This is a rich and complex Gospel we are given for our consideration today. We have this wonderful account of Nicodemus coming to Jesus to ask him some questions. We have this very convoluted conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus that develops into a monologue by Jesus that has all to do with being born completely and radically new, being born a second time, being born from above, all of which Nicodemus does not get, and if our society's usage of this phrase "born again" is any indication, the majority of Christianity does not get it either.

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church issued a "Lenten message" the day before Ash Wednesday in which she said "The Church gradually took on the discipline of Lent in solidarity with those preparing for baptism at the evening service of the Easter Vigil. That preparation work has traditionally been summarized as prayer and study, fasting and almsgiving....The ancient understanding of prayer, study, fasting and almsgiving shapes the lives we lead. Each of us is baptized into a life of relationship with God (prayer), relationship with self on behalf of others (study and fasting), and relationship with all the rest of creation (almsgiving). Lent provides a regular opportunity to tune up our Christian life and relationships, with each other and with God." Tuning up through these Lenten disciplines.  

When I was growing up, some of you may know, in a relatively strict Roman Catholic household, I always thought of Lent as a four letter word: one I would rather not hear, use or participate in...kind of like the word...work. There was a running joke in my family. Just before Ash Wednesday my father would always ask us, as we sat around the dinner table, what we were going to give up for Lent. Mom would tell us what she was giving up and each of the boys would say something (chocolate, soda, candy, ice cream...something). Then my father would pause and not say anything and one of us would ask him, well, Dad, what are you giving up? And he would reply "cigars and opera". Now, my father didn't smoke cigars and hated the opera. I do not think this is the kind of thing the Presiding Bishop was talking about.

What the Presiding Bishop is talking about when she says that Lent provides a regular (yearly) opportunity for us to tune up our Christian life and relationships includes not only prayer, study, fasting and almsgiving, as disciplines, but perhaps doing something differently: approaching life situations with a less jaded eye. Last Sunday, at the 5:00 Taize Eucharist service, we had the usual panoply of people: regulars, occasional visitors, newcomers (always more and more newcomers at that service), the musicians and vocalists. At that service I noticed a man sitting in the back row, with a leaflet, but who was not in anyway participating in the service. He had that look of a homeless individual and the first thought that came into my mind as I saw him was, "he's going to ask me for money". Well the service concluded, and Greg DuRoss (our homilist last week) and I went downstairs to greet people as they left the service. And as I suspected, as this individual came down the stairs and shook my hand, he asked "could I speak with you please?" I told him of course, asked him to have a seat in the Guild Room while I finished greeting people and that I would be with him in a moment. He went and got his coat, a wheelie bag that was just crammed full of stuff, as well as a weathered bag that seemed to be bursting with papers.