Readings: John 9:1-41, 1 Samuel 16:1-13

preached by Rev. Wayne Irwin

"If you were blind you would not be guilty But because you say that you see, your guilt remains."

There is great teaching here. By Jesus. Teaching that more troubling to life than the inability to see . . . is the blindness of those who refuse to see . . . who prevent themselves from seeing . . . by their self-righteousness, and by their arrogance.

In this particular text . . . those persons are symbolized by the Pharisees, the religious, who shout their condemnation at this man whom God has healed.

This man's blindness has been assumed by those around him to be caused by his own sin. Or that of his parents. Such an offensive judgement. And it's so common. Got a problem? You must have done something wrong. Terribly wrong to be born blind.

But wait a minute: if this man was born blind because of sin . . . his own sin. . . then when would that sinning have occurred? Not in this life, for sure. Would have had to have been in some life before this life.

Surely suggestive of reincarnation. Like several other texts in the Bible. And also indicating that in this life we all are dealing with a mystery so much more complex.

So much more so than the systematic organized theories of right and wrong that are the 'bailiwick' of career religionists and theologians.

It all takes us back to the statement attributed to God speaking to Samuel when choosing David, the least likely son of Jesse, to be the next king of the Hebrew people. God saying to Samuel, in essence: "I do not see as mortals see! I look on the inner truth, not on the outer!"

Today, we are beginning this year's Week of Guided Prayer, here in Centenary. A process for reflecting on our lives without going off to a retreat centre. But doing so in the midst of our ordinary work week.

Many of you do not choose to take part in this annual opportunity. And you may well have other good ways for nourishing your soul. But for some of us, this week each year proves an excellent facilitator for fresh spiritual insight.

And one of the primary realizations of it all is that prayer is not dependent on religiosity. Not dependent on the Church. On the priest. God's presence is constant. Closer than our breath. And accessible at any time . . . and in any place . . . and by anyone.

And that's part of the dynamic of the scripture passage for today. Something good has happened without the imprimatur of the religious.

This blind man who has never studied the scriptures . . . because he couldn't. He couldn't read . . . because he was blind . . Now his eyes are opened. Opened to the truth about God . . . and all of it through his experience of Jesus, a person he has only just met . . . And whom he does not recognize when he sees him again. Because he never did see him in the first place.

And meanwhile the Pharisees, the professionals, so to speak, are becoming more and more obdurate, more obstinate, more ornery in their failure to reap the benefit of all of their study, . . . in their failure to "get it", to understand the truth about God.

Ron DelBene, the American spiritual director featured on our before-service DVD's during this Lent, has been teaching on the subject of prayer throughout his career . . . for over forty years.

And although many in the world believe, just like the Pharisees in our text, that they have absolutely nothing to learn, especially in relation to spiritual things, Ron DelBene challenges that, by declaring that prayer is not what most people think it is. It has nothing to do with technique. Nothing to do with magic formulae, with managing to say correct words. Nothing to do with giving God instructions.

He puts it this way "Many of us believe it is up to us to pray in a way that reaches God. I believe (says he) that we are in the presence of God at all times, and [that] prayer [is simply] being attentive to that presence."

But whether or not we can sense that Presence, and whether or not we can acknowledge that Presence, that Presence is, nevertheless, an Actuality always with us, that is continually blessing us.

Our sin, then . . . is essentially whatever we do . . . to block that blessing to interfere with what God intends.

That blessing being poured out upon us without reference to our intellect, or our behaviour, or our inner life, or our physical condition.

And prayer, then . . . is whatever we do . . . to do the opposite . . . to intentionally open ourselves to that Presence . . . and to that "never-to-be-taken-from-us" loving Blessing.

And there are so many things we can do to open ourselves to that Presence. We Christians refer to them as "means of grace."

Such activities for us Christians as public worship, like this . . . as the reading of, or hearing of, or viewing the dramatizing of . . . scripture.

Or the experiencing of nature, or of music, . . . or of art . . . or of silence. The experiencing of solitude, of special relationships. Even the experiencing of meaningful work.

All of these . . . are means . . . and more . . . and there are so many more . . . means of grace . . . vehicles of prayer. . . ways of opening ourselves to the Presence of the Holy.

So we can understand prayer, then, to be . . . whatever it is that accomplishes that. Whatever it is that awakens or re-awakens us to God's constant Holy Presence.

And, in fact, everything we do together as a community of faith, can be understood, therefore, to be a form of prayer.

Even our meetings. Our various activities. Even social events. Our congregational flea markets.

Our bees to clean out our church storage rooms. Just doing such things together, in community. . . is prayer.

Reading a book can be prayer. A Bible, a devotional . . . Even a novel that, as-it-were, "takes us down the rabbit hole" . . . can be prayer . . . can be a means of grace.

Because prayer is a special form of thinking, or speaking, its definition as 'prayer' dependent, really, on our focus, on our intention.

So prayer, then, is much more than any particular form of prayer. More than any particular method of prayer. And much more than a moment before each meal or a recitation at bedtime before each sleep.

Brian Melo, Hamilton's Canadian Idol, in an interview published this week told of his technique of preparing himself by walking the stage before each performance visualizing his presentation . . . that's prayer!

Attending to the Inner Spirit. Becoming utterly open to it . . . Trusting it. Attuning to it's intention In other words, "surrendering to God's Holy Presence."

The man born blind surrendered to Jesus' presence, not knowing who he was, just sensing, like Samuel, his inner knowing, and then trusting what Jesus said to him. "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam." Trusting that . . . and doing it.

And to those who would later treat him with disdain . . his words in response "I do not know if Jesus is a sinner. All I know is that I was blind . . . and now I see."

Earthquakes, fires, wars and civil wars, tribal massacres, corruption, crime, drug dealing, child pornography. . . all of these in the world, and more, make many skeptical of the value of prayer.

But we're all grown up now. The challenges of this world belong to us.

And the delight of ultimately succeeding will also belong to us.

And the symbols of our faith enable us to live in that hope.

After every Good Friday . . . comes Easter.

Let those who have eyes to see . . . understand!

Word of God! Thanks be to God! Amen!