coming to see

from my sermon on 4/3/11 from John 9:1-41 How well do you see? I was in my late 30's still reading stories for our 2 boys at bedtime. One of them said, "Dad, you missed a word. In fact, you missed several words." I had to go for my first ever eye exam. The opthamologist did the dilation, the looking inside the eye, the pressure test. He did the different lens, "Is 1 better or 2, 2 or 3?" After an hour, he said in a very grave voice, "You have presbyopia." I asked, "Is it serious?" He said, "It means you have elderly eyes. Go to the drug store and get some reading glasses with 1.25 diopter." How well do you see? Do you notice in the passage, Jesus saw a man born blind. The disciples didn't see him. All they saw was bad theology, "Master, who sinned this man or his parents that he should be born blind?" We are so quick to assign blame. Sometimes we do something bad and must pay the consequences in a cause and effect kind of way, but lots of stuff in life just happens without cause with no one to blame. Today we celebrate Igor Petreski's 21 st birthday. He did not do anything wrong to cause the accident that left him paralyzed. His parents did not sin to cause him to become paralyzed. Jesus says that the man is born blind so that God's glory may shine forth. God can bring glory out of any situation. It has certainly been true in the case of the Petreski family. Haven't we seen healing? Haven't we become family? Sonja has been baptized and professed her faith in Jesus Christ. Zvonko and Igor have confirmed their faith. Igor has improved dramatically. God doesn't cause the bad accident, but God can bring glory out of it. The neighbors don't see the man born blind. All they see is a beggar. They are stuck in their old ways of seeing. We are trying to see in new ways as a church. This next Sunday we are going to Rethink Church. We are going to start with a light breakfast at 8:30 a.m. from the Mobile Loaves and Fishes trucks. Then we will have a brief worship service here at 9. I will send you out into the world to be the church at 9:45. As you go, can you see Christ in the homeless people you serve at Church under the Bridge? Can you see Christ in those you sing to in the nursing home that no one has come to see in a long time? Can you see Christ in the joggers by Lady Bird Lake as you pass out water bottles and oranges? Can you see beyond the beggar to Christ? The Pharisees don't see the blind man. All they can see is that Jesus broke the law. Jesus made clay, he kneaded, and that is work, and we don't work on the Sabbath. Jesus healed, and that is work, and we don't work on the Sabbath. Can we see that Christ works beyond the law? Can Christ work outside of Robert's Rules of Order? Must everything be moved and seconded and voted on? Can Christ work even beyond our UM Book of Discipline? I like to ask the question at our church meetings, "How has Christ shown up here....or were we just busy?" The parents don't see the blind man. They are too afraid. What fears keep us from seeing Christ at work. Are we afraid of change? This weekend we held a Partners in Ministry training on communication, conflict resolution, and visioning. Some things that came out are we need to be more intentional about a clear path of discipleship. Can you see that you are here to grow your souls? You could start with my Methodist 101 class, then take Jim's class on Who is Jesus, and then take the Bible from Scratch: New Testament for Beginners, and then Disciple I Bible Study....Could you see us developing a new worship service for people who aren't here yet? How willing would you be to let the contemporary service be at 11 and the traditional service be at 9? Oh, it gets scary! Can you move beyond your fear to see Christ at work? How well do you see? In the beginning, Christ sees a blind man. Over time the blind man comes to see...first a man called Jesus, then a prophet, then a man from God, and at last, "Lord, I believe." At the end, the blind man sees Christ. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." How well do you see? Others may have had eyesight, but the blind man has insight. He sees Jesus as the Christ. How well do you see? In a former church here in Austin, I had a couple, Larry and Susan, who asked me to perform their marriage. They both were blind. I asked them, "How out of all the people in the world, do you choose to marry someone else who is blind?" They said, "We understand each other. You don't have to explain yourself." As we went throught the premarital counseling, they asked if they could be married on a Sunday morning. "Yes," I said. So we did that as a part of the morning liturgy. For those of you out there thinking about this, you could do it too. So we had their wedding service as a part of morning worship, and it was wonderful. That Sunday also happened to be a communion Sunday. So after Larry and Susan were pronounced man and wife, I had them turn around and serve communion elements to others. And what did Larry and Susan see as people came foward? Did they see how old one was or rich or poor or tall or short or had acne or balding head or .....? No. All they saw was in everyone was "This is the body of Christ for you. This is the blood of Christ for you." All they saw was Christ. May it be so for us too.