"Born of the Spirit" - Acts 3:1-17

This week’s sermon text, John 3:1-17, tells the story of Jesus telling Nicodemus that to enter the kingdom of God one must be born again.  These days the phrase, ‘being born again,’ is most often associated with a segment of Protestant Christianity in the United States that is quite conservative and focused on the importance of individual salvation.  As those outside of this group, we’re familiar with several criticisms of this focus on individual salvation and being born again.  We correctly note that often this focus on the individual can prevent us from engaging in the broader world to work for justice and peace.  We also worry that this need for rebirth may indicate too low a view of human nature- we must have been pretty bad if we need to be completely reborn.  

Near an apartment I lived in New Orleans, there was a bumper sticker on a stop sign that read, “Born just fine the first time.”  While I understand the point being made, that human beings aren’t all that bad, I came to dislike the sign more and more each time I passed it.  It seemed to imply that people have no need to change- that we’re all just fine the way we are.  Can you imagine thinking that you had nothing to learn, no growth to undertake, no epiphanies to discover?  Think of how colossally boring life would be if we never changed.  Personally, I’m a much different person than I was 20 years ago, and thank God for that!  Furthermore, if none of us need to be born again do we have any reason to hope that the world will change?  

I’d like to reclaim this phrase of being born again for us.  It's true that being born again implies that humans are not perfect, that we need to be renewed.  That might make some of us uncomfortable, but any quick look around our world should confirm for us that human beings have plenty of room for improvement.  Believing that we can be born again means that change is possible for all of us.  With the help of God none of us are beyond redemption.  Believing that God can redeem all of us, that God can bring new life and rebirth to all the world, means that we have reason to hope for a better future.  I hope that we all open ourselves to change and rebirth in our individual lives and in the life of our congregation.  The Spirit of God has much to teach us- may we be open to learning, growing, and changing.  May we eagerly await a new birth in our common life together.  

Pastor Andrew Greenhaw