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2001
25th February (pm) - Thinking Day Service
The Guide Guides Need

Brownie volunteer needed: to walk from one side of the front to the other - not too difficult!

Now could you do it blindfolded? Does that make it any more difficult, especially if you have to go round some corners and turns? Is there the problem of bumping into seats and doors, or of tripping on steps etc? It's maybe not so easy. Would it be even more difficult if I 'burled' you round a bit before sending you on your way

Would it be any help if you had someone to help you? - So that you didn't bump into things and kept going in the right direction?

We might call this person a guide - not so much a Brownie or Rainbow or Guide - but nevertheless less a very important helper if you cannot see - I know that members of the guide organisation are meant to be good helpers whenever they can. Have you ever known someone who is actually blind - who just cannot see?

I was visiting a lady who is blind the other day - she cannot see anything because she was in a car accident many years ago - she uses a white stick to help her move around - to check where she is going - to help her from bumping into doors etc - she does it very well, even though it you can see that it isn't easy, and she still likes it if there is someone with her to hold unto.

It made me realise again how difficult it is if you cannot see.

Near Ballyclare there is a man who is blind who is absolutely brilliant at tuning pianos - he lives at Ballylinney - he can't see at all - but he is able to work at pianos by touching them and by listening to the sounds - he can do really difficult and delicate work, without being able to see at all!

What other kinds of help are there for people who are blind?

Guide Dogs - specially trained dogs, who are wonderfully skilful in helping their owners who cannot see - often lovely Labradors - ever seen one in action?

- sometimes in towns, you'll see them leading their owner who is holding unto the special lead/harness.

- I once saw one at a funeral, where the person was in a house they had never visited before, and yet the dog was able to help them around that unfamiliar house. (You can also get guide dogs for people who are deaf) Guide Dogs just make such a difference - helping people to cope with footpaths, steps, obstacles, other people, traffic etc - so many things which could make life really difficult and even dangerous for a person who cannot see.

I don't think that they had Guide Dogs for the blind in Jesus' day - in fact for a person who was blind, or disabled in any way, life was usually very, very difficult indeed - they couldn't work, they didn't get any money/benefits from the government - they usually had to become beggars, and they only money they had came from their begging - it can't have been a very good life for them!

Do you remember his name? - Bartimaeus - he couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop him knowing that there was a lot of excitement in his town that day. Where did he live? - Jericho, the town where the famous battle took place, when Joshua and his men walked round the walls of the city, seven times, and the 'walls came tumblin' down'. Bartimaeus could tell there were lots of extra people in the streets that day - I suppose from the noise and the sound of feet walking on the road, and most of all from the buzz of people talking excitedly.

At last he found out what all the excitement was about - Jesus was there - and wherever Jesus went there was great excitement - and everybody had heard the reports about Jesus healing all sorts of people wherever he went - disabled people, sick people, blind people - so when Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus, he shouted out in the hope that Jesus would hear him and maybe help him.

Mind you when some of the people heard him shouting, they were a bit embarrassed - they tried to say, Shuush.... - don't shout so loud - be a wee bit more polite - but Bartimaeus just shouted all the more loudly, with even greater determination - Jesus, Jesus .... And to Bartimaeus' amazement Jesus heard him and told the people to help Bartimaeus over to him - and with great excitement, Bartimaeus jumped up, nearly ran into a tree and almost tripped over a dog, and came over to where Jesus was!

What do you want me to do for you, Jesus asked?

I want to be able to see, said Bartimaeus - almost too scared to say it, in case it would sound silly.

And immediately, Bartimaeus was able to see - to his amazement and unbelievable happiness he could see all the people around him, the blue sky, the trees, the houses etc etc

But, you know, there was something else that Bartimaeus could see - something else he had never really seen before - he could 'see' that Jesus was the most important person he had ever met and would ever meet - he could see that when Jesus healed people and when Jesus helped people, and when Jesus talked to people and told them about God - that Jesus was right - Jesus knew the right things that people needed to know - Jesus was from God in a way that nobody else ever could be - Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was the only person who could help him to trust properly in God, and have real faith - the person who brought him God's love, God's help, God's hope, God's forgiveness for his sins.

And so, this is a story, not just about Bartimaeus being made able to see - the story finished by telling us that Bartimaeus trusted Jesus and started to follow him that very day.

Girls, as well as boys, and grown-ups, nearly all of us can see all right with our eyes, but we are still like Bartimaeus, because we need to see how special and important Jesus is - sometimes we are a bit blind that way - we need someone to help us as our guide for life - to help us trust properly in God and live our lives well in god's way - we need to know about God's love and hope and forgiveness for our lives, and like Bartimaeus, we need to start following Jesus with our lives. Otherwise we can be like a blindfolded person - bumping into all kinds of problems in life because we have no Guide, no-one to help us or lead us in the right way - we end up just trying to do our best by ourselves - and that's not so easy. Listen to what Jesus once said about trusting and following him: 'I am the light of the world. whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' Jesus is the person God sent, so that we could see and understand about God and about faith

- otherwise we'll never understand properly, and our lives will never be right. Jesus helps us to know that God's really does care about us - our lives matter - he so much wants the best for us, he is so sad when we do foolish and selfish things, and when we forget about God as if he didn't matter - but God never stops loving us and caring about us

- he even allowed Jesus to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

We need to have Jesus' help for our lives, just as much as blind Bartimaeus did - and we don't have to do anything more than he did to have that love and help from Jesus. We too, just need to ask Jesus to be our friend, our helper and our Guide for life - to help people like us who cannot see the right way for faith or for living by ourselves. And when we ask Jesus, he will help us, without any doubts - as he encourages us to start following him the way Bartimaeus did that day.

Jesus is a Guide for Guides - little Rainbow Guides, bigger Brownie Guides, and big Guides themselves.

Maybe we could ask God for the same help as Bartimaeus got - I would like to see properly for my life - and he got that help from Jesus.

Maybe we could pray the same prayer as the man in Psalm 25, that was read earlier by ......

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Saviour.

And his prayer was answered - he proved it in his life as he trusted his life to God: Good and upright is the Lord ..... he guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

Isn't that we need - isn't that what we really, really want!

It's Jesus who is able to be our Guide and Helper for life - our guide who will lead us to heaven at the end - the only guide who can do that.