Preached by the Rev. Ken Pennings on Sunday, June 7.
June-7-2009-Click-Here-To-Play
John 3:1-17
No writer has influenced my theology and life more than Walter Brueggemann, who wrote:
“The announcement of a chance for an alternative life in the world is the substance of the Christian gospel…It is always news that comes to us as a surprise. It is always good news because this alternative life in the world is characteristically better, more adequate, and more joyous than the old life conducted under the regimes of death.” which he identifies as militarism, consumerism and individualist capitalism (Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope, 30)
The entire Gospel of John relates the story of a people seeking an alternative life, a more authentic way of being fully human. In chapter 4, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks water from this well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst.” In John’s Gospel, there is water, and there is Living Water. There is food, and there is Enduring Food. There is life and there is Abundant Life. There is birth, and there’s New Birth: “Being Born Again.”
Do you see how this Gospel invites us into the “much-more-ness” of life in the reign of God?
This is the good news announced to Nicodemus in the sacred story, which Tammy has just read.
To Nicodemus, a man living under the regime of death, Jesus announces the good news, the offer of life in the Spirit, which is an alternative, a better, a more adequate, and more joyous life in this world.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, a teacher of the law, concerned about preserving the Mosaic traditions; someone with plenty of good answers, but a man stuck in his categories.
Nicodemus came by night to interview the new teacher in town. He knew he was good–he had checked his references–but he wanted more information. However, Jesus refused to cooperate and instead offered him something he needed even more than information: “Be born again, from above. Be born of the Spirit.”
Despite his knowledge, credentials, power, and position, we hear him ask, “How can this be?”
Jesus replied, “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
How can this be?
Nicodemus, you can’t understand how the Spirit operates any more than you can understand how the wind operates. You cannot control the Spirit any more than you can control the wind. But Spirit mysteriously and marvelously will breathe a completely new life into you. Even more fundamentally, the Spirit is already your very breath. Can you let this new life be born again in you!
We see him stand there in the flickering lamplight, his face an arresting mixture of confusion and interest. Jesus waits, the silence broken only by the sound of the wind banging the shutter against the house. Nicodemus tugs at his beard and rethinks his life, seeing his past and future through the eyes of the One who loves him. He is dizzy with the possibility of it all. And so are we! Born again? The mere thought of it sweeps through us and sends us reeling. (paraphrased from a sermon by Margaret Hess – First Baptist, Nashua, NH).
How can this be?
Mary had asked Gabriel a similar question when told she would give birth to Jesus, “How will this be?”
Not a question of disbelief, but of hope.
How is God going to do this?
And this is the question on our lips this morning.
With Mary, with Nicodemus, we whisper, “How can this be? Do we really have a chance for an alternative life in this world, a life better, more adequate, more joyous than the old life under the regimes of death – that is, violence, militarism, consumerism, individualistic capitalism, racism, class-ism, sexism, heterosexism, able-ism, and exploitation of the planet? How is God going to do this?”
Can the Spirit of God break open our old certainties and surprise us with new life, as Jesus surprised Nicodemus?
This text is all about allowing the Spirit to undo or rearrange our certainties. It’s about opening our minds and hearts to the marvel and mystery of the self-giving, ever-loving life-breathing God, who is much larger than our ideas, beliefs, theologies, and language about God.
As Winton (Boyd) wrote in this month’s (ORUCC) newsletter:
“All of us, ancients and moderns alike, are trying to understand the movement of God in our lives as best we can. What makes us faithful is not that we ‘get it right’ but that we live with gratitude for the ways we see, hear, and feel the Spirit of God move in our lives.”
What is this church, if not an alternative community learning together how to live this alternative life in a world that has programmed us to live under empire, with all its minions and isms?!
Living by the Spirit is listening for God’s invitation to a better life in this world, paying attention to what God is doing in the world, and joining in! It’s asking every day “Spirit of God, how will You breathe your life in and through me today!”
Living water, bubble up in and through my life today! Enduring food, nourish the world in and through me today! Abundant life, animate my work and witness today! New birth, bring more life into the world through me today!
God’s invitation is offered to all – to the faithful disciple, the questioning seeker, the doubting agnostic, the adamant atheist, all of whom are welcome in this place.
ORUCC is a place where a wonderfully diverse people–some who are firm in their beliefs, and others who aren’t sure what they believe–gather in community to listen to the Spirit inviting: “Will you take a chance on a better life, a more adequate joyous abundant life?” “Will you be born again, and again, and again…
Today, the founding members of this congregation are asking, “How can this be?”
The new members who join ORUCC this morning are asking, “How can this be?”
Our high school graduates are asking, “How can this be?”
Those traveling to Mississippi to continue Katrina construction are asking, “How can this be?”
The children who will be a part of our new music ministry are asking, “How can this be?”
How can this be? Do we really have a chance for living an alternative life in this world… a better, more adequate, joyous and abundant life?
The Spirit blows where she will.
