For the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, guest preacher the Rev. Jim Short opens up the story of the healing of the blind person in John 9. After introducing the idea of a “critical incident debrief,” Jim portrays all the characters in the story to invite the congregation to name 1) what is missing in the story and 2) where the “hook” is for us.

He also refers to the recently adopted “Table of Values” of Crossroads United Church, identifying that the purpose of this Scripture text is to get us to keep returning to Jesus, the light, to help us to see more clearly.

Finally, he shares a portion of W. D. Campbell’s Brother to a Dragonfly, a book that was formative for his own theological development, to illustrate the concept of grace. (Profanity warning:  the excerpt does use the word “bastard” for which Jim seeks forgiveness during the sermon rather than permission before!)