Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.
God, help me see your glory.
Open my eyes to your grace.
“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
May I see by your light.
May I do the works of light.
He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
Help me let go of old ways of seeing.
Give me a new consciousness.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”
Give me courage to see others as they truly are,
not as I want to see them.
Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.”
I confess that I sometimes care more
about defending my world view
than about others and their well being.
They did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called his parents and asked them.
Give me grace to honor what is in my heart
without having to ask others what I know to be true.
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
Help me to see your grace in those whom I judge,
to see your truth in what I resist
to see your presence where I have refused to see.
He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Once I judged, and I was blind,
but by your grace I see grace
and my eyes are opened.
You have set me free
from the fear of seeing.
You give me courage to see what is,
and behold what is before me.
I look with my soul, not only my eyes,
and I watch what others do not notice.
I look to the heart, and attend to the soul,
and so I see the unseen, by your grace.
They said, “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
I confess the preconceptions that blind me,
the blinders of what I want to be true,
and how I want to be right.
The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! 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.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Give me courage to see grace and and mercy,
to notice injustice and demeaning,
even when others want me not to see,
when I would be at ease being oblivious.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
God, help me to see with your eyes,
with your compassion,
with your grace,
for otherwise I am blind.
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
God, be my seeing.
Create me anew as your eyes.
Look upon this world with love
from within me.
—from John 9
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net