We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

2023 Sun March 19

Seeing Differently -Lent 4

Seeing like Jesus makes the difference. That is implied in every story about Jesus in the New Testament. Still, we should ask, what does it mean to see like Jesus? One way to answer that question is to look at a particular story from John’s gospel. It’s a miracle story. Jesus gives sight to a man born blind. It’s messy, spit and mud are a part of the process. But when you need to be healed you’re open to the unconventional.

Jesus’ friends and the community at large look at the blind man’s infirmity and see punishment from God because of the sins of his mother and father. Jesus sees things differently. He sees the man’s infirmity as an opportunity for God’s glory. That is, for the shine and celebrity of God to burn a little brighter. They see a punishing God; Jesus sees a God of healing and opportunity. That’s how Jesus sees our world, limitations, obstacles, and family of origin issues- as the perfect precondition for the wonderful restorative impulse of God to showcase themselves, You could say, that seeing like Jesus is to receive, keep and increase a sensitivity to light, especially in the darkest times, places, and circumstances. Seeing like Jesus is to see your healing as a part of being sent.

Lent 4, Year A

I.Theme –   The emphasis this week is on the themes of light, vision and insight. Samuel is given insight to anoint a shepherd boy to be king. Paul urges the church to be people of light. In the Gospel a blind  man is given sight to see Jesus the Messiah.

Healing the Blind Man - El Greco<

“The Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind” – El Greco (1560) . The man in the foreground with his wife may be the blind man’s parents

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm – Psalm 23
Epistle –Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel – John 9:1-41 

In the Old Testament , The problem was, who shall succeed King Saul who was rejected by Yahweh The Lord sends Samuel to Jesse’s home where there were eight sons. One of them Yahweh wants as the new king. One by one seven sons are passed by. David is called home from caring for his father’s sheep. At once Samuel is given insight that David is God’s choice. Here is a case similar to the Gospel’s account of Jesus’ giving the healed man the insight that he was the Messiah 

Psalm 23 is the Psalm of the Day. It harmonizes with the miracle’s account of Jesus’ compassion for a blind person. He becomes one of Jesus sheep.  Like the sheep, the blind man hears Jesus’ voice. Like the shepherd, Jesus finds the blind man when he has been cast out (9:35). Jesus provides for the man born blind much more than sight–he provides for him what he, as the good shepherd, gives all of his sheep–the protection of his fold (10:16), the blessing of needed pasture (10:9), and the gift of abundant life (10:10).

In Ephesians, the Epistle reacing,  Christians are people of the light according to Paul. Before accepting Christ they lived in the darkness of sin. Christians are to shun the works of darkness and to live in the light of goodness and truth. In the Gospel miracle account Jesus, the light of the world, brings light to a blind man both physically and spiritually. 

 The Gospel account is one of not one but two miracles and is the story of the “Man Born Blind.” The first miracle is told in the first seven verses. The rest of the chapter deals with human reactions to the miracle: the healed man, his parents, the Pharisees and Jesus. The second miracle is the insight the healed man was given enabling him to confess Jesus as the Son of man, Messiah. The chapter begins and ends with blindness. At the beginning a man was physically blind. At the end, the Pharisees were spiritually blind because of their sin. The healed man experienced a double miracle: sight and insight.

Confronted by the blindness of the world, a blindness encapsulated in the man born blind, Jesus said to his disciples, “we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.”  This scripture can be seen as a call to us to practice evangelism, providing light to others.   It is there, through faith, that they will find life eternal.  


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The Annunciation celebrated March 25

Annunciation– Fra Angelico (1426)

Here is a video that describes this scene in the painting above displayed in the Prado museum in Madrid.

In the first chapter of Luke The Annunciation(Luke 1:26-38) is described. We read how the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Christ, and how Mary answered, “Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me as you have said.” It is reasonable to suppose that Our Lord was conceived immediately after this. Accordingly, since we celebrate His birth on 25 December, we celebrate the Annunciation nine months earlier, on 25 March.

For many centuries most European countries took 25 March, not 1 January, as the day when the number of the year changed, so that 24 March 1201 was followed by 25 March 1202. If you had asked a Christian of that time why the calendar year changed so awkwardly partway through a month, he would have answered: “Today we begin a new year of the Christian era, the era which began X years ago today when God was made man, when He took upon Himself a fleshly body and human nature in the womb of the Virgin.”

Here is another description of the event