The lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s texts are lessons for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The comments here will help you find hunger-related threads – sermon starters – among the themes of this day’s texts. (We're presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly true!

· It is entirely possible that in our times night – think physical reality and/or metaphor -- still holds this almost-visceral set of limitations, if only in the private rooms of our emotions. One of them connects perhaps to hunger ministries.

· There is likely gathering around Western societies a sense of dread – “nighttime” for hope? – about the gradual deterioration of the environment, the increasing slide of economies, the drying up of some forms of generosity and gemeindschaftsfefühl and the diminishing influence of our country among the nations of the world.

· As these forms of light-lacking reality creep into souls and societies, it is possible that the work of God cannot be done, or that it cannot be done as well. So congregations work with diminished financial resources, individuals and families draw in on themselves and their problems, leaders find it difficult to find volunteers, immigrants are denigrated and those who are poor (blind?) are blamed for their own condition.

· Where the light of hope is absent, the darknesses of “night” can also prohibit the good and godly work of eliminating hunger and injustice. People who are afraid – of nighttime or of each other – are less likely to give of themselves to fight against injustice. People who are frantically clutching around themselves the crumbling pieces of what they used to think of as “the good life” are less likely to want to enable the good life of someone else, close at hand or faraway.

· Night is not a permanent physical reality, nor need it be an abiding metaphor for the way the people of God think and behave as followers of the Christ. What dispels night is light; what robs fear of its neurobiological grip is love and hope. What compels night to skitter back into its loathsome crannies is the sweep of God’s action in history, God’s will for the world, God’s power to turn the world on its head.

· It is very possible that on this day, members of your listening congregation are approaching their lives with “night” in mind, with its effects front-and-center in terms of their daily experience. It is also possible that, in your congregation’s participation in the hunger ministries of this church, you give those same people a chance to be light, and thus to dispel night.

· It is entirely possible that, gathered together in common purpose – to bring sight to those who are blind, to shepherd gently those who are vulnerable, to insist on God’s way of thinking – members of your congregation can thwart night’s fearful grip on their lives and keep them hopeful workers for God.

· Hold this thought: ELCA World Hunger changes people, for the rest of their lives. Like the blind man who gets almost an entire chapter of John’s gospel, people around the world are, on this day, forever changed people whose witness to the power of Christ might be as strong as the uppity blind man (see following starter thoughts).

· “Not the same person” is a different result of Jesus’ ministry than “healed” or “fed” or “comforted”. In this story, a man whose life was very limited suddenly found new possibilities. Suddenly a alms-dependent beggar becomes so dangerous that he is banned from his local church. Suddenly, someone whose voice was likely plaintive and pleading is now bold and instructive. Suddenly someone who was easy to ignore is the center of deserved attention. Suddenly someone who had nothing to give is now a worshiper, a teacher, a leader-in-the-rough.

· That’s what this church’s hunger ministries make possible. When you read the stories of our joined work, you can see the obvious – people aren’t hungry anymore, kids go to school, health goes up and mortality goes down, livelihoods are made possible and justice becomes part of the workings of our governmental enterprises.

· Like blind people who now can see, women who were previously powerless in their villages are now capable of determining their own economic destinies; communities of disenfranchised “beggars” are pulled together by community organizers and forever retain their rights; orphaned children become leaders; starving people become food producers, people whose supposedly life-saving sources of water were killing them are now healthy; children attend schools and adults receive training that offers them knowledge and skills that do not disappear.

· And people in the pews of your church are forever released from the poverties of their spirit, their lack of awareness about poverty, their ignorance about the causes of injustice and their smallness of life purpose. Because of the hunger program of this church, members of your congregation are among those who are “not the same people”!

· The story of the man born blind – strange designation, hmm? – reveals to us someone whose changed life includes more than a healthy dose of courage vis-à-vis established religious norms and supposed authority figures. In a word, this poor man, this beggar man, this easy-to-ignore man suddenly becomes uppity.

· One of the delightful parts of the story is the intricate way in which this transformed beggar decimates the rhetoric and the intents of the Pharisees – supposed men-of-the-people, the liberals whose emphases on what was holy and godly made them populists, if only in their own estimation.

· “Uppity” fits the hunger work of this denomination – others, too? – in several ways. First and foremost, this church confronts systems that might keep people down (making them “beggars” or “blind”). Not just in our national and state-based advocacy work, and not just in our Pittsburgh-based Office for Corporate Social Responsibility, both forms of work which gather and focus attention on what might otherwise not be seen or be uncomfortable. Individual congregations and their members are also encouraged to confront and name what’s wrong and what’s unfair wherever they find themselves. Historically humble Lutherans – the jokes abound – stand up and speak their mind; others pay attention and listen!

· A second way to understand “uppity blind beggar” occurs wherever in the world formerly powerless people come to an understanding of their power, individually and collectively. In the world-spanning ministries of the ELCA and its partners, we do this in formal ways – education and community organizing – but also in informal ways. For example,our partners and we distribute food aid that also helps people who are poor to find their voices, find their power, gain status or influence.

· In the Johanine story, Jesus seems to be deeply appreciative of this man’s life – the writer of John is certainly impressed, given the length and specificity of this story. In the healing of this man’s eyes and/or brain, Jesus also heals this man’s self-image. The beggar becomes the proclaimer, the disabled person becomes the teacher, the asker becomes the giver.

· This same kind of work happens in hundred and thousands of stories around the world every day. Christ comes in the healing work of ELCA World Hunger, and changed people gather their courage around them to confront what is not right, what may have kept them captive earlier – “Poor people deserve what they get because they’re sinners.”

· Today we can be appreciative of the power – the uppitiness? – that this church’s hunger ministries provide, and can stand alongside people whose new voices and attitude inspire and sustain us away from own timidity or false humility.

· As in many of John’s stories, this one has some bumpy/quirky places. Right at the end of the text, Jesus comments about the situation in which sighted people might find themselves: guilty because they have seen (and presumably have not acted on what they have seen).

· The lesson here is a hard one to swallow or accept: We who know about the nature and causes of hunger and injustice may be satisfied with our knowledge or wisdom about these matters. But what of our “sighted” actions, the result of our insight? How do our actions match our knowledge? How do we stand guilty in front of God and in front of those who are “blind” and “beggars” around the world?

· When it comes to hunger-and-justice as a body of knowledge, many of us are already sighted, already filled with insight and already capable to act on that information and wisdom. What is it that holds us back, what keeps from action, what thwarts our best intentions, and what tempts us to pretend to be blind?

1. A very simple application of today’s psalm: How do the stories of hunger-related ministries, particularly relief and development, connect with Psalm 23? For example, “preparing a table in the presence of my enemies” has an almost direct correlation about the way we feed people in times of war or other conflict. Perhaps a sheep puppet and you could talk about these ideas, telling story snippets along the was as illustrations of how Psalm 23 could easily be about hunger ministries in the ELCA. See the most recent Hunger Resources Packet for stories, or go online at www.elca.org/hunger or www.elca.org/globalmission and play around in those Web sites until you find wonderful stories.

2. Although simulating “blindness” can easily become insulting to those who are not sighted, you might help children reflect on the idea of “seeing anew” with a simple exercise: Put sturdy blindfolds – dark toweling – on the children who volunteer. As you talk with them about how it feels not to be able to see, ask them if they see any people who are poor, or anyone who needs help. (Except for the truly imaginative children, the answer will probably be “no”.) While you are talking, bring into view some photos or posters that show poverty, injustice or their obverse, good and godly relief and development work.) Ask the children who are still sighted to describe what they see. Now, ask both sets of children what they want to do about what they see. (The blindfolded children’s answers should be less focused or specific than the non-blindfolded children.) Note the difference between the two sets of answers, then remove the blindfold, and ask the newly sighted children what they want to do about helping folks who are poor, now that they can see. If your congregation will be taking a hunger-directed offering during Lent, this exercise may be a good segue to that offering.

1. Night and day, dark and light – both sets of experiences are easily understood by children. Perhaps you and they talk about their feelings about both paired realities, and then help them unpack the metaphorical nature of these ideas per the text, but with hunger-related stories as the example. For example, hunger- and justice-related correlatives to “the disgusting things people do at night” might be the story of the conscription of children into rebel armies in Africa. Be sure to connect “daytime” and “light-oriented” activities with the good things that happen because of ELCA World Hunger.

1. The Gospel text invites honest conversation about confronting supposed authorities – civil or religious – about supposed norms regarding people who are poor. (Yes, this story has definite justice over- and undertones!) In what ways do participants behave similarly to the formerly blind beggar? What does it take – a “healing”, perhaps? – to move from obsequious beggarhood to insistent challenger of wrong-headed thinking about people who are poor? For whom, really, do we stand up when we speak out against what’s wrong, short-sighted, or just plain mean-spirited? (For example, substitute “illegal immigrant” for “blind beggar”.)

2. The concept of “eco-despair” has now entered the lexicon of our civilization. Its definition will be bandied about for awhile, but you probably get the basic picture: Folks who know a lot about the degradation of the environment (and those who don’t?) are beginning to lose hope. It’s a sobering reality among some leaders as well. For biblical connections on this day, consider the ideas of “night” and “dark” as they connect to hope and despair. Without getting into basic science or basic political matters, talk together about participants’ own emotions about the gradual deterioration of the environment, and what it means to them personally. A different question: What in the lexicon of faith could be helpful for people suffering from eco-despair?

3. Play with Psalm 23 as though hearing it for the first time, and as though you were members of a small congregation all of whose members were living in severe poverty. What would the psalm say to you? What would it teach you about God? About yourselves? About the course of your lives or your purposes? Don’t forget that people are NOT sheep, however.

4. Explore together the concept of “anointing” that runs throughout the 1 Samuel text. The reading may be more about Samuel than David, and more about the way God’s legacy is passed through generations than about Jesus, and so offers to Bible conversationalists the possibility of examining their own feelings about receiving and passing on the legacy of leadership/responsibility that comes from their Baptisms. What does it mean in today’s world to be “anointed” for leadership in hunger ministries? To what purposes would any participants feel anointed? Who have they anointed to follow their example, take over their work, be like them when they are gone? Why would anyone seek anointing? Why would they fear it?

2. Walk in the dark tonight, in the darkest night you can find. Stop somewhere, looking at any source of light you can find. Standing or sitting there, think to yourself about the darknesses in your soul and the ways in which even small sources of light – people, events, words – dispel what would otherwise confound, blind or diminish your witness. Thank God for this experience.

· Good exegesis of the Ezekiel text eventually leads to joyful revisiting of your earlier-in-life studies of Hebrew and Greek, yes? What IS “spirit” and what IS “wind” for the writers of Scripture? Go for it, because there’s something in the wind! Something powerful.

· Normally, bones are not helped by win. In fact, the reason why perfectly good bodies get dried up is the wind. In desert societies, the wind hastens the dying and enables the drying. The wind is not normally the friend of bodies or their framework of bones.

· The answer – you already knew this, right? – is that the very Spirit of God Almighty is in this wind. IS this wind. Instead of diminishing, deteriorating, aging, bleaching or stealing substance from bones, this wind carries the atoms of life, the chemicals of regeneration, the spark from which life-force begins.

· People who are dried-up – because of the effects of hunger or the effects of constant working against hunger – can be comforted by the motion of “wind” in their lives, the reality that their seeming death is not the whole story, that they still hold within themselves the possibility of receiving life back from God’s Spirit.

· Another possibility: The wind that comes from “every direction” (CEV) is not unlike the kind of international aid that comes to people who are poor, literally from every direction of the wind. By your participation in ELCA World Hunger, then, you become part of God’s life-breathing wind – first born at creation – that comes from everywhere to bring life to dry bones wherever they may reside.

· When it comes to matters of hunger and justice, these kinds of people can sometimes work in splendid isolation – who wants to “stay up all night and watch for possible danger”? They can also spend their most splendid moments waiting for signs of hope – morning – or signs that the danger of night has passed. They might blow bugles to signal fearsome possibilities, but they also play the sweet melodies of hope and rejoicing.

· One of the functions of these kinds of people in your congregation – you? – is that they help add safety and wisdom to the life of your members. When it’s time to “watch out”, they speak up or speak out. When it’s time for rejoicing, they are the loudest singers. Both functions are necessary, and because of the work of these people, danger is thwarted and deliverance celebrated.

· ELCA World Hunger offers the same kind of assistance for your congregation, if only to alert you to what’s not safe in the world around you. (The causes of hunger among people who are poor will eventually be the causes of great difficulty in your own locale!) Because of its many-faceted objectives – see “What We Do” as part of the URL www.elca.org/hunger -- ELCA World Hunger keeps you abreast of the specifically sinister evils that threaten the world’s economies and the people in the world who are poor. Because of its worldwide reach, ELCA World Hunger also finds the many places where watchful observers are finding causes of joyful gratitude, celebration of what God has done to deliver people from injustice.

· Today might be a good day – it’s still a joyful Lent, right? – to think about and thank the congregation’s hunger committee for their “guard duty” work, for their warnings and their invitations to joy. It might also be a good day to think about and thank people who, in their daily vocations, also work to eliminate the dangers of hunger or poverty.

· The Lazarus story suggests both kinds of mindsets. On the one hand, Mary and Martha, each serving and giving away their lives in one way or another. (Hosting the controversial rabbi from Nazareth was more than a tad risky in a society that ran on guilt and shame.) On the other hand, the Jewish leaders, real or imagined religious/political elite hiding behind the terrifying might of their Roman occupiers. On the one hand, desires close to God’s own desires – learning, giving, hosting, weeping. On the other hand, desires right out of the bilges of the human psyche – fear of powerful others, the wish to be right/righteous in one’s own eyes, power over rather than power with.

· We should make no mistake – our minds are not always our own (is “free will” really free?), which requires of us circumspect answers about difficult questions: What/who do we allow to rule our desires? Which base instincts – animal or otherwise – are easily called up when we are in stress or tempted by fear? With what layers of supposed objectivity do we hide our more destructive desires from others’ discovery?

· It is no small matter to understand this about ourselves: We can be easily manipulated by the worst in human thought, the worst inside our own minds. And it is an equally significant matter that we have options other than to yield to those baser desires. Because of Christ’s redeeming death and his example, we have another choice than to be stupid-and-selfish. Because of the Spirit’s gifts, we can learn other ways to react to the stresses of life. Because of the assurance of our bodily resurrections, we can choose to give away our lives – literally or figuratively – for the sake of others.

1. If you can, find a skeleton (or facsimile) and talk with children regarding their ideas about “dry bones”. (Good sources: High school or grade school science classrooms.) Why would bones be dry? What good are dry bones? What can dry bones do? What can’t they do? Why not? What would it take for the bones to come back to life? (This will be stumper, justifiably so.) After this brief discussion, tell children about the prophecy of Ezekiel, and what it means about God’s ability to bring life to what seems really, really dead.

2. A good comparison from hunger ministries: A photo of a well that’s installed in a completely dry area of the world. The unlikelihood of life coming to this setting is similar to the situation with dry bones. Here, though, the “wind of God” is the spirit of generosity – in people like these children – that compels and makes possible the miracle of a well (or any other life-giving relief and development project).

3. “Interview” a faux “Jewish leader” to get his/her viewpoint about why this Jesus guy is really, really dangerous. (The leader is NOT jealous or a bad person completely, just trying to keep order in a country ruled by someone else.) Among the questions: Why is it dangerous for people to be paying attention to Jesus and his teachings? Finally, the question, “What do you think needs to be done?” gets answered by the maxim that it’s better for one man to die than for the whole country to suffer. After the interview is over, wrap up the presentation with words about Jesus’ shaking up the present state of affairs in his world, and how the hunger ministries of this church body might do the same. (For reference, see the ELCA Web site or current news briefs to see ways and places where the ELCA challenges the presumptions of contemporary society or current affairs.)

1. The “wind of God” is more than a euphemism for adults who understand “the winds of change” to be as real as status quo. After reading the Ezekiel text to participants who listen with their eyes closed – as though imagining themselves as observers of Ezekiel’s narrative – ask participants about the winds of change – social change – that seem to be blowing in today’s world. Think how God brings life back to tired and seemingly-dead congregations, to people without hope, to countries ravaged by war. Think about entertainers, sports figures, politicians and leaders who become God’s agents for change, God’s life-giving Spirit. What kind of “winds” are coming together at this moment to affect God’s will for justice in the world? How are the people of this congregation part of God’s life-giving wind?

2. Talk together about the concept of “ruled minds” (above), especially in the matter of the visible and invisible forces that shape opinion, compel action, prevent change or corral people into identities that prohibit them from doing what’s right. What does it take to recognize the forces that shape our identities away from carrying out God’s justice? How can we step aside from society’s influences? How can we be shapers of opinions and actions that match God’s “mind”? What might be the consequences of our running against the grain of contemporary society?

3. With some advanced preparation or research, get participants to talk about Lazarus’ position as change agent, as wind-bringer. (Check for legends about what the further life of the resuscitated Lazarus added to the witness of Jesus, or the likely state of mind in which he found himself.) What does it mean to be that kind of person today, especially when it comes to challenging the social order that keeps people oppressed or hungry? (The analogy isn’t all that hard – some possible prophets are locked in isolation away from society, safely buried away from the sight and sound of others. Jesus’ healing releases them from death and from ineffectual lives.) Think together about people who have suddenly found themselves alive again, given a new chance to save the world or do something important for others. Perhaps those people live in this congregation.

1. Go to the ELCA Hunger Web site – www.elca.org/hunger -- and click around until you find a link to the listing of hunger staff. (You might do the same with global mission personnel, using the annual missionary listing.) Select a prayer topic focused on one or more of these people and include them in your formal and personal prayers for a week. If you wish, inform them of your prayers. They will be life-giving!

2. If you have a skeleton around your home – Halloween leftover? – put some clothes on it, give it a name tag and hang it somewhere you can see it often. The lesson? With clothes on, the skeleton is able to get God’s work done. Just like you.

Use the same skeleton as a changing sculpture: On PostIt Notes or colorful card stock or light-colored wrapping paper, write short phrases about the lively ways in which your congregation brings hope and energy to people who are poor, hungry, oppressed or otherwise prohibited from fulfilling God’s potential in their lives. Attach the notes to the skeleton until it has been completely covered by these colorful, hopeful symbols of God’s action among people who are poor. Place the skeleton sculpture where it can be seen and read. Give it a name.