Read: John 9:1-41

“… Isn’t this the same (one) who used to come sit and beg?”

Our focus this year is on community.

When I’m not feeling well, I go into isolation. It’s not because I am contagious or unclean (although I certainly could be). It’s simply because I find my suffering deeply personal. I don’t try to hide my suffering. There’s no shame involved. I had a friend who was a physician, and his hair was always jet-black until he retired. He then went gray – almost white–haired overnight. He no longer had to color it to keep up the appearance of being young for his clients. I found he actually looked ten years younger with his natural hair than he ever did with it dyed. Sometimes our vanity or training calls for the erection of a facade. No, I don’t try to hide my frailties, nor do I wish to brag about them. I don’t suffer martyrs well either, to be honest, so I try not to pull that out of the haversack of fakery I keep close by for emergencies.

No, when I am not well, I isolate myself so that I may recover more quickly and with fewer distractions. Give me chicken soup, take my blood, poke me with needles as needed, but otherwise just stay away so that, in my being healed, I can recover enough to rejoin the human family. When I’m feeling human again, that’s when I will leave my sick bed.

The man born blind lived most of his life in isolation. The unwell were often shunned. My isolation is short-term and by choice, but not so the one born blind (or deaf). And yet, Jesus draws near. Jesus touches. Jesus anoints with a holy mudpack and sends him off for a self-service facial baptism. And the one is healed by the One, restored to a new community, because the old one challenges, chastises, and ostracizes. Not Jesus. “You’re well; it is the work of God; leave darkness behind, and join us.”

Let us pray. God, the forces for healing and restoration are varied; they rest in your hands. Heal and restore us so that we may be instruments of healing and restoration to this community in which we live. Amen.
– Fr. Keith Axberg

Read: John 9:1-41

In the 9th chapter of John, Jesus heals a man blind from birth by spitting on the ground, making mud, and placing the mud on the man’s eyes. He then sends him to wash in the “Pool of Siloam.” The man did not ask to be healed; Jesus reached out in love and compassion and performed the miracle of healing.

As a community of believers, we are called to respond to one another with love and compassion. (In my experience, St. Paul’s is responding to this call.) When people have a disability or medical condition, the ideal is to find out what kind of help or assistance they want or need, and then offer that help or assistance. Sometimes, people don’t know or can’t say. In any case, we can always drop off chicken soup AND we can always sing and pray.

Here is a good recipe for chicken vegetable soup.

And here is a healing hymn #667, “Sometimes a Light Surprises”

There are many beautiful prayers for healing; here are three of my favorites from the Book of Common Prayer – Pastoral Offices – Ministration to the Sick.

For Health of Body and Soul: May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

For Strength and Confidence: Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant N., and give your power of healing to those who minister to his needs, that he may be strengthened in his weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Trust in God: O God, the source of all health: So fill my heart with faith in your love, that with calm expectancy I may make room for your power to possess me, and gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dear God, help us to continue to learn and grow as a community in supporting one another in sickness and in health. Amen.
-Cathey Frederick

Read: John 9:1-41

The disciples’ question of “who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind” (v. 2) grates on me because people behave similarly when it comes to autism. There are the people who believe that my decision to vaccinate Daniel caused his autism, The study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that linked autism to the MMR vaccine has been disproven multiple times over, and Dr. Wakefield has been stricken from the British Medical Register for committing fraud in the course of that study, so the assertion that Daniel’s autism was caused by being vaccinated is ludicrous. (His autism is most likely linked to a few genetic abnormalities he has that have been also found in other autistic children.)

The bickering over how the blind man regained his sight reminds me of the group of people who seem to think they can “cure” autism with the GAPS diet, ABA therapy, or any number of quack cures. ABA therapy has been helpful for Daniel to a point, but his autism will never “go away”. Just as the Pharisees were skeptical about how the blindman was cured, I doubt anyone could objectively say what a cure for autism would be because the symptoms differ from person to person. It also begs the question of whether we should try to cure a condition that affects someone’s brain the way autism does.

The Pharisees treated the blind man as if he was a mere inconvenience. I experienced one of Jon’s parishes treating Daniel similarly. They wanted me to either exile him to the nursery with a baby monitor or keep him completely silent. It got to the point where I stopped taking Daniel to church because I was sick of people glaring at me. I am glad that St. Paul’s has been different on the occasions when I have brought him, but I was never able to get Daniel used to church. Because of my experiences, I am even more committed to making sure everyone feels welcome at St. Paul’s regardless of ability.

Lord, you chose to heal the blind man, and the Pharisees chose to dispute his healing. Help us to treat people with respect regardless of ability and give us hearts of welcome for everyone who comes through our doors. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Read: John 9:1-41

The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes… If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

The Fourth Gospel is making a point here to challenge prevailing concepts of disability. It seems the religious leaders in this story understood the fact that the man was born blind as a sign of God’s punishment upon him for moral failings. If there is any character in this story with a disability, however, it seems to be the religious leaders passing this judgment. Their disability is their lack of compassion, which in turn seems to me to show their own need for healing in their relationship with God.

The irony of this story is that it is the religious leaders who cannot see. The man born blind can see just fine. He can see God at work right in the moment and see God’s messenger.

We support people around us with disabilities by letting them tell us what they need and then responding appropriately. We encourage their gifts for ministry in the church. We hold in check our own assumptions about how they view their own situation.

I knew a woman in a congregation I pastored who was born blind. She told me she didn’t have any desire to change her situation because she’d developed so many other ways of “seeing” as a result. She sang in the choir and read Scripture beautifully. She was whole. Joyful. She had obviously done a lot of spiritual work.

Her story is her story. Others will have another story, another struggle, another process with illness, disease, or disability. The important thing is to listen and support and affirm the love of God in which we stand and do what we can for each other.

Holy One, I thank you for those among us who teach me so much about how wholeness looks, even when they live with a disability. Lead me always to listen and learn and discern what I can do. Amen.
-Fr. Jonathan Weldon

Read: John 9:1-41

Years ago, a priest at Christ Church, Anacortes, related a true story that he had heard from a chaplain. I don’t remember it in detail, but the gist of it was this. A man was admitted to a hospital with terminal cancer. He was a white racist. One of the attending nurses was a Christian man, who happened to be Black. Over time they began to talk and share stories. Eventually, the racist’s beliefs changed. As the end of life neared, the chaplain returned and saw the man smiling. In response to the chaplain’s surprise, the man said, “I’m cured! Oh, the cancer will kill me, but I’m cured!” Sometimes our worst illness is not what we think it is, but healing happens, nonetheless.

The healing of the blind man didn’t bring rejoicing in the town. Too bad it happened on Sabbath. The Pharisees might have cut Jesus some slack if it happened on a weekday. Did they forget who created Sabbath and why? Jesus said Sabbath was made for man, so he raised this man from a street beggar to a man with a full life, by giving him sight. The man could have lived out his days as a blind beggar sitting by the road. But the one who sent Jesus chose to dramatize his redemptive power. God could and would call his people out of darkness into light.

The Pharisees refuse to accept that Jesus is godly and question his authority. The man, simple and uneducated, knows better. He doesn’t ask why or how, but he knows what he knows; he was blind and now he sees. His resolve is unshaken even when the Pharisees eject him from the Temple. With his new sight, he can freely and independently go anywhere he chooses. He chooses to follow Jesus. His conversion is complete. The Pharisees, certain of their own righteousness, remain in the dark.

Gracious God, open my eyes to see your presence in the world. Turn my heart to follow Jesus wherever he goes, not blindly but with both eyes open, trusting him to lead me to you. Amen.
-Carol Treston

Read: John 9:1-41

In contemplating this passage, I’m reflexively drawn to the response of the Pharisees to the miracle that Jesus has performed. The most obvious takeaway is that while the humble blind man suffered from a physical impairment, the elite are spiritually blind. And in their case, unlike the blind man, the affliction is willful. The truth of what Jesus has done, and the power to which that act speaks, is in front of their faces, and the blind man who they interrogate has a pretty snarky response to their dismissal of it as 1st Century “fake news,” along with their skepticism regarding Jesus’ origin.

“Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

On the subject of healing and disability, there is another notable takeaway from this passage: Jesus’ proclamation that rather than taking a “blame the victim” attitude toward any who suffer a “disability,” we should instead recognize, as he does, “that the works of God might be manifest in him.” Otherwise, we risk the blindness of the Pharisees.

Lord, take away my blindness in failing to recognize you in my brothers and sisters, in whatever place or condition I might find them, and let me cleanse myself of my sins towards them. Amen.
-Michael Boss