"From Whence Comes the Wind?" - John 3:1-17 - February 24, 2002

One time I visited a lady in the hospital and she was very troubled about a visit she had from a hospital chaplain. He had asked her if she had been "saved" or if she had ever been "born again." This lady was very prim and proper, a devout Christian who would rarely miss worship. She read her Bible, taught a Sunday School class and had been active in her church her entire life. The man’s question puzzled her. She couldn’t recall a particular event in her life where she truly had a "born again experience." She grew up in the church and as far back as she could remember she had always been a person of faith.

There are numerous churches who make it a common practice to talk about their "born again" experiences. Many encourage it. In fact, for some it is a rite of passage. If it works for some and helps to build the kingdom of God, fine. But, for those of us who grew up in one of the mainline denominations; Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or United Church of Christ, etc., it is not part of our tradition. Quite honestly, it has been my experience that we don’t even attempt to understand it.

Nicodemus didn’t understand either. The idea of a spiritual rebirth was completely foreign to his understanding of the faith. All he knew was to play by the rules, be faithful and observe his religious laws. Of course he misunderstood what Jesus meant. Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical rebirth. He was speaking of a spiritual rebirth. Instead of logical answers, Jesus gives him a mystery. One must be born of the "water and the spirit." And then, Jesus goes on to say, "don’t get all excited about this, because it is not something you can explain."

So if Jesus said its not something we can explain or something we should worry about why is it so important to some to know the exact hour and place they were "born again" or "saved?" Jesus doesn’t focus on experiences. Jesus focuses on our fruit. After Jesus says "that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16), he goes on to say that "he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (John 3:21) It seems to me that "believing" and "deeds" are inseparable.

As you know I am a sailor. There is nothing like sailing, feeling the power of the wind against your face, watching the wind fill the sail, moving across the water with no sound of an engine. Every time I sail I am truly amazed because I am being moved by something I can’t see nor explain. If you’ve ever sailed on Lake St. Mary’s you know the wind can change directions at any moment. What may seem like a predictable course can be changed in an instant. Like Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes."

The Bible is full of references to the wind. In the creation story, God moved the wind (or spirit) over the waters and created something out of nothing. When God created Adam, he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." In Ezekiel, (Chapter 37), God "caused breath" to enter the dry bones and give them new life. Jesus is baptized by the Holy Spirit and thus commissioned to begin his ministry. At Pentecost there was "a sound that came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind."

I believe Jesus is saying that the process of being born again is not something to be explained, nor do you know just how and when it happens. By using the metaphor of the wind Jesus says it just comes out of nowhere. The new life Jesus promises doesn’t compute with the structured world of Nicodemus. Therefore Nicodemus is skeptical of the whole concept. "How can this be?" he asks.

How can this be? It can’t, especially when we are unwilling to be sensitive to the creative spirit of God who can shape, form, move, intervene and transform us at anytime from any direction. Rebirth, newness or change can come in a variety of ways.

For example, I know of a woman who was doing dishes and peering out her kitchen window when a feeling of calm and peace came over her. She felt closer to God at that moment then at any other time in her life. It was a very common, everyday experience. It wasn’t dramatic, nor could she explain it. It changed her, however in the sense that from then on she trusted God more than she had in the past. And, she was at peace about who she was as a person and her life of service to the church. For her, this was a "born again" experience.

Recently I worked hard all week long on a sermon. It was all written, organized and accurately reflected what I wanted to say. But, when Saturday evening came I still wasn’t satisfied with how to present it. I believed every word but I wasn’t sure it would connect with my listeners. I decided to "sleep on it." I felt that I was trying to hard and in the morning I could review it and perhaps have a fresh approach. In the middle of the night some ideas came to me. I was so motivated by the ideas that I awoke, went to my desk and wrote some notes. Twenty minutes later I went back to bed and awoke at my regular time. Somehow, in the middle of the night it came to me. My sermon was "reborn."

In her sermon, Luminous Darkness, Patricia De Long, First Congregational Church of Berkley, said "To be willing to be born anew means that we preserve a place for the mysterious in our lives, and that we live with soft souls which are willing to be changed." For me, to be changed, means to be healed. Have you ever noticed that a Bandaid has holes in it? The bandage compresses the wound to stop the bleeding, but air needs to get through to heal.

As Jesus is teaching Nicodemus he includes a reference to Moses. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up." God instructed Moses to make a seraph (a serpent of bronze) and place it on a pole as an antidote to snake bites. The serpent had the power to heal for anyone who looked at it. In the same way Jesus had to be placed on the cross to heal us. How that happens is a mystery. But by believing in Jesus we believe in the power of healing and forgiveness. It is not something we can do for ourselves. It is a gift, one which like the wind, blows new life into us and consequently makes us "born again."

We are "born again" when we put our trust in God instead of our own resources. We are "born again" when we are open to the possibility that the spirit of God can come at any moment. We are "born again" when we believe in Jesus as the source of our healing. We are born again when instead of fearing the wind we embrace it and allow ourselves to be moved by it.

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." But the farmer liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse hand been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor has been moved into the garage. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well.

The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace.

My lady in the hospital could sleep in peace too. She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t have to respond to the man’s question as to whether or not she was "born again." Through her faithfulness over the years she was prepared to face whatever storm she faced. The wind of God had directed and moved her life in the past and it would continue to give her new life in the present.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio