Some people can, and some people can’t. For me, the transitions were much more subtle. You see I was raised in a Christian home, going to church every Sunday, with two parents whose values and life choices were guided every day by their decision to follow Jesus. So, I learned these values in the same way I as a baby learned to walk and speak English in complete sentences. It all came very natural for me – like breathing the air.
For some people, though, there is a moment – some call it a conversion experience, or being “saved” – this is the day the gift of God’s love becomes meaningful to you – and you say “YES” to Jesus. Do you have a spiritual birthday -- The day you remember giving your life to God, and to the way of Jesus?
It often happens when we are in a really LOW point in life. We realize that depending our ourselves alone is not working – so we decide to reach out to God. One of the old fashioned theological words for this is actually “surrender.” It‘s not such a bad word. I think we need to reclaim this.
Some days, I just don’t feel like I can do this on my own: face all the challenges of parenting, and this bad economy, or an untimely death of a loved one. On those days, it is a relief just to “surrender” to God and say, “I can’t do this on my own – I need you.”
For most of us, there was not just one moment, when we said “Yes” to God. There are ups and downs in this journey. We feel close to God at times, and then we feel cut off from God at another time. God does not change, but we do. Life happens: We doubt. We get angry. Something happens We cannot make sense of. We need someone to blame and so we blame God.
In the Bible story for today, (John 9:1-39 from The Message for those following along on the internet) we find a man, blind from birth. Jesus and his disciples are walking along, and they encounter this man. And the disciples, acting out of human nature say to Jesus: “Who is to blame for this?”
You see, they had the idea that when something bad happens, like a child being born blind, that there has to be someone or something to blame. We do that, don’t we? They made a connection to sin, and asked if the child’s parents were somehow being punished by having a child born blind.
Jesus is crystal clear in his answer: “You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.”Jesus says, “Don’t waste one ounce of your energy trying to find a reason for suffering. It’s pointless. Instead –- look to God” for the miracle God can do.
You see, Jesus says, every bad situation is an opportunity for us to call upon the healing power of God to do something. That’s it. “Look for the hope,” Jesus tells us. He calls himself “the light” He says, “There is PLENTY of LIGHT” as long as he is around. We have enough light!
Then, Jesus heals the man of his blindness. There is a big fuss about whether or not Jesus should be healing on the Sabbath, of all the things to fuss about. And where he gets his power. Does his power come from God? But this is the point: The blind man encounters Jesus and he is healed!
And later Jesus asks him, “Do you believe me, do you trust me?” The man sees that Jesus is the Son of God, and he believes. And from that moment on, his life is never the same. The man makes a turn. He turns toward God, toward the light.
This is the turn God asks us to make every day. We all have our blindness – something that holds us back. We all have situations, choices, circumstances, that keep us from living fully as the person God put us on this earth to be.
My friend Darryl, was in a biking accident many years ago, as an adult in graduate school, that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He tells me, that for awhile he asked God, “Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?” Of course he was angry, for a time.
But then he began to see other people and what they have to struggle with. He saw an older woman at his church using a walker, and slowly struggling to get from one end of the sanctuary to another. In that moment, the light of God shown bright upon his situation and Darryl realized that we all have something – some burden, some infirmity, some lack in our lives.
“Why not me?” he then concluded. “Why not me?” Everyone has something that is a struggle, and we all need God. Darryl could have shut down spiritually and emotionally. He could have wallowed in his injury and the turn his life took. But instead, he put his trust in God, and persevered. He finished his education. He moved forward with his goals to be a pastor and an advocate for justice. He got married and now he’s a father. He puts his trust in Jesus, and stays on that journey with God, represented in our worship celebrations by a rocky, difficult staircase.
How about you? What is your blindness? Your hurt? Your injury that you cannot get past? Can you name it? Jesus wants to heal us. Jesus wants to heal us of the despair that comes along with the things in our lives, that keep us from living fully.
We can give it to Jesus; we can surrender to him, what we cannot deal with on our own. We can make a turn – toward God. And when we do our lives will never be the same.
You have probably made this turn before in your life. Maybe once, maybe many times, maybe some of you feel like you have never really made that move toward God.
Today, in this moment, we have that invitation. Let us give ourselves to walk this journey with God. Let us walk in the light of Jesus. Let us walk in the light. Let us pray: God we name before you, the thing, the thought, the event, whatever it is that keeps us from putting our trust in you. Rather than worrying about why or how or who go blame – we just give it to you. Heal us. Make us whole. We want to follow Jesus. Let us walk in your light from this moment on. Amen.
Need to find that path, that rocky staircase from the darkness and into the light? There are many staircases up. One is at the corner of Central & Monroe Street in Toledo. Come join us on this walk into the light.
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