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“Nicodemus Comes at Night”

Scripture: John 3:1–21 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...) Will you pray a prayer with me. Lord help us to believe that our words and prayers have life of their own in you. May our time of worship be a testament to you, that in all that we do . . . and in all that we fail to do . . . we might be known to you . . . and you to us right here, and right now — for you are our rock and we are your people, and you are our tower and we are your vision, and you are our redeemer and we are your hope. In your name we pray, Amen. I want to begin today’s sermon meditation by naming a few things: I love this church. Amazing things happen here. I feel privileged to have grown up in this church, and I feel doubly privileged to get to be a part of it again as an adult now raising a child in this church — if it ever stops snowing on Sundays! I love the people of this church. Both here in the sanctuary this morning and hunkered down at home. I love the people who come to the church every week and the people who cross the thresholds of this building only occasionally for special occasions — yesterday we had over 75 people come and donate blood here in the church hall. The drive was dedicated to the memory of Seekonk resident Bob McKenna whose friends and family have remembered Bob for each of the past twelve years by donating blood in his honor.1 (#a9a7ec55-ad0f-406c-a6aa-f0ab30f5a746) We raise up Bob today, as well, and pray for his wife Karen, and the generous community who came out for them. There isn’t a much better symbol than a blood drive like this for what’s best about humanity — that we would contribute parts of ourselves to others in the hope that other people, who we don’t even know and will never know, can have life and health in abundance. If we could apply these same principles to all parts of life, how different would our world be? It’s a selfless love. We see this type of love in the seven clergy members from the Southern New England Conference of United Church of Christ who traveled to Minneapolis this week to attend an interfaith solidarity training on Thursday, and then a day of advocacy on Friday.2 (#0863343a-f3ac-4a50-b6f0-d28a3e46c948) These ministers didn’t have any special personal connections to Minneapolis, except that people in Minnesota asked faith leaders from around the country to come be with them in a show of faithful solidarity, and many people answered the call to be with strangers in need. My prayer is that these bonds will expand and help to hold the heaviness and the hurting as more people are killed in the city of George Floyd. We see selfless love in the Good Neighbors Food Pantry and all the volunteers who help to feed anyone who needs food. My prayer is that these bonds of support will expand to hold the heaviness and the hurting. We see selfless love in the local organizations like the East Providence Senior Center who open their doors as warming centers so that any unhoused person or anyone who loses their heat during extreme weather might not be left without options when things become dire. My prayer is that these bonds of support will expand to hold the heaviness and the hurting. We even see selfless love in Nicodemus, a powerful religious figure, like a U.S. Senator of his time, who goes at night to talk with Jesus at night so that he won’t be noticed. Nicodemus is no real friend of Jesus at first — he’s probably just curious to meet the person that everyone has been talking about who turns water into wine and who chases moneychangers out of the temple. We might say that these two are from different parties, and they’re talking past each other. Nicodemus thinks very literally and asks an awkward question about the impossibility of being born from a womb twice when Jesus is talking about the figurative experience of spiritual rebirth. They just see the world differently. But out of their awkward, secret, unlikely conversation, Jesus has an opportunity to share his wisdom — to some, this wisdom is considered the most famous line of scripture, “for God so loved the world that he have his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but may have eternal life.” This beautiful statement stands on the twin pillars of belief and eternal life. Believe in Jesus and have eternal life. Jesus says, simply, that belief is another word for being in relationship with Jesus — when you find a way to live with Jesus at the center of your life, the result is eternal life — with eternal life being an existence through the never-ending Christ who John says was present at the moment of creation and will exist forever. This sounds like tricky philosophy, but it’s this basic statement of who Jesus say that he is — he is a pathway into eternity if only we can find a way to know, and love, and accept, and be with him. Jesus says relate to...