God's Promise of Restoration

March 19, 2023 John 9:1-41 Fourth Sunday of Lent – Good Shepherd Sunday Year A Prelude Welcome Introit Invocation (based on Psalm 23) Restorative Shepherd, You bring comfort to those experiencing disaster. You lead us beside still water. As we gather in the house of the Lord, Prepare the table for us. Anoint us to share your good news of mercy and goodness with all those we encounter. We gather with thanksgiving this UMCOR Sunday and all the days of our lives. Amen. Call to Worship (based on Psalm 23) One: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. One: The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures All: God, remind us today to pause and see your mercy and goodness. One: The Lord leads me beside the still waters All: In the midst of storms, offer us moments of calm. One: The Lord prepares a table before me All: There is more than enough to share with our neighbors. One: The Lord anoints my head with oil All: God, restore our souls so that we can be agents of your mercy and goodness Song Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us UMH 381 Children’s Sermon Supplies: Marbles and a bucket filled with water Hand out marbles or stones. Say: Repeat after me: “We are ambassadors for Christ” An ambassador is someone who works to bring people together in agreement. They are peace builders. Paul wrote a letter to the early church and explained that “we are ambassadors for Christ.” When we act more like Jesus, we can help other people experience God’s love. We become ambassadors for Christ. One of the ways that we as United Methodists are ambassadors for Jesus is through UMCOR. When a neighborhood or community has been affected by a disaster, people serve through UMCOR to help share God’s love by fixing up houses, making sure there is clean water and by listening and responding to what the people need. But one person or one church can’t do as much as a lot of churches working together. See how the marble creates a ripple when I toss it into the water? (Throw a marble into the bucket.) Every time we do something kind for someone, we create a ripple of kindness. Our actions act as an ambassador for Christ. But what happens when we each put a marble in the water at the same time? Let’s do it together. Wow! That’s a lot of ripples. PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION AND NEW LIFE God of surprises, we know that we do not often perceive the world as you do. We look to the flashy fame, the grand gestures, optimal achievements, and unreachable standards. Yet, in spite of our misguided reach towards perfection, you give us glimpses of your grandeur and grace. Surprise us yet again this day, O God, that in our complacency which allows us to drift towards the same old ways of faith that we may be transformed anew. Provide us with a new cup of oil that we may be anointed by your love so that we may set out into your world to bless and anoint others. In the name of the One whose love and peace make all things new we pray. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Chad Abbott) WORDS OF GRACE/ASSURANCE OF GOD’S LOVE Liturgist: Friends, receive the anointing of God’s tender love and forgiveness this day. For God’s care and compassion for you abides in your heart today and always. All: We rise and set out restored and renewed. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Chad Abbott) Responsive Reading Psalm 23 UM 754 Scripture John 9:1-41 Sermon – God’s Promise of Restoration Last week I saw this cute post of a young child, about 2 or three. The post caught my attention because you couldn’t really tell if it was a boy or a girl, and I couldn’t quite tell the ethnicity of the child- not that it mattered. The child was playing with a ball, when someone put a pair of glasses on the child. The child immediately looked up, and recognized the voice speaking as mother – the child lit up and pointed in recognition. Then you could tell that they were overwhelmed by the other people speaking to them. We may never know what the cause of the child’s blindness was. And I would imagine at the young of an age, that they had been born blind from birth. And yet we can be grateful that the doctors were able to find a cure – our sight is so much a part of how we experience life, and how we experience God. I would imagine that if you were blind, you would experience your faith differently. For instance, psalm 23 speaks of God leading you through valleys and still waters. I would imagine if you cannot see, then you would think of being led by God in a different way. When God prepares a table – you would have a different journey to come to that table. And yet – in the midst of our differences God still prepares a table intended for all of us to have a seat. Scriptures says that God prepares this table before our enemies. And yet even those who we may consider an enemy – are welcome to come to God’s table. When we come together in church – we are preparing to take a seat at God’s table for all. Not only are we called to come to the table, but we are also called to prepare the meal and to bring others to the table. We work together to share in God’s bounty for all. Our Job as the church is to keeping building that table- making it bigger in order to fit more people. We are called to make disciples of all nations. We are also called to feed, clothe and free others. Every church organizes itself for mission. In the Methodist Church, we give to support our church, but we also give to support the larger church and its missions. When we pay our apportionments it goes to support mission locally and internationally. Since helping others in need is a part of our mission – we are able to create missions like UMCOR. Our apportionments go to support the overhead cost, so that the money raised can go directly to mission. UMCOR is in places all over the world – but they are also still in the Ukraine. Since helping people is our mission, UMCOR stays in certain places long after the conflict has been resolved. They have been working since last year, to support the churches in that area help their neighbors. This mother and her daughter (left) who hid in their basement while Russian soldiers occupied the Ukrainian settlement of Glibivka, near Bucha, sit beside the food package they received from Hungarian Interchurch Aid, an UMCOR ACT Alliance partner. PHOTO: HIA Our denominational connection through UMCOR allows workers and volunteers to be among the earliest to arrive and the last to leave when people are in need. Our connection strengthens communities through both disaster preparedness and long-term recovery. Our connection is a ministry of presence that stills the waters of chaos and crisis, restoring hope and offering healing around the world. Through UMCOR, we set the table of our faith with nourishing food, the finest linens, the best parts of who we are and share it with one another through acts of mercy and goodness. Today we are invited into that partnership with God who is our strength. When we are helping whose in need we are making a bigger table to accommodate our different experiences across nations, problems and opinions. When we work together we see the presence of God in one another. We are able to see in ways that we never imagined. Are We Blind Also? What a question to ask ourselves. The answer might surprise us. How much of God do we see? He is all about us. A great scientist went home to lunch after spending the morning in his laboratory peering through a powerful microscope at the petals of a rose. When his wife asked him how he had been spending his time he replied, "I have spent the morning with God." It was Oliver St. John Gogarty who wrote: What can we say but, "Glory be," When God bursts out in an apple tree? Do we see God in nature, in humanity? Or are we blind also? Jon L. Joyce, His Hands When we work for a world to help others, we help ourselves. The light of Christ shines in us all to see. Amen. (Inspiration for this sermon came from Rev. Paul Winkelman and the General Board of Global Ministries) God prepares a table before us—often through the goodness and merciful acts of others. There is something sacred that happens when we gather around the table together. It is no coincidence that when Jesus instituted the sacrament of Communion it was around a dinner table. This unthinkable pain that was about to happen was given meaning in the breaking of bread, the outpouring of love. God “prepare[s] a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” is the full verse. Does the psalmist mean it’s a table for me to eat and enjoy while my enemies look on jealously? Or is it a table for us to eat together and find reconciliation? Remember, God doesn’t see other people as your enemy. God sees the person you are calling an enemy the same way that God sees you—with goodness and mercy! Too often, we feel rushed and we dilute our sources of nourishment. We turn to fast food instead of food prepared slowly and with care. Time with loved ones sitting face to face in conversation becomes harder and harder to manage. How many cell phones have crept onto the dinner table? How many dinner tables are set in front of a television screen? And for too many people, the table is empty. I wonder if we treat spiritual nourishment the same way we approach mealtimes. Signs of disconnection are everywhere. But it’s not stronger than God’s love for humanity. We are invited into building deeper relationships, entering into spiritual commitment and discipleship. And we each can take responsibility for the work of restoring community with acts of goodness and mercy. Today we have an opportunity to set places at the table for others through UMCOR. REMEMBER, GOD DOESN’T SEE OTHER PEOPLE AS YOUR ENEMY. GOD SEES THE PERSON YOU ARE CALLING AN ENEMY THE SAME WAY THAT GOD SEES YOU— WITH GOODNESS AND MERCY! UMCOR SUNDAY SERMON STARTER Song O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing UMH 57 PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (CAN BE DONE AS AN INSERT ON THE BACK OF ANNOUNCEMENTS) Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors down the street and around the world who need food, water, clothing, and shelter. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors who are in distress, whose bodies and minds need your peaceful and loving presence. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors whose lives have been upended by disaster and who are in desperate need of provision and care. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our siblings who make up the Christian family across the world, that we would be your witnesses and workers for the flourishing of all creation. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray that goodness and mercy would follow us all of our days that we might be sharers of goodness and mercy everywhere we go. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022; Litany response adapted from the opening line of “My Shepherd, You Supply My Need” by Isaac Watts as found in Chalice Hymnal, edited by Daniel B. Merrick and David P. Polk (Chalice Press, 1995), #80. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (just print the offering prayer) T he psalmist reminds us that goodness and mercy follow us. Today we have an opportunity to be agents of God’s goodness and mercy. On UMCOR Sunday, we join with other UMC congregations in a special offering to support The United Methodist Committee on Relief, an organization that acts on our behalf when there is a crisis. This allows for 100% of gifts given in response to disasters to assist with the disaster. UMCOR can do this because the funds we give today join with those of millions of other United Methodists to help cover the costs of doing business. From training volunteers to keeping the office lights on, the UMCOR Sunday special offering equips the organization to respond quickly when disaster strikes. Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, UMCOR has provided support to those who’ve remained in Ukraine and those who’ve fled to surrounding countries, working with United Methodist churches in the region as well as local and governmental partners. Because UMCOR Sunday covers the overhead costs, 100% of the gifts made to the International Disaster Response and Recovery Advance can support direct relief efforts, quickly and effectively. UMCOR works through Methodist churches in Ukraine’s neighboring nations—Poland, Hungary, UMCOR SUNDAY OFFERING TALK This offering talk is part of the UMCOR Sunday pastor and leader kit and connects with the theme “God’s Promise of Restoration.” It can be adapted for your context and integrated into your worship service with the other materials in the kit. Consider inviting someone who has served on a mission trip with UMCOR to share their testimony instead of using the example below. Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. It is awarding grants to trusted partners like ACT Alliance, International Orthodox Christian Charities and Human Rights League. Grants provide transportation assistance, humanitarian supplies such as food, water, clothing, shelter and medication and legal services and safe spaces for families, women, children and those with disabilities. In addition, UMCOR has funded the transport of more than $2 million in medical supplies to hospitals in Kyiv, with more supplies scheduled to be delivered in the coming months. UMCOR is in continual dialogue with our UMC bishops and other partners throughout Europe to identify needs as the war drags on. The situation in Eastern and Central Europe is constantly evolving and recovery efforts will take years. UMCOR will be there continuing to assist. Please give generously. Write a check addressed to this church and write, “UMCOR Sunday offering” in the memo line. To give online or set up monthly giving, go to UMC.org/SSGive. Offering Prayer OFFERING PRAYER Merciful God, thank you for UMCOR, which shepherds communities through storms and other disasters. Thank you for preparing a table to nourish the hungry. Thank you for offering green pastures with resting spaces to restore souls and lives. Our cup overflows with abundance. Receive our gifts and transform them into acts of goodness and mercy that alleviate suffering and offer hope and healing to your people. Amen Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook As you depart from this place, May your soul be restored To see God at work as lives are transformed. May your soul be restored To share your witness of Christ’s love in the midst of life’s storms. May your soul be restored To be moved by the Holy Spirit such that you serve as an agent of mercy and goodness. You are anointed. Go in peace. Joys and Concerns Benediction As you leave this time of worship, may God’s presence follow you, heal you, and empower you to witness and to witness to the goodness and love of God everywhere you go. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022.

Seeing as God Sees

March 30, 2014 John 9:1-41 4th Sunday of Lent Seeing as God Sees Humor: It's The Blind Man Mrs. Smith was stark-naked and just about to step into the shower when the doorbell rang. She hollered, "Who is it?" He shouted back, "It's the blind man." She figured it was safe, so she opened the door. He looked at her in shock and asked, "Where do you want me to hang these blinds, lady?" Ann Landers, The Washington Post, October 13, 1998. It is funny, how much we reveal about ourselves when we think that no one is looking. Today we will talk about what it means to be blind and what it means to see. But we won’t be talking about the blinds on the windows, but neither will we talk about the blinds on our eyes, we will talk about the blinds in our mind and more importantly in our soul. The lesson for us to today is to learn to see things as God sees them, and not so much as we see them. Christlike Sight Anybody here have selective hearing or seeing? Sure, we all do. Every second, our brain is bombarded with sensory data from all five senses. You just sat down, but already your brain has probably stopped consciously focusing on the feel of the seat. You're probably not thinking about the temperature of the room, although you probably did at one point this morning. There are all kinds of sounds that you're not focusing on right now - the faint hum of lights, somebody shifting beside you. Our brains would go crazy if they had to process every piece of data that our bodies sensed. We think we're seeing everything, but we're all being selective all the time. Today, you've probably noticed who's not here, who's sitting in a different spot, who's sitting with whom. You may have wondered what it means that so-and-so is sitting with that person. Years ago, before I dated my wife, I brought a date to a function that my wife also attended. She could tell you exactly what my date was wearing. I don't have a clue. I never did, not even that night. It's the same with cars. You get interested in a car, and all of a sudden you notice them everywhere. They were there before, but you never noticed them. The part of the brain that filters all this information is called the Reticular Activating System. It's continually at work, even though we never think about it. Today's story is about your spiritual Reticular Activating System. The goal for all of us, if we're followers of Jesus Christ, is to see the same things that he sees. We want to notice what's important to him. Darryl Dash, Spiritual Eyesight Grandma was blind but could still see My grandmother, my father’s mother was blind the last 7 or years of her life. But you know there is a difference between someone who is blind from birth, and someone who has lived a seeing life and who went blind later. The brain still processes information that it got from the world of sight. When I went to visit my grandmother, I was surprised that there were pictures of me all over her wall. Why would someone we cannot see have pictures on the wall. And she had not physically seen my brother in years, and she could still tell that he was going bald. How was she able to see the things that really mattered to her. She said that Jesus had come to her in a dream and told her that she may be blind, but she could still see. Seeing is not just about our eyes, it is about our minds, and as Jesus is concerned, it is about what we see with our souls. And each of our souls see different things. Humor: Having To Wait Three persons arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time. St. Peter came but said he had some pressing business and would they please wait? He was gone a long time, but finally he came back and called one of the new arrivals in and asked if she had minded waiting. "No," she said, "I've looked forward to this for so long. I love God and I can't wait to meet Jesus. I don't mind at all." St. Peter then said, "Well, I have one more question. How do you spell 'God'?" She said, "Capital-G-o-d." St. Peter said, "Go right on in." He went outside and met another new arrival, told him to come on inside, and said, "Did you mind waiting?" The man said, "Oh, no. I have been a Christian for fifty years, and I'll spend eternity here. I didn't mind at all." So St. Peter said, "Just one more thing. How do you spell 'God'?" He said, "G-o-d. No, I mean capital-G." St. Peter said that was good and sent him into heaven. St. Peter went back out and invited the third person in and asked her if she had minded waiting. "As a matter of fact, I did," she replied. "I've had to stand in line all my life - at the supermarket, when I went to school, when I registered my children for school, when I went to the movies - everywhere - and I resent having to wait in line for heaven now!" St. Peter said, "Well, that's all right for you to feel that way. It won't be held against you, but there is just one more question. How do you spell 'Czechoslovakia'?" Tie in: The relationship between this joke and the text is the element of irritation that we often feel towards complainers. Those who rarely see the good in circumstances and events. The Pharisees were not able to enjoy the blinds man's new found sight. The church is full of these individuals that we must bare. The lesson there for us is that we need to see God in the midst of all things. I think that pain and suffering is the price we pay for being alive. Being alive means living with original sin and the mighty power of Jesus’ death on the cross. When we understand that, our question will change to, What do we do with our suffering and pain? Our pain and suffering must become meaningful. It must not become pointless and empty suffering? How can we turn all the painful experiences of our lives into personal growth within our selves and within our relationship with God? We may never understand the why or be able to control the forces that cause our suffering. But one thing is for sure. We can have a lot to say about what the suffering does to us. We can determine what sort of people we become because of it. Pain makes some people bitter and envious. It makes others sensitive and compassionate. It is the end result, not the cause, of pain that makes some experiences of pain meaningful and others empty and destructive. It is left up to us and our relationship with our God. (http://www.gurus.com/dougdeb/Courses/bestsellers/Kushner/BTmain.htm Modified by sermon author.) During the season of lent, we have been learning our lessons from the book of John. And each Sunday in lent the scripture gets longer and longer, until palm Sunday. In each of these stories, John is describing to us who Jesus is. In this story he is called a man, a prophet, and the son of God. This is the only story in the bible, where Jesus has a chance to heal a man blind from birth. In each of John’s lessons, there is pain and suffering that Jesus heals. In each of John’s miracle stories, the illness is an opportunity for jesus to demonstrate the glory of God. In the other gospels, Jesus heals to show his compassion for others. But for John, the miracle points to God. For John it is in our affliction, our sorrow, our pain, our disappointment, our loss where we can either see suffering, or we can see God. Have you ever noticed that whenever something bad happens to us, that the first thing that we ask is why is this happening to us. Why me Lord, what did I do to deserve this? And how does knowing why it happened help us deal with the situation. Why is a useless question But you should also notice in this lesson, that whenever someone asks Jesus why – he never answers. The people ask who sinned? Him or his parents. What difference does it make. 1. Notice first that Jesus does not answer the first question: Why was this man born blind? 2. Notice second that he answers this question: What good can this tragedy produce? What can I do to get better, what can I do to give glory to God? What can I do to move forward from here. What can I do to allow Jesus to heal me and make me whole. Those are all questions that Jesus was willing to deal with. We have to learn to see the situation as God sees the situation. God does not cause bad things to happen to us so that we can see God. But we have to accept that as long as we are on this side of glory, pain and suffering will come, it is a part of life. Beyond Darkness "People are prepared for everything except for the fact that beyond the darkness of their blindness there is a great light. They are prepared to go on breaking their backs plowing the same old field until the cows come home without seeing, until they stub their toes on it, that there is a treasure buried in that field rich enough to buy Texas. They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour’s work as for a day’s. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian but not for the marriage supper of the Lamb." Fredrick Buechner Jesus came into the world to help us to see with our eyes, our minds, our souls, that God is bigger than our pain and suffering. Jesus came into the world to take us beyond our present situation. Let us glorify God in all that we see! Amen. Children’s Sermon….. General Hospital by King Duncan Passage: John 9:1-12 • Lectionary: Lent 4 Item 1 of 38 | Back to Results Object: A piece of wax, a piece of clay, and a bottle of water. Boys and girls,I have here a piece of wax, a piece of clay, and a bottle of water. Suppose I were to build a fire here in the front of the chancel and were to put the wax on that fire, what would happen to it? That's right. It would melt. Suppose I put this clay on the fire. Do you know what would happen to it? That's right. The clay would harden. Isn't that interesting--one would melt and the other would get harder? Suppose I put this bottle of water in a pot and put it over the fire, what would happen? That's right, it would start to boil and soon it would disappear as steam. Now let's think about that for a moment. Suppose somebody hurts you. How would you react? Some of you might cry. Some of you might get very angry. Some of you would never speak to that person again. Others will have forgotten it within an hour. The same hurt, but like the wax, the clay and the water, we would each react differently. A wise man once said that it is not what happens to us on the outside that matters, but what we have on the inside. That's true. If we have the right stuff on the inside, we will react to life's hurts in the right way. What we want to have on the inside is the Spirit of Jesus--to have him live in our hearts. Then when disappointment comes, or hurt, he can help us react in a way that's best for us and for others. Wax or clay or water can't help how it reacts. But we can help how we react. Jesus can help us react the way we should. I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I CAN SEE There were two boys who grew up together. They were close friends as children, but as they entered their teen years their paths began to diverge, and they ended up in very different places. Ernie was always in trouble. He began by shoplifting small things from stores and worked his way up to stealing cars. Next it was armed robbery. Finally, on one of his stealing sprees he killed a man. He was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Mike took a different track. He turned away from the rebellious tendencies of his friend and continued through school. He worked his way through college, graduated and became a successful businessman. However, Mike had much difficulty with his physical health. His eyes in particular were weak. As he grew older, his eyesight deteriorated until he was legally blind. One day, Mike heard the news about his old friend Ernie. He felt a terrific sense of compassion and sorrow for what had happened to his childhood friend, and he reached out to him. After writing letters to renew their old relationship, he went to visit Ernie in prison. They had a very touching and emotional reunion there, speaking by phone across the security window at the penitentiary. In spite of years of hard-hearted living, something in Ernie warmed as he talked with the man with whom he had played as a boy so many years before. An idea began to grow in Ernie’s mind, as well. Ernie was about to die; his friend Mike was sightless. Was it possible that Ernie could do something worthwhile in his death? Could he give his eyes so that his old friend could see? It turned out to be medically possible, and that’s exactly what happened. Ernie was executed for his crime, but through surgery his good eyes were used to restore Mike’s vision. God does a similar thing for us. We who were blind have been given God’s eyes so that we can see. We need to be thankful that God has opened our eyes and given us the ability to see. (From a sermon by Derrick Tuper, "The Eyes Have It" 1/26/2009)