Welcomed both Inside and Out

3-22- 20 
(This sermon was also livestreamed on Family of God Lutheran's facebook page) 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My friend Beth Wartick, a Lutheran Pastor in Iowa – shout out to her, though she’s probably live streaming her own service - Besides being an awesome pastor, she has written for the Living Lutheran magazine, which is pretty awesome. She writes that she remembers when she was ten, and her mom told her the story of bringing her– Beth - to worship, only to be brought up short by another member who insisted that, because of how Beth was borm, God MUST BE punishing one or both of them. Punishment for what, you might ask? You see, Beth was born with one arm.

In her article, Pastor Beth reflects – “When congregations never talk about disability, it sends the message to people with disabilities and their loved ones that they don’t really matter to the church. And when congregations talk about disability thoughtlessly or unkindly, it sends another message—that people with disabilities aren’t really welcome.”

We are good at making judgments about what’s on the outside – skin color, biological gender, cultural values or economic status, weight, height, athletic ability, physical differences or visible disabilities. What happens when we perceive people as their whole selves instead?

In reading her article, I appreciated Pastor Beth’s reflection on being both “a lifelong Lutheran and a lifelong person with person with a disability,” and the call to the church to welcome both identities. She writes: “… Every member of the body of Christ has the responsibility and power to make every other member welcomed and included. “

In this really long reading from the Gospel of John you just heard, we get to experience a pretty clear mode of how NOT to do this.

Jesus and his disciples walked the road, when they met a man born blind. When the disciples saw this man, they instantly judged him and his parents as sinners, much like the people at Beth’s parents’ church. In the minds of the people in his community, his disability was an outward sign of someone’s sin, which was a common idea, both then and now. What is the parents’ sin, the man’s sin, the sin of one of his ancestors? It JUST HAD to be one of them who was at fault.

But Jesus refused to participate in this blaming and shaming. Instead, Jesus saw the man with more than just his eyes. He saw him through the eyes of God and viewed him as a child of God, worthy of love, instead of judgment and rejection. Jesus saw this man in need, separated from his community, and healed him. This is what Jesus is in the habit of doing – finding people who are on the outside.

And yet, even when this man who was born blind is now visually un-impaired, he is still on the outside. It’s almost funny, that after this man is healed, everyone in his life plays “pass the buck” with him. It’s as if once his “identifier” – being blind – is gone, he has no other identity in his community to speak of. They never saw him as a whole person – they only saw him as impaired, as someone to be pitied.

When his identity is taken out of that neat little box he had been placed in, people don’t know what to do! Their label for then man is gone, so he doesn’t make sense in their worldview anymore. It’s like they are grabbing at straws - accusing everyone of anything they can think of – the man is a sinner, his parents are sinners, Jesus is a sinner, this man must be Jesus’ disciple, back to this man must be a sinner…. And the man is driven out, back to the outside of his community.

While the man is again on the outside… Jesus AGAIN finds him. After Jesus gives him his sight, Jesus give the man something even better – agency… identity…. Empowerment. The man believed. And the man worshiped. But only once Jesus said, “…. You have seen him… AND the one SPEAKING with you is he.” Jesus went back to the sense that the man knew the best – hearing.

Jesus healed a lot of people, but he didn’t “cure” or “fix” everyone who could not see. But Jesus did come to wake us up and tune us in, to a new kind of reality. One where we are found and chosen by Jesus. A reality where no one thing defines who we are in our entirety. This reality is God’s reality, and it’s easy for us to miss if we’re not looking for it.

Those of us who drive on a regular basis know about something called “blind spots.” The first time you merge into another lane only to be honked at by another vehicle right there in your blind spot is a time you don’t soon forget.

Something looms so large in our minds that it pretty much blocks out everything else. Right now for most of us, that “big thing” blocking our view of the world is the Covid-19 virus and our world being on varying levels of hiatus and lock-down. Many of us have been putting in extra hours to keep everyone safe, or to construct a whole new way of doing things, including new ways of being the church.

Being safe, being healthy, washing our hands, buying toilet paper, staying up to date on the news… all these things we’re focusing on right now are not bad things. But when these things get in the way of fully being children of God by creating anxiety, inequality, and panic, we should probably scale back or reassess.  When we allow our desire for security to take over our lives, we miss the point of being part of God’s kingdom.  We box ourselves in by creating a world that is comfortable, yes, but is devoid of growth, risk, challenge, and even joy and love. Just as we box other people in when we only pay attention to what’s on the outside. But, to live in a box is not where God has called us to be – it is not who we are.

Unfortunately, many of us are sort of literally in a kind of box that we need to stay in, in order to remain safe, or in order to keep others safe. But even so, every single day, nearly every single moment, God breaks into our lives in surprising ways, providing us opportunities to respond to Jesus invitation. Right now, I am speaking to you in your phone or through your computer (hopefully!).  As I have been making phone calls to some of you, I hear that you are making calls to one another, checking in. This is the body of Christ at work! Keep it up! We are about keeping people included, even if we can’t see them in person.

This is a new kind of normal, not one that we had expected or anticipated…. Or are even properly prepared for, really. And some of us may feel off-kilter, at least I know that I do! Not unlike the man from this gospel:  this man’s entire existence had been turned utterly upside down… though he faced questions on all sides, by everyone he ever knew … he stuck with his gut, and stated what he DID know… “IF this man is not from God, he could do nothing.”

God IS doing something, all right. We might not be able to see what God is up to at every moment, with all of our fears and anxieties looming large. But we’re still here. The church is not what goes on in this building. The church is NOT the building. The church is you. Every week I say “Welcome, there is a place for you here.” But for the time being at least, that is going to change. Not the welcome part, but the “here” part. From now on, perhaps we should say, “Welcome, there is a place for you… with us. Wherever that ‘here’ may be for you.” Thanks be to God. Amen.