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Hespeler, May 26, 2024 © Scott McAndless – Trinity Sunday
Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. I want you to think for a moment about what that means. This very gospel tells us that Jesus was “The true light, which enlightens everyone.” (John 1:9) It tells us that Jesus is “The light that shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overtake it.” (John 1:5) But Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.

This gospel says that a woman, a despised Samaritan, came to Jesus as he sat by a well at the very moment when the sun was at the zenith of the sky. It was the hottest part of the day to be sure, a time when others hide in their homes. But she was not afraid of the light and in the illumination of that day, she could see that Jesus was a prophet and messiah. But Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.

Jesus himself said that he was the light of the world and proved it by giving a blind man sight. He taught that “Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.” (John 11:9-10) And yet Nicodemus came to him by night!

A Respected Man

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a man who was greatly respected by all for his commitment to the law. He sat on councils and spoke in meetings where he was honoured and people were always willing to hear his opinions and judgements. He counted powerful people like Joseph of Arimathea among his friends – Joseph who went in and out even among Roman governors and who could put his hands on large sums of money to bury a friend on short notice.

Everywhere he went, Nicodemus could count on a warm welcome and friendly conversation. He was always given an honoured place whenever he was invited to dinner.

People Assumed the Best

If ever he happened to be caught in what looked like some compromising position, people always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone can count on that. When something is missing, for example, there are certain people who are always suspected because of their race, their status or their living situation. They might be accused despite there being no evidence at all.

Some people live with the constant expectation of such accusations, but Nicodemus never had to worry about such things. On the contrary, people always assumed the best of him even when he gave them no particular reason to do so. He was a man whose days brought him nothing but honour and respect, and yet Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.

Sincerity

Nicodemus knew that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God. He had no doubts about that because he had seen and considered the things that Jesus had done and recognized that they were powerful acts that could only be accomplished when God is with somebody. When he said that to Jesus, he said it with utter sincerity. And yet, knowing all of that, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.

There is something wrong with this picture, isn’t there? When you are somebody who has a privileged position in society, you will act openly and carry out your deeds in the full light of day. When you truly believe that somebody has come from God and that the goals that they pursue are good ones, will you not say so openly? What is the point of believing something if you will not say it at times and places where people will hear it? If you are a person who loves the light, why are you skulking around in the darkness of the night?

Criticism of Dr. King

But here is the truth. Nicodemus is not alone. In fact, there have been many others like him who have come to Jesus by night. In 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and imprisoned in the Birmingham City Jail for disobeying an injunction that banned public protests against racial policy, a group of eight prominent white Christian leaders made a statement.

They said that Dr. King’s goals of racial equality were good, that it was the right thing to do to build a more just society. They might as well have said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for you teach a way of justice.” But there was one problem. They came to Jesus by night.

They called the actions of King “unwise and untimely.” They thought that he was acting in a manner that was too open and confrontational. His demands for justice and change were being made in the full light of day. They felt that the only way to effect the change that was needed was to work without disturbing things, without shaking things up. They wanted to come by night so that no one would see and maybe no one would even notice the change.

Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr’s response is justly famous. When he read about the statement of the white leaders, he began writing a response immediately on the newspaper clipping. He continued on scraps of paper passed to him by one of the black trustees working in the jail and finally finished it using legal pads supplied by his lawyers. It was finally published as “The Letter from Birmingham Jail,” a great work of American literature.

There is one passage in the letter that I know that I must return to regularly to challenge myself. “I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate,” King writes. He might as well be saying, “I am disappointed in those who come by night.”

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion” he continues in the language of the time, “that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action.’”

Need More than Good Intentions

I think that that was what Nicodemus was doing with Jesus. He was trying to say, “I agree with you in the goal you seek,” but I am not willing to risk my standing or my reputation by using them to support what you are doing. I’m going to come, but I’m going to come by night.

And Jesus understood all of that. Just as Martin Luther King Jr recognized that the eight leaders were men of goodwill who were speaking with all sincerity, Jesus understood that Nicodemus had good intentions and wanted to do the right thing, but the fact that he had come by night told Jesus that Nicodemus desperately needed more than good intentions.

What Nicodemus Needed

Jesus cut him off immediately and told him this: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus was puzzled. He had come, he thought, to discuss the finer points of creating justice in this world without having to risk himself by showing his intentions in the light of day, and Jesus seemed to have suddenly changed the subject. He blinked and declared that what Jesus had just said seemed nonsensical: “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?’”

But Jesus hadn’t changed the subject. What he had just said made perfect sense. It didn’t matter if Nicodemus agreed with Jesus’ goals. It didn’t even matter if he believed all the right things about Jesus. None of that was obviously going to persuade Nicodemus to give up on what had convinced him that he could just come by night. Nicodemus needed to be born again.

Double Meaning

For centuries people have wondered what Jesus might have meant by the demand that he made of Nicodemus. Even Nicodemus was puzzled over the phrase. It doesn’t help that the Greek phrase that Jesus uses in the Gospel has a double meaning. It can mean both “born again,” and “born from above.” And that quickly becomes a reason for misunderstanding between Nicodemus and Jesus.

But what he was saying – and what Nicodemus failed to understand – was that Nicodemus didn’t need just another birth to a life that was oriented towards the values of this world. Had he gone back into his mother’s womb to be born again, as he suggested, it would have only been to be born once again to the world of privilege and honour given to him by his first birth. He needed to be born anew from a new place, from above and with the very different attitudes and priorities of heaven.

“Born Again”

As you probably know, that phrase that Jesus used with Nicodemus, that demand that he be born again or born from above, has since taken on a life of its own. People have pulled that one phrase out of the context of this story and used it as a definition of their kind of Christianity. “I am a ‘born again Christian,’” they will say.

They are saying that their faith began with the kind of experience that Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to have. And that is all fine and good, assuming that you understand what it was that Jesus was saying to Nicodemus.

Sometimes when people say that what they mean is that they have had a powerful experience of the presence of Jesus. Maybe they were at a particularly low time in their life, regretting some things that they had done perhaps, and they experienced the presence of Jesus in a way that brought them the healing and forgiveness that they needed most at that moment. Others might experience the presence of Jesus in a public worship context where, among the people of God who are praising, they find themselves transported into the presence of Jesus.

Not Just an Experience

Such experiences are truly wonderful. If you have had such an experience in your life, you are indeed blessed. I would never question the validity of someone’s experience of Jesus. But let me ask you this. If you encountered Jesus, but you came to him by night, did you really have the “born from above” experience that Jesus was talking about? I mean, Nicodemus encountered Jesus. He was right there in front of him talking to him. And yet Jesus told him that he was still in need of that second birth.

What I mean is that, if you are blessed to have such a wonderful experience of Jesus, and it doesn’t transform your priorities, it doesn’t make you willing to stick your neck out like Jesus did for what is right and just, Jesus might still be looking for more from you.

Jesus’ Acceptance

Let me be clear about one thing, however. Jesus was glad that Nicodemus came to him whenever he came. In the same way, Jesus is extraordinary glad that you came to him as well. Later on in this passage, as we read this morning, we have one of the most powerful statements of God’s love and acceptance in the entire Bible: “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.”

On whatever terms Nicodemus was willing believe in Jesus, whatever trust he was willing to place, even if he came by night, Jesus accepted that. In the same way, Jesus accepts whatever trust you are able to place in him as well.

But for your sake, he would rather that you not come by night but in the fullness of the day. He would have you be born from above so that you do not value the fleeting things of this earth – things like wealth or status – over the priorities of heaven. Jesus wishes this for you and for Nicodemus because he wants you to be a part of his great work in this world – work that is done in the day.

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, but you don’t have to. And if we can all remember that, we are on our way to carry out the works of the day and change this world for the better.

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Hespeler, May 19, 2024 © Scott McAndless – Day of Pentecost, Baptism
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

We as a congregation and I as a minister have been given the honour this morning to join with Frances’ family to celebrate her baptism. I am always amazed at how we are given this wonderful privilege to enter into one of the most significant moments in a family’s life with them.

But there is also something that makes it particularly special for us today. This is part of our ongoing journey with her family. We also had the opportunity, just a few years ago, to celebrate the baptism of her older sister and then, a few years before that, her older brother. But, even more interesting, each of those special events not only gave us a reason to celebrate but also helped us to come to terms with something important – the often-frightening pace of change that we have been living with over the last few years.

An Apocalyptic Fire

Frances’ brother came to us just as his family resettled here in Cambridge from Fort McMurray in Alberta. And they had left that place just as a terrifying wildfire destroyed huge parts of that city. Do you remember how we all felt about that fire at that time? It was unprecedented. It was apocalyptic! We had never seen anything quite like it before and we certainly hoped that we’d never see the likes of it again.

I think we probably have come to see that fire in a bit of a different light today, though, haven’t we? It is no less frightening, and we have no less sympathy for those who were caught in its path, but for some reason we don’t quite see it as unusual anymore.

Especially after last summer (and I doubt that the coming summer will be any better) we recognize that the Fort Mac fire was apocalyptic alright, but not so much as a singular event as a harbinger of the kind of disaster that is increasingly become a new normal for life in this country. In fact, this very week Fort McMurray has once again been evacuated in the face of just as large a fire. I am very thankful that we had that opportunity given to us by Frances’ brother to reflect on where we can find God when the world is falling apart all around us.

A Pandemic

By the time Frances’ sister came along, the world had changed yet again. She was born into the confusion and isolation of the pandemic. And, when she first arrived, we didn’t even know how to practice baptism because, despite some creative internet posts, I wasn’t about to do it with a squirt gun. So, she waited.

And when we were finally able to carry out the baptism somewhat later, it was another opportunity to reflect on how much things had changed for the church especially throughout this disrupting experience of the pandemic. And I was grateful that she gave us that wonderful opportunity to talk about how God is with us through such disruption.

A Big Move

And now Frances has come to us today. And somehow, I am not surprised that she comes to us at a moment of great change. It is a personal change for her family, but also symbolic of a change in our society that we need to grapple with. Her family is about to make a big move back to Fort McMurray. It is a change that is a positive and promising one for them in many ways. There is a great new job opportunity that can work well for their family.

But it also shows up some of the challenges that families are facing right now because one of the motivating factors is the realization that they could probably never afford the kind of housing in this area that would be ideal for raising their family, which I think we all recognize is not an uncommon problem for young families these days.

Making Transitions

I’ve been thinking a lot about changes as we navigate so many of them. Change is a part of life. Sometimes we choose it, sometimes it is forced upon us, but no one can really escape it. But while change is something external, something that happens to us, there is also an internal process that goes along with that that we do not always pay enough attention to. Let’s call that process transition. And transitions can often take longer and can be much more difficult than a simple change of circumstances might seem. Sometimes a bad transition can have the power to derail a positive change when it is not handled well.

Think of it this way. Once this family has packed up, traveled to Fort McMurray, moved into a new house, started jobs and registered for schools and all the things that go with that, we can say that things have changed for them.

How We Navigate Transitions

But think of all the transitions – both psychological and social – that they will have to go through to get there. This new thing will start with many endings – winding up things here, saying goodbye to friends and family who will continue to be in their lives, but not quite in the same ways. Transitions always start with endings.

After that comes a long period of great uncertainty. You are in a new place, and you must learn to do all kinds of things differently now. You figure out how to get around. You make new connections and habits. There is a lot of trial and error, some good experiences and bad. It’s a great time of innovation which can be both scary and exciting. It can also be the time when you are most tempted to give up on the new thing.

And it is only after you have navigated all of that that you can fully embrace where you now are. That’s why the transition can take a lot longer than just change. And you cannot make a good change if you don’t manage to make a good transition as well.

Our Transitions

I mention all of this, of course, because we want to pray for Frances’ family and do all that we can to help them to have a good transition. But I also think that this is all very timely for us as a church.

We are changing. We must change because this church, like most churches these days, can’t just keep doing what it has always done. But if we want that change in our situation to lead us to a better place, we will need to do a great job of making a transition.

What Ezekiel Lived Through

The Prophet Ezekiel was living through a time of great change. During his lifetime he saw the collapse of his homeland, the Kingdom of Judah, and was taken away into exile in Babylon. This was not a change that he was happy about at all. But he still had to live through it. He still had to make the transition. And the passage that we read today is all about a vision that God sent to Ezekiel to help him through his transition.

Ezekiel was wandering around one day outside the city when he came upon a valley. As he looked at that valley, he saw that it was full of bones. I imagine that it was a valley where some battle had been fought in previous years. The bones were all that were left of the soldiers who had been slaughtered on that day.

But for Ezekiel, that valley suddenly became the symbol of everything that he had lost. He had lost his homeland. What had once been the strength of the people of Judah had been reduced to nothing but dead, dry bones.

In the Valley

And I think it was there – in that valley – that the depths of what he had lost finally hit him. The question that came to his mind was this, “Mortal, can these bones live?” And he knew it was a divine question.

But as he considered all the devastation and loss he had experienced, the answer to that question seemed obvious. No way! Everything that he had known, everything that was familiar or comfortable had been reduced to dead, dry bones. What hope of life could there be? But he didn’t dare answer a straightforward no, so he only answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

And that is what transitions can feel like. Especially those initial phases of letting go and saying goodbye can feel like nothing but a valley full of dead, dry bones and you can wonder if anything will ever feel alive again. But here is what we need to learn from Ezekiel’s vision. God brought him to that valley for a reason.

A Prophecy

Once Ezekiel had been brought to the lowest of the low and had had to admit to himself that he didn’t even know if there was any hope of life left, something amazing happened. He was challenged to prophesy. “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” And that is exactly what we need sometimes. We need a word that can penetrate through to us from somewhere outside and help us to see a way through the difficulties of transition.

And so it is that, only once Ezekiel has been able to find and speak that word of the Lord, that he can begin to see his way towards the new future that God has prepared for him. And he sees that very explicitly in the bones that come back together, the bodies being rebuilt before his visioning eyes, and then finally and crucially the Holy Spirit comes and fills them. And Ezekiel can see that, yes, there is life on the other side of this difficult transition when we learn to place our trust in God.

An Experiment

We, like Frances’ family, are going through a time of transition. We have been recognizing over the last while that, if we want to be a strong congregation, we can’t just keep on doing things as we have always done them. And so, it is time for us to plunge into that transition. Recognizing that we’re living in an age when our churches really can’t afford to just go it alone anymore, we are going ahead with this experiment over the summer. We will worship together with four other churches and do it in various places during those summer months.

This, to be very clear, is an experiment. Everything will go back to how it was when the summer ends. But at the same time, we do hope that we learn some things over these months about how we can work together and support one another. We hope that that will help us to think about change that will create a strong Presbyterian Church ministry in this area for a long time to come.

Exploring the Transition

But, as I said, we are not really changing anything, so what is the point of doing it? Well, I would say that what we are doing is that we are exploring the experience of transition in a safe environment. This is an opportunity for all of us to work through our own sense of how we have to transition for the future that we will be dealing with. What are the things that we might lose and how do we feel about that? And, yes, there might be some negative feelings that we will have to grapple with as we think about transitions into the future. There may be things that feel like valleys full of dry bones.

But the wonderful thing about what we are doing is that this is absolutely not about what we’re losing. It’s about starting to find our way towards a different future. Part of that, certainly, will be practically doing things like meeting our fellow Christians and finding our ways to the places where they worship. That’s a moment of discovery and, even if there is some confusion along the way, there’s always something exciting about that.

Innovation

But the best thing about transitions is that they are a great time for innovation. We’re going to get to be creative over the summer. Having more clergy and other leaders present, will give us a chance to try new things and have a lot of fun doing it. This is not going to be a summer of just managing to survive while school is off and people are away on vacation, we are going to allow God’s Holy Spirit to inspire us and lead us in some very interesting directions. Not all of them are going to work out, sure, but we are going to have a good time trying them.

Ezekiel had to go down into the valley of bones. He had to experience some sense of loss and disappointment that some things were never going to be quite the same again. But please remember that God did not leave Ezekiel down in that valley. God sent him a vision of new life and of an animating Spirit that would lead to exciting new things. That is what I pray for us and for Frances and her family.