Thoughts on Blindness and Vision.

"Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away; they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the op'ning day."

-Our God, Our Help in Ages Past, hymn

This morning, while waiting to meet a friend for church, I glimpsed a blind man walking with a group of people into the sanctuary. He was around my age, and looked as if blindness was something he had recently come to terms with-- his walk was uncertain, and his walking cane tapped cautiously in front of him. I did not have any particular reaction to this man; I felt neither pity nor happiness for him-- my observation of him was merely that; an observation.

Then the service; the Scripture from the book of Numbers, chapter six, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you..." and the pastor's observation that looking into someone's face is an intimate, relational experience (and the reason why so many New Yorkers stare into their laps on the subway). Adam and Eve's decision in the Garden of Eden broke this intimate, relational covenant; we have lost God's face.

We live in darkness. We remember a dim view of that face, and like the North Star that guides us but can never be reached, we follow that Face. Then Jesus Christ, who himself lost sight of God's face on the cross, made a way for us to never lose sight of God's face again. The image will never grow dim. It will never fade away. The darkness will be no more.


The service closed. The congregation-- myself and the blind man and many other New Yorkers-- stood to sing the ancient Irish poem:

"Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me save that thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light."