Mon Sep 09 2024

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: If you can imagine what it would be like to be deaf and unable to speak, then you might understand why Jesus said “Ephphatha,” which means “be opened” in our Gospel reading. Deafness and muteness close a person in on himself. It is difficult to take in the thoughts of others because you cannot hear them speaking. It is difficult to communicate one’s own thoughts because the speaking is not clear. Hearing well and speaking well can easily be taken for granted. We don’t know a good thing until it's gone. Restoring losses like blindness, deafness, lameness, or muteness dramatically improves people’s lives. Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 35 talks about changing lives for the better. Isaiah lived more than 700 years before Christ, but he talks about things that Jesus did: “The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame man shall leap like a dear, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.” Jesus did many ...