The Collect

Merciful Lord,  absolve your people from their offences, that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed; grant this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

¶ The Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16.1-13

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Psalm 23

Refrain: I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Lord is my shepherd; *therefore can I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures *and leads me beside still waters. R
He shall refresh my soul *and guide me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; * for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. R
You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; * you have anointed my head with oil and my cup shall be full.
Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, * and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Refrain: I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5.8-14

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’

Gospel Reading: John 9.1-41

As Jesus 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. 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.’ When he had said this, 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. The neighbours 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.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.”Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’ 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.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 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. 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 worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement 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.

Jeffrey John has some interesting things to say about today’s gospel reading in his book on the miracles, and I will put up an extract later in the week. Meanwhile, the story is “about the healing of people’s spiritual, rather than physical, senses. They look to the day when the mysterious barrier in communication between God and his people will finally be torn down.’ (see pp 134-142)

Prayers of Intercession

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, look down on your Church and sharpen our vision of your glory and our hearing of your call, for without a truer vision of you we shall surely perish. Strengthen, we pray, our collective grasp on reality. Breathe life into our response to your love and our sensitivity to others. Enhance our response to the wonder of your love and the light that shines on our world through the incarnation of your son, Jesus Christ. Help your Church reflect all this so that we may truly be known as Christians through our love for one another.

Lord, light of the world, lead us out of our darkness: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority

Lord, we open our eyes to the glory and sunshine in your creation, whose beauty is beyond our imagining, and whose power we cannot comprehend.  As we open our hearts to you, we ask that you  take the scales from our eyes so that we may see the glory of your creation as far as we can grasp it, but are shielded from knowing more than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear.

¶The local community

Lord, we live in community, and this is not always easy. Help us to bear with one another, and to forgive each other, as you have forgiven us. Merciful father, prone as we are to blame others and to  hate ourselves, take from our eyes the dust that blinds us, that we may treat one another by the light of your compassion and in the spirit of your son, our saviour.

Lord, light of the world, lead us out of our darkness: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Those who suffer

Lord, when we feel surrounded by darkness, thick and impenetrable, teach us how to light a candle. Help us to accept that we can never, on our own, vanquish all the darkness in the world but that we can begin, with your help, to illumine one small corner of it. And then, step by tiny step, and strengthened by you, we can use the first spark to illumine the next beacon in a virtuous circle of hope. For the darkness is no darkness with you.

Lord, light of the world, lead us out of our darkness: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The communion of saints

Lord, we pray for all those who have found their way through the valley of death to you, for those who were blind but now can see. Comfort us with your protecting presence and your angels of goodness and love, that we also may come home and dwell within your house for ever.

Lord, light of the world, lead us out of our darkness: in your mercy, hear our prayer

^{Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above): Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops’ Council 2000 Invitation to Confession (Lent) © The Archbishops’ Council 2002 Collect (4th of Lent) © The Crown/Cambridge University Press: The Book of Common Prayer (1662)}