Day 32: "Open the Eyes of Our Faith"

DAY 32

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIVE: WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 2020

“Open the Eyes of Our Faith”

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who  lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

- Prayer for Wednesday in Easter Week, The Book of Common Prayer

He told of looking out the window one day and seeing them, easily a hundred strong, with rifles and spears crossing the field to their home. Yelling to his wife, he grabbed the car keys and they fled, their farm in Zimbabwe one of many confiscated by those who often killed the farmers. Now blind and in a nursing home in New Zealand, he was a member of the church I pastored and I was there to give him Communion. I asked him did he miss all his possessions left behind and his eyesight? No, he missed neither his possessions nor his eyesight because now, blind, he could see things he never saw before. As we took Communion he shared things he ‘saw’ about Jesus. His ‘eyes of faith’ had been opened, and Jesus was palpably present in the room.   

Two men walking on the road to Emmaus this very week, just a few days after the resurrection,  were discussing Jesus when, unrecognized, he joined them and continued the discussion. At supper he took bread, blest it and gave it to them. Only then were “…their eyes opened, and they recognized him…” Luke 24:13-35. Their eyes of faith were opened.

Formerly a drunk and a slave trader, Jesus changed his life, calling him to be a pastor. His eyesight failing, he wrote “Amazing Grace” in which he confessed, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” His ‘eyes of faith’ were opened when he met Jesus.  

Reflective question: Will you pray this prayer every day during the pandemic: “Open my eyes, Lord, I want to see you?”

Reflective scripture: Ephesians 1:18-19 - “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be opened in order that you may  know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”  

Reflective hymn: “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord” – Paul Baloche (1962-    )

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, open the eyes of my heart   

I want to see You, I want to see You. (Repeat)

To see You high and lifted up, shinin’ in the light of your glory

Pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy:

Holy, holy, holy; holy, holy, holy; holy, holy, holy, I want to see You.