UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST in SIMI VALLEY
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost - October 26, 2003
Higher Education Sunday
Anne G. Cohen
Mark 10:46-52
For Our Reflection:
He [sic] has the greatest blind side who thinks he has none
- Dutch Proverb
Blind and Dangerous
Clark was in my closet on a ladder replacing a ceiling light fixture
that had worn out.
and reads lips very well. It was late in the day and John suggested
that we get more light into the room so he could
finish the job. "It's
getting dark," he explained.
dark!"
It has been proven - at least anecdotally - that when a person loses one
sense, the other senses are heightened. Apparently, the sense of humor
is one of them.
And I happen to believe that the spiritual sense - intuition about the
unseen but very real forces at work in the world - is another one.
Helen Keller, born deaf and blind, learned sign language late in her
childhood. She discovered the world suddenly and delightedly through
all of her remaining senses - including common sense and a profound
sense of adventure. A Christian and a scholar, one of her most quoted
observations was this:
"Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all."
Who am I - with sight, hearing and memory mostly intact - to disagree?
Its just that by taking all of my bodily senses for
granted - I've often
been blind to the beauty, the adventure, the possibilities, the
adventure, the spiritual experiences that are offered repeatedly by the
world.
It is easy for a sighted, hearing person to take music and the face of a
lover for granted - and therefore miss the meaning. Sensory overload is
one excuse, but not the whole explanation. It has as much to do with
complacency, even an unwillingness to look deeper INTO things - into
oneself - into the nature of God.
Unless we are stunned - by tragedy, misfortune, loss, a near miss with
mortality - we are fairly contented to breathe the air mindlessly,
accept the status quo with docility, focus on what's in front of us with
tunnel vision, and be grateful - occasionally - that we are not
suffering like those other people - whoever they may be.
Timaeus was NOT a complacent, narrow-minded
man. He had had to come to
terms with some serious events in his life - and that had made him look
a little deeper into people and society in general. His family had been
in
across the
The city was 20 miles northeast of
Sea
grandfather. Any day except the Sabbath you could find him along the
main roadway through town - in the marketplace - selling and trading his
merchandise, hoping to come out ahead when the day was done - usually
moderately successful.
Timaeus had a wife and a few kids - and he hoped that
the oldest son
would learn the trading business. But his oldest son - known in town as
Bar Timaeus (Son of Timaeus)
- after a healthy infancy and early
childhood - began to lose his sight. Peripheral vision deteriorated
until, by the time he was twelve, his sight had narrowed to a small
circle directly in front of him. And, at fourteen, he was blind.
Trading is difficult for a blind person because so much judgment
regarding value depends on being able to SEE the object under
negotiation. Flaws are not always detectable by touch and it is not
only easy but predictably common for traders to cheat on quantity or
quality when trading with someone in a weaker position. Blindness was a
liability that Timaeus could not allow to hinder his
business. So, with
disappointment and recognition of the necessity - on the part of both
father and son - Bar Timaeus had to pass his
birthright to his younger
brother.
Having had full - and then some amount of vision much
of his life -
both son and father knew what had been lost. But being the Son of
Timaeus - and having the encouragement and example of
his father to act
rather than give up in despair - Bar Timaeus set out
to do what he could
to contribute to the household. He took up the occupation most often
afforded the blind - begging. And he did it well.
Early each morning he would put on his warm cloak, help his father and
younger brother to carry merchandise to the marketplace and set up their
stall. Then he would continue on down the road toward the western city
gate, select a spot on the side of the road - not too close to the Roman
soldiers that tended to converge at the entrance / exit to the city. He
would call out to the travelers and traders passing in both directions,
"Friend, brother, have mercy on me!" Every so often, a stranger
moved
by the figure of this blind, young man - just this side of childhood -
but with the bearing of a self-sufficient merchant - a compassionate
stranger would toss him a coin, offer him food, even leave
him a free
sample of whatever they were trading.
And, as the days passed, Bar Timaeus came to know the
variety of sounds
and smells that indicated wealth or poverty, the distance between
himself and the legs of a camel on the road, the tone of voice that
signaled charity or abuse.
One afternoon, Bar Timaeus sensed that the roadside -
on both sides -
was more crowded than usual. A group of 12, maybe 14 men - followed at
a discrete distance by a greater number of women, men and children - was
headed west toward the city gate. People were commenting that this
group was headed for
- Son of Joseph, Mary or God, depending on what you believed. This was
someone he'd heard about - who reportedly healed some blind people, as
well as lepers and bleeders.
Being his father's son, Bar Timaeus had no difficulty
calling out to
Jesus in a strong voice that cut through the noise of the throng.
"Hey
Jesus, Bar David, have mercy on me!" The crowd around him - many who
knew him, some who didn't - tried to quiet him down. They saw the Roman
soldiers at the gate turn and look at Jesus and his retinue. They knew
that calling Jesus the Son of David was outing him as the Messiah to the
Jewish people - and that the Romans were not happy with any challenge to
their supreme, divinely backed power in the region.
Bar Timaeus, well-meaning as he was, was endangering
the life of Jesus
and his followers. Blind and dangerous, he could not be quieted and he
called out again - JUST as Jesus passed by him - "BAR DAVID, have mercy
on me!"
This brought Jesus and his followers to a standstill. Jesus called out
to the kid, "Come here!" The crowd around the kid was very
excited at
this point and those closest to him encouraged him, "Take heart, get
up..." the Greek words used by Jews and Christians in reference to
resurrection - "Get up!" The kid jumped up, threw off his cloak
and
moved directly toward Jesus - his internal compass - as accurate as a
migratory bird - drawing him to the man.
Jesus, just that morning, had to deal with James and
disciples who were jockeying for power and influence. As this confident
kid approached, a smile hovered at the corners of his mouth and he asked
Bar Timaeus the same question he had asked each Bar Zebedee that
morning, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Bar Timaeus - with full knowledge of what he was
requesting and from
whom - spoke solemnly. "Rabbouni - Teacher
- let me see again." And
because the kid had already seen inside of Jesus and knew his source of
healing power, Bar Timaeus had his vision
restored. And that very
afternoon, he joined the community that followed Jesus to his date with
destiny and the
never forgot the things that he saw when he was blind - nor the events
he witnessed with new eyes in those days of his early manhood.
I would venture that most of us are blind in one way or another. We've
lost the overwhelming sense of adventure and possibility and meaning in
the world that seemed to occupy our whole selves when we were young.
We've gotten older and more jaded, tired and cynical.
And because it is so painful to look at the suffering humans continue to
inflict upon one another and the earth, we blind ourselves to the wider
picture - hoping that our contribution to the suffering of others
(whoever they may be) is minimal - while we do our work and feed our
families and get along reasonably well within our communities.
This makes us blind and dangerous - in a passive and fatal way.
Even so, some of us, in our blindness, do sense that things are terribly
wrong. We get the notion that killing people who are killing people is
solipsistic and ethically untenable. We understand that climate changes
and the deterioration of air quality and the increase of disease in
every species - all signal the demise of life as we know it and the
necessary retribution of God's Natural Laws. We see the widening chasm
between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, insider and outsider -
and we name it. We scream it out loud and protest and demonstrate our
outrage.
And this makes us blind and dangerous - but in a different way. This
makes us dangerous to the status quo, the rich and powerful, the violent
and vengeful. This makes us targets and therefore dangerous to
ourselves. But it also offers hope and healing to those who suffer,
possibility and promise to those who are lost in despair. And it
creates a way out of our chronic blindness - toward a vision of the
earth that God may have intended.
An old Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when
the night had ended and the day had begun.
"Could it be," asked one of the students, "when you can see an
animal
in the distance and tell whether it's a sheep or a dog?"
"No," answered the Rabbi.
Another asked, "Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and
tell whether it's a fig tree or a peach tree?"
"No," answered the Rabbi.
"Then what is it?" the pupils demanded.
"It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that
it is your sister or brother. Because if you cannot see
this, it is
still night."
- Hasidic Tale from “Peacemaking Day by Day,”
Spiritual Literacy, Brussatt,
p.502
***************************************************
BULLETIN
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
+ Call to Worship (one voice)
O you people, be healed; Life anew I bring to you.
O you people, be healed; Life anew I bring to
you.
Through the [God of] all do I offer healing.
Life anew I bring to you.
+ Opening Hymn Let It Breathe on
Me Hymnal # 288
Opening Prayer (responsive - please be seated)
One: Everything as it moves, now and then,
here and there, makes pauses.
Many: The bird as it flies stops on one place to make its
nest,
and in another to rest in its flight.
One: In the same way, God has paused as well.
Many: The sun, which is so bright and beautiful,
is one place where God has paused.
One: The moon, the stars, the winds; God has been with them
too.
Many: The trees, the animals, are all places where God has stopped,
leaving the touch of the Holy in all these things.
One: We too have had God pause in us.
We too have the Holy touch in our beings.
Many: Let us now pause ourselves, and listen for the voice of God
on our hearts.
Time for Silent Reflection (you may remain seated)
The
Assurance of Good News (unison)
Creator, we feel Your blessings and your Blessedness!
Sung
Response One Hand, One
Heart by L. Bernstein
from "West Side Story"
Joe Mack, vocal and guitar
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Conversation with Our Children
Assalamu alaikum - May peace be upon you!
Reading from the Christian Gospels Mark 10:46-52
Sermon Blind
and Dangerous
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to
Prayer Be still and know that I am God
Hymnal # 743
Time for
Silence
Our Joys and
Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung
Response In
Solitude Hymnal #521 vv. 1 & 2
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
Offertory
Prayer of
Dedication (unison)
May it be blessed before me, May it be blessed behind me,
May it be blessed above me, May it be blessed below me.
May all be blessed.
+ Sending
Hymn
These
Hills
CBS #92
+ Commissioning (unison)
May the warm winds of heaven blow softly upon you
and may the Great Spirit make Sunrise in your heart.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a circle)
CSB #42 Refrain
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side.
Draw the circle wide.
+ Postlude
WORSHIP NOTES
Call to Worship is a Dakota Holy Song from Worship Resources,
Ed. Juanita H. Helphry (UCC - 1991) p.4
Opening Prayer is a Lakota Teaching, Ibid. p.28
The Assurance of Good News is by Juanita Helphrey,
Ibid. p.7
Prayer of Dedication is a Navajo prayer, Ibid. p.6
Commissioning is a Cherokee Blessing, Ibid. p.