Born again

Some Christians call themselves ‘born again’ Christians. They may be thinking of the story of when Nicodemus the Pharisee came to Jesus by night, bringing his questions, and Jesus told him ‘No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again’. Perhaps we are so used to the phrase ‘born again’ that it becomes just religious language.

On Sunday we had this reading in church, and the Vicar, Nick, asked people what words came to mind when they thought about birth. It was the women who spoke out… They said things like ‘agony’, and ‘terror’ and ‘excitement’.

Human birth is often frightening, noisy, messy, and painful. It is traumatic – for the mother – and the father maybe – and for the baby. The baby has to leave somewhere they have lived for 9 months – somewhere safe, and comfortable, where all their needs are automatically met. They are forced out into a very different world – into a different element – into something very new.

I wonder whether babies would choose to be born if they were given the choice! But we know that it is only through being born that they can grow, and develop, and experience the world and learn. This is the only way that they can have relationships, and become fully themselves, and make a difference to the world. I came across this yesterday:

Each birth is a revolution, whether it happened a thousand years ago or takes place today; with each birth the world becomes new.

So when Jesus talks about being born again, this is not a cosy image or a religious badge – it is an invitation to something which will be difficult, and perhaps painful, and which will lead to a way of being in the world that will be radically different – a new way of seeing and experiencing things – new possibilities for development and growth – new opportunities for relating to others and making a difference – a revolution.

No wonder that Nicodemus is a bit taken aback. And we may be unsure as well. The kingdom of God opens up huge possibilities for us, but ‘it costs not less than everything’.

Some people talk about the day and the hour when they were born again as Christians. I think for most of us being born again is an ongoing process. Jesus calls us again and again to become open to the wind of the Spirit, to reengage with our inner journey, to go deeper.

I picked up this saying by a monk called Thomas Merton in a church in Stroud last Saturday:

Our real journey in life is interior: it is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts.

This is the invitation that Jesus gave to Nicodemus, and that he gives to us – keep on letting yourselves be born again, through God’s grace. It will not be easy, but it will lead to a fuller, richer, deeper life with him and in him – a revolution which can make us and the world new.

If you happen to have a marble, hold it in your hand now, or you may like to imagine holding one…

This may be an image for us of the first beginnings of life, in the womb…

…the smallness, the vulnerability

…the potential – the growth and change that this life will hopefully see

…the movement through birth into all the possibilities ahead

We were once this small – we grew and change, and eventually we were born into the world.

Give thanks for your beginnings and your growth, for the one who carried you and gave birth to you, the person who have grown to become and the life which you have lived.

This may also be an image of the life of the Spirit within us – the life of God – full of potential – ready to be born into our lives again and again – inviting us to growth and change,

Give thanks for the life of the Spirit in you, and offer yourself to be born anew into all that Jesus has for you, into the fullness of his life and his love.