June 15, 2003
By Jack Price

Today is Father's Day and I want to honor and recognize all fathers - for the fathers still present in our lives as well as for those fathers who are no longer living.  On this day, we do well to pray for the healing of estrangements between fathers and their children.  Finally, we recognize and pray for the unspent gifts of fatherhood that still wait to be given. 

            Let us give thanks for the image of God as Father.  It is certainly not the only image for God.  For some it is not a happy or helpful image.  For many, though, "Father" can be a helpful, rich, and meaningful image for the "Sacred at the center of existence."  This image reminds us of the ideal of fatherhood:  of strength and protection, of teaching and role modeling.  God as "Father" holds the promise of a safe and nurturing male presence, and of one who helps us approach life's hard realities with freedom and confidence.

            I am a father and, as I think about that, I am grateful for the family that gives me such a role and honor.  In truth, however, when our son came into the world, I was there, but my presence was not all that important.  I was there strictly as an interested bystander.  Someone else was doing all the work.  Six years later, when we adopted our daughter, I had an opportunity to be a little more involved.  Though we were not part of her actual birth, the adoption experience contained something of the emotional side of labor.  This included all the events and circumstances leading to the decision to adopt, the traveling to Colombia, South America several times, enduring the roller coaster of feelings, and finally welcoming her into our home and family for good.

As challenging as the process of getting children into the world and into your home can be, I was not prepared for how much having children changed my life.  There was the joy, the anxiety, and especially the fatigue!  And all of that does not stop.  It keeps on going.  So, congratulations to the fathers, the grandfathers, the father figures, and mentors among you on this Father's Day.   My experience of fatherhood still is one of discovering new life:  life that was changed and continues to change fundamentally and irrevocably.

Birth and re-birth are an ongoing part of the process of living.  This is not just for father or mothers, or daughters, or sons.  Significant life events change us.  These "nodal events" are like rites of passage.  We emerge from them fundamentally different.  You will discover, and may well already be learning, that the life that God has prepared  for us is found in being reborn throughout our living.  This is the point Jesus was trying to make to Nicodemus.

Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again."  What does being "born again" mean to you?  Are there associations positive or negative with this image?  Since Jimmy Carter burst on the national political scene in the mid-1970's as a "born again" Christian, many claim it to be the benchmark of true Christianity.   Despite its prevalence in our thinking, Jesus' interesting conversation with Nicodemus, with his mandate to be "born again," is found only in John's Gospel

The Gospel of John is the last of the four biblical gospels to be written, probably as much as seventy years after Jesus' death.  It is very different in character and content from the other three:  Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Truthfully, it almost certainly contains very little, if any, of Jesus' actual words.  Theological thought in John's Gospel had developed beyond the other gospels and writings of the New Testament. 

All four biblical Gospels and the book of Acts do have a characteristic very much in common.  None try to relate events as they might have happened.  Their purpose is to convey the meaning and significance of Jesus' life from the perspective of people that worship him as Son of God.  Barely a century after the writing of John's Gospel, the Christian Church would begin to call the risen Christ the second person of the Trinity.  This development of theological thought was indeed foreshadowed in John's familiar and beautiful prologue expressing God's new creation:  "In the beginning was the Word (the divine creative action), the Word was with God and the Word was God..  And the Word was made flesh."  This was the Jesus portrayed in John's Gospel, the Jesus who spoke to Nicodemus.

Who was Nicodemus?  He was a Pharisee, a member of the religious ruling party in Jerusalem.  Some Pharisees gradually came to believe in Jesus.  Nicodemus was certainly a proud and spiritual man, probably very generous and very faithful in upholding the Law of Moses.  He probably expected Jesus to treat him as an equal.  These were two spiritual and powerful men coming to a meeting of the minds.  He came to Jesus by night, so as not to be seen by others.  It might have been embarrassing, but Nicodemus wanted to know more about Jesus, to understand his teaching.

            Jesus saw through Nicodemus.  He saw the Pharisee's hesitation thought he knew its source.  The Jesus of John's Gospel, the living Word of God, knew Nicodemus.  He knew about him, his reputation and his power.  Jesus saw inside and knew Nicodemus at a deeper level.  He knew his motives, his values, his fears.  "I solemnly assure you, Nicodemus, no one can see the kingdom of God without being begotten from above - even such an honorable and good man as yourself.  Your experience, influence, and education do not relieve you of the necessity of starting over again, of being re-born, of traveling that same mysterious journey of birth as the lowliest sinner.  You must be re-created, renewed, reborn." 

"Reborn?  Even if that were possible, I'm too old, Jesus.  It's tempting to want to start life over again, but it's nonsense -- returning to my mother's womb and being born again?"

"Nevertheless, Nicodemus, unless you are born physically you cannot have life.  Unless you are born spiritually, you cannot live in God.  Flesh gives birth to flesh and Spirit gives birth to spirit.  Wind blows about wherever it wants and you hear the sound it makes even though you don't know where it comes from or to where it's going.  That's the way it is with people born again."

John's gospel is the only place this imperative is included:  "You must be born again."  Paul writes, "whoever is in Christ Jesus is a new creation."  He also uses the image of the birth of the new creation God is bringing forth  - especially the pain of labor  "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now." (Romans 8:22)  Spiritual birth is the process of being born, literally born into the world of Spirit.

For many people, being "born again" is a one time salvation event.  It is the rebirth of a person from a state of being cut off from God to one of accepting God's gift of love, forgiveness, and new life.  "Born again" can be isolating if interpreted narrowly, if "born again means that one must accept "Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior." 

The challenge is to keep powerful image of being born into Spirit - new life without sacrificing the freedom God gives us and others as to how that new life unfolds.  The challenge is to affirm "born again" as the beginning of an intentional process of growing spiritually.  Some experience this birth as a sudden life-changing event to which they can point.  It is emotionally charged, happening at a specific time and place in which they suddenly realize that Life Itself has embraced them.  This experience represents a sudden acceptance of the divine presence they may have long denied.

For many, being "born again" is more a process than a single event.  It is a gradual awareness of a reality that already has long embraced them.  Theirs is a reasoned and considered response of deciding to walk the path of a disciple.  Can we embrace the power this image of being "born again" without some of the baggage it often includes?  We can trust in the truth of what Jesus is telling Nicodemus.  We can also trust in the truth of our own experience of faith and Spirit.

            Physical birth means getting started in life and it implies continued growth and development.  Spiritual birth (re-birth) means deciding to start living as a spiritually-oriented being.  It also implies continued growth and development.  Being born again with a spiritual birth is not just a one-time event. 

Our lives as people are filled with significant events.  These nodal events in life are like rites of passage through which we pass and are changed.  Examples include adolescence and the changes it brings, graduation and leaving home, significant loss and grief.  All these can be profound rites of passage.  Through these experiences of letting go, we are changed.  They hold the promise of new life emerging.  New birth, taking shape over such a long time, suddenly is revealed.

Spiritually, we come to grips with our "birth" in different ways:  through a shattering experience of realization, repentance, confession, and commitment or through a gradual awakening to the importance and pull of the Spirit in our lives, acting on us and moving us to a deeper commitment of our lives.  Nicodemus was pretty comfortable with who he was as a person.  He may have been open to some new ideas Jesus had.  Perhaps he was open to new ways of expressing faith, but he was not wanting to change too much.

Jesus told Nicodemus that new ideas were not enough.  New ways of expressing faith were not enough.  Nothing short of starting over, of "new birth," would be enough.  Nicodemus needed to "let go" of pride in his knowledge and reputation, to turn loose of that in which he was putting his trust.  He needed to give himself fully to being available to the Divine Spirit.  The same is true for you and me today.  The Spirit challenges as to  start again, to be born again.

Birth changes lots of things, for parents and children alike.  Being born is a radically transforming process.  Being born spiritually is also a radically transforming process, though the radical transformation doesn't happen all at once.  Being born again sets us on a life-time a rebirths, of new-life coming into being.

            My own decision to profess faith and follow Jesus was a child's commitment influenced by friends and family.  It was a commitment to embrace a community of faith that had long embraced me, to affirm the love and acceptance given to me as having its source in the ground of all being, in God.  Mine was an easy spiritual birth, gentle.  I was baptized by my father and all that changed for me at first was that I was now allowed to take communion.

            Since that initial experience of spiritual birth, of being "born again" my life has been a continuing process of re-births in process.  Spiritual birth is always happening, is always in the process of coming into reality, even when I can't see or feel it.  Birth also seems to include a process of letting go or losing, walking away.  Sometimes it includes even the pain of grief.  Sometimes new birth is preceded by times of numbness or flatness of spirit.  The letting go and loss that's so hard is new birth in formation.

When you feel new birth happening, or beginning to happen, or feel the possibility of it beginning to happen, wait for it.  Cooperate with its coming.  When you can't see the newness emerging, you can trust that it's happening.  That's the nature of this life we're living.  That's the nature of the Sacred Spirit whose embrace we receive.

The ancient Christian mystic Meister Eckhardt gave us a wonderful image of God as always, eternally, giving birth.  We are born again, birthed by God whom scripture quotes as saying, "Behold I make all things new."

            I have an invitation for you this morning.  Join me in a time of reflective prayer.  Allow your will to be open to the power of the Spirit moving in you and between us.  Allow your thoughts and feelings to follow the questions I will ask, hesitate in answering them until you feel the Spirit leading you to the truth for yourself. 

            "Spirit of life, Eternal Sacred Presence -- we offer to You this time of stillness and reflection.  To the movement of Your Spirit we offer our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  We wait in patient faith for the revealing of Truth in the remaining moments of this service of worship, through the hours and days of this week, even to the remaining years of our living.  Reveal yourself to each of us."

            When has spiritual birth happened for you?  Has it related to significant events in your life?  Has it been life-giving?  Are you experiencing re-birth somewhere in your life now?  What has led to this?  What has the process required from you?  Are you feeling at loose ends because of changes in your life?  Are you feeling lost, things coming apart?  Can you sense the promise of new birth coming?  Can you believe that new birth will happen even when you can't feel it coming?

"God of birth and new life, you who call us to be born again, bring new birth into our hearts and minds, into our lives.  Be born in us.  Amen"