The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."    When they came, he looked on Eli'ab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him."   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 sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."    And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."    And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here."   And he sent, and brought him in.  Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he."   Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.

Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 23:
 

R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 
 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
 He leads me beside still waters;
 he restores my soul.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 He leads me in the paths of righteousness
 For his name's sake.
 Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death
 I fear no evil; for thou art with me
 Thy rod and thy staff
 They comfort me.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 Thou preparest a table before me
 In the presence of mine enemies;
 Thou anointest my head with oil;
 My cup overflows.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
 All the days of my life;
 And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
 For ever.

 R. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Today's Epistle is from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, beginning at the 5th Chapter, and the 8th Verse (Eph 5:8-14):

        For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light  (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.   For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret;  but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.   Therefore it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
 

+ A Reading from the Gospel of John, beginning at the 9th Chapter, and the 1st Verse (John 9:1-41):

        As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.  And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"    Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.   We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

        As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.   The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"    Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man."   They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"   He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Silo'am and wash'; so 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 clay and opened his eyes.   The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."   Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them.    So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" 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 how he now sees we do not know, 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 feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to 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 said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner."   He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I 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 too want to become his disciples?"   And 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, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.  Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind.   If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

        They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.   Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"    He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"   Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you."    He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.    Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."   Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?"   Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.
 

        There is a common theme running through today's readings, although I had to think long and hard before I figured it out.  Sometimes writing sermons is easy -- everything falls in place, the keyboard cooperates, and away I go.  This Sunday was not like that -- I looked at the readings most of yesterday and today, before it clicked.

        The common thread is:  "God calls us out of darkness."

        In the First reading, The Lord chooses David to be King over Israel -- after giving my favorite prophet a bad time because he still likes Saul:  "How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel?"  I can feel for that prophet -- I sometimes get something into my head, and it takes a powerful lot of shaking to get it out.

        The prophet gets the message -- that's what his name means after all -- "God talks to him" -- and goes to Bethlehem, and :  "...took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward."  He acted as the Lord's hand in calling out the greatest King Israel ever had.

        The Song of Praise is the Psalmist's reaction to the call:   "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."  Along with the thrill of being summoned by the Lord God of Hosts, is the feeling of safety at being shepherded by the Almighty:  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

        St. Paul tells about how we have been called out of the darkness of our sinful, selfish lives, into the light of Salvation.  He exhorts us to do our best to be of and with that light.

        In today's Gospel, Jesus very literally brings light to the man born blind.  The Pharisees want to give him a bad time about healing on the Sabbath, and reject the cured blind man as a sinner, but the man comes to Jesus, and sees the metaphorical light, as well as the physical light his newly healed eyes perceive.

        Let us pray that we, too, will see that light -- in our consciences, as we go through Lent enroute to Easter -- and in the hereafter.

        In the Name of the Father +
        And of the Son +
        And of the Holy Spirit +
Amen.