Seeking: Honest Questions for Deeper Faith - How Do We Begin Again?
Note: During the Season of Lent we are underway with the theme “Seeking: Honest Questions for Deeper Faith”, using a bundle of art, graphics, writing and other materials licensed by @sanctifiedart LLC. Their question for the second Sunday in Lent is: “How do we begin again?” In this sermon I interact with this question and the recent event known as the “Asbury Revival” reported as a potential spiritual “awakening.” The context for this sermon is our church’s annual meeting as we celebrate the events and accomplishments of 2022 and look ahead to 2023. During this sermon, John and Nate Strasser interact as Nate plays an original composition based on the Nicodemus story.
I believe this can be said with confidence: we are all looking for truths that bear up the weight of our lives. And in the flood of stories we hear sometimes - I am thinking today about spiritual stories - we don’t quite know which to take seriously. We don’t know which ones are entirely true. We don’t know which stories we should put the chips on and say “I’m all in.” There are some stories circulating out there and I want to talk about them for the next few minutes as I believe it has something to say about you and this church. And certainly it has something to say about me. Here’s the thing I find about ministry where I have the responsibility and the privilege to grapple with the Scripture to tell some truth about God. And where I try to tell some truth about the world. Only to realize in the process I am digging up the truest things I can say about myself.
One of the things is that, even at my age, I am still seeking.
A friend of mine who grew up in the Baptist Church calls something “unfermented wine” when you speak about something before youI have had the chance to fully process it and put it into practice. Unfermented wine: the need to let something sit before the wisdom is distilled. Reminds me of the men’s group tour recently to a bourbon distillery where the guide talked about the distillation process and then how the bourbon is casked and aged almost 3-4 years before it can be called a bourbon and not a whiskey. “It is not until then”, he said “that you know if anything is going to be even any good.” So today, there is some truth, but truth needs time. But then again, I - and you - have been distilling and processing life - and our faith - for some time.
Seeking - Honest Questions for Deeper Faith is our theme. We are hearing stories of Jesus encountering people who are seeking. Each person is seeking a new beginning, a different life, a deeper faith. Today’s question: “how do we begin again?” It is my question. It may be presumptuous for me to say it is your question, too.
It was what was driving Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a religious leader of the day who came to Jesus in the veil of night. What unfolds is an exchange filled with questions and explorations. Assumptions are disrupted. A new perspective is revealed. Mystery grows. His story prompts us to reflect about renewal and rebirth — and how we are spiritually transformed.
It was risky for Nicodemus to go to Jesus at night. It matters what time and location these stories occur. As a leader of Jewish law, Nicodemus holds beliefs that no longer align with the Kingdom of God Jesus embodies. If Nicodemus - a learned leader - if he gets caught visiting this country preacher Jesus, how will that look? What about his career and standing in the community? What made this feel so high stakes that he couldn’t just ask Jesus his questions directly during the daytime? What is underneath his questions? What risk is he trying to evade? When is seeking not safe? It’s vulnerable to look for something, to be unsure, to be in need, to feel like something is missing and to try to seek something without knowing where it will take you.
Remember Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, how she utters a made up word “curiouser.” Curiouser and curiouser” Alice exclaims as she experiences the rather perplexing occurrence of her body expanding like a telescope. Carroll uses this made-up word (curiouser) to describe a thing that is ever more curious, perplexing, or strange. That word describes Nicodemus - his life and his faith - when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth.
Nicodemus… 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.”
Interesting here is how Nicodemus “holds the question” about being born again. Often, we quickly dispense with something and move on to the next thing. Nicodemus holds the question of what it means to start over or to be born of the Spirit. Again; perhaps out of a yearning of what could be.
A couple of weeks ago I was atop Looking Glass Rock in the mountains of North Carolina. Hiking up, not rock climbing the face, mind you, of this iconic rock that stands just at 4,000 feet. Ascending for 2 hours, from a thick grove of rhododendron you come out on the exposed rock. The passageway calls to mind a metaphorical birth canal in Nicodemus’ and Jesus’ conversation. On the exposed rock we were met with bursts of 40 mile an hour winds.
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.”
On the way up I was talking with another guy, similar in age, about the ease with which we can fall into a kind of “stuckness” with Nicodemus. No matter the age. No matter the gender, people can feel a stuckness. Same with a church. On the way down I was thinking about the wind blowing; the story of Nicodemus; the tendency of all of us to feel a bit stuck and a yearning for a fresh start. Once I got my phone back after being on a no technology retreat I texted Nate and said can you write a song about Nicodemus and he texted back, “sure!” I texted Nate a poem by the Irish poet John O’Donahue called “For a New Beginning. Here is a portion of that poem:
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
At this point Nate introduces and plays the song. You can hear the song and the podcast episode that features this text and song at: https://www.ebpctn.org/music-word-hope-prayer
The most compelling words in the passage is “wind.” And “born of water and Spirit.” “What is born of the flesh is flesh,” said Jesus with more than a little irony, “what is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Everyone is born of both, flesh and spirit. The problem is that we forget. “Do not be astonished that I said to you,” Jesus reminded his friends, “‘You must be born from above’” (John 3:7). Jesus, the birthed one, is also the ever-birthing presence, calling new life from the womb of God into the world. Not once, but many times.
The Nicodemus story reminds me of a story that is happening that is intriguing and perhaps is a new beginning. Perhaps you know of the Asbury Revival. I am not ready to put all the chips on the table, but I am “curiouser.” If you missed this, what’s become known as the Asbury Revival, or Asbury Outpouring, began on February 8 when a group of students spontaneously stayed after chapel at Asbury University in Kentucky. That worship continued, 24/7, for two more weeks, until it was brought to a close by school officials because they did not have the infrastructure to support the thousands who would stand in line 8 hours to get into the chapel or the traffic jams that were created. In those two weeks thousands of people flooded campus, worship spread into neighboring buildings on campus and other schools across North America, and many, many words have been written as people tried to make sense of this phenomenon.
These alleged spiritual awakenings have ignited hope among many Christians, and suspicion. Some watching these events have asked: “How do we know this is a legitimate work of God?”Some have questioned if it was a real revival, or just a social media-fueled movement. Others said it was simply one more emotionally-charged, mountain-top experience that didn’t suggest true faith and was nothing more than nostalgia. Still others pointed out the presence of people with whom they disagree theologically as evidence that this couldn’t be Gospel-based.
The suspicion is understandable: In a nation where some white people have invoked Christ’s name to justify a drift toward neofascism, news of a “revival” on predominantly white Christian campuses raises eyebrows.
Few texts are more misquoted and misinterpreted this selection from John — and few have been more widely influential. Since the First Great Awakening in the 1740s, it has been a key passage for evangelical Christians, usually quoted in revivals to convince “unbelievers” to be “born again.” At the same time, the revival meetings of the Second Great Awakening are credited for their part in inspiring the abolitionist movement against chattel slavery. Some historians suggest the movement spurred many Americans to adopt “renewed morals, which centered around the idea that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. It’s not surprising, the criticism. In this day and age, any effort has its critics. I had my own questions and skepticism as I read and watched. But I share what Laura de Jong wrote: “ I don’t want my first instinct, when watching thousands of young people commit to hours of worship, to be skepticism. I want to be curiouser and curiouser. Because what if? What if the Holy Spirit is moving in real and powerful ways? What if this will be a transformative experience for hundreds or thousands of college students? What if these two weeks will bear fruit we can’t even imagine right now?”
We live in a culture that demands and values certainty. That theme was in last week’s theme shared in person and in the podcast. We want to know – is this bad or is it good – so we know where to land, know where to align ourselves, know how to move forward. The early church was riddled with a lot of uncertainty. New things were happening, new people were being included, some religious practices were being let go while new ones were being adopted. It was messy. And a bit chaotic. I imagine more than a few people were a little skeptical. If you have been watching the #1 streaming hit The Chosen about the ministry of Jesus in the midst of the milieu of Jewish Religious leaders, Rome, and the steady diet of street preachers and healers and false teachers, that is made clear. Messy, but the Spirit was moving. And God used the Church, mess and uncertainty and all. And when it comes to our worship of God, worship reminds us that we belong to a sovereign God, who calls us, not to certainty, but to awe; who does great things, miraculous things, new things in this world that God loves.
Present at Asbury was Robert Coleman, who was a professor of evangelism at Asbury Seminary for 27 years and he had something interesting to say about what Christians can do next after a revival. Now 94 years old, Coleman was at Asbury in 1950 when a revival broke out at the school and he was also at another famed Asbury revival in 1970. Interviewed by the Reformed Journal Coleman was quoted to say: “’Follow me,’ Jesus said; isn’t that simple? We can all understand it. You don’t have to go to a big university to know how to make disciples. You just follow Jesus.” Coleman explained that the best way people can bring lasting revival to their communities is to make disciples, as that was the last command Jesus gave his church.
I believe Robert Colemean is a wise elder and he has something to say to us Presbyterians - the frozen chosen - here at EBPC as he said:
“Don’t look around for a crowd; begin with the person next to you, who’s next door, or who you work beside,” he said. “Make a friend and continue to develop that friendship; that’s how we make disciples, by being together. Put your arm around them, love them, show them that you care for their soul.”
Good counsel for our actions outside and inside the walls of this church.
Friends: I think we could all stand to be open to that possibility. And open to the possibility that the Spirit is moving in real ways.
I want to be open to the wind of the Spirit blowing in my life and in the life of this church. As I think you might as well. Open to the possibility that God is bigger than our certainty. So often faith is portrayed as something you have or you don’t. You are strong in your faith, or you are knee-deep in doubt. One or the other. This black and white thinking fits with our society’s obsession with choosing sides. However, it doesn’t fit with our experience of faith. For us, faith is an experience of seeking - seeking God in the world. Seeking the good. Seeking a deeper truth. We seek our way through prayer. We seek our way into Scripture. Forever cobbling together memories, feelings, questions, and experiences, all in an effort to see God more clearly.
What is going to be the story of this church? This church is thirty plus years old. But there is no going back to a former time. In some ways, a new church is being born on this land where we have been for the last thirty years. There is only going forward, responsive to where the wind of the Spirit is taking us.