey, all the way to Easter. We can prepare because we’ve held on to the hosanna today knowing the God of our salvation has entered in.

We can invite.

We can invite ourselves to participate in the gift that these hosannas bring. Even if we don’t have all the answers. Even if we are not quite sure of who this is. We can invite the one who we call blessed to be part of our life along the way. Who is this?

This is Jesus!

So, as this poem reminds us…

Hold on to the Hosannas

(inspired by the events in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11,

Luke 19:29-44, John 12:12-19)

Let us stay with the Hosannas for a while

Let us let them keep on ringing in our ears

Hosanna!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord

Instead of rushing on to hear the cries

that came later in the week

Let us stay with the Hosannas

Maybe once we have heard those

in a new way

we will be ready

to make the rest of the journey

A journey that was hastened

and given new purpose

by those Hosannas

For those Hosannas were not

simply the innocent cries

of palm branch waving children

Those Hosannas were the war cries of adults

tired of the oppression

of occupying forces

Those hosannas

were the hopeful cries

of a nation seeking liberation.

Those Hosannas

were an investment of hope

in one they thought would deliver.

Those Hosannas

that we have sanitized over the years

rang out in clear insurrection

sealing the fate

of one who rode on a donkey.

so, let us stay with the Hosannas

Let us wrest them from the lips of children

and allow them to ring in our ears

and spew from our mouths

as a call to action

a call to justice

a call to love.

Let us stay with the Hosannas

even as we journey

with the Christ

who carried those Hosannas

all the way to the cross

and ensured their fulfillment

as the justice and love of God.

Let us stay with the Hosannas.

— written by Rev. E. Crumlish of Castlehill Church, Ayr.

Amen. 

Compelling Love

Sermon 2 Corinthians 5:6-20 March 11, 2015 Ecumenical Lenten Meditation

Compelling Love

I’m fascinated by the simple things. Magnets are amazing. Have you ever played with one? When I was a kid I used to dump out the box of paper clips and use the magnet to see how many could fit on it. That magnet trick entertained me for hours. Recently I got one of those cool iPhone magnet holders for my car dashboard. Once again I returned to my fascination with the strength of a magnet to attract. The power in that thing just ripped the phone out of my hand and stuck it to the mount. I’m impressed with the strength of this thing to draw something unto itself.

It caused me to think about other things that have a compelling nature.

We are blessed to be people who live on the land between two waters. And the sea has a compelling nature of its own. Mike (my husband and I) are drawn to sound of waves and the smell of salt air just as strong as those paper clips are drawn to the magnet.

As you think about the things that have a compelling nature on you it is that vein that Paul is talking to these church goers in Corinth. He has been compelled by the love of Christ to turn his life around. He unfortunately is having to prove himself to these believers. They are not too sure that his faith and belief in Jesus is real. Most of this second letter is his defense not to the crowd out there but to the people within. That’s a tough position to be in. Has that ever happened to you? People judge whether or not you are a believer in Christ and you feel like your whole conversation is all about proving your faith to them? It’s a tough thing especially inside the walls of the church when everyone is supposed feel the bonds of love and the compelling strength of Christ that draws all together.

But, Paul isn’t fazed by this behavior. He uses it to fuel his proclamation about the compelling nature of the love of Jesus Christ. It is so strong and so powerful as to completely turn one’s life around. “Look at who you are!” He exclaims, You are a new person, you are a new creation, you have a new life!

And the reason you are changed is because of the power of God in Christ to reconcile and draw you unto himself! God has drawn us all like magnets into the ministry of being made whole and new and stuck us so tight to Christ that there is no letting go!

He agrees that this life in the real world is hard. He shares that he would rather be away from the body than face the struggles this world gives. But, we live in the real world and are to be workers in it. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ sharing the good news of his love with others. That is our challenge even today. How can we as new creatures in Christ move into being ambassadors for his sake?

Perhaps part of it is to remember this new creature way of life is a process. Gegonen in Greek is in the perfect tense. It signifies ‘the continuance of a completed action.’ In other words it is a work of God through Christ that moves in us day after day drawing us ever closer to the purity of Christ. It is a notion of “God isn’t finished with us yet.” It is a process that even Martin Luther claimed, “We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not finished but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road…” As people of faith in this community we have realized that Christ is our plumb line. We have been drawn to Christ through faith in him. We are God’s people working together in this life.

These are words of encouragement and strength and power! Together we are God’s instruments called out to be ambassadors, people who represent the Good News. Together we can grow in the love of Christ. Together we can work in the community side by side showing how the love of Christ compels us to seek justice and peace for all. Together we can answer the call of Christ and be drawn to each other as we are drawn to Him. As we are reconciled to Christ we are reconciled to one another and this is the ministry and the message the world will see and hear.

Let us be drawn to the irresistible magnet love of Christ and say yes, Lord Here I am. Amen.

My Confession: Yes, I Was One of Those Moms

My Confession: Yes, I Was One of Those Moms

My kids grew up with a mom that didn’t do much for them.

Yes, I was that mom who didn’t make breakfast; the kids had to make it themselves. But, I was up with them before school started and I was there to kiss them goodbye as they walked to the bus stop. Oh, yes, I was one of those moms who made her children ride the school bus too.

I was also that mom who didn’t help them with their homework, at least not the way they let me know other moms did. Their homework pages were filled with smeared eraser marks and scratches of where they made their own corrections. I let them go to school with pages showing how they arrived at the answers all by themselves.

It was clear I didn’t help them with their science projects either. They had done it all by themselves even down to the crooked lettering on the poster. But, every A on their work and every A on their report card was completely earned all by themselves.

I was the unhelpful mom when it came to scouting too. My son’s Pine Wood derby cars always looked like a kid made it. The wood was never smooth and sleek like his buddies, it had an odd shape to it and often his cars look lopsided. However, there were times when he won the races and came home proud of his blue ribbon. Today, he has no trouble working with tools, getting dirty or daring to learn a new skill.

Now don’t get me wrong I did help some. I went with the girls or my boy to the store to pick out the paint or the poster board. We bought the glitter and the glue together. But they were the ones in basement pulling the long hours trying to make their projects perfect. I remember during those years feeling like a crummy mom at times. Because when I would show up at school my child’s project clearly looked like a kid had done all the work. Sometimes I felt guilty because I was one of those moms.

Today my kids are amazing adults. They take the initiative to tackle all kinds of projects and they aren’t afraid to do the work. And the work in their jobs has earned them financial perks and awards of recognition.

By the time my girls reached middle school they wanted clothes their friends had and I knew we couldn’t compete. They received a clothing allowance at the beginning of the school year. They could buy whatever they wanted with that money. But, when it was gone it was gone until the next school year. One year one of my daughters had to have an expensive pair of jeans. She used most of her allowance to have that pair. She had a tiny wardrobe that year. I was not a very fair mom. But, my girls learned at an early age how much things cost. Today those girls can stretch a dollar better than anyone I know.

I was also one of those moms who made her kids do chores. Every Saturday was a routine of bathroom cleaning, bedroom cleaning and sheet changing. Vacuuming, dusting and mopping had to be complete before anyone could go out with friends. Time management skills became an essential part of life and leisure.

My children were working in the kitchen as early as three years old. By the time my oldest was five she could make a grilled cheese, fry an egg and bake brownies. When she was eight she was cooking an entire dinner of baked chicken, vegetables and pudding for dessert. Some people thought this was careless or irresponsible but I thought it was normal. But, I guess that’s because I was one of those moms. They learned to cook from scratch and continue to cook that way today.

All of my children are amazing cooks now! Each one of them can open a cupboard and create a meal from what is there. They learned early to love and appreciate the creativity of making meals.

Yes, I confess, I was one of those moms!

But, years later I’m starting to feel pretty good about having been one those of moms.

And pretty proud of my kids too. 

Along the Way…the Blind Man

Sermon John 9:1-17  (18-41) March 8, 2015 Lent

Along the Way…the Blind Man

I love hearing and reading about miracle stories. I’m amazed at the stories of survival from incredible circumstances. I must not be the only one since a television series called ‘in an Instant’  just started this week on ABC.

But, the miracle stories of healing are the ones that still catch me with a lump in my throat.

Maybe I’m cued into these stories because of all my years working as a nurse. And as a nurse I became acquainted with the wonder of healing from disease, illness and accidents. So, when I hear about the healing stories in the Bible, the miracles that Jesus performed, my ears are tuned a little closer to what is said.

SO when I started into the study of these verses (which by the way go a lot further than verse 17-the story doesn’t get close to ending until verse 41).

I discovered that the story doesn’t start with a person asking Jesus for his help.

It doesn’t start with Jesus taking pity on someone who he encounters along his way.

My eyes and ears got a jolt because

                     it starts with the disciples debating the question

                                        of why do bad things happen to people,

who is at fault for all the things wrong in the world.

They witness a blind sitting on the roadside

                                           and all of a sudden

                                 this man is the object of discussion.

       The man never asked to be part of the debate about sin

                                                           and yet

                                  he was entered into this encounter at

                                                no request of his own.

Has that ever happened to you?

Have you ever been somewhere sitting by yourself minding your own business and the next thing you know you overhear people talking about

                                                               you

                                                  and your situation

                            and you wonder how you ever got into their conversation

                                                   without an invitation?

I think we do this more often than we realize.

We witness all around us circumstances and conditions that make no sense to us and we ask the questions,

                        “Whose fault is it that there

                                               are poor and suffering,

                                               homeless and diseased,

                                               unemployed and disabled,

                                               abandoned and addicted,

                                               imprisoned and prejudiced,

                                               angry and hurtful, hateful

                                               people in this world?”

We, like the disciples, walk along the way and ask Jesus (and each other) these very questions.

We ask these questions as if we can find an answer through the process of debate and discussion. We assume there is a moral solution to all of these situations that still exist today.

Jesus looked at his disciples as they asked the question about sin and let them know that looking at this man on the side of the road was not a question of morality.

                        This man’s disability had nothing to do with any moral dilemma.

        Nor, is this man’s disability a purpose of God.

That’s right.

 I said this man’s disability is not God’s purpose.

We have too often used it that way.

Our modern translations make the words of Jesus awkward.

        And the words of Jesus weren’t meant to come out that way.

What is the purpose of God is the need of the moment for God’s works to be made known.

God must be revealed!

And God is to be revealed through Jesus’ act of healing.

Jesus takes the initiative and performs a pure act of grace.

Jesus astonishes the crowd and the leaders, once again, through the miraculous signs he performs.

The man does what Jesus says and washes the mud from his face in the pool of Siloam and he receives his sight. His eyes have been opened and he has experienced healing. When he is questioned by the crowd he lets them know it was Jesus who gave him his sight.

The rest of the story that doesn’t make it into our reading this morning is in the rest of the chapter. The man becomes the subject of debate again!

This time among the religious authorities.

They question him and his parents.

They want to know who is responsible for this man’s sin.

They want to know who the sinner is, is it his parents, Jesus or this man.

They are caught in the moral dilemma of defining sin for the world. According to the understanding of the day, sin was anything that was bad, any act that was against the commandments, any disorder that was not perfect was defined as sinful.

Yet, the writer of this gospel makes it known from the beginning that Jesus has come into the world to take away the sin of the world (1:29).

Jesus has come into the world to give access to the Light of God and the Love of God. That love and light has come through the very act of grace given to this man through his healing.

His ability to see goes beyond the gift of physical sight. As the story progresses he comes to the realization that Jesus is more than a prophet, or a man that comes from God. By the end, through all the pushing and shoving and challenging that he gets from these authorities he comes to the point where he sees Jesus as the son of God in verse 38 and says to him, “Lord, I believe.”

The disciples witness the power of God at work through Jesus as he brings healing to this man. They witness the grace and love of God revealed as the blind man receives the sight of faith in Jesus. They receive their answer to the question about sin as they witness this man restored to new life and made whole.

Sin is not about actions or moral behavior,

 it is not about conditions of birth or looks.

Sin is about a person’s relationship to God.

Through God’s incarnate Word revealed in the life of Jesus one is able to see the Light of God come into the world.

When the eyes of those who witness God at work through the presence of Jesus come into the Light they move away from darkness.

They move away from judgment, they move away from blind accusations.

Now you might be sitting there thinking, ‘that’s a lot of lovely fluff you just spilled out.’ You might be asking me how any of what I said can make sense today. So let me share a story of my own experience.

 I remember being blinded by my judgments when I worked as a nurse in the Burn Intensive Care Unit. One of our patients had a 90% burn injury. She was a young woman in her 20s. I worked night shift and often in the middle of the night she asked me to read the Bible to her. I did in those wee hours and it brought comfort to both of us. She eventually recovered after about 3 months in our unit. Back in the 1980’s this was a miraculous recovery.  She was discharged to go home and begin life out there in the big wide world.

However, this woman was badly disfigured.

I remember begin angry at God. I remember telling God how unfair this was for this woman. I argued with God about her return to the ‘real world’ and wondered how she could have a productive life and a full and rich life knowing she would always have trouble facing the public looking the way she did.

A few years later I was working in the hospital clinic doing examinations of children.

A woman walked in pushing a stroller.

I saw her via my peripheral vision. I caught a glimpse but that was all.

She walked with confidence.

Her voice was cheerful.

She recognized me before I realized who she was.

She came to me and told me all about her life over the past few years since her discharge from the hospital.

She talked all about the grace and kindness of her family and friends.

Her eyes were full of light and life.

She talked about how she was accepted in her community and how the children in the neighborhood were scared at first but then they fell in love with her. She said she knew God loved her because love was all around her.

Because of the circle of love surrounding her she became a childcare worker and was now in charge of caring for children. That is how she came to the clinic that day.

                                    My eyes were opened that day!

                                    I saw the Light of God at work.

                              I saw God revealed to me in that moment.

In that moment the work of God healed my spiritual blindness and gave me sight again.

As she talked with me I no longer saw a disfigured face.

I saw a woman full of joy.

I saw a woman fully restored to new life.

And her story of relationships and new life restored my relationship with God and brought me into new life.

Our questions and comments to Jesus can change

                                                          from

                    wondering whose fault it is, who is the one with sin, who’s to blame

                                                              to

                                                  show us God’s love,

                                          reveal to us the glory of God,

                                             shine your Light so we may see!

Yes, I love to hear about miracle stories.  

Our God through the presence of Jesus offers us new life and an opportunity to be made whole in his Light.

May we see what God has for us today. Amen.