4 Lenten Meditation

Lenten Reflection Week 4: Loneliness and Solitude
April 3, 2011
The Rev. J.W. Messer

Loneliness and Solitude. Not two words that we, as a society, lift up and praise, but are very important in our faith journey.  Loneliness can be the longing feeling for another in a state of separation. Solitude is when one is placed in a state of separation.  It’s hard not to relate to these feelings at least once in our lives, and it is one way we can connect with the man who had been born blind in today’s Gospel reading.

For me when I am in moments of deep loneliness, such  as when I am grieving the loss of a loved one at a funeral or when I find myself by myself standing on a mountain top in prayer and in solitude, it’s hard for me not to connect with a song that seems to transcend both these moments. When I read today’s Gospel and read these words from the blind man:  “I was blind, now I see.”, it was  pretty hard not to hear the same song “ Amazing Grace” in my head.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,   
that saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind, but now, I see.

How can grace transcend the pain I was going through at this funeral, or the stillness I was in on the mountain? How can God’s amazing grace transform me from lost to found and blind to seeing? How can we explain this state of mind and feeling when it truly overwhelms us? It is in the same way that we do not know that we are a wretch, lost, or blind until we are touched by grace and realize we are saved, are found, and can now see clearly. Grace is an awe inspiring gift that is hard to explain. Yet in the last three Sunday’s Gospel readings, three different people in different states of being got a new insight of what grace is.

                People like Nicodemus (John 3), the Samaritan Woman at the well (John 4), and the man born blind (John 9) are each examples of inadequate discipleship. It is only once they come to faith that they then want to come to a deeper understanding of God’s grace.  It is trying to understand a new feeling when you are limited in your experience and in vocabulary or experience--It’s like trying to explain the ocean to someone who has never seen it.

                The man born blind was alone in his darkness, and when he was given his sight by Jesus, he still found himself alone. When he was asked by the Pharisees how the miracle happened, he knew the physical act that took place but it was harder to explain what actually happened.  The same applies for us; there are times that unless another person has been in the same boat as us, it’s hard to explain what we are feeling or going through. And each situation and person’s perspective is different. The thing is, when we are before God in our weakened state we are alone in that no matter how much someone loves us or is supporting us; it is always between God and us.  And how we experience grace is a unique experience to each person.  Sometime our moments of experience do come when we are alone, in either our solitude or our loneliness, but it is in those times when we are offered the chance to see when we once before were blind.