Restoration and Healing Through Faith in Christ

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
- **Job 42:1-6, 10-17**: Job's response to God and his restoration.
- **Mark 10:46-52**: The healing of Bartimaeus.

#### Observation Questions
1. In the story of Job, what was the turning point that led to his restoration? How did Job respond to God before his fortunes were restored? [22:46]
2. What actions did Bartimaeus take when he heard Jesus was passing by, and how did the crowd react to him? [23:55]
3. How did Jesus respond to Bartimaeus' cries for mercy, and what was the result of their interaction? [26:59]
4. What does the sermon suggest about the nature of healing and restoration, both in Job's story and in the encounter with Bartimaeus? [44:17]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does Job's story illustrate the concept of restoration beyond material wealth? What does it teach about the process of healing and acknowledging past suffering? [29:24]
2. In what ways does Bartimaeus' story challenge us to consider our own desires and relationship with Jesus? How does this relate to seeking deeper satisfaction and joy? [39:35]
3. The sermon mentions the importance of seeing the world through Jesus' eyes. What does this mean in the context of recognizing and responding to the needs around us? [30:58]
4. How does the sermon define the realm of God, and what role do we play in creating it here and now? [30:58]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you experienced a form of restoration in your life. How did acknowledging past pain play a role in your healing process? [29:24]
2. Bartimaeus was persistent in calling out to Jesus despite being shushed by the crowd. Are there areas in your life where you need to be more persistent in seeking Jesus' help? [23:55]
3. What are some things in your life that might be keeping you in darkness, and how can you begin to let go of them to embrace Jesus' light? [10:50]
4. How can you actively participate in bringing joy and justice to your community, as the sermon suggests we are called to do? [30:58]
5. Consider the concept of seeing with Jesus' eyes. What practical steps can you take this week to better recognize and respond to the needs of those around you? [39:35]
6. The sermon emphasizes the transformative power of faith. How has your faith led to changes in your life, and what areas do you feel called to transform further? [41:52]
7. Reflect on the idea that healing involves a restoration of spirit and identity. How can you support others in their healing journey, recognizing them as whole persons beyond their struggles? [44:17]

Day 1: Restoration Through Acknowledgment and Hope
The journey of restoration is not merely about regaining what was lost but involves a profound transformation that acknowledges past suffering and embraces hope in God's presence. Job's story is a testament to this truth, illustrating that true healing requires tending to our wounds and allowing God's grace to work through us. Job's experience teaches us about the depth of human suffering and the hope that can be found in God's presence, even when full restoration is not yet realized. This journey is not about erasing the scars of the past but about integrating them into a new narrative of hope and renewal. [29:24]

Job 42:10-12 (ESV): "And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning."

Reflection: Think of a past hurt or loss in your life. How can you invite God's presence into that space to begin a journey of restoration and hope today?


Day 2: Seeing Beyond Immediate Desires
Bartimaeus' encounter with Jesus challenges us to look beyond our immediate desires and seek a deeper relationship with God. This story invites us to consider what we truly desire from Jesus and to seek a deeper, more profound satisfaction and joy that goes beyond our immediate needs. Bartimaeus, despite being shushed by the crowd, called out to Jesus for mercy, demonstrating a faith that transcends the physical and reaches into the spiritual. We are called to see the world through Jesus' eyes, recognizing the needs around us and responding with compassion and love. [39:35]

Mark 10:51-52 (ESV): "And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.' And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.' And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way."

Reflection: What is one immediate desire you have that might be overshadowing a deeper spiritual need? How can you seek a deeper relationship with God today?


Day 3: The Transformative Power of Faith
Jesus' interaction with Bartimaeus highlights the importance of faith and the transformative power of being called by God. Our faith can lead to profound changes in our lives, and we are invited to follow Jesus on a journey of healing and restoration. Bartimaeus' faith was not just about physical healing but about entering into a deeper relationship with Jesus, one that transformed his entire life. This story encourages us to embrace the power of faith and to be open to the transformative call of God in our lives. [41:52]

Hebrews 11:1-2 (ESV): "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when your faith led to a significant change in your life. How can you nurture that faith today to continue on a path of transformation?


Day 4: Creating the Realm of God Here and Now
As disciples, we are tasked with creating the realm of God here and now. This involves recognizing the needs in our world and being active participants in bringing about justice, healing, and transformation. The sermon reminds us that the realm of God is not a distant future but something we are called to create in the present. We are invited to see the world through Jesus' eyes, to recognize the needs around us, and to be vessels of God's grace and strength. This mission of transformation is both personal and communal, calling us to be agents of change in our communities and beyond. [30:58]

Isaiah 58:6-7 (ESV): "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?"

Reflection: What is one specific way you can contribute to creating the realm of God in your community today? How can you be an agent of justice and healing?


Day 5: The Depth of Healing
Healing is not just about curing physical ailments but involves a restoration of our spirit and identity. We are reminded to see the whole person and to offer God's love and grace to those around us, recognizing that healing is a journey that requires ongoing care and support. The sermon emphasizes that true healing involves tending to our wounds and allowing God's grace to work through us. This journey of healing is both personal and communal, inviting us to be part of God's work in bringing joy and justice to the world. [44:17]

Jeremiah 30:17 (ESV): "For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!'"

Reflection: Who in your life is in need of healing today? How can you offer them God's love and support in their journey of restoration?

1) "In the midst of darkness, there is light. In the midst of blindness, we will be given sight. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, brings healing love to us. Let the light of Jesus' love break through our blindness and fill our world with glory." [10:17] (20 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Everything that was lost is returned and increased. So, how could we not rejoice at this turn of events for Job? Well, the problem is, if we just slap on a happy ending, we kind of undo a lot of all the good work that has been done in studying Job. It could be seen as a denial of the depth of human suffering." [29:24] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Whenever we gather, whenever we worship, we're worshiping in sort of this striving for balance of this sort of tension between we're so happy to be in the presence of God, and happy to have Jesus in our lives, and happy to experience grace and love, and yet we see the trials and tribulations of our community and our world." [30:58] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "The realm of God is not some far -off thing in the clouds. It's something we're called upon to make right now and right here. When Job's eyes at the end of this whole trial and tribulation story were open to the totality of God, if you go back and read it, you see that God says, you know, who made all this? Who made the universe? Where'd this all come from?" [32:42] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "The restoration of Job doesn't and didn't just sweep away what had happened. The children born in the latter days don't erase the memory of the ones who were lost before. Anyone who has lost a child, an infant, a miscarriage, whatever happened, and they have more children later, that doesn't mean the memory of the one who was lost is gone." [35:19] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "That's what it means to be like Christ. To suffer the abandonment of the cross. Christ said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was feeling that abandonment at that moment. The moment of death. The sting of death. The wounds of suffering. And at the same time looking forward to an embracing resurrection and life and hope and restoration and grace." [35:54] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "What do we have weighing us down that we probably need to cast off to rise up and get closer to Jesus? Talked a little about that last time. The rich guy and what holds us. What is it that we can't let go of? What do we need to cast off?" [40:16] (15 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "He followed Jesus along the road. Talk about reconciliation. He was called before he was healed. And he was called again after he was healed. And he followed. And don't forget what's next on the road. Remember I told you, this was the last stop before Holy Week. This was going to Jerusalem to face all of that tribulation." [41:52] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Healing has more of a restoration of your own self and spirit and who you are and what you're going to do. And cure, that gets rid of symptoms. Things like that. I thought it was a profound article. I'm going to read it some more." [44:17] (20 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Thank you. Good morning and welcome. Welcome to Bethel. We're glad you're here. Whether you're visiting us online or whether you're here in person, we're really happy to see you here. And we hope you're happy to see us.

So, we're going to begin today with our call to worship on this, what is it, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

Let us begin.

In the midst of darkness, there is light.
In the midst of blindness, we will be given sight.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, brings healing love to us.
Let the light of Jesus' love break through our blindness and fill our world with glory.
Tear away the bonds that trap us in darkness, Lord.
Wipe away all our fears so that we may boldly proclaim your love.
Give us courage to stand for truth and justice.
Give us wisdom to reach out in compassion to others.
Transform our lives. Reform our souls.
Bring us a new day in your kingdom, O Lord.
Bring us a new way of serving you. With great joy, O Lord.

Let's begin by, again, by opening, reading our opening prayer together.

Let us pray.

Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see Jesus as he reaches out to heal our blindness. Help us to let go of all those things that keep us in darkness. This day, as your word is proclaimed, let our hearts and souls respond with joy. Transform our lives to do your work. Grant us the vision to be a part of your work that will bring ever more joy and justice to the world. Continue to gather us, the diverse lot of us, into Jesus' vision and dream that your faithful people may be one in you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you. Our first hymn today is "Open My Eyes That I May See." One of those old-time hymns. Really pretty hymns. So let's sing together.

Open my heart, illumine me, spirit divine.
Open my heart, illumine me, spirit divine.

November 23rd, Wind Ensemble, December 8th, Messiah. December 11th, which is a Wednesday, there's probably going to be a very small concert with our small new symphony group. And that'll probably be more like around 5 or 5:30, that particular event, because that's their usual class time. So maybe we'll put it at 6 so they get a little warm-up before their concert. They'll have some Christmas music. Yay! Yay!

So, and then next week, which is Communion Sunday for us, it is also going to be our special offering Sunday for Neighbors in Need. Neighbors in Need is one of those major UCC special offerings. This year, the Neighbors in Need, in addition to focusing on the Native American ministries, which is part of that every year, is also focusing on mental health.

Now, I have a poster. I confess, I did not color this. Sandy colored this. And there are some other colored ones that some of our folks have turned into us down on the offering table. And there are some blank ones. If you want to take one home or color it during after church time or something, they're in the parlor on the mission table, Sandy? Yeah. On the mission table. So there's all kinds of cool things. You can take one and color it. Or you can take two and color them. We plan to somehow put them all up next Sunday for our special offering focus. I don't know. We may put them on the wall over there or something. But we will enjoy our artistic efforts.

All right. So next up, we have a video. Now, I do have a little caveat to this video. The title of the video is "Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind." So it's about Jesus healing a blind person. Later on today, we will have a reading from our Gospel of Mark about him healing a blind person. These are two different blind people. This one is a different one from the one in the Gospel story today. But there wasn't a video for that one. So this is still about healing someone who was afflicted with blindness.

So let's watch our video.

All right, that's a good story.

All right, let's sing our Gloria now together, and then we will hear our scriptures. Amen.

Our first reading is from the book of Job, the 42nd chapter. We're going to hear the first six verses and then verses 10. We're going to read verses 10 through 17.

Job answered the Lord, "I know you can do anything. No plan of yours can be opposed successfully. You said, 'Who is this darkening counsel without knowledge?' I have indeed spoken about things I didn't understand, wonders beyond my comprehension. You said, 'Listen and I will speak. I will question you, and you will inform me.' My ears had heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I relent and find comfort in dust and ashes."

Then the Lord changed Job's future fortune when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord doubled all Job's earlier possessions. All his brothers, sisters, and acquaintances came to him and ate food with him in his house. They comforted and consulted concerning all the disaster the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him a kessetot and a gold ring.

The Lord blessed Job's latter days more than his former ones. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named one Jemima, a second Kezia, and the third Kerenhapuch. No women in all the land were as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father gave an inheritance to them along with their brothers.

After this, Job lived 140 years and saw four generations of his children. Then Job died, old and satisfied.

Our Gospel reading today is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 46 through 52.

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me."

Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me."

Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart. Get up. He is calling you."

So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."

Jesus said to him, "Go. Your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

May we hear and understand what the Gospel and the Scriptures are teaching us today.

Who likes happy endings? You like happy endings? I used to have this funny little thing I would sing when you have these television shows. You know, sometimes they're cartoons, sometimes they're real shows. And if they're real shows that are dramas, but they're going to have a nice reconciliation at the end, if you really watch carefully, you'll usually see that there are three points of crisis in the show. Always three. Three points where something happens, then a bigger something, then a big giant trauma, and then finally everything works out. It's usually. Watch it. Next time you watch one of those shows. And then there's a good ending. So I used to sing to myself, "happy ending, happy ending." We like a happy ending, happy ending.

So, anyway, we like happy endings. Now, we have not, in this last month, been doing all the Job readings. Because, quite honestly, they're kind of depressing. Job goes through all these trials and tribulations. It always bothered me, the story, like the devil and God talking about this. And God says, well, I'll bet if you try it out on Job that he's not going to fail me. He's going to keep his faith. He goes, okay, I'm going to give it my best. So, you know, the devil keeps testing Job. And bad things keep happening. All kinds of horrible things.

So, if we had been reading that and gotten that far, we would be commended. I'm just reminding you, because a couple years ago I did a whole series on Job. And I didn't feel like doing that this year. But I am going to bring him up this year, this week. So, anyone who made it this far through Job deserves the happy ending.

And there is a happy ending for Job. As we just saw. It's true. Right? Everything gets fixed and he gets even richer and happier at the end. At last, we think, after all the struggle and all the pain and everything, everybody's smiling and all's well that ends well. And it's not just a happy ending. It's a full restoration and more. Everything that was lost is returned and increased.

So, how could we not rejoice at this turn of events for Job? Well, the problem is, if we just slap on a happy ending, we kind of undo a lot of all the good work that has been done in studying Job. It could be seen as a denial of the depth of human suffering. And of course, we pray for resolution, we pray for restoration, for healing, right? We pray for all those things, for happy endings. Or at least one, at least an ending that helps us to learn and know that in spite of suffering, we can hold on to hope and that there is some godly presence with us.

But there are those among us, or in our neighborhood, in our country, who might not have, or at least not yet have, the experience of total restoration. We continue to stand in solidarity with all those who are hurting, even those who have come through a time of trial, bear the scars, and they should not be just dismissed as happily ever after, or after an ending.

So, we sing the praises of God who answers prayers, even while we continue to call upon the Spirit to bring justice and to bring an end to hate. And it's part of our job to actually see where those things are needed, to see where justice is needed.

Whenever we gather, whenever we worship, we're worshiping in sort of this striving for balance of this sort of tension between we're so happy to be in the presence of God, and happy to have Jesus in our lives, and happy to experience grace and love, and yet we see the trials and tribulations of our community and our world.

So it is all sort of a reminder that we're all pilgrims, we're all, we're disciples, and we're trying to make more disciples for the transformation, the ongoing transformation, the repair, the creation of the world, as we just learned about in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We embrace that mission with hope and a glimpse of the realm of God. We're called to embrace that and create it right here and right now.

The realm of God is not some far-off thing in the clouds. It's something we're called upon to make right now and right here. When Job's eyes at the end of this whole trial and tribulation story were open to the totality of God, if you go back and read it, you see that God says, you know, who made all this? Who made the universe? Where'd this all come from? And he kind of goes, oh, wow, you know, yeah, you're right. He was open, he was humbled by all of that.

We might even be humbled by the immensity of the need in our world, and yet lifted by the power of the God we worship. The Spirit works with us, the Spirit works through us, and it's our job to offer ourselves as servants, as vessels of that grace and that strength from God and the Spirit.

So the beginning of happy ending is this. There's a sign of restoration of relationship that comes before the restoration of fortune and family, a restoration of the bond that was tested but not broken, and that now needs tending in order to heal, in order to lead us to this further restoration, this happy ending.

An illustration. When you injure something, when you injure something, like maybe you sprain your ankle, or you pull a tendon or a ligament somewhere, it starts to heal. You start to have things that can make it fixed. Maybe you have to have some sort of surgery or some sort of cast to have it set, and it's starting to be restored. But it still needs tending. You have to take care of it. Put ice on it. Keep it compressed. Maybe elevate it. All those sorts of things. You have to take care of whatever that injury is to move it towards full restoration.

When people are injured and hurt, maybe they start coming to God. Maybe they start coming to church. Maybe they start on their journey. But those injuries are still there, are still healing. So it's our job, if we're the one who's injured, to tend to that injury and keep seeking God's healing and God's inspiration and God's faith. It's our job as disciples and servants to help with that.

The restoration of Job doesn't and didn't just sweep away what had happened. The children born in the latter days don't erase the memory of the ones who were lost before. Anyone who has lost a child, an infant, a miscarriage, whatever happened, and they have more children later, that doesn't mean the memory of the one who was lost is gone. They're still there. Still informing our love for our continuing family.

Job died old and full of days, that's true. What were they full of? He had days that were full. What were they? Memories. Tears. Some lingering effects of everything he suffered. Some joys at being restored. That's kind of how it works in the world where we live.

What happened to Job and what sometimes happens to us is that our eyes are opened. We see the world as it is and we even glimpse the realm of God. We see deeper. We see those who have suffered or are suffering. We might see something others haven't yet seen. And all of that seeing makes us humble. It could, of course, make us bitter, withdrawn, angry. But humble is a whole lot better. It allows for joy and restoration even while in tune with the world's pain.

That's what it means to be like Christ. To suffer the abandonment of the cross. Christ said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was feeling that abandonment at that moment. The moment of death. The sting of death. The wounds of suffering. And at the same time looking forward to an embracing resurrection and life and hope and restoration and grace.

Job says, "Now my eyes have seen." Nothing will ever be the same.

So as we consider that seeing, restoration of sight, Job's eyes being opened to the immensity and enormity of God, we come to the Gospel reading.

For Jesus, this particular stop on his way through Jericho. This is the last stop before Holy Week. Even though we are in October right now. But we're still hearing the story. He had made his way from the far north. He spoke ominously at Caesarea Philippi about being handed over and suffering all the way down the Jordan Valley River and south to Jericho.

At Jericho, you hang a right and you wind your way up a steep hill to get to Jerusalem. Jericho. You might not know a lot about it. It's kind of a big, rich, beautiful oasis in the middle of a barren desert. It's not surprising that lots of prehistoric people settled there. It's making it the oldest known occupied city in the world, around 10,000 years old. It was the first stop of the Israelites upon entering the Promised Land. And King Herod had spied the springs and the lush vegetation and the fruits and decided to build his own personal resort.

Herod's at Jericho. No, I don't think it was a casino. Zacchaeus legally ripped people off while accumulating a small fortune. He climbed up the sycamore tree, got Jesus over for dinner, and then gave his fortune away.

Now, there's this blind man called Bartimaeus. By the way, that name, Bartimaeus, it's not really a name. What it means is son of Timaeus. Just put that in your little trivia box to know that. So he had a dad named Timaeus, but we're really not sure of his own given name.

He's begging by the side of the road leading out of town. Beggars of that time typically got pitied or maybe blamed. Or shunned. Or ignored. Kind of like now. Often they were blamed for their own disability, whatever that might have been. And he is sitting there calling out to Jesus.

Well, Jesus doesn't pity him and toss him a few shekels. And the disciples, they try to shush him. "Shh. Leave him alone. Don't bother us." But Jesus, Jesus listens. Sees. Cares.

Notice some details if you were to read that passage slowly. To the people shushing Bartimaeus, he says, "Call him." He doesn't say help him. He says call. Jesus is all about calling people. He'd even called the shushers. And they had followed him.

Jesus dreams for Timaeus' son. Our way beyond giving money or food or even the recovery of sight. They call him by saying "Take heart." Take heart can also be translated as cheer up. They're not saying you're about to see. They didn't say that. They said cheer up. Take heart. He is calling you.

You want the cause to be happy? Jesus calls you. That apparently is sufficient. Bartimaeus threw off his cloak. It's symbolic of casting off things that weigh us down. What do we have weighing us down that we probably need to cast off to rise up and get closer to Jesus?

Talked a little about that last time. The rich guy and what holds us. What is it that we can't let go of? What do we need to cast off?

Then we hear Jesus question him. "What do you want me to do for you?" Well duh, isn't it obvious? He wants to see. To have his eyes opened. But maybe Jesus is asking him and us to go deep. Not merely to think about what wish or what hankering or what desire we wish Jesus would grant. But rather, is there something deeper I really want, really need, that would genuinely bring profound and lasting satisfaction and joy?

Jesus gets insight. A staggering moment. If you lost your sight, you'd be tickled to get it back. If you'd never seen him, back in Mark 8, we heard the story that we saw the cartoon about today. Jesus healed such a blind man. His first words when he was healed, he said, "I see people, they look like trees walking around." It's kind of fun.

What was the first thing Bartimaeus saw? Well certainly it was the face of Jesus, who hadn't simply shushed him or dropped a few coins in his cloak. What does this last healed person in Mark's story do once he's healed? He didn't go home. He didn't throw a party. He didn't run out and get a job. None of those things.

He followed Jesus along the road. Talk about reconciliation. He was called before he was healed. And he was called again after he was healed. And he followed.

And don't forget what's next on the road. Remember I told you, this was the last stop before Holy Week. This was going to Jerusalem to face all of that tribulation. He traipsed off with Jesus and the crowd into Jerusalem and Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Within his first week of seeing, Bartimaeus saw Jesus crucified. The one who'd loved, healed, and called him. That's pretty heavy.

And we're called to go with it.

So, let's open our eyes. I saw an article a couple days ago. I ended up just sharing the article, because it could have been its whole sermon if I'd based something on it. It was written by a minister, a clergy person, who is disabled, with cerebral palsy. And he talks about how sometimes people will not notice anything about him. Other times they'll notice that he walks a little strangely, that he speaks more slowly, has more difficulty.

And often people will say, "Can I pray with you?" And sometimes you'll ask them, "Okay, for what?" Well, for your healing. And he's like, "What do I need to be healed of?" His point is, he's a real person. He is following Jesus. He is ministering. He is functioning. How often do we not see the real person and only see whatever that person's disability is?

That's just, it was kind of food for thought. It was a much longer article than that. But his point was, you know, sometimes healing and cure are different things. Healing has more of a restoration of your own self and spirit and who you are and what you're going to do. And cure, that gets rid of symptoms. Things like that. I thought it was a profound article. I'm going to read it some more. And I've shared it on my personal page, my pastor page and the Bethel page. I probably disabled comments. That's been my usual thing lately. I make it so that only people I mention or comment on can comment. Mostly because I just simply want to show the information and I don't want to get into a whole league and have people fight about what I'm saying.

So if you want to share a comment, do it on your own. But I found it really kind of inspiring and kind of a reminder for us to remember to see the whole person, not just their disability. We want to see the profound love of Jesus and open our own eyes to follow Jesus' call and open our eyes to see who Jesus sees.

To see with Jesus' eyes. So we're called to open our eyes and open our eyes. We're called to do the work of healing and to share the awesome love of God. Amen.

Let us now join together in our time of prayer. This is our prayer for transformation and new life. There's multiple slides for this.

Let us begin.

Liberating God, create us anew this day. Break us free from all the ways this world enslaves and ensnares your people. When we pose as greater and mightier than we are, help us to be humble and of service in your name. May our hearts be infused with your compassion. May our works be filled with your generosity. May our lives be testaments of that new life in freedom, in love, in the new or possible. Transform us by your Spirit. Each day, to be the part of you the world needs from us. Reclaim us as the people you have created us to be. And lead us back to the path of discipleship you have called us to walk. We trust in your mercy and grace to make room and empower us to make it so. Amen.

May we turn and see the light of God's love. It is lavished upon us. We are healed and made whole in God's love. Be at peace and rejoice.

We now have our time of sharing our concerns, our prayer requests. So I'm going to sit while we do that. And I don't think we have any on that. No.

One thing I would like to have us keep in mind is that Brin is due, when's the Caesarian, Sandy? Tuesday. Tuesday. So new baby from Brin and Dylan will be coming on Tuesday via Caesarian. So we're looking forward to that. We're planning to have some sort of a church shower after that. We'll keep you informed. Her name is Brandy. So we'll have Brandy and Rowan, right? Right. Brandy and Rowan. So those will be our writers.

If okay. So in case you couldn't hear, if you want a link to their registration, just get in touch with Sandy and she'll give that to you and they're going to have a shower about a month, not that far she's from.

Okay. Let's see. Joy for the Relay for Life and the Kamashers. Let's hear from you then.

You bet. William. Okay. Well, God knows what it was. God knows what it was, so we all pray for William's request.

All right. Let's see. What else have we got? I think we should invite Michael Pearson to read for us every Sunday. Michael, Sandy says she thinks we should invite you to come read for us every week.

Christy. I have a question that my God will give us back out of the grave. Prayers for Christy's healing, for her to go into treatment and the restoration of her relationship with her mother. So we hold Christy and her family in prayer.

William hopes that whenever anyone in the church dies that they go to heaven. I think that's a great prayer.

All right, let's take some time now in silence and we'll bring our own joys and concerns, our personal things before God and then we'll conclude our prayer time with the Lord's Prayer. So a few moments of silent prayer now.

Let us pray together.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

As we come to our offering time, I thank you for being here and all of you who continue to support our ministries. I thank you and encourage you to keep doing that. If you're here in person and want to give your offering in that way, our offering plate is down here in the front little wooden dish and the bandana bucket is for spare change for our mission offerings.

And if you want to give online, the website is BethelUCCOntario.org. You can easily use Zelle. Our email Zelle address is info at BethelUCCOntario.org. So please help us by supporting our ministries and let's hear a little bit of music as we consider our offerings.

Let's join together in our prayer of dedication and thanksgiving.

Let us pray.

Mighty God, as you restore sight to the blind and healing to the afflicted, use these offerings to provide refuge for the lost and mercy for those who suffer. May our gifts find those who cry out in need and who seek you with receptive hearts. Amen.

Our last song today is a new one. This is called "With the Lord as My Guide," and it's about kind of opening our eyes, seeing to follow Jesus, seeing the talents that we have and how we will use them. And I thought it was just a great song. I was surprised I hadn't found it before, but I found it for this week. So we're going to try this, a new song. It's not real tough. Maybe some of you saw the video of it and tried it ahead of time, but let's give this a shot.

Well, we have to do that again when I have more high notes left, but anyway, we love the words for that and we will have the Lord as our guide.

Let's now join together in our unison benediction as we bless one another as we go our way.

Darkness has gone away. Light has vanished. Sight has been restored. Our lives are reformed in Christ's love. Go now in peace to serve with great joy. Bring the love of God with you so that the light which has brightened your life may shine for others.

We go now to serve in God's love. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.