Fourth Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday in Lent are:

1. Exodus 17: 3-71 Samuel 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a
   
2. Psalms 23: 1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6
3. Ephesians 5: 8-14
   
4. John 9: 1-6, 13-17, 34-38
   

• Choose wisely
  
• We all have many choice to make in any given day.  The implications of some of those choices are not clear until long after we have made the choice.  That is particularly critical when we are choosing leaders for ourselves.
• Where do you go for leadership?
• How is that working out for you?
• What do you think God looks for in leaders of His people?
• Do you think that you have any of those qualities?
• What do you plan to do about the rest of leadership qualities that you don't have?
  

• Footprints in the sand
  
• Many of the great mystics have gone through dark nights of the soul - places in their lives where God seemed altogether absent, often when they most needed God.
• Have you ever been through a "dark night of the soul"
• Did that experience have an impact on your faith?
• What did you learn from it?
  

• Pleasing to God
  
• "Why am I here?" is a question that each of us ought to ask ourselves at least from time to time.
• Has the answer to that question changed at all through the years?
• Do you think that's because God's mission for you changed, you matured some along the way, the needs around you changed or a combination of all of the above?
• If you had to sum it up in one sentence, what would you say pleases God?
  

• Institutional blindness
  
• Institutions seem to have a stubbornness, an inertia of their own.  At some point, a fortress mentality develops in an effort to protect what is good and wholesome at the core, but soon the fortress needs a protection of its own in our minds, and so on, until it becomes easy to forget what we are protecting.  As individuals, its easy to feel totally incapable of making a difference in such a culture.
• Are there any fortresses in our church, community, families that we jealously guard that don't need guarding?
• How comfortable would we be if some of those walls were to come down?
  
• How can we contribute to bringing some of those walls down?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Am I a good leader at home, the office, my community?
2. Where/how can I take better advantage of desolation in my life??
   
3. Why did God bring me here, today, in this state?
   
4. Where is God calling me to to see where others do not?
   

My Lost Son

We thought it tragic once we realized,
That our baby boy Jacob had been born blind.
Ely, his father, and I, we were frantic,
Combing through our past, looking for the fault,
The flaw that bore this rotten fruit in our lives.

Eventually the old village rabbi taught us
To accept Jacob, both for what he could achieve,
And for what he would never achieve.
No matter what else happened, on thing we knew,
This poor baby was our son, and we his parents.

He had a hard life growing up.
The other boys in the village setting traps for him.
Tripping him, bumping him, reminding him
Over and over that he was different,
And if different, then unworthy of anything but their cruel sport.

Jacob eventually found a well-frequented spot to beg,
Settled in with a band of similarly crippled outcasts,
And seemed to have found his place in life.
Off to the side, squarely on the edges,
At least able to survive.

We had gotten used to the idea of never being in temple with Jacob,
Never getting to know one village girl after another
Who caught his eye -
Never getting to hold grandchildren fathered by him.
At least able to survive.

And now this.

He came bursting into the house
Full of news of this miraculous healing
From a traveling rabbi who bears watching.
Jacob praising his name without ceasing.
Leaving his father and I to wonder.

Wonder why God, in all His wisdom,
Would visit a blind son on our lives,
And now, out of nowhere,
Heal Jacob for no apparent reason,
After all that we have been through.

The local religious authorities interviewed us,
Looking for some deep insight into this happening.
We knew that they would cheerfully
Throw us out of the synagogue
If we breathed a word in favor of this Jesus.

Jacob no longer understands us.
He scoffs at our cowardice before the authorities.
He had nothing to lose, everything to gain
When he regained his sight.  For us,
We could easily lose the only family and friends we ever had.

We hear from Jacob from time to time.
He sends word home of where this Jesus of his has taken him.
We resign ourselves that Jacob has found happiness
Far from home, far from his roots.
At least able to survive.

Shalom!