It's Undeniable

This morning we met for worship in The Fireside Room. The new floor has been laid in the sanctuary this week. After the traditional greeting, Brad reminded us of the value of being surrounded by friends and community. "We've been talking about how challenging and confusing life can be, however you don't have to understand everything to believe in something. In the midst of those questions and doubts, there are things that are undeniable. One of these for me is Psalm 19.

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If there are women interested in being part of a sewing or quilting club, a group will be meeting next Sunday right after worship to see what this might be.

Brad led our worship time with praise songs from the blue songbook.

Brooke stood and shared that it's that time of year when we begin seeding our soup cans for Covenant World Relief. Baskets with labels etc. were distributed so we can bring them home to collect coins in. Covenant World Relief is an arm of the Covenant Church dedicated to needs such as hunger and the current refugee problem. You can learn more and give at CovChurch.org/cwr.

After a time of prayer, Pastor Brad shared the message he had prepared.

It's Undeniable

"How many of you have ever had questions or doubts?"

A few hands were raised, so he asked again, and we all know this question applied to everyone.

There are all kinds of questions people have. "Pastor, how do you reconcile free will and predestination?" And, "How do you accept the authority of this book the Bible when it was written by men?"

Then there are all the questions that arise from what we read in the news. How could God let a nine-year-old boy be shot in an alley by gang members? How can a mother poison her own children?

The text today is from John 9.

Verse 1: As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth.

Then His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

In verse six Jesus spit into the dirt and made mud which He put on the man's eyes. The Jesus told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. From there, the man went home to tell his parents what happened. "I was blind and now I can see!"

The neighbors couldn't agree on whether this young man who now can see was the same one who had been blind from birth. It didn't make sense to them. How could this possibly have happened?

In verse 13 the Pharisees are now involved. The man who had been blind was brought to the religious leaders. The miracle is undeniable, but they have an alternative way of dismissing it. The healing took place on the Sabbath therefore, they said, the man who did it must be evil. God doesn't work this way, they insisted. What they Pharisees get hung up on is, that because they don't understand it, it must not be God.

The young guy explains once more what happened. They still didn't believe, so they asked for the parents to come in. The parents equivocate because they do not want to be excommunicated. So the young man is brought back again, and he admits that he does not know who the man was, but what he does know is that he was blind and now could see. This much was undeniable.

"It is undeniable to me that a young man was born, became a carpenter, lived and walked among us. It is undeniable that this man was hung on a cross and put to death. It is undeniable the people said they saw him resurrected. It is undeniable that all those who were closest to Jesus were changed by their experience of the resurrection and were willing to die for what they afterwards believed. And," Brad proclaimed, "it is undeniable that I was once blind but now see."

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.