Can't Go Back to the Womb

“NICK AT NITE”
John 3:1-17
Faith United
February 17, 2008


I love stories, as you may have guessed by now
Stories are very powerful, in all forms
They can spark something alive in you
they can make you laugh or cry
they can make you understand
and they can also change your life
I love movies
Not all movies, of course
I’m very picky
I love movies with substance
movies that stay with you
maybe help you see things a little differently
I believe also, that like any good story,
God can speak through a movie
One of my all-time favorite movies
is “Dead Poets Society,” which came out in 1989
I graduated college in 1987
and for two years kind of wandered around
not knowing what to do with myself
I had a lot of jobs, typing and clerking
and made enough money to live on
Garth Brooks has a song that kind of sums up
what I felt during the late ‘80s
or my early twenties …
The song is “I’m Too Young To Feel This DARN Old”
At 22 and 23, I felt very old for my years
Looking back, I know that I was depressed
but no one wanted to use that word then
I grew up coloring inside the lines very carefully
I did everything as perfectly as possibly
because that was a big value in our family
especially being a preacher’s family
I was so good
I even went to a Christian college
and learned to speak their language
to say all the right things
so that I could fit in there
But at 23, I was tired and I felt old
Lots of things happened in 1989
but at the beginning of that summer
I was visiting a friend in Pittsburgh
when we went to go see “Dead Poets’ Society”
in the theatre
Dead Poets is one of Robin Williams’ best films
and maybe the first serious film he did
He plays a new teacher coming to teach at a very prominent
very prestigious boys’ prep school
in New England
The kids that attend that prep school are all from
very wealthy and successful families
and all of the boys are expected to go on from there
to Harvard or Yale
and to become doctors and lawyers
The school is founded on a long line of tradition and excellence
The boys wore coats and ties every day to class
Then this new teacher comes into this stuffy old place
named Mr. Keating
and he teaches poetry
Mr. Keating loves poetry
he loves it not just for reading, but for what it does to the soul
good poetry is something you take in to yourself
you can savor it, roll it around in your mouth
it can make you weep and laugh
it can enliven all your senses
Mr. Keating is very…. WEIRD
The boys are used to learning By the Book
and Mr. Keating demonstrates from the first day
that he is not one to color inside the lines
He shakes up their world
he gives them hope, he dares them to think about their dreams
he dares them to see beyond their books
to not only learn facts and figures and languages
but to learn how to truly LIVE life with passion
He stirs them up,
he gives them hope, he honors their dreams
he encourages them to listen to their deepest longings
Life is more than words on a printed page
and he dares them to take the time to dream
CARPE DIEM, is the most famous line from the movie
CARPE DIEM… which means in Latin, “Seize the Day.”
But one boy learned in a very tragic way
that the world doesn’t applaud you
when you chase after dreams
or when you color outside the lines
The world will try to squash your dreams
tell you they’re foolish and impractical
and the world will tell you to get back to the books
color carefully inside the lines
and do what is expected of you
even if it kills you inside
That movie shook me up
because I’d been coloring inside the lines all my life
doing what everyone expected me to do
and doing it as perfectly as I could
and yet at 23, I was depressed
Nicodemus colored very carefully inside the lines
and he was very successful for it
He was a Pharisee
a religious leader, highly respected,
reached the pinnacle of his profession in the community
he wore very fancy robes
he was a scholar, a leader, and he knew the law
He could recite God’s law inside and out
backwards and forwards
if the media tried to dig up some dirt on him
they’d be disappointed
he was squeaky clean
a pillar of the community
everybody knew his name
and hoped their children
would look up to him and aspire to his accomplishments
He was a part of the Establishment
The Beauracracy, we might call it
the People Who Ran Things
Who Made All the Decisions
and of course, the ones with all the money
to make things happen and to get in office
So, what was Nicodemus doing walking around at night
searching the campsites
for that troublemaker Jesus?
Nicodemus knew his friends would be appalled
that he was seeking out this man
but Nicodemus figured, well, if they found out,
he could just tell them, he wanted to learn more
he wanted to give this guy a chance to explain himself
to really know what the Establishment was dealing with
in this rebel preacher named Jesus
So Nicodemus came, carefully
at night, seeking out Jesus
Perhaps he had to ask around
ask people if they’d seen him and his friends
and where they were camping out
and he found him
Nicodemus respectfully approached Jesus at the campfire
He cleared his throat
and adjusted his robes as he sat down next to Jesus
Maybe they shook hands
“Teacher, Rabbi,” he said with all due respect,
“we know that you’re a teacher straight from God
No one could do all the God-pointing,
God –revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
Jesus looked at him and smiled
He knew that Nicodemus was saying what he thought he
should say, to get into conversation
Jesus knew that he was lying
He knew that the Pharisees did not believe
that Jesus was a teacher from God,
or that God had anything to do with
what Jesus was doing…
Maybe Nicodemus did, or was struggling with it
but Jesus knew that Nick’s friends did not share
his intrigue and curiosity
But he let it slide
Jesus said, “You’re right. Take it from me:
unless a person is born from above,
it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—
the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus cleared his throat
apparently they would skip all the niceties
and get to the meat of the conversation
Jesus was not one to beat around the bush
or make polite small talk
“Ok,” Nicodemus said,
“but how can anyone be born who has already been born
and grown up?
You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb
and be born again…
what are you talking about?”
Jesus said very politely but bluntly,
“You’re not listening.” and at first Nicodemus was taken aback
“Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to
this original creation—the wind hovering over the water creation
the invisible moving the visible,
a baptism, you might say, of new life
unless you go through that,
you can’t see or enter God’s kingdom.
Think about it,
when you look at a baby, you see a baby,
just a little body that you can look at and touch
but the person who takes shape within is formed
by something you can’t see or touch
the Spirit of God!
and that baby becomes a living spirit.”
Nicodemus’ mouth was hanging open
and when he noticed it, he shut it quickly
something in his heart was creaking open
something in his chest was fluttering
his pulse became a little quicker
Is this it? he wondered?
Is this what I’ve been hungering for?
Searching for in all those words on the page?
Is this that something more?
Maybe he shook his head to clear it
no, he was a respectable man
he couldn’t fall for this rebel’s preaching
he’d lose his job
he’d lose all the respect
he’d worked so hard to achieve
Jesus went on
“So don’t be surprised that I tell you that you have
to be born from above,
literally out of this world.
You know well enough
the wind blows this way and that
and you hear it rustling through the trees
you see the branches moving
but you have no idea where that wind comes from
or even where it’s going
Same way with the winds of the Spirit,
that’s the way it is when you’re born from above
by the wind of God, the spirit of God.”
Nicodemus felt a burning in his eyes
and an ache in his chest
He looked at his beautiful robes
the rings on his fingers
that all represented to him and to the community
the great success that he was
His reward for coloring inside the lines
doing what was expected of him
believing what he was told to believe
reading the words but never daring
to read between the lines
He saw Jesus in his cheap robe
probably handmade
he wore no rings, no symbols of status
he was living out here, outside
camping out with his friends
having no place to call his own
not having an office to go to
with his nameplate on the front
or his name on the door
and a great view of the city at the window
Nicodemus was torn
he knew Jesus was already in trouble
for stirring people up
he could only see it getting worse
People didn’t speak his language
they were afraid to color outside the lines
they were afraid of thinking and dreaming
and wondering
because that was all so unpredictable
unreliable
unpredictable, uncontrollable, you might say…. as the wind
Jesus smiled
“You’re a great teacher of Israel,
and yet you don’t know these basics?
Listen, I’m speaking of what I know from experience,
I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, I give witness to what I have seen
with my own eyes…”
And Jesus talked of a God who loved this crazy world
in all its messiness
like a mother loves a two year old
despite himself
He said how God sent Jesus into the world
not to condemn it, not to destroy it
but to give us a chance at a different way of life
to give us life, to save the world
he came to put the world right again
Nicodemus stared at the fire
his heart was stirred, empowered, enlivened
like it had never been before
but what would it cost him to follow his heart?
To dare to dream, to imagine, to believe
to seek, and to ride the winds of God
and see where it would take him?
Nicodemus got up, brushed off his robes
and stared at Jesus
Jesus stared back, looking at him
as if he could see the struggle and inner turmoil
in Nicodemus’ heart
Nicodemus simply nodded and disappeared into the night again
“How can this be?” Nicodemus remembered asking Jesus
and that question burned in his mind
and never left him
“How can this be?” the question haunted him
It took his breath away, every time he remembered that night
that conversation
the look in Jesus eyes that could see right into Nicodemus
but didn’t judge him, didn’t dismiss him
but, well, it felt like he loved him
Jesus was daring Nicodemus to trust him
when all of Nick’s friends were already wanting to
get rid of Jesus
To trust him, to believe him,
to turn his whole way of thinking and believing upside down
to ride the winds of faith
instead of dogmatic certainty
instead of black and white law
Carpe Diem, Nicodemus
Jesus could have told him
Seize the Day…
Do something you’ve never done before
pick up a color of crayon that you’ve never colored with before
do something that seems totally out of character for you
but something that deep in your heart
would give you absolute joy
You must be born from above
in order to see the Kingdom of God, Jesus was saying
and Mr. Keating was telling those kids
you won’t see real life
unless you look at things from a different perspective
from a different angle
and see the same things in a whole new light
The boys at that New England prep school
saw quite painfully what happens to people in this world
that color outside the lines
that dare people to dream a different dream
to see brighter colors
and to ride the wind
wherever it may take them
and so did the disciples
so did Nicodemus
the next time we hear of Nicodemus
he comes with spices to anoint the body of Jesus
after Jesus was killed
found guilty, in fact, by Nicodemus’ own colleagues
The world doesn’t rejoice
when someone marches to a different drum
or sees beautiful colors where the rest of the world
sees black and white
the world doesn’t celebrate with you
when you learn to dance
instead of shuffle through life
people are afraid of different
the world is not kind to different
the world is not kind to passion and dreams
and believing in the unbelievable
They tried to kill Jesus
and Nicodemus came forward out of the shadows
and much to the horror of his friends
he took care of Jesus body
gave it the proper care of the dead
Nicodemus did the work that was normally
the work of women
we don’t know what happened after that
we do know, of course,
that the world couldn’t kill Jesus
couldn’t stop his spirit from being let loose on the world
and creating more passionate dreamers
who believed in the unpredictable, uncontrollable
winds of God
that seek to change the world
But enough people were there
enough people felt the winds change after that
there were enough dreamers left
to feel the radical shift of the wind
that morning when Jesus was missing from the tomb
And the reason we’re all still here
telling this story
is because there were many willing to color outside the lines
to see beyond what we can see and touch
to see beyond the laws of this physical world
and to believe that God can even raise the dead
and those are the people who are blessed enough
to see the Kingdom of God
To see the hints of it everywhere
just waiting to burst forth and blossom
Someone said once that in order to be a Christian
you had to be somewhat of a poet
To be able to see beyond words, to see beyond black and white
and see all the colors waiting to burst forth
out of a seemingly dead and dark world
that’s the Spirit of God
that cannot be controlled or contained
we are people born of water and the Spirit
born of the waters of baptism and the Spirit of God
who transforms physical bodies
into living spirits that will never die
but that will finally get to see the Kingdom of God
in all its fullness
if we’re willing to be born again
born not by the flesh
but of the spirit, a process that takes a lifetime
and can only be described
in good poetry
Ride the wind,
it’s a crazy ride,
and you’ll definitely be windswept
and tossed about a bit
but it’s a life that God calls all of us to live
feeling the changing winds against our faces
blowing right through our hearts
and leading us home
Carpe Diem