2nd Sunday in Lent
17 February 2008
THEME AND SUGGESTED SERMON TITLE: MYSTERY AND
MERCY: BORN OF SPIRIT
LECTIONARY TEXTS
Genesis 12: 1-4a; Psalm 121; John 3: 1-17
Genesis 12:1-9
YAHWEH said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred
and your family’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will
make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless
you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Abram went, as YAHWEH had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram
was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5Abram took his
wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that
they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and
they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the
land of Canaan, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem,
to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then
YAHWEH appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give
this land.” So Abram built there an altar to the One who had
appeared to him. 8From there he moved on to the hill country on the east
of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east; and there Abram also built an altar and invoked the name of
YAHWEH. 9And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Psalm 121
1I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help
come?
2My help comes from the ONE, who made heaven and earth.
3The HOLY ONE who will not let your foot be moved; the One who keeps you
will not slumber.
4the ONE who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5YAHWEH is your keeper – your shade at your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will keep you from all evil – will keep your life.
8God will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and
forevermore.
John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
2Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that
you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs
that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3Jesus answered him,
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the realm and ways of God
without being born from above.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How
can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time
into their mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered,
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the realm of God without
being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and
what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said
to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8The 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.”
9Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
10Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do
not understand these things? 11“Very truly, I tell you, we speak
of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive
our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No
one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,
the Human One. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up, 15that whoever believes
in him may have eternal life. 16“For God so loved the world that
God gave God’s only son, so that everyone who believes in him may
not perish but may have eternal life. 17“Indeed, God did not send
the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him.
A CALL TO WORSHIP
ONE
Wind of God blow through us
And dislodge all that holds back your Spirit from our lives.
Fire of God burn through us
And cleanse us from all that rages against your Spirit in our lives.
Water of God wash us thoroughly
And bring us again to the waters of new life.
ALL
God of mystery and mercy
Grant us new life with you
as we draw near and receive your Spirit during this journey of Lent.
Amen.
A CONTEMPORARY
LESSON
from The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg,
©Harper San Francisco, 2003, pp. 117-120
The born-again experience can be sudden and dramatic. It can involve
a dramatic revelation, a life-changing epiphany, as in the case of Saul
on the road to Damascus, an experience through which he became Paul.
Such dramatic conversions continue to this day; some people can name a
day or even an hour when it happened. …
But for the majority of us, being born again is not a single intense
experience, but a gradual and incremental process. Dying to an old
identity and being born into a new identity, dying to an old way of
being and living into a new way of being, is a process that continues
through a lifetime. The Christian life as it matures is ever more
deeply centered in the Spirit – that is, centered in the Spirit of
God as known in Jesus, the Spirit of Christ.
Being born again is the work of the Spirit. Whether it happens
suddenly or gradually, we can’t make it happen, either by strong
desire and determination or by learning and believing the right beliefs.
But we can be intentional about being born again. Though we can’t
make it happen, we can midwife the process. This the purpose of
spirituality: to help birth the new self and nourish the new
life….
…In short, spirituality is about the process of being born
again (and again and again). It is at the heart of the Christian
life.
MUSIC
Hymns:
O God of Bethel, OT
Just as I Am, Gospel
#207 in the NCH
Soplo de Dios Viviente/Breath of the Living God
#57 in the NCH
Womb of Life, and Source of Being
#274 in the NCH
While this is a hymn for Trinity Sunday, the images of spiritual birth
echo the gospel message.
Choir:
God So Loved the World, John Stainer
SATB a capella or accompanied.
Pepper 400051.
A Victorian classic, very well made.
Reworked in folk style: Pepper 10021546.
Two-part mixed: 1892215. Relates to Gospel.
God So Loved the World, Allen Pote
SATB acc. (mostly 2-part)
In a more 70’s mainstream church music style. Pepper 10003079.
Relates to Gospel.
A CONFESSION
Today we simply confess our limitations, O God. Our
limitations in understanding and perspective. The limits of our
minds and our wills.
Being “born again” is an impossible human notion!
We need your Wisdom and your perspective so that we can really live this
life in the beauty of the ways you’ve offered to us.
We confess, too, that we sometimes think that what we can perceive
with our senses is the only realty. Consequently, that’s
where we place our reliance. We confess that we need more –
we need your realm of possibilities! Show us those possibilities,
O God, and create new ones in us.
Forgive and free us, we pray. Amen.
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