Who Can See?
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For March 19, 2023:
Who Can See?
by Mary Austin
John 9:1-41
Possibly the most amazing day of his life quickly turns sour. As John tells it, the man who was blind for decades can now see, thanks to his encounter with Jesus. Now, he can work, travel, get married, have a family and simply walk down the streets of his hometown without tripping. The parents who have been anxious about his future — and perhaps their own — can relax. He no longer has to make a living begging. His mind must be racing with possibilities. This should be cause for celebration.
The joy grows thin as neighbors and then the religious leaders begin to insert themselves into his day. People have questions about him, his parents and who Jesus is. Rejoicing quickly turns to suspicion, and the man becomes a pawn for the religious leaders. In a similar way, transgender people are becoming props for politicians all over the country. Campaigns against transgender people are "a winner" for politicians who want to energize voters, whether the voters know any transgender people personally or not.
In state legislatures, lawmakers are pursuing a variety of bills that would restrict transgender people. “The start of the 2023 legislative season stands out for the aggressiveness with which lawmakers are pushing into new territory. The bills they have proposed — more than 150 in at least 25 states — include bans on transition care into young adulthood; restrictions on drag shows using definitions that could broadly encompass performances by transgender people; measures that would prevent teachers in many cases from using names or pronouns matching students’ gender identities; and requirements that schools out transgender students to their parents.” Transgender people, along with their parents and friends, are living in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
Jesus summons all of us to see clearly, whether our disordered sight is mental, spiritual, or moral.
In the News
Transgender people, their health care, where they can play sports and the ever-present bathroom issue are in the news again as we head toward the 2024 election season. “The flood of legislation is part of a long-term campaign by national groups that see transgender rights as an issue on which they can harness voter anger — as with the campaigns against remote learning and critical race theory that reshaped many school boards and lifted Republicans in Virginia’s elections in 2021 — though the midterm elections provided little evidence of it. “This is a political winner,” said Terry Schilling, the president of the conservative American Principles Project, arguing that more voters would have been swayed had many Republicans not “shied away” from the subject.”
At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting, Michael Knowles, the host of “The Michael Knowles Show” on The Daily Wire, told the crowd, “The problem with transgenderism is not that it’s inappropriate for children under the age of 9. The problem with transgenderism is that it isn’t true. If [transgenderism] is false, then for the good of society... transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
The science indicates that gender-affirming health care, including therapy, puberty blockers for younger teens, and medication, has a positive impact on mental health. “A decade of research shows such treatment reduces depression, suicidality and other devastating consequences of trans preteens and teens being forced to undergo puberty in the sex they were assigned at birth…The truth is that data from more than a dozen studies of more than 30,000 transgender and gender-diverse young people consistently show that access to gender-affirming care is associated with better mental health outcomes — and that lack of access to such care is associated with higher rates of suicidality, depression and self-harming behavior…Major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, have published policy statements and guidelines on how to provide age-appropriate gender-affirming care. All of those medical societies find such care to be evidence-based and medically necessary.” The proposed legislation in so many states goes against the established science.
Journalist Masha Gessen, who identifies as trans and uses they/them pronouns, says “all these bills are about signalling, and what they’re signalling is the essence of past-oriented politics. It’s a really convenient signal because some of the most recent and most rapid social change concerns L.G.B.T. rights in general, and trans rights and trans visibility in particular.” They add, “Promising to take that fear and anxiety away is truly powerful.”
In contrast to all the political hype and fake drama, individual people are trying to live their fullest, healthiest lives in safety. They, and the people who love them, are not getting much of a voice in the current political climate.
In the Scriptures
The young man born blind, like our trans neighbors and friends, has an opportunity to live his fullest, healthiest life, after he encounters Jesus. Jesus, who sees the young man as he could be, brings God’s power to bear in his life, creating an alternate future for him.
In our world, we understand disability differently, and many people who have disabilities count their disability as a vital part of their self-understanding. In the scripture, we’re meant to understand the man’s blindness as a limitation, one that God can heal. In the healing, we see the power of God breaking into ordinary life.
In this story, much like in our world, when the now-sighted man speaks his truth, there’s a price to pay. The religious leaders answer him by saying, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they drive him out, severing him from the community.
Here Jesus offers another moment of healing when he seeks the man out. They talk about who Jesus is, and the man is moved to a deeper level of faith. “Lord, I believe,” he says. John tells us that he worshiped Jesus. This healing happens on a physical level, and it is also a spiritual transformation. Jesus has a lesson for everyone watching this drama. “I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
Jesus’ judgment is on everyone who could see, and chooses not to.
In the Sermon
“Everyone has a disability. Some are visible,” a person who uses a wheelchair told me once. It’s powerful to think about where our disabilities might be, and places where our lives might parallel the journey of the once-blind man.
The sermon might also explore the places where we all choose not to see. The environmental impact of our choices, the clothing made by child labor, the tomatoes picked by people who are essentially enslaved, the investments in our retirement funds — we all have places where we are blind to our destructive power. Or perhaps we choose not to see our implicit bias, or the prejudices we still allow ourselves.
As John tells the story, the healing irks the religious leaders who don’t understand how it happened. They want a logical explanation, and none is available. The sermon might explore our parallel longings. We may not understand people who identify as trans, or non-binary, and we want a simple explanation when human beings are always complex. The sermon might explore the mystery that all of us carry as human beings.
Journalist Masha Gessen recalls that from the age of five or six, they had the feeling that they were a boy. They say that the world has changed for trans people, and that people can see them for who they are now. “I remember getting on my bike in Manhattan, maybe four or five years ago, and suddenly realizing that this sense that I am unrecognizable, unintelligible to the world in which I live, was gone. I would bike down the Hudson River Greenway, and people would see a transgender, or gender-nonconforming, person…the society has changed. I haven’t changed that much in appearance in my life. But, into my fifties, I was somebody who was unintelligible to the world. Suddenly, that was no longer the case.”
The sermon might explore how differently we see now, as a culture or as a church. We’re much more attuned to differences in people, and — hopefully — better able to embrace people for who they are.
The man born blind demands that we consider where we are in this story — people who want to see, or people who don’t. People who can celebrate fuller lives for our neighbors, or people who can’t. People willing to embrace mystery, or people who demand certainty. Agents of healing grace, as we follow Jesus, or agents of fear and repression, as we follow the religious leaders.
Jesus says it plainly: “I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Comfort of Blindness
by Tom Willadsen
John 9:1-41, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, Psalm 23
In the Scriptures
There are clear parallels between the readings from each testament this week.
David makes his first appearance in scripture. He’s the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, so young he has to stay in the pasture with the sheep while his big brothers attend the sacrifice catered by Samuel. David wasn’t the obvious choice to be anointed by Samuel, but when he was anointed, the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. The Lord’s eyes look on the heart, and yet David is described as handsome, with beautiful eyes and a ruddy complexion. Maybe he was a redhead. David’s skill as a musician is revealed in the very next verses. His skill with a sling comes immediately after that.
Tradition has it that David wrote Psalm 23. It is easily the most recognized passage of scripture. Its very familiarity makes many preachers sheepish about preaching it. (Though we are not sheepish about pastoral puns.) One thing worth noting is the shift from third to second person at verse 4. It’s also significant that verse 3a “he restores my soul” is in present tense. There’s an immediacy and intimacy to this psalm that makes it so powerful and comforting.
The contrasts between light and darkness, blindness and sight, shape this week’s New Testament lessons.
Ephesians says starkly, “once you were darkness,” not you lived in darkness — you were darkness itself! The transition to light, and being a child of the light could not be more stark. The final verse of today’s reading “Sleeper, awake!/Rise from the dead,/and Christ will shine on you.” is probably a line from a familiar hymn.
Originally Lent was a season of preparation and instruction for aspiring Christians. One can imagine today’s passage from Ephesians as a description of the transition that awaited the catechumens at baptism.
The lesson from John is lengthy, the entire 9th chapter, but cannot really be abridged. Every scene is essential to understand the story. It is interesting to contrast the saga of John 9 with the healing story in Mark 8:22-26. In the latter, people bring a blind man to Jesus, begging that Jesus touch the blind man. Jesus took the blind man out of the village, restored the man’s sight and then told the man not to return to his village.
In John’s story, the blind man does not ask to have his sight restored; he is acted upon. Most of the action happens with Jesus “off stage.” The drama swirls around how the man regained his sight and the fact that this miracle took place on the Sabbath. In the end the man is abandoned by his family and shunned by his community. The conceit that the blind one sees clearly while the sighted ones (the Pharisees) are blind may be overdone, but is clearly a valid conclusion. Some contend that this passage was meant for those who had accepted Christ and been shunned by their families. That Jesus vindicates and reassures the blind man offers something of a happy ending to that audience. Jesus’ work and teaching is disruptive to everyone in this story — even though Jesus is out of the picture most of the time the story unfurls.
I am reminded of a controversy I had with an organist/choir director early in my ministry. I selected “Amazing Grace” as the closing hymn for the Sunday I planned to preach John 9. “I once was blind, but now I see,” seemed like the perfect summation of this reading and the sermon I planned to preach on it. The problem was that “Amazing Grace” is in ¾ time and at that church the choir recessed. The musician feared that their choir robes would sway in an unseemly way as they walked in waltz time. She did not want to play that song. She did not think the associate pastor should be able to overrule her opinion. In a spirit of magnanimous compromise I asked her to suggest another hymn, in an acceptable time signature, that conveyed the transition from blindness to sight. She could not think of one. A tense impasse ensued. Two days later she informed me that the choir would not recess that day. They would stay in the choir loft, thus sparing the Presbyterians from swaying choir robes. Somehow the youth choir recessed to “Amazing Grace” at the later service and the roof stayed on the building. As a Christian church that place was one of the more prominent country clubs on the Eastern Seaboard.
In the News
The World Baseball Classic is scheduled to conclude March 21 in Miami. Chances are your congregation is going to be paying closer attention to the NCAA’s March Madness Men’s Basketball Tournament. At this writing it appears Northwestern is poised to make its second appearance in the tournament.
President Biden sent his proposed budget to Congress. The President calls it a “Blue Collar Budget” while House Republicans have dubbed it the wish list of “the Radical Left.” Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy declared it “dead on arrival.”
The standoff around raising the debt limit has left the headlines, but still remains. Republicans are calling for a substantial decrease in spending, while the President continues to refuse to negotiate over whether to pay the bills the Congress has already accumulated. The full faith and credit of the United States hangs in the balance.
Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California, failed March 10. It’s the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
Another atmospheric river is heading toward California. This time its warm air and heavy rain is expected to cause significant flooding as the enormous snow pack will melt rapidly.
The war in Ukraine grinds on.
Covid-19 deaths are trending downward; only 1,862 Americans died this week, according to the CDC.
Your congregation is a week into Daylight Saving Time; congratulate them on making the semiannual adjustment like grown ups.
In the Sermon
Years ago an aspiring comic appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and was asked what he did professionally before he got into entertainment.
“I was a shepherd,” he replied, to raucous laughter.
Chances are you don’t know any shepherds, no one in your congregation knows any shepherds and they haven’t eaten mutton in months. Some of them might be wearing wool, but our contact with sheep is minimal.
And yet, this beloved psalm continues to speak to us — to our needs, our vulnerabilities and need for reassurance.
Thirty years ago there was a man who used to ride the el through the northside of Chicago repeating endlessly, “The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.” There had not been a flock of sheep within miles of the Fullerton Parkway el stop in a century, yet these words were alive in his heart, and in the ears of hundreds of other commuters.
What are we thirsty for? How do we imagine still waters?
How are we blind? I’m not asking how those who get their news from others sources are blind, how are we ourselves blind? How disruptive and painful would it be if we were to suddenly see clearly?
The formerly blind man paid a huge cost in getting to see clearly. At the end of John 9 he saw clearly, but he was clearly worse off. Is his story a cautionary tale of loss that comes with seeing clearly?
And that table the psalmist promises — it’s in the presence of our enemies. Should we share with them?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Elena Delhagen:
1 Samuel 16:1-13
By all accounts, the shepherd boy David was truly an unlikely candidate for divine leadership. He was small in stature, “ruddy” in appearance, and like most shepherds in the ancient Near East, looked down upon and likely viewed with contempt.
Interestingly, though the Bible does not name David’s mother (only his father, Jesse), Jewish tradition gives her the name Nitzevet. The Talmud relates a complicated story concerning Nitzevet: her husband, Jesse, began to doubt the purity of his ancestry, since he was the grandson of Ruth, a Moabitess. Due to his doubts, Jesse stopped having marital relations with Nitzevet after she had borne her seventh son. Instead, the Talmud says, Jesse planned to marry his Canaanite servant and have children with her. The maidservant, however, had pity on Nitzevet and offered Nitzevet a plan: on the wedding night, Nitzevet and the maidservant could secretly switch places, and Nitzevet could lay with Jesse one more time. The switch worked (much like Leah and Rachel’s plan with Jacob) and Nitzevet became pregnant with David, her eighth son. Nitzevet never revealed to Jesse what she had done, even when her pregnancy was apparent. Therefore, Nitzevet came to be despised as an immoral woman, and her son, David, grew up an outcast in his own family.
Again, none of this is in the Bible or the First Reading of the lectionary for today. Yet, if we would allow ourselves to read the text imaginatively, it could explain why David had not even been invited to the sacrifice and was left, instead, to tend the flocks (v. 5). Jesse had not even considered David to be a possibility when God told Samuel that he would choose one of the sons to be anointed as king (v. 11).
The story continues. Tradition holds that, as Samuel held the horn of anointing oil, it bubbled, almost as if it could not wait to drop onto David’s forehead. And as David was anointed, one could hear the sound of weeping from outside the great hall. It was the voice of Nitzevet, David’s sole source of comfort in a family that, by and large, overlooked him. David’s anointing meant that, finally, the anguish and humiliation she and her son had borne for all these years was coming to an end.
* * *
Psalm 23
I grew up amongst the great pines of the cold Canadian north, in a small village in northern Ontario with a population of less than a thousand. I spent much of my childhood exploring the thick forests that acted almost as a fence around my house. I would spend hours among the trees, plants, creeks, and animals like squirrels, deer, and birds of all shapes and sizes.
I was nearly twelve years old when I saw my first bear. My brothers, sisters, and I had been hiking, but the three of them had scattered off by themselves to see if they could catch any fish at a nearby creek. It was late in the day, and we’d already been out longer than anticipated. I knew my mother would soon be calling for us from our back porch. As I stomped my way through thick brush I heard a loud rustling, sticks cracking, and that’s when I saw it out of the corner of my left eye. The bear wasn’t as big as I expected, probably not full grown, but she was big enough to make my heart jump in my throat and freeze me in the spot where I stood.
That’s when I began to recite Psalm 23 from memory. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was almost as if, in my fear, those simple words assuring me of God’s presence were the first that came to mind.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.”
The words in this short psalm have provided comfort for countless believers over the years. I’ve heard stories of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, many who cannot seem to remember their own names or who the current president is, be able to repeat these six verses seemingly out of nowhere. It is one of the Bible’s most recognizable psalms, perhaps because it speaks to the one universal truth that everyone everywhere needs to be reminded of sometimes:
We are not alone. The God who was with David is the same God who walks with us. In our want, in our fear, in our anxiety, we still have the promise of a constant King who will never leave our sides.
* * *
John 9:1-41
This healing of the man with blindness is perhaps one of my favorite stories in all of scripture. Here, a man who had been unable to see for the entirety of his life, is healed by the saliva of Incarnate Word and some mud from the earth. It’s a gritty, tactile, embodied encounter. Jesus could have easily simply spoken words of healing, and it would have been done. But from the beginning of the Bible to the end, we have seen that God is and has always been intrinsically connected to matter.
The temptation of modern Christianity is to make our faith all about the head, or the heart, or the soul, and when we do that, it’s at the expense of the physical. The Hebrew word for our English concept of “soul” is nefesh, and in the infamous passage where Jesus commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul, soul is nefesh. But in actuality? Nefesh means life. In Deuteronomy 20, the people are given commandments concerning dietary habits and eating meat, and verse 23 reads, “Only be sure that you do not eat the blood; the blood is the life.” The Hebrew reads, “The blood is the nefesh.” The blood is the soul, what makes the body come alive. This, of course, is vastly different than our Western, Platonic ideology that teaches (in Christian doctrine, at least) that our souls are what truly matter.
Yet when we do that, we miss out on a holistic, embodied view of our faith. Why is that important, you might ask? Because, if true, our bodies — what we do with them, how we treat them, how we treat other people’s bodies — matter greatly. If true, our planet — the very dust we were made from, the very dust Jesus used to heal this man — is sacred. God takes the tangible, physical things of the earth and inhabits them, seen most astonishingly in the Incarnation.
The Pharisees and the man’s neighbors, of course, cannot believe his stories, for the whole thing seems just inconceivable to them. I wonder: How many times do we miss out on witnessing a new thing God is doing just because it comes about in unexpected ways? In a manner we were not anticipating, one we didn’t see coming?
And really, isn’t that the whole story of Christ? The light came into the world, but so many could not see him for who he truly was because he came in ways they had not been expecting.
Perhaps we too are in need of healing for our limited sight.
* * *
John 9:1-41
The Roman naturalist and writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) has a whole chapter in his Natural History on diseases and injuries that can be cured by “fasting saliva” (meaning saliva in the morning before breakfast). He mentions in 28.7: “lichens and leprous spots may be remedied by early morning application of fasting spittle….eyes may be cured by early morning fasting spittle.”
Thousands of years later, modern microbiologists have turned their attention and experiments to the half gallon of our saliva generated each day. (We don’t swallow our saliva when we are asleep — hence “fasting saliva.”)
They’ve found something called histatins. A protein, they’re a group of histidine-rich cationic peptides that are antibacterial and antifungal — and they’re found only in humans and primates. They also found neutrophils in our saliva; neutrophils, with their abundance of white blood cells, protect our body against infectious diseases and foreign invaders.
Maybe Jesus was on to something. But then again, I don’t suggest we all go around spitting on one another to find out.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
The dichotomy between light and darkness is a prevalent theme in this week’s readings. There has been some talk lately of the US Senate exploring solar geoengineering, a method that would block some of the sun’s rays as a way to quickly reduce global warming. It admittedly is a potentially dangerous move, some senators say, and really is more of an emergency measure. Many say the funding should instead be funneled into fighting the most obvious hindrance to climate health: the burning of fossil fuels.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
1 Samuel 16:1-13
The King is Dead, or Maybe Not
Samuel’s fear about choosing the next king of Israel is understandable. Even though he’s been summoned by God to pick a successor to Saul, Samuel understands this will not bring him any honors. “How can I go?” Samuel cries to God in 16:2. “If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.”
Some GOP politicians are facing similar struggles in their attempt to establish a new generation of leadership. In announcing her bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, former ambassador Nikki Haley said the party must “move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past.” But Haley stopped short of including Donald Trump, her former boss, on that list. Instead, she wrapped her pitch around a message of generational change that included both Trump and President Joe Biden. According to the New York Times, Haley, a Generation Xer, focused instead on being a younger conservative option. “We have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans,” she said. “Well, that ends today. If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.”
* * *
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Picking a Winner
We’re not told how David’s brothers reacted when he is picked to be the next king, but it is probable that their next family dinner table conversation was a bit icy. Likewise, when Jamie Lee Curtis won the Oscar for best supporting actress at Sunday’s Academy Awards, rival Angela Bassett did not hide her disappointment. Bassett, who had been nominated for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” neither smiled nor applauded when Curtis’ name was announced. Curtis was nominated for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which took home a total of seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
Some had said that Curtis’ place among the nominees was a bit odd, especially since her screen time in the movie was limited. One reviewer called her role as “some sort of white-person screentime quota” in the largely Asian cast. That might not be the best quote for a sermon, but it gives some perspective the outrage racing across fan sites this week.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness”
Financial experts are suggesting that the leadership of Silicon Valley Bank, a large regional bank that failed last week, should have known trouble was ahead. The bank held massive deposits that were backed by low-interest securities, and also depended heavily on venture capital startups that were burning more cash than expected. When the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates and venture capitalists cooled their funding, the stage was set for a massive run on deposits. Analysts for the Los Angeles Times pointed out that the bank’s leaders might have seen this coming — but instead they seemed to be acting in the blind and were caught off guard.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Psalm 23
Do you feel like you are through the darkest valley? Someone said that they understand The Great Gatsby much better now. The context was post-pandemic, post World War, and everyone seemed to be dealing with all of that trauma through willful ignorance and/or accumulation of wealth. In the current context, institutional trust does not seem to have been rebuilt, and the community does not seem to be working together. Internationally there seems to be a lot of threats. Perhaps resting in the arms of God is a solution. Perhaps eating and resting is one solution, knowing God loves us and has our back in the face of trauma is definitely something to rest in.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
Paul is talking about being a “woke” people here. There is a joke that once you are awakened to justice issues, life becomes harder. A lot of jokes that you once thought were funny are not funny anymore because you realize they were actually cruel. Things that you thought were hopeful are actually not because you realize they are just symptoms of greater injustices that need to be solved. Like a person walking miles and miles to work everyday finally getting a car. It’s great that person received a car, but why is there no bus system for that person? Or why could they not afford a car if they work everyday in the first place? We are being encouraged here not to go back into the darkness.
The BBC headline “Mental-health crisis from Covid pandemic was minimal - study,” caused a stir recently. It was clear that this article was focused on those who were already rich, comfortable, and well off, and it did not include those who were marginal — the very people those who have seen the light of Jesus Christ will be concerned about.
* * *
John 9:1-41
In an age where anti-trans and anti-drag legislation is rampant it seems that everyone is looking for “where they got that idea.” This is an era of repression, where people are trying to legislate the queerness out of humanity. However, if you talk to someone who is queer, one can quickly understand that this is not a sin, nor can it be legislated out of them. They did not “get the idea” from someone, it was something they were born with. This is beautifully illustrated in a Huffington Post article by Kate Smith.
So too, is the question of disabilities. If we are all made in the image of God, but we want to miraculously heal or change people with disabilities, what does that have to say about what we value about those with disabilities? Judy Heumann, who was instrumental in passing disability justice, and who just recently died, put it this way: “Disability becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to live our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example. It is not a tragedy to me that I’m living in a wheelchair.” Jesus says that disability is not a sin. We are not being punished and are no less in God’s image because we are disabled. We are simply made differently.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God invites us to rest in green pastures.
All: God leads us beside still waters, restoring our souls.
One: Even when we walk through the darkest valley,
All: we fear no evil; for God is always with us.
One: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all of our days.
All: We shall dwell in the house of God our whole life long.
OR
One: Come to the light and allow the Christ to open your eyes.
All: We long to have our vision restored so we can see the truth.
One: When Christ opens our eyes we will see the truth about ourselves.
All: With God’s help we will be open to the truth of who we are.
One: God will also show us the truth of who we can become.
All: By the grace of God we will become the true children of God.
Hymns and Songs
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want
UMH: 136
GTG: 801
NNBH: 237/241
CH: 78
LBW: 451
ELW: 778
W&P: 86
AMEC: 208
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
GTG: 451
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
GTG: 802
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
GTG: 187
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
W&P: 440
AMEC: 379
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
UMH: 521
PH: 363
GTG: 775
AAHH: 563
NNBH: 500
NCH: 490
CH: 627
W&P: 506
AMEC: 375
Thy Word Is a Lamp
UMH: 601
GTG: 458
CH: 326
W&P: 664
Renew: 94
O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright
UMH: 679
H82: 5
PH: 474
GTG: 666
NCH: 87
LBW: 271
ELW: 559
W&P: 144
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Humble Yourself in the Sight of the Lord
CCB: 72
Renew: 188
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who sees all of us as we truly are:
Grant us the courage to allow you to open our eyes
so that we may see ourselves as you have created us
and as we have allowed ourselves to become;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of light and sight, because you are the one who see truly. You discern who we are and you know who we were created to be. Help us to allow you to open the eyes of our hearts that we may see who we are and who we are meant to be and become. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we are willfully blind to the truth.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us in your image and placed within us your own Spirit and life. You have given us a vision of what the world can be when we live into your Reign and yet, and yet we close our eyes to the truth and willfully walk in the darkness. We allow our own prejudices and preconceptions to alter the way we see things. We allow our fears to warp our vision. Forgive us and renew your image within us so that we might truly live as Jesus’ disciples and your children. Amen.
One: God does indeed know what we were created to be and who we can yet become if we will but open our eyes to God’s truth. Open your eyes and receive God’s anointing that you may see as God sees, hear as God hears, and love as God loves.
Prayers of the People
Praise and honor and glory are yours, O God who creates and recreates out of your great heart of love. We worship you because you are the source of the love and life we desire.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us in your image and placed within us your own Spirit and life. You have given us a vision of what the world can be when we live into your Reign and yet, and yet we close our eyes to the truth and willfully walk in the darkness. We allow our own prejudices and preconceptions to alter the way we see things. We allow our fears to warp our vision. Forgive us and renew your image within us so that we might truly live as Jesus' disciples and your children.
We give you thanks for all the ways you bless us and all creation. We thank you for the great diversity of creatures the reflect your image and your Spirit. We thank you for the wonders of nature that are beyond our comprehension until we view them through your eyes of love. We thank you for those who have loved us in spite of ourselves and for those who have seen our true selves behind the mask of our egos.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all creation as it groans to enter into the fullness of its intended beauty. We pray for those who struggle to discover who they are and how they need to live their lives. We pray for those who are hated because they are feared and we pray for those who hate because of the fear that resides within them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
This Little Light of Mine
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 9:1-41
You will need: A flashlight. One for you to use as a demonstration. If possible, a small flashlight for each child would be even better. Distribute them at the end of the message.
(Shine your flashlight around the room and say:)
In today’s Bible lessons there is a lot of talk about being in the dark and being unable to see. Seeing is important, isn’t it? In fact, we use the word “seeing” when we really mean “knowing.”
Like, when we understand something that we didn’t understand before, we say, “Oh, now I see!” Or when we part from our friends, we say, “I’ll see you later.” We don’t say, “I’ll smell you later,” or “I’ll hear you later.” We say, “I’ll see you later.”
When we are trying to explain something, we say, “Do you see what I mean?”
When I was growing up, when someone didn’t know the answer to a question or problem they would say, “I’m in the dark.” They couldn’t “see” the answer.
Well, when we’re in the dark and we can’t see, what do we need? Light! That’s right. Light helps us see in the dark. Light helps us understand when we don’t understand.
When we walk into a dark room, we can’t see the things that we might trip over and we could get hurt. So, what do we do? That’s right. We turn on the light.
Jesus said that he is the “Light of the world.” What do you suppose he meant by that? Well, maybe he meant that he, Jesus, can help us see things differently than we did before we had him in our lives. Maybe he meant that sometimes the world is a dark place that’s hard to understand but with Jesus, we can see it clearly and understand it a little better than we did before.
Jesus also said that we should be light for the world. We should make life easier and better for those around us by spreading our light.
(Hand out the mini flashlights if you have them and lead the children singing, “This Little Light of Mine” as they return to their seats.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 19, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Who Can See? by Mary Austin based on John 9:1-41.
- Second Thoughts: The Comfort of Blindness by Tom Willadsen based on John 9:1-41, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, Psalm 23.
- Sermon illustrations by Elena Delhagan, Chris Keating, and Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: This Little Light of Mine by Dean Feldmeyer based on John 9:1-41.
Who Can See?by Mary Austin
John 9:1-41
Possibly the most amazing day of his life quickly turns sour. As John tells it, the man who was blind for decades can now see, thanks to his encounter with Jesus. Now, he can work, travel, get married, have a family and simply walk down the streets of his hometown without tripping. The parents who have been anxious about his future — and perhaps their own — can relax. He no longer has to make a living begging. His mind must be racing with possibilities. This should be cause for celebration.
The joy grows thin as neighbors and then the religious leaders begin to insert themselves into his day. People have questions about him, his parents and who Jesus is. Rejoicing quickly turns to suspicion, and the man becomes a pawn for the religious leaders. In a similar way, transgender people are becoming props for politicians all over the country. Campaigns against transgender people are "a winner" for politicians who want to energize voters, whether the voters know any transgender people personally or not.
In state legislatures, lawmakers are pursuing a variety of bills that would restrict transgender people. “The start of the 2023 legislative season stands out for the aggressiveness with which lawmakers are pushing into new territory. The bills they have proposed — more than 150 in at least 25 states — include bans on transition care into young adulthood; restrictions on drag shows using definitions that could broadly encompass performances by transgender people; measures that would prevent teachers in many cases from using names or pronouns matching students’ gender identities; and requirements that schools out transgender students to their parents.” Transgender people, along with their parents and friends, are living in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
Jesus summons all of us to see clearly, whether our disordered sight is mental, spiritual, or moral.
In the News
Transgender people, their health care, where they can play sports and the ever-present bathroom issue are in the news again as we head toward the 2024 election season. “The flood of legislation is part of a long-term campaign by national groups that see transgender rights as an issue on which they can harness voter anger — as with the campaigns against remote learning and critical race theory that reshaped many school boards and lifted Republicans in Virginia’s elections in 2021 — though the midterm elections provided little evidence of it. “This is a political winner,” said Terry Schilling, the president of the conservative American Principles Project, arguing that more voters would have been swayed had many Republicans not “shied away” from the subject.”
At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting, Michael Knowles, the host of “The Michael Knowles Show” on The Daily Wire, told the crowd, “The problem with transgenderism is not that it’s inappropriate for children under the age of 9. The problem with transgenderism is that it isn’t true. If [transgenderism] is false, then for the good of society... transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
The science indicates that gender-affirming health care, including therapy, puberty blockers for younger teens, and medication, has a positive impact on mental health. “A decade of research shows such treatment reduces depression, suicidality and other devastating consequences of trans preteens and teens being forced to undergo puberty in the sex they were assigned at birth…The truth is that data from more than a dozen studies of more than 30,000 transgender and gender-diverse young people consistently show that access to gender-affirming care is associated with better mental health outcomes — and that lack of access to such care is associated with higher rates of suicidality, depression and self-harming behavior…Major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, have published policy statements and guidelines on how to provide age-appropriate gender-affirming care. All of those medical societies find such care to be evidence-based and medically necessary.” The proposed legislation in so many states goes against the established science.
Journalist Masha Gessen, who identifies as trans and uses they/them pronouns, says “all these bills are about signalling, and what they’re signalling is the essence of past-oriented politics. It’s a really convenient signal because some of the most recent and most rapid social change concerns L.G.B.T. rights in general, and trans rights and trans visibility in particular.” They add, “Promising to take that fear and anxiety away is truly powerful.”
In contrast to all the political hype and fake drama, individual people are trying to live their fullest, healthiest lives in safety. They, and the people who love them, are not getting much of a voice in the current political climate.
In the Scriptures
The young man born blind, like our trans neighbors and friends, has an opportunity to live his fullest, healthiest life, after he encounters Jesus. Jesus, who sees the young man as he could be, brings God’s power to bear in his life, creating an alternate future for him.
In our world, we understand disability differently, and many people who have disabilities count their disability as a vital part of their self-understanding. In the scripture, we’re meant to understand the man’s blindness as a limitation, one that God can heal. In the healing, we see the power of God breaking into ordinary life.
In this story, much like in our world, when the now-sighted man speaks his truth, there’s a price to pay. The religious leaders answer him by saying, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they drive him out, severing him from the community.
Here Jesus offers another moment of healing when he seeks the man out. They talk about who Jesus is, and the man is moved to a deeper level of faith. “Lord, I believe,” he says. John tells us that he worshiped Jesus. This healing happens on a physical level, and it is also a spiritual transformation. Jesus has a lesson for everyone watching this drama. “I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
Jesus’ judgment is on everyone who could see, and chooses not to.
In the Sermon
“Everyone has a disability. Some are visible,” a person who uses a wheelchair told me once. It’s powerful to think about where our disabilities might be, and places where our lives might parallel the journey of the once-blind man.
The sermon might also explore the places where we all choose not to see. The environmental impact of our choices, the clothing made by child labor, the tomatoes picked by people who are essentially enslaved, the investments in our retirement funds — we all have places where we are blind to our destructive power. Or perhaps we choose not to see our implicit bias, or the prejudices we still allow ourselves.
As John tells the story, the healing irks the religious leaders who don’t understand how it happened. They want a logical explanation, and none is available. The sermon might explore our parallel longings. We may not understand people who identify as trans, or non-binary, and we want a simple explanation when human beings are always complex. The sermon might explore the mystery that all of us carry as human beings.
Journalist Masha Gessen recalls that from the age of five or six, they had the feeling that they were a boy. They say that the world has changed for trans people, and that people can see them for who they are now. “I remember getting on my bike in Manhattan, maybe four or five years ago, and suddenly realizing that this sense that I am unrecognizable, unintelligible to the world in which I live, was gone. I would bike down the Hudson River Greenway, and people would see a transgender, or gender-nonconforming, person…the society has changed. I haven’t changed that much in appearance in my life. But, into my fifties, I was somebody who was unintelligible to the world. Suddenly, that was no longer the case.”
The sermon might explore how differently we see now, as a culture or as a church. We’re much more attuned to differences in people, and — hopefully — better able to embrace people for who they are.
The man born blind demands that we consider where we are in this story — people who want to see, or people who don’t. People who can celebrate fuller lives for our neighbors, or people who can’t. People willing to embrace mystery, or people who demand certainty. Agents of healing grace, as we follow Jesus, or agents of fear and repression, as we follow the religious leaders.
Jesus says it plainly: “I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Comfort of Blindness
by Tom Willadsen
John 9:1-41, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, Psalm 23
In the Scriptures
There are clear parallels between the readings from each testament this week.
David makes his first appearance in scripture. He’s the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, so young he has to stay in the pasture with the sheep while his big brothers attend the sacrifice catered by Samuel. David wasn’t the obvious choice to be anointed by Samuel, but when he was anointed, the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. The Lord’s eyes look on the heart, and yet David is described as handsome, with beautiful eyes and a ruddy complexion. Maybe he was a redhead. David’s skill as a musician is revealed in the very next verses. His skill with a sling comes immediately after that.
Tradition has it that David wrote Psalm 23. It is easily the most recognized passage of scripture. Its very familiarity makes many preachers sheepish about preaching it. (Though we are not sheepish about pastoral puns.) One thing worth noting is the shift from third to second person at verse 4. It’s also significant that verse 3a “he restores my soul” is in present tense. There’s an immediacy and intimacy to this psalm that makes it so powerful and comforting.
The contrasts between light and darkness, blindness and sight, shape this week’s New Testament lessons.
Ephesians says starkly, “once you were darkness,” not you lived in darkness — you were darkness itself! The transition to light, and being a child of the light could not be more stark. The final verse of today’s reading “Sleeper, awake!/Rise from the dead,/and Christ will shine on you.” is probably a line from a familiar hymn.
Originally Lent was a season of preparation and instruction for aspiring Christians. One can imagine today’s passage from Ephesians as a description of the transition that awaited the catechumens at baptism.
The lesson from John is lengthy, the entire 9th chapter, but cannot really be abridged. Every scene is essential to understand the story. It is interesting to contrast the saga of John 9 with the healing story in Mark 8:22-26. In the latter, people bring a blind man to Jesus, begging that Jesus touch the blind man. Jesus took the blind man out of the village, restored the man’s sight and then told the man not to return to his village.
In John’s story, the blind man does not ask to have his sight restored; he is acted upon. Most of the action happens with Jesus “off stage.” The drama swirls around how the man regained his sight and the fact that this miracle took place on the Sabbath. In the end the man is abandoned by his family and shunned by his community. The conceit that the blind one sees clearly while the sighted ones (the Pharisees) are blind may be overdone, but is clearly a valid conclusion. Some contend that this passage was meant for those who had accepted Christ and been shunned by their families. That Jesus vindicates and reassures the blind man offers something of a happy ending to that audience. Jesus’ work and teaching is disruptive to everyone in this story — even though Jesus is out of the picture most of the time the story unfurls.
I am reminded of a controversy I had with an organist/choir director early in my ministry. I selected “Amazing Grace” as the closing hymn for the Sunday I planned to preach John 9. “I once was blind, but now I see,” seemed like the perfect summation of this reading and the sermon I planned to preach on it. The problem was that “Amazing Grace” is in ¾ time and at that church the choir recessed. The musician feared that their choir robes would sway in an unseemly way as they walked in waltz time. She did not want to play that song. She did not think the associate pastor should be able to overrule her opinion. In a spirit of magnanimous compromise I asked her to suggest another hymn, in an acceptable time signature, that conveyed the transition from blindness to sight. She could not think of one. A tense impasse ensued. Two days later she informed me that the choir would not recess that day. They would stay in the choir loft, thus sparing the Presbyterians from swaying choir robes. Somehow the youth choir recessed to “Amazing Grace” at the later service and the roof stayed on the building. As a Christian church that place was one of the more prominent country clubs on the Eastern Seaboard.
In the News
The World Baseball Classic is scheduled to conclude March 21 in Miami. Chances are your congregation is going to be paying closer attention to the NCAA’s March Madness Men’s Basketball Tournament. At this writing it appears Northwestern is poised to make its second appearance in the tournament.
President Biden sent his proposed budget to Congress. The President calls it a “Blue Collar Budget” while House Republicans have dubbed it the wish list of “the Radical Left.” Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy declared it “dead on arrival.”
The standoff around raising the debt limit has left the headlines, but still remains. Republicans are calling for a substantial decrease in spending, while the President continues to refuse to negotiate over whether to pay the bills the Congress has already accumulated. The full faith and credit of the United States hangs in the balance.
Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California, failed March 10. It’s the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
Another atmospheric river is heading toward California. This time its warm air and heavy rain is expected to cause significant flooding as the enormous snow pack will melt rapidly.
The war in Ukraine grinds on.
Covid-19 deaths are trending downward; only 1,862 Americans died this week, according to the CDC.
Your congregation is a week into Daylight Saving Time; congratulate them on making the semiannual adjustment like grown ups.
In the Sermon
Years ago an aspiring comic appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and was asked what he did professionally before he got into entertainment.
“I was a shepherd,” he replied, to raucous laughter.
Chances are you don’t know any shepherds, no one in your congregation knows any shepherds and they haven’t eaten mutton in months. Some of them might be wearing wool, but our contact with sheep is minimal.
And yet, this beloved psalm continues to speak to us — to our needs, our vulnerabilities and need for reassurance.
Thirty years ago there was a man who used to ride the el through the northside of Chicago repeating endlessly, “The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.” There had not been a flock of sheep within miles of the Fullerton Parkway el stop in a century, yet these words were alive in his heart, and in the ears of hundreds of other commuters.
What are we thirsty for? How do we imagine still waters?
How are we blind? I’m not asking how those who get their news from others sources are blind, how are we ourselves blind? How disruptive and painful would it be if we were to suddenly see clearly?
The formerly blind man paid a huge cost in getting to see clearly. At the end of John 9 he saw clearly, but he was clearly worse off. Is his story a cautionary tale of loss that comes with seeing clearly?
And that table the psalmist promises — it’s in the presence of our enemies. Should we share with them?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Elena Delhagen:1 Samuel 16:1-13
By all accounts, the shepherd boy David was truly an unlikely candidate for divine leadership. He was small in stature, “ruddy” in appearance, and like most shepherds in the ancient Near East, looked down upon and likely viewed with contempt.
Interestingly, though the Bible does not name David’s mother (only his father, Jesse), Jewish tradition gives her the name Nitzevet. The Talmud relates a complicated story concerning Nitzevet: her husband, Jesse, began to doubt the purity of his ancestry, since he was the grandson of Ruth, a Moabitess. Due to his doubts, Jesse stopped having marital relations with Nitzevet after she had borne her seventh son. Instead, the Talmud says, Jesse planned to marry his Canaanite servant and have children with her. The maidservant, however, had pity on Nitzevet and offered Nitzevet a plan: on the wedding night, Nitzevet and the maidservant could secretly switch places, and Nitzevet could lay with Jesse one more time. The switch worked (much like Leah and Rachel’s plan with Jacob) and Nitzevet became pregnant with David, her eighth son. Nitzevet never revealed to Jesse what she had done, even when her pregnancy was apparent. Therefore, Nitzevet came to be despised as an immoral woman, and her son, David, grew up an outcast in his own family.
Again, none of this is in the Bible or the First Reading of the lectionary for today. Yet, if we would allow ourselves to read the text imaginatively, it could explain why David had not even been invited to the sacrifice and was left, instead, to tend the flocks (v. 5). Jesse had not even considered David to be a possibility when God told Samuel that he would choose one of the sons to be anointed as king (v. 11).
The story continues. Tradition holds that, as Samuel held the horn of anointing oil, it bubbled, almost as if it could not wait to drop onto David’s forehead. And as David was anointed, one could hear the sound of weeping from outside the great hall. It was the voice of Nitzevet, David’s sole source of comfort in a family that, by and large, overlooked him. David’s anointing meant that, finally, the anguish and humiliation she and her son had borne for all these years was coming to an end.
* * *
Psalm 23
I grew up amongst the great pines of the cold Canadian north, in a small village in northern Ontario with a population of less than a thousand. I spent much of my childhood exploring the thick forests that acted almost as a fence around my house. I would spend hours among the trees, plants, creeks, and animals like squirrels, deer, and birds of all shapes and sizes.
I was nearly twelve years old when I saw my first bear. My brothers, sisters, and I had been hiking, but the three of them had scattered off by themselves to see if they could catch any fish at a nearby creek. It was late in the day, and we’d already been out longer than anticipated. I knew my mother would soon be calling for us from our back porch. As I stomped my way through thick brush I heard a loud rustling, sticks cracking, and that’s when I saw it out of the corner of my left eye. The bear wasn’t as big as I expected, probably not full grown, but she was big enough to make my heart jump in my throat and freeze me in the spot where I stood.
That’s when I began to recite Psalm 23 from memory. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was almost as if, in my fear, those simple words assuring me of God’s presence were the first that came to mind.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.”
The words in this short psalm have provided comfort for countless believers over the years. I’ve heard stories of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, many who cannot seem to remember their own names or who the current president is, be able to repeat these six verses seemingly out of nowhere. It is one of the Bible’s most recognizable psalms, perhaps because it speaks to the one universal truth that everyone everywhere needs to be reminded of sometimes:
We are not alone. The God who was with David is the same God who walks with us. In our want, in our fear, in our anxiety, we still have the promise of a constant King who will never leave our sides.
* * *
John 9:1-41
This healing of the man with blindness is perhaps one of my favorite stories in all of scripture. Here, a man who had been unable to see for the entirety of his life, is healed by the saliva of Incarnate Word and some mud from the earth. It’s a gritty, tactile, embodied encounter. Jesus could have easily simply spoken words of healing, and it would have been done. But from the beginning of the Bible to the end, we have seen that God is and has always been intrinsically connected to matter.
The temptation of modern Christianity is to make our faith all about the head, or the heart, or the soul, and when we do that, it’s at the expense of the physical. The Hebrew word for our English concept of “soul” is nefesh, and in the infamous passage where Jesus commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul, soul is nefesh. But in actuality? Nefesh means life. In Deuteronomy 20, the people are given commandments concerning dietary habits and eating meat, and verse 23 reads, “Only be sure that you do not eat the blood; the blood is the life.” The Hebrew reads, “The blood is the nefesh.” The blood is the soul, what makes the body come alive. This, of course, is vastly different than our Western, Platonic ideology that teaches (in Christian doctrine, at least) that our souls are what truly matter.
Yet when we do that, we miss out on a holistic, embodied view of our faith. Why is that important, you might ask? Because, if true, our bodies — what we do with them, how we treat them, how we treat other people’s bodies — matter greatly. If true, our planet — the very dust we were made from, the very dust Jesus used to heal this man — is sacred. God takes the tangible, physical things of the earth and inhabits them, seen most astonishingly in the Incarnation.
The Pharisees and the man’s neighbors, of course, cannot believe his stories, for the whole thing seems just inconceivable to them. I wonder: How many times do we miss out on witnessing a new thing God is doing just because it comes about in unexpected ways? In a manner we were not anticipating, one we didn’t see coming?
And really, isn’t that the whole story of Christ? The light came into the world, but so many could not see him for who he truly was because he came in ways they had not been expecting.
Perhaps we too are in need of healing for our limited sight.
* * *
John 9:1-41
The Roman naturalist and writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) has a whole chapter in his Natural History on diseases and injuries that can be cured by “fasting saliva” (meaning saliva in the morning before breakfast). He mentions in 28.7: “lichens and leprous spots may be remedied by early morning application of fasting spittle….eyes may be cured by early morning fasting spittle.”
Thousands of years later, modern microbiologists have turned their attention and experiments to the half gallon of our saliva generated each day. (We don’t swallow our saliva when we are asleep — hence “fasting saliva.”)
They’ve found something called histatins. A protein, they’re a group of histidine-rich cationic peptides that are antibacterial and antifungal — and they’re found only in humans and primates. They also found neutrophils in our saliva; neutrophils, with their abundance of white blood cells, protect our body against infectious diseases and foreign invaders.
Maybe Jesus was on to something. But then again, I don’t suggest we all go around spitting on one another to find out.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
The dichotomy between light and darkness is a prevalent theme in this week’s readings. There has been some talk lately of the US Senate exploring solar geoengineering, a method that would block some of the sun’s rays as a way to quickly reduce global warming. It admittedly is a potentially dangerous move, some senators say, and really is more of an emergency measure. Many say the funding should instead be funneled into fighting the most obvious hindrance to climate health: the burning of fossil fuels.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:1 Samuel 16:1-13
The King is Dead, or Maybe Not
Samuel’s fear about choosing the next king of Israel is understandable. Even though he’s been summoned by God to pick a successor to Saul, Samuel understands this will not bring him any honors. “How can I go?” Samuel cries to God in 16:2. “If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.”
Some GOP politicians are facing similar struggles in their attempt to establish a new generation of leadership. In announcing her bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, former ambassador Nikki Haley said the party must “move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past.” But Haley stopped short of including Donald Trump, her former boss, on that list. Instead, she wrapped her pitch around a message of generational change that included both Trump and President Joe Biden. According to the New York Times, Haley, a Generation Xer, focused instead on being a younger conservative option. “We have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans,” she said. “Well, that ends today. If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.”
* * *
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Picking a Winner
We’re not told how David’s brothers reacted when he is picked to be the next king, but it is probable that their next family dinner table conversation was a bit icy. Likewise, when Jamie Lee Curtis won the Oscar for best supporting actress at Sunday’s Academy Awards, rival Angela Bassett did not hide her disappointment. Bassett, who had been nominated for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” neither smiled nor applauded when Curtis’ name was announced. Curtis was nominated for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which took home a total of seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
Some had said that Curtis’ place among the nominees was a bit odd, especially since her screen time in the movie was limited. One reviewer called her role as “some sort of white-person screentime quota” in the largely Asian cast. That might not be the best quote for a sermon, but it gives some perspective the outrage racing across fan sites this week.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness”
Financial experts are suggesting that the leadership of Silicon Valley Bank, a large regional bank that failed last week, should have known trouble was ahead. The bank held massive deposits that were backed by low-interest securities, and also depended heavily on venture capital startups that were burning more cash than expected. When the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates and venture capitalists cooled their funding, the stage was set for a massive run on deposits. Analysts for the Los Angeles Times pointed out that the bank’s leaders might have seen this coming — but instead they seemed to be acting in the blind and were caught off guard.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Psalm 23
Do you feel like you are through the darkest valley? Someone said that they understand The Great Gatsby much better now. The context was post-pandemic, post World War, and everyone seemed to be dealing with all of that trauma through willful ignorance and/or accumulation of wealth. In the current context, institutional trust does not seem to have been rebuilt, and the community does not seem to be working together. Internationally there seems to be a lot of threats. Perhaps resting in the arms of God is a solution. Perhaps eating and resting is one solution, knowing God loves us and has our back in the face of trauma is definitely something to rest in.
* * *
Ephesians 5:8-14
Paul is talking about being a “woke” people here. There is a joke that once you are awakened to justice issues, life becomes harder. A lot of jokes that you once thought were funny are not funny anymore because you realize they were actually cruel. Things that you thought were hopeful are actually not because you realize they are just symptoms of greater injustices that need to be solved. Like a person walking miles and miles to work everyday finally getting a car. It’s great that person received a car, but why is there no bus system for that person? Or why could they not afford a car if they work everyday in the first place? We are being encouraged here not to go back into the darkness.
The BBC headline “Mental-health crisis from Covid pandemic was minimal - study,” caused a stir recently. It was clear that this article was focused on those who were already rich, comfortable, and well off, and it did not include those who were marginal — the very people those who have seen the light of Jesus Christ will be concerned about.
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John 9:1-41
In an age where anti-trans and anti-drag legislation is rampant it seems that everyone is looking for “where they got that idea.” This is an era of repression, where people are trying to legislate the queerness out of humanity. However, if you talk to someone who is queer, one can quickly understand that this is not a sin, nor can it be legislated out of them. They did not “get the idea” from someone, it was something they were born with. This is beautifully illustrated in a Huffington Post article by Kate Smith.
So too, is the question of disabilities. If we are all made in the image of God, but we want to miraculously heal or change people with disabilities, what does that have to say about what we value about those with disabilities? Judy Heumann, who was instrumental in passing disability justice, and who just recently died, put it this way: “Disability becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to live our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example. It is not a tragedy to me that I’m living in a wheelchair.” Jesus says that disability is not a sin. We are not being punished and are no less in God’s image because we are disabled. We are simply made differently.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God invites us to rest in green pastures.
All: God leads us beside still waters, restoring our souls.
One: Even when we walk through the darkest valley,
All: we fear no evil; for God is always with us.
One: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all of our days.
All: We shall dwell in the house of God our whole life long.
OR
One: Come to the light and allow the Christ to open your eyes.
All: We long to have our vision restored so we can see the truth.
One: When Christ opens our eyes we will see the truth about ourselves.
All: With God’s help we will be open to the truth of who we are.
One: God will also show us the truth of who we can become.
All: By the grace of God we will become the true children of God.
Hymns and Songs
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want
UMH: 136
GTG: 801
NNBH: 237/241
CH: 78
LBW: 451
ELW: 778
W&P: 86
AMEC: 208
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
GTG: 451
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
GTG: 802
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
GTG: 187
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
W&P: 440
AMEC: 379
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
UMH: 521
PH: 363
GTG: 775
AAHH: 563
NNBH: 500
NCH: 490
CH: 627
W&P: 506
AMEC: 375
Thy Word Is a Lamp
UMH: 601
GTG: 458
CH: 326
W&P: 664
Renew: 94
O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright
UMH: 679
H82: 5
PH: 474
GTG: 666
NCH: 87
LBW: 271
ELW: 559
W&P: 144
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Humble Yourself in the Sight of the Lord
CCB: 72
Renew: 188
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who sees all of us as we truly are:
Grant us the courage to allow you to open our eyes
so that we may see ourselves as you have created us
and as we have allowed ourselves to become;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of light and sight, because you are the one who see truly. You discern who we are and you know who we were created to be. Help us to allow you to open the eyes of our hearts that we may see who we are and who we are meant to be and become. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we are willfully blind to the truth.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us in your image and placed within us your own Spirit and life. You have given us a vision of what the world can be when we live into your Reign and yet, and yet we close our eyes to the truth and willfully walk in the darkness. We allow our own prejudices and preconceptions to alter the way we see things. We allow our fears to warp our vision. Forgive us and renew your image within us so that we might truly live as Jesus’ disciples and your children. Amen.
One: God does indeed know what we were created to be and who we can yet become if we will but open our eyes to God’s truth. Open your eyes and receive God’s anointing that you may see as God sees, hear as God hears, and love as God loves.
Prayers of the People
Praise and honor and glory are yours, O God who creates and recreates out of your great heart of love. We worship you because you are the source of the love and life we desire.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us in your image and placed within us your own Spirit and life. You have given us a vision of what the world can be when we live into your Reign and yet, and yet we close our eyes to the truth and willfully walk in the darkness. We allow our own prejudices and preconceptions to alter the way we see things. We allow our fears to warp our vision. Forgive us and renew your image within us so that we might truly live as Jesus' disciples and your children.
We give you thanks for all the ways you bless us and all creation. We thank you for the great diversity of creatures the reflect your image and your Spirit. We thank you for the wonders of nature that are beyond our comprehension until we view them through your eyes of love. We thank you for those who have loved us in spite of ourselves and for those who have seen our true selves behind the mask of our egos.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all creation as it groans to enter into the fullness of its intended beauty. We pray for those who struggle to discover who they are and how they need to live their lives. We pray for those who are hated because they are feared and we pray for those who hate because of the fear that resides within them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONThis Little Light of Mine
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 9:1-41
You will need: A flashlight. One for you to use as a demonstration. If possible, a small flashlight for each child would be even better. Distribute them at the end of the message.
(Shine your flashlight around the room and say:)
In today’s Bible lessons there is a lot of talk about being in the dark and being unable to see. Seeing is important, isn’t it? In fact, we use the word “seeing” when we really mean “knowing.”
Like, when we understand something that we didn’t understand before, we say, “Oh, now I see!” Or when we part from our friends, we say, “I’ll see you later.” We don’t say, “I’ll smell you later,” or “I’ll hear you later.” We say, “I’ll see you later.”
When we are trying to explain something, we say, “Do you see what I mean?”
When I was growing up, when someone didn’t know the answer to a question or problem they would say, “I’m in the dark.” They couldn’t “see” the answer.
Well, when we’re in the dark and we can’t see, what do we need? Light! That’s right. Light helps us see in the dark. Light helps us understand when we don’t understand.
When we walk into a dark room, we can’t see the things that we might trip over and we could get hurt. So, what do we do? That’s right. We turn on the light.
Jesus said that he is the “Light of the world.” What do you suppose he meant by that? Well, maybe he meant that he, Jesus, can help us see things differently than we did before we had him in our lives. Maybe he meant that sometimes the world is a dark place that’s hard to understand but with Jesus, we can see it clearly and understand it a little better than we did before.
Jesus also said that we should be light for the world. We should make life easier and better for those around us by spreading our light.
(Hand out the mini flashlights if you have them and lead the children singing, “This Little Light of Mine” as they return to their seats.)
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The Immediate Word, March 19, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
