En el nombre de Dios, que continúa reconciliándonos en su amor... In the name of God, who continues to reconcile us into Their love. Amen.
On Laetare Sunday, we pause and assess our Lenten experience. Many of us have given up something to experience emptiness or added in something, like a spiritual practice, to build a new habit to strengthen our God-consciousness.
We have worked to focus our attention and intention – and today we take a breath and see where we are. How is our journey into God-consciousness going so far?
Our readings today equip us to notice God-consciousness through the dynamic relationships of earth and eternity, body and spirit, darkness of understanding and enlightenment. When taken as parts of a single story, the lectionary provides a cohesive, balanced look at God’s loving, continuing plan of reconciliation.
The Old Testament reading illustrates the dynamic relationship of earth and eternity. God and Samuel have regular conversations in which God guides Samuel’s understanding and actions.
Samuel, grieving the rupture of his relationship with Saul, who continued to disobey God and go his own way, had to tell Saul that God had taken away his kingship, making the two spiritual friends into earthly enemies.
God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint a new king, a son of Jesse. To get there, Samuel has to pass through Saul’s territory, and he knows Saul will try to kill him if he does.
So, God gave Samuel very Episcopalian guidance: worship together. You will be united in your worship – and they are.
The process of choosing the next king illustrates for us that a) God will always show us the way to go; b) it will probably not be what we expect; and c) God sees what we can’t because God looks on our hearts.
God chooses David, the youngest and therefore, least important in ranking of Jesse’s sons. Samuel obeys, accepting this surprising choice, and anoints David as king.
The writer of this story uses two very important symbols: the shepherd and anointing oil. In those days, a king was considered a shepherd and a host. They were called to serve and protect their flock and provide for their needs. David was already keeping earthly sheep and now would shepherd God’s people. Earth and eternity...
Oil was used for anointing because it symbolized power and dedication to a holy purpose. When David was anointed as king, he was consecrated for a holy purpose in a manifest way – just like we do at Baptism, Confirmation, and ordinations. Body and spirit...
Once consecrated for his holy purpose, David went on to defeat Goliath and lead the people of God into an era of peace and prosperity. He became the icon of a faithful king, a true shepherd and host of the people in his care.
We move from this story into the wonderful Laetare meditation of Psalm 23 where God is our king, our shepherd and host. Please close your eyes if you feel comfortable and enter the experience of this beautiful psalm.
God says, come, lie down on this soft grass beside this peaceful pond and rest your weary soul. We obey, noticing that our breathing slows, our faces relax, the knots in our stomachs and tension in our chests release.
Please, everyone, take a deep breath in - filling yourself with the grace of God. Now breathe out, releasing all your stress. Stay in that peace for just a moment. (pause)
Then God comes to us, takes us by the hand, and leads us to a beautiful table which has been carefully set for us, but not just for us. As we look around the table, we see those who trouble us also seated there. Yet, somehow, the divine peace within us remains, and we relent from judging, questioning, or even desiring to exclude them.
There we all are, sitting together at a table covered in fresh linens. The fragrance and beauty of the flowers and food fill our senses.
It’s a family meal. Everyone there is included, protected, and provided for. Our cups are truly running over, and joy abounds within us and all around us.
Then, God anoints each of our heads with oil. As you breathe, feel the finger of God marking you, consecrating you, and filling you with God’s own loving power and a holy purpose. This is God’s promise and provision for all.
If your eyes were closed, open them now as we enter the less well-said invitation to live as children of light found in the letter to the Ephesians. The author meant well, but got caught up in earthly judgment, shame, and behavior.
Despite that miss, the light of Christ is real and true. Jesus came to enlighten the darkness of our understanding, just as the disciples and others were enlightened in the gospel story.
This story begins with the disciples asking Jesus about sin, using the example of a blind beggar they pass, probably on their way to the temple to worship. The blind man, being ostracized, would have been begging outside the temple precincts. These people of God are not united in worship.
The common belief was that the man’s blindness from birth was punishment for sin that either he committed while still in the womb or his parents committed before his birth. So, who sinned? the disciples asked.
No one did, Jesus replies. This isn’t punishment for sin. It’s a context for experiencing God’s grace – an opportunity for revelation and right relationship.
Then Jesus takes the dust of the earth, the substance from which we are made in Genesis, and just remembered on Ash Wednesday, and he mixes it with his spittle, living water from his own body. He rubs it on the man’s eyes and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam.
The man’s obedience to Jesus contrasts with Saul’s disobedience to God. As a result, the eyes of his body are opened, but more importantly, so are the eyes of his spirit.
This sets everyone off. He’s an unworthy nobody, an obvious sinner!
The religious leaders argue with the now-seeing man, eventually deporting him. Focused on rules, order, and authority ( masculine principles, btw), they fail to see what this once-blind man now sees. Banishing him enables them to reassert the status quo.
Jesus sees this and clarifies God’s eternal plan being fulfilled in this moment in him: “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
This blind man, who was reviled and exiled for his assumed sinfulness, was the only one being receptive (a feminine principle) to the grace being given to him, and that enabled him to enter into God-consciousness, to “see” the truth, worship Jesus, and believe. The religious leaders were not receptive, and Jesus calls them out as being intentionally blind, which he says is sin, because their presumed knowledge becomes a stumbling block to God’s grace – intentionally disrupting the unity of the family of God.
When we operate from God-consciousness, our perspective is always guided by God’s love for all. Our actions are always guided by God’s love for all.
As we complete our final week of Lent, let’s refocus our attention and intention and open ourselves to be receptive to the grace God is giving us, so we, like the blind man, will truly see, believe, and live as children of the light of Christ.
Amen.
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