Church Balcony Blues

The fourth Sunday in Lent is not known for its cheerfulness.  It’s still a ways from the festiveness of Resurrection Sunday. I suppose one could say that I felt appropriately blue this Sunday.  The prelude “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley” is one of my favorites, but tends to pierce me right to the core of the soul when I hear it.

I must confess that one reason for my balcony blues is that all the teams I pulled for in the NCAA semifinals lost the night before. It makes me feel guilty to confess that a ballgame can affect my mood.  “So many people are dealing with real problems,” I say, “like where their next house payment will come from, and if the chemo will work, or what will become of their prodigal child…”

I admit to a tinge of sympathy for our pastor whose Kentucky basketball affinities had been well publicized over the last few weeks.  I had a feeling he, like most of the balcony crowd and many in the expensive seats below,  had stayed up beyond a usual bedtime to cheer on his team. I was glad I did not have to face the crowd today, as he did.  But he was gracious in his loss and did not seem a bit distracted from the sermon based upon the healing of the blind man as told in the Gospel of John. I did note that he was no longer sporting a Kentucky blue shirt.

In discussing the lesson of the healing of the blind man and Jesus’ encounter with the question “who sinned…this man or his parents,” Pastor Chris touched on the issue of divine retribution.  Do misfortunes happen because of our sins?  Do blessings occur because of our faithfulness?  Do we spend more time placing blame than we do on trying to heal or fix? Are we more concerned with rules and regulations, than with doing what is right?  I thought of one of my ethics professors in seminary who reminded us, “Sometimes you just have to go against your principles and do the right thing!”

The worship service included seven youth who read the Gospel lesson, a hand bell prelude, a children’s choir dressed in cheerful Carolina blue robes, beautiful hymns, a choral anthem about grace, shared prayers, and a testimony of faith by a member who shared about a particularly difficult time when her teen aged son sustained life threatening injuries.

I had come to the balcony feeling blue, going through the motions, singing the songs, and following the liturgy.  I left not thinking so much about how I felt, but ready to open my eyes to so much more than the next basketball game.