Born From Above / Anew
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 -- Week of 1 Lent
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 948)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) 49, [53] (evening)
Deuteronomy 9:13-21
Hebrews 3:12-19
John 2:23 - 3:15
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above / born anew." (the phrase can be equally translated, "born from above" or "born anew")
Nicodemus takes the literal interpretation, "Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" (The text says that Nicodemus comes to Jesus "by night," he comes from the darkness to the light to be enlightened.)
There's more confusion. Jesus tells him he must be born of water and of Spirit. (Water evokes baptism; it also parallels "flesh" in the next verse, the waters that break at our physical birth. And Spirit has a triple meaning in Greek -- wind, breath, and Spirit.) To be born again is to enter the new life through the breath of God, blown by the wind of God's Spirit. Transformation -- spiritual rebirth, and internal rebirth.
Over and over the New Testament invites us into this process of transformation. It is described as a dying and rising. Part of that journey is the dying to an old life. The destination of that journey is the rising into a new life. Take up your cross (die) and follow me (the new way). Mark and John describe following Jesus as "the way" -- an early name for the Church. Paul speaks of living "in Christ" -- a new communal identity that trumps any other identity (no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female; we are all one in Christ).
Jesus invites Nicodemus into two things: a new identity and a new way of being. That is the journey of transformation.
What is it that we are to die to? Various teachers have ways to summarize the old identity and the old way of being -- the three A's: appearance, achievement, and affluence (Marcus Borg); the three P's: possessions, prestige, and power (Servant Leadership School); security, affection/esteem, and power/control (Thomas Keating); the world, the flesh, and the devil (baptism liturgy).
What is transformation, life in the Spirit? Again there are various descriptions: communion, compassion, and co-creation (Servant Leadership School); wisdom, compassion, and freedom (Jay McDaniel); faith, hope, and love (the cardinal virtues).
To be born again/anew is to die to that old identity and the old way of being and to rise to a new identity and a new way of being. That is the journey that Jesus invites Nicodemus into. It is the journey Jesus invites us to embrace. It is an inner journey, involving the transformation of our hearts. It is an outer journey, involving the transformation of the world. It is most easily summarized as a commitment to love: love God, neighbor and self. The interior journey is to fill your heart with love; the outer journey is to fill the world with compassion and justice, for justice is love actualized corporately.
So Jesus asks us the Nicodemus question: Are you born from above? Are you born anew?
Lowell
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Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
Lowell Grisham, Rector
Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
Lowell Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
posted by Lowell @ 8:13 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Lowell,
I feel stupid. I've wondered for years what it means to take up my cross. Now, I think I see. Are you saying the cross symbolizes my life to this point and to take it up means to let it die, and to accept Jesus' invitation to follow him into a new life? But don't I have to keep my past with me like some kind of ratty baggage? So many questions. Whatever, thanks for giving me a new insight.
George
Thanks for writing, George,
Part of what the cross means is an invitation to take our guilt and failure and to attach it to the cross where Christ carries it for us. We are forgiven and freed. There is nothing to defend or make up for. So, we are free to surrender our life and to follow in his way.
Lowell
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