This morning is the 4th Sunday in the season of Lent and together we continue to seek God and follow Christ to Holy Week. The scripture reading the morning is from John 9 and tells the fascinating story of Jesus's interaction with the man born blind. Let's listen, listen, listen for a word from God in the scripture, music, and spoken word. Also today we will be collecting coin boxes for the Week of Compassion! Thank you so much for joining us and may God bless you in worship today!
Introit - "Jesus, the very thought of Thee” [by J. B. Dykes ] - Sarah Park
Welcome to Mantua Center Christian Church --
a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms.
Whether online or in the house this morning, we want to welcome you to the sacred Season of Lent as we walk with Jesus to Holy Week.
INVITATION FOR MISSION UPDATES:
Ministry Leaders and congregants are welcome to come forward to the mic, to give a mission update or share ways for people to get involved in missions and ministries.
Scripture is full of questions...
Where are you? Am I my brother’s keeper?
Whom shall I send? Who do you say that I am?
Who sinned? How many times shall I forgive?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Scripture is full of questions, so just like those in our scriptures, may we bring our full curiosity and wonder into this space. Let us ask and seek after our merciful God.
Scripture - Ephesians 5:8-10
8For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
*Response - Weave #495
Weave, weave, weave us together, Weave us together, in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together, weave us together, together in love.
*Call to Worship - Sally Hoffman
One: Caring Shepherd, you supply all our needs.
All: We celebrate God’s generous care of us all.
One: Good Shepherd, you take us by the hand and lead us through the dark and fearful times in life.
All: We celebrate God’s compassion and understanding.
Onc: Gracious Shepherd, your goodness and mercy nurtures and blesses us, and it enriches our soul.
All: As we worship you, we share together in the feast you prepare for us, and it restores and refreshes us.
*Opening Hymn - “Take Time to be Holy” #572, 1 & 3
1 Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
abide in him always, and feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing God's blessing to seek.
3 Take time to be holy, let him be thy guide,
and run not before him, whatever betide;
in joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
and, looking to Jesus, still trust in his word.
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Sally Hoffman
Offertory - “Far away in the depths of my spirit” [by W. G. Cooper ]
Response - “Pass It On” #477, v.1
It only takes a spark to get a fire going
and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.
That's how it is with God's love once you've experienced it,
you spread God’s love to everyone, you want to pass it on.
Offering Prayer - Sally Hoffman
Children’s Moment - Rev. Chad Delaney
- Week of Compassion Collection
Pastoral Prayer & Lord’s Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
In today’s text, the disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned?” They want to know who around them could be blamed for suffering. The disciples want to identify who around them had done wrong. In the prayer of confession, we stop pointing fingers at others. In confession, we turn our attention toward ourselves and invite God into that honest and vulnerable space
Gracious God, we have sinned. We put our heads in the sand. We ignored people in need. We make false assumptions and fail to be kind. We are in need of forgiveness.
We bring our confessions to you….
We thank you Lord for the gift of this open and safe space. For the gift of your forgiveness, mercy and unconditional love. By your Holy Spirit lead us to keep growing and striving. Help us to see your glory in and through all things.
Together, we bring our joys and concerns in this place. Hear us now in silent prayer…
Open our eyes, ears, and hearts to you as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us to pray saying…
Holy Communion
Meditation - Nora Brant
Hymn - “Seed, Scattered, and Sown” #395, v. 1
Refrain: Seed, scattered and sown, wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one, the Living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land, wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all; the Living Cup, the Living Bread of God.
Is not the bread we break a sharing in our Lord?
Is not the cup we bless the blood of Christ outpoured? [Refrain]
Prayer - Nora Brant
Words of Institution - Rev. Chad Delaney
Music - “What Can Wash Away my Sin”[By R. Lowry] - Sarah Park
Scripture - John 9:1-12, 35-41
Prayer of Illumination:
God of Good news, there is reading your Word,there is hearing your Word, and then there is tunneling ourselves into your Word—
harvesting your Word, building a home in your Word,
laying your Word over us like a blanket,
wrapping ourselves in your Word,
know your Word like the back of our hand,
singing your Word, planting ourselves like a garden in your Word.
God, we could listen to scripture like we listen to the news,
or we could cocoon ourselves in your Word and it could change us entirely.
So bundle us up. Give us the latter.
We want to know you. With hopeful hearts we pray, amen.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ 3Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ 9Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ 10But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ 11He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ 12They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ 36He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ 37Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ 38He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped him. 39Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ 41Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.
***Take a few minutes and write down any QUESTIONS you might have for the scripture. Have deacons help collect them.
Sermon - “Who Sinned?” - Rev. Chad Delaney
Have you ever been in complete darkness before? If you have ever taken the tour at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, you probably do.
Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world with 412 miles of caves and they are still discovering more. It's an amazing place. When you visit Mammoth caves you go down a long set of steps into an enormous cavern. Once you get in a bit, you lose sight of the entrance and at least on our tour when we got deep enough in, the guide told us to stop and find a secure place to stand. We were to cover cell phones, watches--anything that could give off light. They turned out the lights and we were plunged into darkness. To the point you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
A couple things happen.
- Disorientation. Almost dizzying experience.
- You can’t see anyone around you at all.
- In those moments you just think how you can stay safe and still.
This brief encounter with blindness is terrifying, but then the lights go on and you continue with the magical tour of the wonders of the deep.
The experience of the man who was born blind in the passage really cannot be quite understood by a simple brief tour experience. For his whole life, it's all he had known and figured out how to manage day-to-day to get what he needed done. He couldn’t “see” but found a way to encounter Jesus and really understand who he was. He put himself out there and took a risk.
But what about the others?
As we can see in the passage there was a deep stigma around him…even Jesus’ own disciples wondered “Who Sinned that this man would be born blind?” After multiple chapters, miracles, and teachings of Jesus, they still had a question like this? The teachings of our culture and religion--the good and the bad--are strong and hard to break. To their credit, they at least asked the question. Jesus says, “No” and clearly still has some work to do with his followers.
We also see in the passage that the people in the town knew of this man who was born blind because they walked by him frequently as he begged at the city gate. However, after the man was healed and came back to the town some people recognized him but others didn’t. They just couldn’t believe it was the same guy.
And in the other part of the passage, the Pharisees heard about the man’s sight and they went and they called for him. They peppered him and his parents with questions indicating their skepticsm. They despised that Jesus healed him on the Sabbath Day. The man could only tell them what he knew. He was once blind, but now he sees and it was that man Jesus who did it. The Pharisees refused to hear his testimony. They said, “‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’”
So one of the power questions that emerge in the passage for me is….just who--in the passage--is actually blind? Who is disoriented? Who can’t even see the people around them? Who wants only to stay safe? Who doesn’t get Jesus?
The Disciples don’t seem to have gotten very far in their comprehension of who Jesus is and what he came to do.
The people in the village likely never paid any mind to the begging man. Just walked past him with never a thought. Completely oblivious to who he was, his name, his gifts, his loves, his grief, his joy. The man born blind was never really seen in his own home town.
And the Pharisees are only protecting themselves and their beliefs. Only a sense of piety and righteousness. Not thinking about people and what might bring them wholeness. They got their mind, heart, and eyes on completely other things.
The only ones in the passage who really see clearly are Jesus and the man born blind. The man born blind certainly seems to have found his path and connects with Jesus.
As God’s people, we might recognize that we all have blind spots--perhaps the Holy Spirit is reaching out to us to help us see our own. Having taught two kids to drive now I know how important that blindspot is. You have to pay attention to it or it can be a big problem. And you can’t get to it by sitting still. You can’t get to it unless you lean forward, make a little extra effort to see it, or hope that your car has those fancy sensors.
Where are our blind spots? What do we need to lean in on and see from a different angle? What new question could we ask, instead of jumping to conclusions? What judgment have we levied about another person? About a group of people? We may judge because of our past experience. Because of what our religion has taught us. What our culture says.
As Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow said in our devotional this week:
We too easily view one another through a one-dimensional lens…
- They must be poor because of X, so let’s solve X by doing Y
- She must be incarcerated because
- The reason they are being deported is because…
- He must have mental health issues because..
- My co-worker, spouse, friend are acting that way because…
In the passage, the Greek word for sight is “blepó” and can mean in a physical sense “to look, to see.” However, it is also used in the scriptures for a deeper kind of seeing. It can mean “to perceive, to discern.” Strong’s defines it as “(blépō) suggests "to see something physical, with spiritual results (perception).” What we “see” and “don’t see” matters not just to make sure we can get point A to B, but matters spiritually -- how we live and move and have our being in the world, how we respond in Jesus’ Name.
We all have blindspots. Sometimes they are small, other times as big as a Cave. May God open our eyes, ears, and hearts to perceive and discern. To see the world and one another in a new way. To look at those we may have cast aside, ignored, or dismissed through Heaven’s Eyes. To look with a discerning spirit to see God’s spark of goodness in all people and respond with love so that all may be made whole. May the light of the world help us and guide us to see more clearly. May it be so.
*Closing Hymn - “Open My Eyes, that I May See” #586
1 Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
2 Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!
3 Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Benediction - Rev. Chad Delaney
As you leave this place,
may God bless you with seeking.
Seek out the hungry.
Seek the weary.
Seek the good in every person you pass.
Seek out the hopeful.
Seek the faithful.
Seek God in each of us.
As you seek and as you wonder,
may you find what you are looking for.
In the name of our loving God,
who is always seeking us,
go now in peace. Amen.
Postlude - “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound” [by J. M. Black] - Sarah Park