Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Sermon: The wind blows where it chooses (Mar. 16, 2014, Lent 2A)

John 3:1-17

            Like many of you, I hunkered down this past Wednesday during our little mid-March blizzard, cuddled under blankets and a Dachshund while I waited for the storm to pass. I looked out occasionally to see snow whipping past the window, drifts forming all around the house, trees shaking with the wind. As I witnessed this famous western NY wind and snow, from the safety of my nice warm house, I couldn’t help but think about Nicodemus.
            Why Nicodemus on that blustery, winter day? It was those words Jesus says to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
            Well, the wind was certainly blowing where it chose on Wednesday, huh? That much is clear. But it’s that second part of Jesus’ statement that I have been grappling with this week: “So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”


            Even if you didn’t remember the details of this story, the imagery is known all too well – that is, the image of being “born again,” or born of the Spirit. If you’re like me, you have been asked by people once or twice if you have been “born again.” Also if you’re like me, this question makes you very uncomfortable, and you aren’t quite sure how to answer it. If they mean, “Do I know Jesus,” then yes, I do. If they mean, “Am I baptized?” then yes. If they mean, “Did I have a life-changing moment in which I suddenly got myself out of a downward spiral and came to Jesus and my life has never been the same since,” well, maybe not so much. One pastor tells a story about sitting in the waiting room while she waited for some new tires. A man sat beside her and thrust a pamphlet under her nose and asked if she was born again. She thought for a moment, then answered, “I’m glad you asked. I’ve been reflecting on Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 and I don’t think Jesus means ‘born again’ as if it were some emotional lightening strike that once it’s over, we speak of our salvation in the past tense, like, that’s done, now I have that checked off my to-do list. I think being born again calls for our participation, and I think it’s a life-long process.” Apparently the man was unimpressed. I wish I could come up with something so articulate on the spot!
            But she’s right – being “born again” is a life-long process, and not something that happens just once. Perhaps a shorter version of her answer is, “Yes, I’m born again, and again, and again, every single day!” That is what Luther was fond of saying: that we are born again every time we remember our baptism, which ought to be every day. Ours is a faith of new beginnings, you see, based on a resurrection story that repeats itself in many ways in our day-to-day lives.
            So, that’s what it means to be “born again” or “born anew” or “born from above” in Lutheran terms… but how do we live like that? Here the Nicodemus story can help us out, as his encounter with Jesus can shed some light on how one is to live as a “born again” person.
            It won’t surprise you, especially given our focus this Lent on prayer, that I will say that so much of being born anew has to do with prayer. In fact, being “born again” is such a very large topic to tackle in a 12-minute sermon, that for today I will only focus on the prayer aspect of it, and look to Nicodemus as guidance for how we are to pray like we are born again.
            The first thing we can learn from Nicodemus is how we are to come before the Lord – or rather, how not. What is the first thing Nicodemus says to Jesus? He tells him what he already knows, what he has perceived and so can believe. “You must be from God, because how else would you be able to perform these signs?” he asks. I think that’s often how I’m inclined to come before God, too: putting right up front all the things that I know. I often come to prayer with an agenda, and an expectation (or at least a hope) for a certain answer. But in Nicodemus’ case, his know-it-all approach serves as a barrier to him understanding Jesus’ words. He gets stuck in what he knows – for example, that no one can crawl back into his or her mother’s womb and come back out – and so is quick to dismiss any other possibility. So he can’t hear about the heavenly things Jesus is really trying to teach him.
            There is a famous parable from the Buddhist tradition, in which the teacher invites the student to pour a cup of tea, and to keep pouring until the teacher says to stop. So the student begins to pour, and soon enough the cup is overflowing and tea is spilling onto the table and floor. The student says, “The cup cannot hold any more tea!” and the teacher replies that the same is true for the young student: his mind is so full that he cannot hold any more. Only when he empties his mind will he be prepared to hear what the teacher has to say. Jesus might say the same to Nicodemus, and to all of us, for that matter – “your mind is too full; you are not prepared to hear what I have to teach you!”
            So the first thing to learn from Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus is to let go of the control that knowledge makes us feel we have, and come prepared to hear and to listen and to learn, rather than with an agenda and an expectation. The second is related to that, and that is to be prepared that when we encounter God, we encounter mystery. I don’t think we leave a lot of space in our lives for mystery. Science helps us to understand so much of our universe, and if it can’t be explained, it is tempting to simply dismiss it. But God is so much bigger than what we could ever understand – and that is a good thing! As frustrating as it may be not to understand God’s mysterious ways, at the end of the day I need a God who is beyond my understanding, who is beyond anything I can wrap my head around. And so while our world may tell us to be skeptical of mystery, it order to hear God and come even close to understanding God’s ways, we need to be prepared to embrace mystery, and trust that God works mysteriously, and that that is okay.
            The third observation about prayer that this story brings up is in that line I thought about during the blizzard: “The wind blows where it chooses!” I had a professor in seminary who used to warn us to pray with caution, because your prayer might just be answered affirmatively. He tells a story about when he was in seminary and a friend of his got really sick. They prayed so hard for him to get better and be able to finish seminary. When he came back to school he was in a wheelchair, and needed a lot of help from his friends – even help going to the bathroom. My professor said (and this is a quote!), “I never thought that the answer to my prayers would include me wiping my friend’s butt.” But the wind does blow where it chooses, and you never know what door it is going to slam shut and what door it’s going to fling open, even out of your grasp. Prayers are always answered, just not always the way we want or expect them to be.
            There are lots of things we can do to prepare ourselves to be born from above or born anew again and again. But at the end of the day, the heart of what it means to be “born again” is letting the Spirit do what the Spirit is going to do, to let it blow where it chooses, and to let God do what God wants to in the very depths of our lives. As we trudge through Lent, what God wants to do in the depths of our lives becomes abundantly clear: God wants to forgive our sins. God wants to give us and our community the courage to live with joy and purpose for someone other than ourselves. God wants to gives us peace and assurance of eternal life. Learning how to receive these gifts is an ongoing process – and each time we come a little closer to understanding God’s promises and grace for us, we are born again. Every time we recognize that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that we might have eternal life, we are born again. Every time we open ourselves to the transforming power of honest prayer, we are born again. May it be so!
            Let us pray… Heavenly Spirit, you make it possible for us to be born again and again. Grant us courage to come to you with open hearts and minds, help us to embrace and not dismiss mystery, and make us attentive to the unexpected ways you may blow through our lives. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment