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Introduction to Worship for 3/12/2017

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Glimpses of Grace

A man in Hawaii was lost at sea, alone, in a boat. When he made it back to shore after several days afloat, he exclaimed that he found his way back by watching at night—the sky was filled with stars, but the pure darkness ahead he knew was land, and he moved towards it. Too often we reject the dark as a place where life can be revealed and yet, for Nicodemus, it is a meeting with Jesus at night that offers him the chance of transformation.

John 3:1–17

Nicodemus, a learned scholar, a man who studied and thought he knew the Jewish law, goes under cover of night to visit Jesus. “We know you are a teacher who has come from God,” Nicodemus declares. Yet the fact that he has visited at night can suggest he is unsure.

Jesus challenges him with several new images: one must be born again (or anew, or from above—the Greek is enticingly ambiguous). Does this mean only once? The text does not imply that, and so we are left wondering if Jesus rather means we can start over (the meaning of “repent”) many times, that rebirth is something that happens frequently with God.

Secondly, Jesus points out that God’s spirit/wind/ breath (again, the Greek is ambiguous) blows where it will—we cannot stop it, nor can we see it, but we certainly see and know what it does.

Lastly, Jesus points out that he must be lifted up, just as Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness. In that story, the people of Israel were told to look at the image of a snake, the thing they feared and which was destroying them, as a means of overpowering it. Perhaps, Jesus is suggesting that by facing even his persecution and death, we can overcome death and find new life. If we looked at symbolic crosses on churches and in other places as being representations of a method of torture and execution, this story perhaps comes home in a new way.

The closing verses are almost too well-known in our culture, and are sometimes used in a contradictory way to what would seem to be their intent. The statement that whoever believes will have eternal life does not imply that those who do not believe will not have eternal life. This wonderful statement of inclusion of all who follow Christ must never be seen as condemning those who do not.
• • • • • 
Sometimes it is in those moments when we are most timid that God reveals new insights to us. It is when we dare to open ourselves to uncertainty that God provides answers. What does it feel like to admit that you do not have all the answers? What does it feel like to step out into the dark, wondering what God might have in store for you?

Connecting with life

Wilderness can be a wild place filled with brambles, tangled branches, and wild animals. It can also be a desert, endless sand seemingly devoid of life. “Wilderness” can also happen in the middle of the ocean. Look at the image Fish Boat with Net.


  • Do you find this image comforting or disturbing?
  • Imagine for a moment that you are on that boat. Would you like to stay, or would you want to head for shore?
  • If you were heading for shore, what might help guide you?
  • What if the navigational tools you are used to using were not available to you – what else might you use?

Scripture

In all this week’s scripture readings, people seem to get glimpses of grace, but only by venturing forth. Nicodemus goes out at night to meet with Jesus.

  • What do you think is the reason Nicodemus went out at night?
  • What might Nicodemus have been wanting to learn?
  • How do you think Jesus’ answers might have sat with Nicodemus?

We encounter God’s love and grace through Jesus. Faith invites us to make that affirmation our own. Place yourself in the shoes of Nicodemus.

  • What questions or affirmations would you bring to Jesus?
  • In what ways have you experienced birthing to new life, or life from above?

“John 3:16” is often displayed at sporting events and other public venues, which would suggest that it is being shared as an amazing statement of good news for all people. However, some have taken from the text an opposite meaning, hearing it say “those who do not believe in Jesus will not have eternal life.”

  • How does this verse take on a different meaning when read with John 3:17?
  • How can this be good news for all people?
  • Where in these two verses do we glimpse grace?

Connecting scripture and life

When we step out, we can find glimpses of grace (God’s undeserved favor).

  • Are glimpses enough for you, or do you need more?
  • How can mere glimpses sustain us, in the world in which we live?
  • How can we, as individuals and as church, help those glimpses of grace to grow?

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