June 7, 2009

Of all the books, chapters and verses of the bible, I bet that John 3:16 is the most prolific today, and plays the most a prominent role in our popular culture. We see evangelical fans holding up a John 3:16 sign at most all sporting events.

What is this scripture about? We are very publicly offered this enigmatic set of a name and numbers, and receive it with the feeling that their self-evident truth should automatically be clear to each of us.

I remember when I first saw it as a young person, I had to go and get a bible to read what it said:

For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Child, so that everyone who believes in that Child may not perish but may have eternal life.

Hmm. Okay, but why a football game?

When the meaning of this scripture is explained to us by some of our brothers and sisters of faith, we are told that this scripture is about saving our souls from eternal damnation. Unless each one of us accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, we will perish, or so goes this interpretation. Pity, those billions and billions of poor unfortunate souls in our world who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior! It's easy to see why some with that interpretation would feel moved to hold up a sign for the cameras at a sporting event with millions of viewers; they don't want to see all those billions of innocent people burn.

I believe that, like Nicodemus' misunderstanding of Jesus' message in today's story, this Jesus-as lord-only interpretation of scripture is missing the point, big time. I find it ironic that those who hold that interpretation are making the same mistake that Nicodemus makes just a few verses before John 3:16.

In this story, we have Jesus arguing with Nicodemus, a famous religious thinker of his day. We remember that in John Nicodemus is one of the few supporters of Jesus among the other Pharisees of the Temple.

Early in Jesus' ministry the Pharisees unsuccessfully sought to have Jesus arrested by the temple police, but Jesus and the crowd with him rebuffed them. Upon the return of the police the temple priests tell them they should go back and try again to arrest Jesus, but Nicodemus, also on the court, defends Jesus, saying that he has done nothing wrong.

Also, later on, after Jesus has been put to death, Nicodemus helps and advocates for Joseph of Arimathea to recover Jesus' corpse to prepare it for a proper burial in Joseph's family tomb.

So this man, although he's a Pharisee, sees Jesus as an important prophet and teacher. Nicodemus comes to Jesus seeking truth and understanding and he recognizes the godliness of Jesus. But Jesus admonishes Nicodemus, because it's clear he does not fully understand and take seriously Jesus' message.

Nicodemus can't get past the godliness of Jesus. The real teaching for Nicodemus and for us in this scripture, I think, is not merely the godliness of Jesus.

Many of us read Peter Gomes' book a couple of months back, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. In it, Gomes said,

"Early on in their theological studies, seminarians learn that Jesus who came preaching, became the preached. It is adequate but not sufficient to say that Jesus is the gospel or the good news. That is true, but it is not all there is to the matter. Those who heard Jesus preaching and teaching heard him give specific utterance to a point of view that he himself called glad tidings. He came preaching not himself but something to which he himself pointed, and in our zeal to crown him as the content of our preaching, most of us have failed to give due deference to the content of his preaching."

Yes, the real kernel of truth in this scripture?what Jesus is pointing us towards, I think?is the salvation...or the repair of the world. And he is calling each of us to have an experience of the divine?of the Holy Spirit?so that we might be transformed and recognize that we are agents of that salvation.

Here in this scripture, we are invited through Jesus to experience God in a new way. Today, together with our brothers and sisters in churches around the world, we celebrate Trinity Sunday, where we reflect on what it means to experience and worship a triune God. Our liturgical color for the trinity is white?like the dove in scripture representing the Holy Spirit.

We experience the God of creation?the one who created the world and each one of us. In our sacred scriptures we read that we were created in God's image. This is the God who continues creating the universe every single day.

The fruit of God's creation is all around us. I invite you to look around you right now, and take in part of God's creation gathered right here in this place.

Take a look at the beauty! Marvel at the diversity in your midst, and the complexity of the human body, the intelligence, the playfulness, the generosity, the joy present in this room. Take in the quirkiness and amazing individual expression of God's unfathomable intelligence and grace.

I invite you, for just a few moments, to find a person sitting near you, look into the eyes of the other person, and see and feel the presence of God right now.

I invite you to turn to that neighbor, and say, "Neighbor...you are a Child of God! Fearfully and wonderfully made...by the hands of the Creator. You are good!"

And say it like you mean it!

I like to think of our creation in this world as original grace. God's goodness is first extended to us in our very creation and existence in this time and place.

God the creator, that's one part of the Trinity?one way we experience the divine.

But I also experience God through Jesus. In this scripture God is revealed to us through this person born in a manger 2000 years ago.

Jesus, a human man who came among us and walked this earth in history, taught us to open ourselves up to God's Holy Spirit that we might be born again to love one another as we love ourselves. And that we might love one another as Jesus loved his disciples and each one of us.

The Jesus of Matthew 25 reveals God's nature to us. "When you cared the least of my brothers and sisters, the sick, the thirsty, the hungry, the imprisoned, the naked, you did it also to me."

When I think about the Jesus of Matthew 25, I always think of the thirsty, hungry and sick migrants crossing the brutal heat of the Arizona desert. They are embodying that love of Jesus as they seek to provide food, clothing and more for their children and families in need. And I think of the people of faith who have made the Jesus of Matthew 25 a rallying call to offer themselves and embody that love of Jesus to migrants in need.

Every day, literally thousands of people are walking across the border. Since 1994, between 3-5,000 people have died attempting to cross. The journey is several days long. The heat is unbearable, and it is physically impossible to carry the amount of water that medical professionals say you need on a journey of 3-4 days through that kind of heat. Perhaps nowhere is it more clear that water is an appropriate symbol for God as source of life.

And each day there are dozens of people of faith who place water bottles on high-traffic trails for migrants who are crossing the border on foot. Each time they go, they place dozens of gallons of water in these areas, and the next day when they go back, the water is gone, taken by desperately thirsty people who have been walking in the searing heat for 2-3 days. Although these people from this side of the border go into the desert with dozens of water bottles to leave on these trails, they come back with dozens more empty bottles and other trash that the migrants leave behind.

Last year my friend Dan was arrested by the Border Patrol, and this year my friend Walt was arrested by the border patrol. Both had been placing water bottles and picking up trash on the wildlife refuge and were charged with littering.

On Tuesday, Walt was convicted in federal court in Tucson. He'll be sentenced August 1st, and he faces one year of jail time and up to $10,000 in fines. His crime: giving water to those who are thirsty. But he's committed to challenging the courts' decision and continuing to give water to those who thirst. Walt told a reporter, "Humanitarian aid is never a crime."

This is what Jesus of the Trinity revealed to us in Matthew 25 and throughout his ministry and time in this world?God's love for God's people and world?and that we are to love one another, and participate in the salvation of our world, even when the authorities and powers that be try to stop us.

Another way we experience God is in the Holy Spirit. On Friday night I had a sacred moment of the spirit. My wife Alli and I went out to Ventura to meet up with Max and Drew, two of our friends from seminary who were on the Aids Lifecycle, their 8th or 9th time. This event, which has happened every year for the past 15 or more years, seeks to end the pandemic and human suffering caused by AIDS. Each year it raises money both to fund research to cure HIV/AIDS and to care for those living with the disease. To do that, cyclists ride 541 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles with sponsorships of $3000 or more each.

On Friday, they arrived to the beach park in Ventura. Over dinner, these two friends in their mid-fifties reflected on their early experiences of loss on a massive scale when the disease first hit their community in San Francisco in the 1980s. They talked about losing good friends like Cory and Ed and Tom. Max told us how he found out that his friend Ed was HIV positive. One night in the early nineties, when they were on vacation together with Ed and Tom, Ed's AZT alarm went off in the middle of the night. It woke Max up with a jolt, and he sat awake for hours thinking about it. A few years later, Ed and Tom were gone.

After dinner, we went back to the beach, where three to four thousand riders, roadies, and their families were gathering for their annual AIDS Lifecycle candlelight vigil.

We picked up candles under a tent, lit them, and walked out to the beach in a long, silent procession. There were no words. There was no music. Just thousands and thousands of people holding candles in the dark. There was no planned ritual or service, but people formed a massive ring and sat looking at one another in silent contemplation. Then, one by one, people began getting up, walking over to the lapping wave, and standing silently facing the open ocean. I thought of our text last week?the tongues of fire resting on each of us. For me, it was a deeply moving, transformational experience. It touched me and lit a fire in me to be a part of this work to find a cure.

This year they raised more than $10 million for this work. Before they started this effort, friends like Ed would die within a few years or months while on drugs with limited affect. Now, although we are still a ways off from a cure to this devastating disease, thanks to the research done with money raised by these riders and thanks to the greater public attention and awareness, people in this country living with HIV and AIDS have at least a shot at survival.

That night I experienced God as the Holy Spirit, because I opened myself up and to allow transformation. This is perhaps the scariest of all ways to experience God, because it can feel so out of control. I don't know what will happen or where I'll go after getting involved in this work. That's the nature of Holy Spirit?we never know where it's going to take us. But that's God's grace at work in the world in us?through the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God for these three ways of experiencing God. May we see God's presence in one another, be open to experiencing Jesus' love among us, and open to receiving the Holy Spirit, for transformation of ourselves and our world. Amen!