Introduction
Today we read the dramatic story of the Man Born Blind
Brought to us from the Gospel of John.
I’ve probably said this before
But one of the characteristics of the Gospel of John is his pattern of
Sign then Dialogue then Discourse (the sheep/shepherd stuff)
Today we have the Sign…
the healing, and the first few bits of Dialogue…
but Jesus doesn’t stop talking where the reading today ends…
He goes on until hallway through Chapter 10.
In the discourse section is where you find all the Good Shepherd stuff
How they know each other
The shepherd seeks and finds the sheep
The sheep know the shepherd’s voice
It is an intimate picture of true belonging
This healing story of the Man Born Blind points to a new kind of belonging.
Listen to the story
notice the different scenes and who is talking
Try to find yourself in the story…
Who are you sympathetic towards?
Who do you resonate with?
Who embodies something of yourself that you like?
Or something you don’t like?
Let’s listen…together
Scripture Reading
Homily
What are the questions…
Or better yet what is THE question
that is preoccupying us here at St Stephens?
I am going to guess and you raise your hand if such a question is on your mind:
In light of Dr. Beth’s retirement, and Dr. Joanna’s new ministry,
What is going to happen to this beloved community?
What will we look like a year from now?
Who will care for our spiritual needs?
Do any of those resonate?
If those are the questions and concerns
The next question is:
What does the story of the Man Born Blind in John’s Gospel have to say
To us?
I think there is a lot here.
There is an Easter message in this story smack in the middle of our Lent
Were you able to find yourself in the narrative?
I found a little of me in everyone!
The Disciples? Yes…Sometimes I get stuck in old patterns of thinking.
It seems like such a stupid question “Who sinned…the man or his parents?”
But it was that way EVERYONE had always thought about physical ailments…
To think in a fresh way is hard…it takes time.
The neighbors? Yes…Day after day they saw the man blind begging. Was it just too good to be believed? I can resonate…Its funny, but I seem to doubt goodness more than I doubt awfulness! Why is that?
The Pharisees? Yes…Here is the big thing about the pharisees…We are surely like them…Again there is a little bit of “This is just too much to be true” going on…
But more importantly They are stuck in what they KNOW
They are soooo certain about what they KNOW
And NOT knowing frightens them.
I confess…I’m guilty on all accounts of being like the pharisees
But not ALLLL the time
What about those Parents? I know…the story doesn’t convey them as parents in the running for any kind of parenting award…
But with generous ears
I try to imagine being thrown out of the ONLY
community gathering institution available to me
I would not want that…
I would resist mightily if my whole identity was somehow undermined.
So…I have a sympathetic heart for those parents.
There are mirrors of me all over this story
---
But today
In the life of this community
At this particular time
Individually and as a community
We are the Man Born Blind
Like the parents, the man too is thrown out
Now we aren’t being THROWN out of anywhere
So Why do I say that?
We may not be thrown out…But there is a feeling of having our community...this community…up-ended
Thrown into re-definition
Thrown into Re-orienting
Thrown into Re-imagining
And here is the easter part
…the story doesn’t end where the text left off
Remember at the beginning of the service I explained how in John’s gospel there are signs followed by dialogue followed by discourse (which speaks to the meaning of the sign)
Like the man born blind
We have heard the shepherds voice
We have experienced God FINDING us
There is a huge promise
It may sound too good to be true
But that is Easter for you!
The Man Born Blind asks the pharisees
“Do you want to become his disciples?”
We are His disciples
We…this incredibly gifted hodge-podge of people who gather in this church on Sunday mornings.
We have inherited the promise given to the man born blind
The promise of a place to belong
a community united by Gods love
And sent to be His presence in our beautiful and broken world.
We can give up old patterns of fear
We can give up listening to the voices in our heads that too easily believe in peril over promise
We can give up our certainty…what we ABSOLUTELY know to be the way it is
In order to leave some room for a creative future
We’ve Got This
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