We are All Deaf and Blind

I have been preparing my sermon for Wednesday on Doubting Thomas. A favourite guy of mine because he had the nerve to actually question the reality of the risen Christ from the grave.

And while working on this sermon I reflected on what he had going for him - he was part of a small group, he liked to ask questions (Lord, we don't know where you are going), he would follow Jesus to death (Let us go and die with him). Do you notice to that the talks about himself in terms of community - we and us. He was ripe for faith and yet when the other disciples kept telling him about Christ arisen he refused or couldn't believe.

With the thoughts of the nursing home crowd in my mind I was thinking what I didn't have going for me - some are blind, some are deaf, some are not really cognitive. But you know, that is all of us. None of us "found" Christ - we are unable to find him on our own. We are blind and deaf and with defective reasoning. Instead of thinking that the nursing home is the hardest place to preach it is the most honest place to preach. It is the place where nothing I say or do will convince anyone of anything. My actions, my willingness to come points to something - but I have no power that is not given to me except by God. So really, my best preaching will be there because I can't rely on the cheap jokes and passionate response to emotional words.

Somewhere is the dividing line between preaching technique and faith - trying to spend enough time on both is what is needed.