"Have You Seen God Today? ”

A Communion Meditation Preached by
The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

Throughout the past several years, we have had the joy and privilege of hearing Ginny Gibson sing and play the piano here at our church during worship. I think we would all agree that Ginny is gifted musically. But Ginny’s talents and accomplishments are that much more extraordinary because she is blind. She has been gracious enough to give me the permission to tell you a little of her story this morning.

Ginny weighed just over two pounds when she was born three months premature. This was long before the medical advances in neonatal care which have enabled premature babies weighing even less than a pound to survive and go on to live healthy lives. Ginny spent the first six weeks of her life in an incubator, which back then was the normal course of treatment for premature babies. Hospital nurseries at that time began using very high levels of oxygen in the incubators to save the lives of premature infants, and it wasn’t discovered until later that the high levels of oxygen had caused retinopathy, or blindness, in many of those premature babies.¹

We find in Ginny’s story echoes of this morning’s scripture lesson from the Gospel of John. Prior to this passage, Jesus has spoken of the inevitability of his rejection and death, and the religious authorities have tried and failed to arrest him. In today’s passage, as Jesus leaves the temple where he is about to be stoned, he and his disciples come upon a blind beggar. The man has been sightless since birth, and -- unable to work in the fields or learn a craft or hold a job -- he must rely on the generosity of others to eke out a living.

As they pass him, the disciples ask Jesus, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born thus?" In other words, who is responsible? Where can we place the blame? The disciples want to make sense of the blind man’s suffering, and their questions are universal. From the earliest of times, people have tried to find some kind of order woven into the fabric of life. We want a world that is orderly and balanced and fair, and we want assurance that as long as we live moral, upright lives, only good things will happen to us. But life doesn’t work that way.

“Who sinned?” ask the disciples. And Jesus answers them, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him."

The Message puts Jesus’ response this way: "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.²” In other words, stop looking to place blame and start looking for God’s grace in the midst of suffering.

The lesson of the story of the man born blind is that our suffering can open our eyes to the depth of God’s grace, love, and transforming power; rather than suffering being devoid of God, we are able to see that suffering can be full of God, if we take our spiritual blinders off.

Ginny believes this. She will tell you that it is not just in spite of, but because of, her blindness, that she has experienced the blessings of special friends and opportunities that she would not have had if she were sighted. Ginny will tell you about Sister Martha from the Greater Boston Aid to the Blind, who encouraged her in her music, or how she has the opportunity to play and sing at Rosie’s Place for battered women. Ginny sees God with her heart, and hears God through her music, which she calls her “connection to God.” Even though she is physically blind, Ginny is spiritually sighted, and she can see that through her blindness, God has called her to her very special music ministry.

When the man born blind is healed by Jesus, he receives much more than physical sight; his eyes are opened to seeing Jesus as the Messiah, and he professes his faith with the words, “Lord, I believe.” The man who was blind lived in darkness; then Jesus comes along and opens his eyes to the Light of the World.

As I drove to work the other morning and was flipping through the channels on my car radio, I came across a new song by country singer George Strait. I’m not really a big fan of country music, but this song really got to me. The refrain goes:

I’ve been to church, I’ve read the book.
I know He’s here, but I don’t look near as often as I should.
His fingerprints are everywhere, I just look down to stop and stare,
Open my eyes and then I swear – I saw God today.

What about you? Have you seen God today? Do you see God in both the ups and downs of your life? Do you recognize God’s grace in your heartaches as well as your joys? Do you look for what God can do in the midst of your tragedies as well as your blessings?

The season of Lent transforms our perspective, gives us new eyes with which to see, and helps us to remember that all things are being made new in Christ. Through the lens of Jesus’ cross, Christians see life not only as it is, but also as it could be – and will be – when love’s redeeming work is complete. Lent gives us a vision of eternity’s wholeness beyond time’s brokenness, of Easter’s triumph beyond Calvary’s tragedy, and Lent affirms that God abides with us, even in our times of darkness.

Throughout all the ups and downs, joys and heartaches, blessings and tragedies of our lives, God’s presence graces us -- and when our spiritual eyes are un-blinded and opened, we can see the face of Jesus, who brings possibility out of impossibility, hope out of hopelessness, and life out of death. Amen.

¹http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/rop/ 

² The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene Peterson.