John 3:1-17: Narrative Lectionary, first thoughts

Less than compelling than Nicodemus in a tree (I mean Zecheus is way more fun story)….I mean really, they are secretly meeting to…..discuss theology… and to make matters worse, this is the where all the “Born agains” get their terminology…..As Beuchner says, the problem isn’t being born again, its proclaiming it like your a Super Christian

John 3:1-17

3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He 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.” 3Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom 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 the mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom 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 Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16“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. 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.

Pneuma: Wind, Spirit….we will be born on the wind, or the spirit….because “the wind blows where it chooses” Fresh air…the winds of change will blow us, and being born again/born from above (this is a pun in Greek that means both)… We are able to be MORE flexible because of God (not less) You know some great examples of winds of change (beyond the Holy Spirit) Mary Poppins Image Wizard of Oz Image You know the old serenity prayer? I think its a good one…. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. But maybe another viable version is God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change the courage to change the things I can the graciousness to grow into changes around me and the serenity to know the difference.

Another good resource on this passage 🙂

Narrative Lectionary: Saints, Prophets and Love!

Let it be known that I am pairing this week’s scripture (of which I am using 1 Kings 19: 9-15, John 12:27-28)

with 1 Corinthians 13:1-3….

Saints, Prophets and Love, oh my!

1 corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Something about the sound of Love, and Silent presence, Silent Love are among my musings…I feel like this ties it all together…

So I am doing THREE readings for Sunday (how unpresbyterian of me boowahahahahahah)

Something to consider as you sermonize!

PS Hallows not Horcruxes might make its way in there too!

Moses– still a human being….(Part I)

Names are important, Before this moment, God was known as the God of Abraham (and Isaac, and Sarah!)

The God who promises the stars to Abraham….

But here is Moses, In Midian, encountering God. Having the Burning bush experience, starting his relationship with God. Where just seeing God’s magnificence isn’t enough, being the God

Most of us would LOVE this moment: this compelling, overwhelming, this is where it ALL begins.  But Moses, dares to ask questions…why? I think its because he is a human. A human being who was made to name things, a human being who needs to know…

And Moses has an identity crises. A human-what-is-the-meaning-of-my-life-and-who-am-I-anyway Identity crises. Moses, who has been living in Midian, after being born a Hebrew slave and raised as an Egyptian Prince. No wonder he’s confused….he asks who Am I to do this?

So God replies….don’t worry your MY messenger, and I PROMISE I’ll be with you the whole way. Don’t Worry.

And here is where Moses is human, again, asking the next, logical question. Ok, then so who are you to come with me? Not, what’s your name…but “Who are you?”

(Just like Jacob asking how it is he could find God here?)

And God says “I Am, what I AM” This is at a time when most people, including the Egyptians, had different Gods for different things, but this God is claiming to be enough. Plus YWHW in Hebrew also has a future tone–I AM, WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE, what I WILL BE. Implying that God will be God, but in order to find out more, you need to sign up for….

(Here is a cute handy-dandy ref. chart to help us see the process of Call)

Part II to follow

StoryTime!

Genesis 1:1 – 2:4 

Once Upon a Time: there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. (John 1:1-3) Before creation, there was chaotic nothingness, an empty mess, energy without form. God Took in a deep breath, and let it all out

And Said, Light, let there be Light

And God saw that it was Good.

      Then God took the light and separated it from the Dark. Separate, the light shone within the darkness, and because they were now separate, the light could not overcome the darkness (John 1:1-5)….

      And God came up with names: the light is Day, the Darkness is Night.

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 1st day…

      Then God said, “Let me separate the waters from the waters….and God did this by taking a deep breath, and then blowing a bubble, so that there was water above the bubble and water below the bubble but space inbetween,

and it is in this inbetween space that we love, how many of us our living in-between in some way? Truly, here we live between the waters, and by through and in God’s love, we love. We live in the space between the waters, knowing many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods drown it. (Sol. 8:7)

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 2nd day…

And God said “hmmm, I will gather the waters together, in one place, and let dry land appear.” And it was so.

God named the dry land, earth, and he named the gathered waters seas.

 

And God saw that it was Good.

Then God said, “Earth, you can make food: shh….plants, you can each hide seeds, and Trees can make ALL KINDS OF FRUIT (and it will be delicious) ssshhhhh! And the fruit can also have fruit.

And it was so

The earth became full of food, the plants each multiplied themselves by twenty, thirty and a hundredfold.

And God saw it (tasted, no wait) was Good

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 3rd day…

And then God knew that light must always shine, so he made lights for the daytime and lights for the night time. Ones that can turn with the seasons—for though I am the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8) these can be signs: signs of the seasons, signs of days, and signs of the years. And then God made two shining lights, the greater to keep the day, and the lesser to keep the night, and the stars.

And God saw it was good.

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 4th day…

Then God said, let there be living creatures in the waters of the sea and the waters of the sky: fill it with schools, gaggles and groups and God made multitudes of  creatures fish and flocks of birds could zoom across the sky!

So God created Sea Monsters, and creatures to move together, of every kind, teaming the waters and spreading across the very sky.

And God saw it was good.

And, they were so Good that God’s next words spilled out not as a creation, but as a blessing—Go and be fruitful! Join me in creation! Help me to fill the waters, the seas, up until the sky is overflowing with life. Blessings be on those who live, for they have the power to give life!

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 5th day…

And God said, now to the earth—I want there to be countless variations of life—from those who stampede, to the creeping and crawling creatures. Let there be wild animals all over earth!

And it was so.

And God saw it was Good

And so full of life was God, that God knew what to do next, and drawing in a deep breath, God spoke words that rang with the fullness of God’s being.

      “Hmm….let us create something in our image, something that shares our likeness. They can be the keepers the fish of the sea, the keepers of the birds of the air, keepers of the tamed cattle, keepers of wild things on the earth the keepers of every creepy thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created earthcreatures/humans in God’s own image. In the image of God, God created male, and in God’s image God created female. Male and female, God created them.

Again, God’s voice rang out as a blessing over those beings he had just bespoke. Blessing them, God said “Be fruitful and multiply, Fill the earth and subdue it (with love). And have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

Then God said… “Look! I have given you all the seeds that grow upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seeds in its fruit…You shall have them all for food! And every beast of the earth, every bird of the sky, and everything that creeps upon the earth, Everything that has my breath of life (Genesis 2:7), everything that I have blown my spirit into—for I have attached the sinews, put meats on the bones, covered them with skin, and breathed the breath of life, and all creatures have come alive and realize I am God (Ez. 37:5-7). Everything that has the breath of life, I have given, every green plant is yours for food.

And it was so

God saw everything God had created,

And God saw it was Good Indeed!

Then Evening Came, followed by a new morning, and so that had to have been the 6th day…

Heavens and earth were finished, and

And on the 7th day, when God finished his handiwork, and he rested.

So God spoke, blessing the 7th day, on which he did not work, and he hallowed it. The 7th day is a blessing for stillness, rest and creativity. The 7th day was made a day of Sabbath. On the 7th day we practice what all who has breath should know: Be still and know that I am God! (Ps. 46:10)

Because on the 7th day God rested from the work he had done in creation

These are the accounts of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, In the day that the Lord made heaven and earth!!

All things came into being through God, and without God not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in God was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:3-5)

Why?

Because it through our Creation, we Learn about our end. Its through knowing God better, we learn about our true being. God is the beginning and the end, and God began life with Words of Love and through a filling of the void. Though we live inbetween–After God Breathed out the world, and after God Breathed Jesus back in to himself, but before God breathed his entire being into the world. Giving us space to be, space to live, love and breathe, space to become Co-creators with God, discovering and naming the world. We live inbetween, but we know the beginning, and we know the end….it is full of God’s breath, full of the life and light of the world, it is full of love. We are to fill and subdue the world, not with our own ordering and control, but with life! Fill the world with life, light, breath and love! Know God, know ourselves and know the Alpha and the Omega. Pray for the end of the world, pray for the fullness of time, pray for “God’s Kingdom to Come” and rejoice in what is promised to us then.