I once was blind, but now I see

February 22nd 2026

First Sunday of Lent

Readings: Psalm 139:1-14 & Luke 18:35-43

Sermon Series: Noteworthy Christians - Mr. Rogers

I'm curious, have any of you ever changed your mind about something? Ever admitted that maybe you were wrong about something? Or even realized you liked something you used to hate? 

It's not an easy thing to do, but I'm sure it happens more than we realize. In Church lingo, we might use the phrase, 'I once was blind, but now I see.'

I used to read the biblical passages like the one from Luke today where a blind man was healed as literal miracles. This man literally was blind, had no vision, and Jesus restored his eye's ability to see. However, as I got older, I got a little more curious.. what exactly was he able to see after that moment encountering the living God? We would hope that he gained his literal sight, but perhaps there was more revealed to him than his vision. Perhaps he was able to see for the first time God's love for him. Perhaps this made him see his worth and his belovedness. Perhaps he not only received healed vision, but a healed soul.

For me, when I was growing up, I was blind to the absolute gift of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I was a very dysregulated child, growing up in a dysregulated environment. I never would have even known who Mr. Roger's was if it weren't for a cousin who insisted on watching him regularly. Oh, did I give her a hard time. 'What does this guy even know about REAL life? Are you kidding me?! This is so goofy!' Boy, was I wrong. Now that I am an adult, I am blown away by his ministry. I'd give anything to be his neighbor today!

Fred Rogers was born to a rich family in Pennsylvania in 1928. As a child, Fred was shy, overweight, and often sick. He spent a lot of time alone with only his imagination to entertain him. Eventually, he went off to college, where he would meet his wife. Both of them graduated with degrees in music. Fred then went to seminary and sought ordination in the Presbyterian Church. However, on a trip back home in 1951, he encountered television for the first time. He was struck by the opportunities such technology could provide, but disappointed in the ways in was being used. From there on out, he sought to use television to its full potential, changing the lives of the viewers. He called the space between his set and the person watching through the TV holy ground and proclaimed ‘television has a real chance of building community out of the whole country.’

When the Presbyterian Church ordained Fred, he was not ordained for congregational ministry, but as the first televangelist! I had to laugh when I heard this, because he is not the picture of what televangelists have become, but the exact opposite! Yet, he did it better than anyone else ever has. He was the epitome of the quote by St. Francis, ‘Preach the gospel. When necessary use words.’ Fred believed that teaching by example was just as powerful as any sermon and he proved this to be true time and time again.

Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was on air producing new episodes from 1968 to 2001. That is 33 years! That is literally the amount of time I have been on this planet. When I was young, I couldn’t stand him. As an adult, he is someone who so inspires me today that I get choked up every time I watch old episodes or interviews. Jesus has healed my blind eyes and made me see. I once was ignorant of the message, of the good news.. now it heals my soul.

Who we are changes over our lifetime. We evolve. We are not the person we were ten years ago or even ten days ago. God is in the business of transformation. If you were here on Wednesday, Pastor Pam did a great job at setting us up for Lent. We read the story of Jesus, who, right after his baptism, was cast out into the desert for 40 days. The story goes that he was tempted by the devil. However, Pam encouraged us to imagine that devil as the little voice inside our heads. It spoke to Jesus as it would to all of us, ‘Oh you’re hungry? Why don’t you just go ahead and turn that stone into bread? You’re the Son of God, you could do it if you wanted to.’ And Jesus could have! But he didn’t, because his mission was to fast and in his fasting find out who he really was.. a ritual, a practice of self-examination and will. This is the work we are called into each Lent. But if we’re honest, this is the work we are called into each day of our lives with the Lord.

God is always calling us to remember who we are and WHOSE we are – we are beloved children of God. Yet this is one of those things that as humans we can often say or even accept intellectually, but rarely come to KNOW deep within our hearts. Our whole life is a journey back to ourselves, back to the essence of our humanity, which is God our Creator - God who made us in God’s own image and called us GOOD. Not bad, but good. Too many of us have spent our lives with people, or even just within a society we cannot avoid, telling us we are bad, we are never good enough, we are unlovable. And when we live out of these beliefs and fears, we inevitably make unloving choices. We don’t live up to our full potential; we judge others even more harshly than we judge ourselves; we may even lash out with violent words or deeds. We cannot exit this desert of temptation until we fully accept that it does not define us – God does. And God is love itself. In the desert, we are blind. In love, we are transformed to see with healed eyes.

Mr. Rogers, who not only lived the gospel message, but also studied child development, understood that children are born into a world that is scary, fast-paced, and feeds them constant messages of self-doubt. So he created a space that slowed down time.. that valued patience, silence, and reflection.. that was curious rather than judgmental.. that encouraged imagination and creativity.. and never shied away from talking about the important, but difficult things. He talked about birth, death and grief, divorce, adoption, disabilities, JFK’s assassination, segregation, 911, emotions and how to express them in healthy ways. The core of his messages were always the gospel message – that you were endowed by your Creator with GOOD. And he shared this message for 33 years without talking explicitly about God or his faith. Absolutely brilliant!

Perhaps my favorite example of this is in the character of Officer Clemmons. Fred asked Francois Clemmons, a young black man, to appear on the Neighborhood as the police officer after he heard Clemmons sing during a worship service. Clemmons came from a place where he had never had a positive encounter with a police officer, so he accepted the offer with a great deal of hesitation. However, this was exactly the portrayal of an officer the world needed to see. And when America was struggling to desegregate the local pools, Mr. Rogers invited Officer Clemmons to dip his feet in his little kiddie pool to cool off. When they were done talking, he dried Officer Clemmons’ feet, mirroring the washing of feet Jesus did on Maundy Thursday. With or without knowing it, the world had received the gospel message.

In the documentaries made a few years ago, Francois expressed how much Mr. Rogers meant to him; a black gay man growing up on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, being fully accepted and loved. Mr. Rogers, knowing the power of music, wrote many songs and would often sing them on the show. Since Francois was a singer, he sang them too. Some favorites were ‘It’s You I like’ and ‘Many Ways to Love You.’ One day after the show, Francois turned to Fred and said, ‘Fred, were you talking to ME?!’ and Fred responded, ‘Yes, I’ve been talking to you for two years and you finally heard me today.’

Sometimes we can hear a message a thousand times before we actually HEAR that message. The day we really HEAR the message of God’s love for us is the day we exit the desert, the day we see with healed eyes. It doesn’t mean that we will never struggle again, no, the world hasn’t changed, but YOU have. Now the real work begins, the lifelong work of maintaining that love that liberated you and sharing it with others. This is the root of our lives as disciples – to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Mr. Rogers called this the Jewish concept of ‘tikkum olam,’ which says that our truest calling in life is to be repairers of creation. Fred believed this work began with each person understanding their own inherent dignity and worth, their own belovedness. ‘Love or the lack of it,’ Fred said, ‘is at the heart of all things.’ I once was blind, but now I see what Fred meant and believe he was correct. Like Jesus healed the blind man that day, he has healed the devil’s voice inside my head that wanted me to give in to the belief that I was unlovable. Perhaps you’ve heard it too. And sometimes this healing, this transformation, doesn’t always happen in one fell swoop, sometimes we have to be in it for the long haul. Sometimes that devilish voice remains, but a second voice is added, a duet is established to counterbalance the negative with God’s voice.. or perhaps Mr. Rogers singing..

It's you I like,

It's not the things you wear,

It's not the way you do your hair

But it's you I like

The way you are right now,

The way down deep inside you

Not the things that hide you,

Not your toys

They're just beside you.

But it's you I like

Every part of you.

Your skin, your eyes, your feelings

Whether old or new

I hope that you'll remember

Even when you're feeling blue

That it's you I like,

It's you yourself

It's you.

It's you I like.

(https://youtu.be/ulxBd_bK17I?si=WviYW6q3-5LkQhd_)

This Lent, as you search in the desert to transform more fully into yourself, to return to your truest nature, which is of God, may you find you’re not alone. That there is a whole neighborhood there to hold you. That many are reaching out to say, ‘I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So, let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since we're together, we might as well say.. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?’

Humanity rarely heals in isolation.

We need one another.

We need to be in relationship to learn and grow into disciples.

For as Fred said, ‘The greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they’re loved and capable of loving.’

In this way, we are healed and, like Jesus, begin to participate in being repairers of creation. Amen.

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Stream: Won't You Be My Neighbor? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7681902/

and/or It's You I Like https://www.pbs.org/show/mister-rogers-its-you-i-like/

and/or A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3224458/

Watch Mr. Rogers before the Senate, securing funding for PBS: https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA?si=xnE5LCfR2YvJR9tj