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Hey it's good to be connecting again
in this second week of Lent. We're moving now into the Gospel of John where
we'll be spending the next four weeks,
exploring moments oft encounter between Jesus and well
today with Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
he's a lot like many of us within the United Church me thinks,
committed to the religious routine, a conscientious Pharisee.
a good person trying to figure out what is the right and proper thing to do.
But I wonder if he again like so many in our times
has lost his zest, whatever it is that makes the person excited even
passionate about God? Hard to tell
really about Nicodemus but the good thing is
that the man is still willing to ask questions.
He's heard about this Jesus, a teacher
who is rumored to have done some amazing things and Nicodemus wants to know more
on the other hand he's not sure how much he wishes to risk?
Certainly not his reputation he doesn't want to burn any bridges and get in
trouble with the powers that be.
So he steals away at night which is not a bad thing
better to go at night the not at all, eh? And the night
well it's a good time for questions when boundaries are more fluid when it's
easier to slip up the straight and narrow.
Personally, I do some of my more serious thinking in the middle of the night
sitting up in bed not able to go back to sleep. The questions that surfaced at 3 a.m.,
they have real power. And besides, its easier to catch a glimpse of the
light in the middle of the night. Stargazing for instance
and it's amazing how one candle can capture and hold attention
in a darkened room. Contrast is everything.
So imagine the scene as if it were painted
by Rembrandt; all shadows and light
and maybe place yourself in the scene listening
when Jesus starts talking about being born-again
or is that born from above? The Greek works brother interpretation, though
I'm not sure it matters that much? What is clear
is that Jesus is inviting Nicodemus
to be changed, to be transformed to such an extent that it feels like a rebirth
of some sort
radical change, a new person! "How can this be?"
cries Nicodemus. Though I sometimes wonder if that's the real question?
Maybe it's more about whether we actually want to be changed?
I can remember working with the spiritual director as I confronted a
part of myself that needed to change
and I confess that I wasn't really all that certain the i wanted such a
transformation.
So my director invited me to pray for the desire
to be changed. But even that felt
a bit iffy, And so I ended up praying for the desire to have the desire
to have the desire to be changed. I wonder if that might have been a fit
for Nicodemus? Jesus is clear
that this rebirth stuff is not something we accomplish
on our own, just as we can take much credit for our first birth.
This time around ,it's the work at the Spirit which blows
where it will, which may not be all that convenient;
God's time rather than ours, now
rather than later on. What seems to be on the table
is the offer some spiritual power that can work within us,
upon us, through us, that will in fact
change us. We can be, must be
reborn now reborn! Now reborn
is a charged word of-course since whenever got taken over by conservative
Christianity
but I think it's a word that we need to reclaim.
One-way is to talk about being reborn and reborn and reborn.
Affirming that whenever this change is about is not just a one time thing
after which you can sit back and boast.
No, it's ongoing, a lifetime's work
a journey to use the old metaphor. If you're Methodist in background, you might
talk about
ongoing sanctification. Or you might sing a verse of
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, the mold me, fill me, use me.
Or perhaps from another hymn, Breathe on me breath of
God fill me with life anew.
What John is convinced of and is using Nicodemus as his foil perhaps
is that this life-giving Spirit power comes
through Jesus, as if he were the conduit
the channel. Hence the classic Gospel summary:
For God so loved the world and just pause there for a moment
and remember that it's the world that God loves.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son
and remember thats incarnation thats Christ
embodied in Jesus. So that whoever believes in Him,
a tricky praise to get a handle on, believes in, not dogma
and doctrine, in but maybe trust, openness
a willingness to grab onto the power source.
May not perish but have eternal life
another phrase often misunderstood not heaven and hell
what happens in the afterlife but what is happening right now
here, this world.
We don't know what happened to Nicodemus though the fact that he shows up at the
ended the Gospel helping Joseph of Arimathea
take Jesus' body of the Cross suggests that something happened.
But in truth the real question is aimed
at us. What would our lives look like
feel like if we were filled with the kind of Spirit
energy that it's blowing in and through Jesus?
And what would our United Church look like
if it were reborn?