Episcopal Evangelists Aren't Oxymorons

2 Lent        A      March 12, 2017
Gen 12:1-8          Ps.121
Rom. 4:1-5, (6-12)13-17  Jn.3:1-17

Lectionary Link

One can find at any sporting contest many, many different items with all kinds of sports logos on them.  They are found on t-shirts, sweat shirts, jackets and banners.  Wherever you go you can find the team logos.  But where can you find a logo for "team" Jesus?  Yes, lots of people wear crosses.  But there is another logo for "team Jesus."  A common logo for "team Jesus" at sporting events is the sign: "John 3:16."

It is interesting that team fanatics are very motivated to promote their home team.  They are very excited about the intimate identity with their team.  They live and die with the team for every win and loss.  One could say that sports fanatics are very evangelical about their sports team.  They want to advertise their team identity very loudly, proudly and as often as possible.  On the other hand, there are lots of sports fans who aren't so vocal or so evangelical.  Some are just shy, quiet introverts  who like their teams but just sort of whisper, "Yeah team."

But what about "Team Jesus?"  There are the shy members of Team Jesus, like most members of the Episcopal Church and then there are the "in your face" hyper-evangelists of Christianity.  They go door to door and they want to collect "born again" scalps almost like they are in some sales contests for converts.  Many Christian evangelists want to convert other Christians to their own groups view of Jesus.  Sometimes Christians who try to convert other Christians are called "sheep thieves," because they try to take Christian sheep from another fold and bring them into their own folds.

The Gospel of John was written because the very nature of Christianity is evangelical.  That is, the message of Jesus Christ was meant to be shared with everyone.  And this also means that the early Christians were "sheep" stealers.  Yes, they competed with each other for different views of God and Christ.  They fought over leadership.  The early Christians were just as passionate about their views as we can be today.  They, like we, feel validated if other people can agree with us in our views about God, Christ and the church.  So, there is a selfish aspect about evangelism.  I want people to agree with me so I can feel good about my views and have more members in my church and more pledge units.  Sometimes we can be tempted to take a very selfish statistical view of evangelism.

But how was St. Paul a sheep stealer?  How was St. Paul doing evangelism?  St. Paul wanted to coax Roman citizens away from their worship of different deities.  St. Paul wanted to convert Jews from the synagogue.

What do you imagine motivated the Christian sheep stealing efforts of St. Paul and the early Christians?  St. Paul had a dilemma with synagogue.  In practice, he found that the way in which the message of Judaism was lived, it essentially remained isolated only within a community of people who were able to observe the ritual purity laws of Judaism.  St. Paul found Jesus of Nazareth as the Risen Christ to be a universal expression of God's love.  St. Paul did not believe that dietary rules or circumcision marked the exclusive believer in God.  He believed that having a faith like Abraham and having the Holy Spirit is what marked a believer in God.  The early Christians preached Jesus as a more inclusive welcome to God's love and favor than was found in the practice of Judaism of that time.  But to the Romans who had so many gods and goddesses and the Emperor cult, Christian evangelists offered Jesus as God's Son as a way to a belief in one God.

And today we have read from the Gospel of John the crucial verses for people who regard themselves to be zealot evangelicals.  It is like a Socratic dialogue of Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee.  Nicodemus represents all of the Jews who had the first birth into Judaism.  In their first births, they were automatically Jews and people of God.  But Jesus referred to another birth.  A birth that was from above.  A birth that came by being baptized by water and the Spirit.  A birth that had no geographical or ethnic limitations.  Why was this kind of birth important?  This birth was a testimony that God loved the entire world and that God's presence and God's everlasting life was available to everyone.

This is how the sheep stealing early Christian evangelists explained their beliefs.  They believed that the Risen Christ was a more inclusive message about God than what was practiced by the people of synagogue.  They believed that Jesus Christ was more exclusive in his presentation of God in the Roman Empire with all of the gods and goddesses and the cult of worship of the Emperor as a god.

The early church was evangelical because Christians believed they had a message for both Jews and Gentiles.  The success of the early church is proof that the message was effective and winsome to make a difference in the lives of many people.

So how do you and I show ourselves to be evangelical?  Carry signs around with John 3:16?  Wear crosses prominently?  Go door to door to spread the message of Jesus?  Sometimes if we try too hard to be visible followers of Jesus, we can actually put people off.  We need to be evangelicals with the right motives.  What is the right motive?  To honestly share the very best news in our lives for the benefit of other people.  We need to equip ourselves to comfortably share with others who ask about our particular faith experience, our belief in Jesus Christ and why we find the Episcopal Church a gentle, reasonable, welcoming and graceful expression of devotion to Jesus Christ.

Do you believe God loved the whole world?  Do you believe that Jesus is the gift of God's Son to us?  Do you believe in a great God who can preserve our lives forever in a special way?  Then you have some good news to share.

And following your baptismal vows, I hereby, re-ordain and re-commission each and everyone of us as evangelists of Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Sunday School, March 12, 2017 2 Lent A

Sunday School, March 12, 2017    2 Lent A

Themes

The riddle of Jesus about another kind of birth

What does it mean to be born?

  It means to come into the world and into a family.

  We have birth families or families that we are adopted into.

   We have parents who raise us when we are little.

We have larger families too.  Who are the members of our larger families?

  We have extended families with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

   We also have work and school families?

      Families can be the persons at our school who become our friends.

      Families can be the people whom we work with.

We can have larger families like all of the people live in our city, our state and in our country.

   Citizenship is like being members of larger families.

Jesus had a talk with a religious leader name Nicodemus.  He talked about how we can be born into another family.

We can know that we have been born into God’s family.

This is the largest and greatest family of all.

How are we born into God’s family?

Because God is the creator of the world and God made us, God is our heavenly parent and so we are made to be children of God and be a part of God’s family.

How does the church celebrate our birth into family of God?

We celebrate our birth into God’s family when we baptize

Baptism is done with water and it is done through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is how all people can share the same identity with God as our heavenly parent

God allows everyone to come to understand that God’s presence and image is inside of us when we celebrate the Holy Spirit inside of us.

What does the Holy Spirit allow us to do?

The Holy Spirit allows us to learn how to see things from God’s view

The Holy Spirit allows us to see what Jesus taught us in his life, death and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit teaches us that God makes all people like Abraham;  God makes us children

Who can live with faith in God.  And if we can live with faith in God, we will realize

That there are many people the world who live with faith in God.

Sermon

  How many of you like to grow up?  Are you sure?  Some times it is very hard to grow up.  Why?  When we grow up we sometimes have to change.

  How about when we learned to walk?  It is a big change to learn how to walk?  It was something we wanted to do.  But was it easy?  Not always, how many times did we fall down and cry when we were learning to walk?

  How about when we had to give up diapers?  Was that easy?  Did we learn to give up diapers right away?  Or did it take some practice and some accidents?

  How about when we went to Preschool for the first time?  Was that easy?  For some but for others it was hard.  It was hard because we had to be away from Mom and Dad for several hours and that was a change.

  Remember how you used to like to suck on your binky.  But you couldn’t take it to school.  And if used you binky in big school the other children might laugh at you.

 Change is good because it means that we are growing up.  But it can also be hard for us because when we change we are losing something that we used to like to do.

  Everyone grows and changes.  Even your Mom and Dad change.  One of the biggest changes for your Mom and Dad was when they became Moms and Dads.  They had to change their Friday night schedule.

  Families change, countries change, churches change when new things must be done.

  When Jesus came to live on this earth in the country of Israel and he found that some changes had to be made even in the way that they practiced their religion.  Jesus lived in such a special and wonderful way, people in his country had to decide to change and begin to follow what he taught.

  Some people could not change.  Jesus met with a man named Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was having a hard time changing, but he did the right thing.  He came and talked to Jesus.  And what did Jesus tell him.  He told him that God loved the world.  He told him that God was not angry at the world.  He told him that God sent his Son to save the world.

  And how are we saved?  We are saved by accepting God’s love and by practicing God’s love.

  So, we are going to change many times in our life.  We are going do new things, and we are going to lose some things.  Let us remember that if we are changing to become more loving and kind, then God’s love is saving and changing us into becoming better people.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 12, 2017: The Second Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: O Be Careful;  Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,  Eat This Bread; He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 180)

O be careful little hands what you do. O be care little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go.  O be careful little feet where you go.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little feet where you go.

O be careful little lips what you say.  O be careful little lips what you say.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little lips what you say.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Praise be to God! (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Book Genesis

The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I 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." So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills; * from where is my help to come?

My help comes from the LORD, * the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved * and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "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." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' 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." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?   "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. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  "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."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory:   Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Renew! #4

Lord, I lift your name on high; Lord, I love to sing Your praises.  I’m so glad you’re in my life.  I’m so glad you came to save us.  You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay.  From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord, I lift your name on high!

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All  may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Eat This Bread (Renew! # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this wine.  Come to me and never be hungry. 

Eat this bread, drink this wine, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer. 

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Closing Song: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

He’s got the whole world in his hands.  He’s got the whole wide world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God! 

New Testament Writings as Transition to a New Religion

2 Lent        A      March 16, 2014

Gen 12:1-8          Ps.121

Rom. 4:1-5, (6-12)13-17  Jn.3:1-17

Lectionary Links

   According to recent population totals, there are 3.1 billion Christians in our world and 14 million Jews.  What does this mean for Christian and Jewish Holy Books?  It means that more people read the Jewish Holy Book than do read the Christian Holy Book, by at least 14 million people.  For Christians, the Hebrew Scriptures are required reading but for Jews, the New Testament is not required reading.

  We know that Christianity and Judaism are two different religions today.  It was not always so.  Jesus was a Jew who practiced the pieties and liturgical forms of Judaism of his time.  But in Judaism, the tradition is regarded to be a living tradition.  Rabbis would write, preach and teach on the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures and new understandings would arise to add to the body of the tradition.  Jesus of Nazareth was a rabbi with disciples and he was adding to the growth and the development of the Hebrew/Judaic tradition.

  Before Christianity and Judaism became different religions there were phases of transitions in time of several decades between the life of Jesus and the more complete separation of the communities of faith signaled by the practice of “excommunication” of the followers of Rabbi Jesus from the synagogues and a similar shunning of so called “Judaizers” within the Christian communities.

  The New Testament writings, including the Gospel are written in some phase of this transition of the birth of the Christian religion out of and separate from Judaism.  When people believe things strongly, they cannot avoid being a bit excessive in their persuasive attempts.  If one has good news, one wants to validate the good news by seeing its positive effect upon others.  And one can be disappointed or even critical of those who persist in finding the “old good news” as their continuing good news.  So many Jews after Jesus still found that their good news did not include following Jesus as their Messiah.

   What made the Jesus Movement a significant threat to the very structure of Judaism was the success of the message of Jesus within the Gentile community.  And when St. Paul and others decided that the Spirit of God could be present and work without the practice of all of the legal requirements of Judaism, the separation between Jews and Christians became sealed.  This upstart movement, the Jesus movement was claiming to be a valid successor and re-interpretation of Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures.  The New Testament writings are essentially writings of re-interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

  So how can faith be valid for the Gentiles who did not have the benefit of growing up being taught the Torah, the prophets and other teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures?  Well, you know that pre-Jewish patriarch named Abram, who became Abraham?  He left his homeland in Ur of the Chaldees, and his obedience ushered in a new religious paradigm.  His obedience to God was an act of faith and he was a righteous man and he did not have the benefit of the Law of Moses because he lived before Moses.  So he was like the Gentiles, he was a person of faith, without the benefit of the Mosaic Law.  Abraham was appropriated by Paul and others as the paradigm of having faith without the Judaic law.  But what Paul also did was to spiritualize the promise of God to Abraham to make of him a great nation.  The great nation for Paul was no longer the land and people of Israel; the great nation for Paul was the nation of faith which derived from believing in Jesus as the Messiah.  By removing, the “land based” notion for the people of faith, the universal potential of the Christian faith was unleashed and one could say that this partly accounts for the evangelizing success of Christianity in our world in comparison with Judaism.

  We need also to remember that the Gospels were written during this transition phase of the separation of the Jewish and Christian religions.   So one of the motives behind the Gospel writings is to make a persuasive appeal to Jews who had not yet come to embrace Jesus as their Messiah.  Another motive of the Gospel writings is to instruct the Gentile Christians about the deep Jewish roots of the Christian faith.

  Of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John is perhaps the most Gentile Gospel.   It was written later than the three synoptic Gospels and it has a more developed Christian teaching presented in long discourses of Jesus, one of which we read in part today.  Nicodemus, is a person who does not appear in the earlier written Gospels, which is interesting since he is presented as having such a prominent role in the requesting from Pilate of the body of Jesus after his death.

  We have read today the favorite discourse which defines evangelical Christianity.  We find in this text the origin of the phrase, “born again” and the location of the most famous Christian graffiti of sporting events, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…..”

  The Gospels are literature and as such they are art.  The first goal of art is to trick us into a moment of an “as if” belief.  So we read this Gospel “as if” we are eyewitness to an actual encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.  We are caught in the wonder of the “primary naivete” like the wonder of a child.  But in adult study, our suspicions correct us with a literary analysis to remind us that this is literary art written in a specific time for specific persuasive purposes.  Being adult literary critics might seem to ruin the literal story for us, kind of like telling children that Disney characters are not real. We do have adult commonsense minds to understand the function of a writing in a context for certain purposes.  In two moments of the experience of art, we have the wonder of primary naivete; in another moment we have a balancing commonsense mind.  Fundamentalist literalists are people who make both of these events the same, in that they are afraid of their adult mind.  And they would deny us who do have adult minds, the genuine wonder of devotional experience which we know in the event of primary naivete.

  One of the purposes of the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus is for the persuasion of Jews to follow Jesus.  Nicodemus is a Greek name meaning “victory of the people.”  Interesting for a Jewish member of the Sanhedrin to have a Greek name.  But in some other Hebrew tradition, Nicodemus means, “innocent of blood.”

  So you see there is an invitation to Jews to be like Nicodemus and be innocent of the blood of Jesus.  There is also an invitation to convert to this new paradigm of how God is to be understood.  Be born again; be born from above.  Be converted to this new paradigm for the universalizing of the message of God to all people.  Be born by water and the Spirit.  This is a sure indication of the practice of water baptism that was prevalent within the Christian community.  This Gospel about God is a teaching about becoming initiated into the community of Christ.  This Gospel ties the work of Moses in raising the healing serpent upon a pole to the raising of Christ on the cross, not as a symbol of death but as a symbol of health and salvation.

  And then we find the favorite Bible verse of many, because it expresses the universal love of God that we believe to characterize the life of Jesus:  For God so loved the world that he gave God’s unique child so anyone who believes in Him would not see their lives as ending with death but would activate within themselves the life of God’s presence, the Spirit of God, who is immortal and eternal life.

  We, today need to understand the antagonism that is evident in the New Testament writings as they are zealous attempts to try to convince all Jews at the time of their writing that Jesus was the  Messiah referred to in the Judaic tradition. Today we can believe in Jesus as the Messiah without denying the validity of the faith of our Jewish brothers and sisters.   Let us accept our Jewish brothers and sisters as equals with their own wonderful tradition of devotion to God.

  We can embrace our devotion of Christ without diminishing the sincere faith of other people, even as we are committed to proclaim: God loves the world so much that the fullness of the divine life is shared with us completely by the omnipresence of God’s Holy Spirit, but most particularly in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

  What we can learn the most from Christ is this proclamation: For God so loved the world. This is the very best of the Gospel.  Amen.