A week ago today, I was serving as the worship leader for Scottdale Mennonite Church. A few words into the prayer before the offering I realized I was using the prayer I had prepared to begin the service. What to do? The congregation was praying with me the same prayer for the 2nd time that morning. As a part of my brain continued on with the prayer as I had it written another part of my brain was assessing the situation and adapting the prayer for offering use. Had anyone noticed? I have no idea!

Later, in some quiet reflection time at home I thought:

1. Wow, that is amazing what my brain was able to do

Followed quickly by

2. No – that is amazing what God’s Spirit was able to do!
3. Thank you, God, for saving me from embarrassment.
4. Oh, that wasn’t so much for my sake as it was for the sake of the congregation!
5. Thank you, God, for saving the congregation from the distraction of worrying that I was confused, so that they could concentration on YOU!

And there, in the quiet reflections of a Monday morning, I did the two-step: I danced from the idea that this was about me to the truth that it was about something far bigger than me! Granted, in part it was about me – and I was saved from embarrassment. But more importantly, it was about the people of the congregation and their relationship with God!

Today is Pastor Cindy Lapp’s first Sunday back from sabbatical, and I join Hyattsville Mennonite in welcoming back Cindy! From my own sabbatical experience a good number of years ago, I suspect that Cindy also has a two-step dance to do.

Sabbatical can feel like it is all about renewal and refreshment for the one on sabbatical. This is a good and needed thing! But Cindy’s sabbatical was not just for her. While focused on the pastor, sabbaticals are really about the congregation. The ministering person seeks renewal and refreshment so that she, or he, can return in ways that are beneficial to the congregation.

So Cindy has a two-step dance to do. Hopefully she has been focusing on her own needs throughout this time away from you. Now she will be focusing on your needs once again. This can be a bit of an adjustment, so do be gracious as Cindy re-enters the world of Hyattsville Mennonite Church!

In the first scripture reading of today, Abram was on the second step of his two-step dance. Earlier in the story, God had promised Abram a son. Today, he learns that, while this son-to-be certainly would fulfill the desires of his own heart, the son was not solely for Abram’s benefit. God tells Abram: “I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God AND the God of your descendants after you.” (That was verses 6-7 of Genesis 17.)

Do the two-step, Abram. Do the two-step into your new name.

While benefitting Abraham, this “son-to-be-promise” had a greater purpose reaching far beyond Abraham to generation upon generation and nation upon nation – leading up to today and beyond! WE get to partake in the benefits of God’s promise to Abraham. for God is OUR God as  well! I wonder if Abraham had any inkling of how grand his two-step dance was. I wonder if we can even begin to grasp the marvels of this dance!

In the Mark passage that we heard next, it is Peter who needs to do a two-step. Imagine the scene. The disciples are with Jesus in the area of villages near the city of Caesarea Philippi. This area is located north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a fairly isolated region, with babbling brooks and view of majestic Mt. Hermon rising to the northeast. What a great place for some rest and relaxation after a time of intense ministry! I imagine it was a great place for a sabbatical! The intense ministry had included two miraculous feedings, and most recently, the healing of a blind man.

Following the second miraculous feeding, the disciples were traveling with Jesus and were concerned because they had only brought one loaf of bread with them. In the course of the conversation, Jesus says to them, “Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, … and when I broke the loaves for the four thousand? … Do you still not understand?”

As they traveled, they came to Bethsaida. Here, a blind man was brought to Jesus. Those bringing the man, begged Jesus to heal him. Jesus took the man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then he spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on the man. A pretty unconventional way to heal in our understanding, isn’t it?!

Then Jesus asked the man if he could see anything. The man told him he could see people but they looked like trees walking. So Jesus put his hands on the man again and then his sight was completely restored. Mark tells us that the man saw everything clearly.

At this point in the story, Jesus and his disciples travel on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Now here, in this relaxed setting, Jesus asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” and then, the second question, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

It is Peter who responds with, “You are the Christ.” One would think that Peter sees clearly! But then, Jesus begins to tell his disciples about the great suffering that was ahead for him. He told them of the rejection he would experience. And he told them that he would die. He also told them that he would rise again in three days.

Jesus is talking very openly with his disciples. Too openly for Peter’s tastes. Away from the rest, Peter has a private conversation with Jesus. “Stop talking like this” he tells Jesus. Jesus turns and looks at the others who are not a part of this conversation and then turns back to Peter, and he says to this faithful follower, this one who Jesus called the Rock; solid, steady, firm Peter, and he says, “Get away from me Satan!”

Wow! what a rebuke. Peter must have felt that rebuke like a lightening bolt! And then Jesus tells him that he is seeing from a human point of view and not from God’s point of view. Peter wasn’t seeing clearly after all. Peter needed to do the two-step.

This thing that Jesus was doing was bigger than could be seen with just human eyes. Peter needed to see the bigger picture. Do the two-step, Peter! Do the two-step.

Peter’s vision of Jesus was like the blind man’s sight after the first touch he could see, but it was a distorted picture, it was like people appearing as trees as they walked.

But then, Peter was among the disciples who, even after seeing Jesus feed first the 5 thousand and then the 4 still worried over one loaf of bread. They all had eyes that did not see and ears that did not hear. I would guess that they all needed to do the two-step.

Do the two-step, disciples. Do the two-step!

And then, I ask myself, would I have done any better? I can stand on the sidelines, cheering for Abraham and Peter and the rest of the disciples to do the two-step, but I, too, have human eyes with which to see and human ears with which to hear. How can I expect to see from God’s point of view with these very human eyes? Sure, I can look back at these stories from the distance of many generations and see a bigger picture. So can you. But had we been there, in Abram’s place, or Peter’s would we have been able to see more clearly than they? Or would we have needed to learn the moves of the two-step? Would we have needed to have our vision clarified in order to see the bigger picture?

And what about today? Can we see our own world, our own situations as God sees them? Can we see the bigger pictures of our situations? Do we, at times, need the rebuke that Peter received in order to recognize that we need to have our vision enlarged? Do we, at times, need the second touch of Jesus so that we can see clearly?

Do we, sometimes, just need to admit that no matter how much we try and strive, long for and pray for, that there are some things that we will always see through a glass darkly this side of heaven as Paul speaks of doing in 1 Corinthians 13:12:—seeing through an inferior mirror—now knowing only in part, but hoping and longing for that day when we shall know fully and face-to-face.

There have been many times that I have needed to do the two-step and I’m sure there will be more times to come.

Last week, at Scottdale, I described the Lenten season as a time for us to recognize our humanness and God’s holiness. When our humanness is seen next to the holiness of God, that is the making of true humility. And humility requires us to hold our opinions lightly, for always there is more to see. Always, there is a bigger, clearer, picture, and it is only God who is able to see completely.

This story comes from Max Lucado and can be found in his book, In the Eye of the Storm.

A story by Max Lucado

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before — such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. “This horse is not a horse to me,” he would tell them. “It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?” The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse.

One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. All the village came to see him. “You old fool,” they scoffed, “we told you that someone would steal your horse. We warned you that you would be robbed. You are so poor. How could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone, and you’ve been cursed with misfortune.”

The old man responded, “Don’t speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I’ve been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?”

The people contested, “Don’t make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact is that your horse is gone is a curse.”

The old man spoke again. “All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I don’t know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?”

The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasn’t, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, an old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. he lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.

After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn’t been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. “Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us.”

The man responded, “Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don’t judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?

“Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a fragment! Don’t say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don’t.”

“Maybe the old man is right,” they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.

The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments.

“You were right,” they said. “You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever.”

The old man spoke again. “You people are obsessed with judging. Don’t go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments.”

It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured. Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again.

“You were right, old man,” they wept. “God knows you were right. This proves it. Your son’s accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever.”

The old man spoke again. “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this: Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows.” —In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, pp. 144-147.

The good news is that God who knows, who IS able to see completely, invites us, always in love, love beyond our comprehension, into a bigger picture. God who loves us invites us to do the two-step.

Look again. Look deeper. Look longer. Yeah, it’s risky. It probably involves a cross. But keep looking because the picture is beautiful!

Jesus who loves us says, “let me touch you again, and again, and again, to heal your sight, so that you can say ever more surely that I am the Christ.” It may cost you your life, but if you lose your life for me, you will gain your very soul!

Do the two-step people! Do the two-step.

And in this dance always remember to let Jesus take the lead!