Worship
for the Lord’s Day
March 14,
2021
A Note before we begin
this day’s worship:
The positivity rate continues to drop and the overall
trajectory is definitely headed in the right direction. We are anxiously awaiting a return to public
in-person worship beginning on Palm Sunday – March 28. Please plan to join us with our previous
safety precautions in place – wearing masks, using hand sanitizer when you
arrive at the church as well as if you’ve touched various surfaces in the
church, and being physically distant from one another.
Our music, for the next few weeks, will be YouTube clips as
I had done before our current organist was recording music.
Let’s begin:
Prelude
J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue in C Major
Call to Worship
Great Triune God, we
call upon Your great name in a time of worship as an act of faith, believing
that You are not only with us, but that You love us. It is often difficult to recognize Your love,
see Your mercy, and feel Your presence.
Although we still worship You apart from one another, help us as we
worship, that we might be transparent to Your grace, as You reveal Yourself to
each one of us. AMEN.
Hymn Hallelujah, What a Savior
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy and
patience, be with us this day as we celebrate Your steadfast love for us. Remind us again that our lives are meant to
be gifts to others for healing, hope, comfort, peace, and love. The gifts we give – both of ourselves and our
monetary gifts, go to help others in need.
Forgive us when we get so caught up in the details of living and when we
become so overwhelmed by our current economic woes that we neglect to help
others. Enlighten us again with Your
spirit and Your words of healing love.
Caring and sharing are the hallmarks of discipleship with Your son,
Jesus. Heal and forgive us. Give us hearts for joyful caring and sharing;
for it is in His name, we offer this prayer.
AMEN
Words of Assurance
Hear now the living
truth of God: God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world might be saved through Him.
Those who believe in Him are not condemned, but shall have life
everlasting. AMEN
Affirmation of Faith – from A Brief Statement
of Faith.
We trust in Jesus
Christ, fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the
reign of God:
preaching good news to
the poor and release to the captives,
teaching by word and
deed and blessing children,
healing the sick and
binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to
repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for
blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of
human pain
and giving his life for
the sins of the world.
God raised this Jesus
from the dead,
vindicating his sinless
life,
breaking the power of
sin and evil,
delivering us from
death to life eternal.
With believers in every
time and place,
we rejoice that nothing
in life or in death
can separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Alleluia. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
The days grow longer, Lord.
The sun’s rays are higher in the sky bringing more light to our
world. Warmth begins to flood over the
colder portions of our nation. Let the
warmth of Your mercy and love pour over us.
As we celebrate the good news that You have given to the world, remind
us that it is our purpose to offer that same good news to others, not only in
words but in deeds of love and mercy, peace and justice. We lift up to You the names of those we love,
situations which have been heavy on our hearts for Your healing mercies, remind
us also that we stand in need of that self same healing love. As we also pray for ministries of peace and
justice and for those engaged in those wondrous missions, remind us that we are
also on a journey of peace and justice whenever we offer comfort and aid to
others. Continue to walk this Lenten
Journey toward Jerusalem with us. Give
us hearts of great joy and courage to serve You all our days.
This day, we offer up
in prayer…
Our Father, who art in
heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn What Wondrous Love Is This
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Psalm
107:1-3, 17-22
1O give
thanks to the Lord,
for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
2Let the
redeemed of the Lord say
so, those he redeemed from trouble
3and
gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and
from the south.
17Some
were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities endured
affliction;
18they
loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
19Then
they cried to the Lord in
their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
20he sent
out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.
21Let
them thank the Lord for
his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.
22And let
them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.
New Testament: John 3:1-21
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the
Jews. 2He came to
Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has
come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the
presence of God.” 3Jesus answered
him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being
born from above.” 4Nicodemus said
to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second
time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the
kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the
Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be
astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of
it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you
do not understand these things? 11“Very truly, I
tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do
not receive our testimony. 12If I have told
you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell
you about heavenly things? 13No one has
ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life. 17“Indeed, God
did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do
not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name
of the only Son of God. 19And this is
the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the
light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it
may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
Sermon –
(based
on John 1:1-21)
Nicodemus was a member of the Who’s
Who of Jerusalem described in John as both a Pharisee and a member of the
Sanhedrin. We encounter Nicodemus for
the first time in today’s scripture reading from John. But he is also mentioned two other
times. The second time we meet him is in
chapter 7 of John during the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin where he
suggests to the assembly that they cannot judge Jesus, rightly or wrongly, before
allowing him to have a hearing before them.
And the last time we have any reference to Nicodemus was towards the end
of John in chapter 19 after Jesus is killed, he approaches the disciples with an
expensive gift of nearly 100 pounds of spices to anoint Jesus’ body for
burial. But before we go too far we
should probably talk a little bit about the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the
Scribes and the Sanhedrin.
After
the Roman occupation of Israel around 60-70 years before Christ was born, there
was an internal struggle among the Jews between two major religious sects, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, as well smaller entities such as the Essenes and
the Revolutionaries, who were better known as the Zealots. All of these groups were both political and
religious in nature aside from the Essenes who were not political at all, but
only a religious sect of Judaism.
Now, we
tend to think of rabbis as religious leaders in the Jewish faith and priests as
religious leaders in Christianity.
However, these were both distinct roles within Judaism in the time of
Christ. Rabbis were the teachers of the Jewish
faith in local synagogues. They often
had other occupations as well. They
weren’t exactly like clergy, as we tend to view them now, but rather more like
well educated lay theologians. Most of
the rabbis were Pharisees. Priests, on
the other hand, had to be direct descendants of Aaron, who was Moses’
brother. They worked in the Temple in
Jerusalem, were paid by the temple and had enormous wealth as descendants of
Aaron. The priests also led the worship
life of the Hebrew people. Most of the
priests were Sadducees.
Although
both the Pharisees and the Sadducees were elite and pious in their outward
dealings as religious and political men, the Pharisees were looked up to by the
populace, while the Sadducees were only interested in the power and influence
of the wealthy. In addition, they had
extremely different points of view when it came to religion and politics. One might say that the Pharisees were the
liberals of their day and the Sadducees were the conservatives.
Specific
members of both groups made up the council of the Sanhedrin, which was the
political and religious body that made decisions for Jerusalem, Judea and the
Jewish people. Now, although the Scribes
are not mentioned in our reading today, we often come across that name as well
when we read about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Scribes were not a political or religious
party on their own, but rather preserved the law as professional students of
the law and were its defenders. They
oversaw the observances of the law. They
were also the originators of the service at the Temple. And several scribes were also members of the
Sanhedrin.
John,
the author of the gospel, describes Nicodemus in today’s reading as a member of
the Pharisees, which meant that he was a rabbi, an elite lay theologian and
political leader. If it’s difficult to
exactly understand the role of Nicodemus or the Pharisees, think of him and them
more like one of our own ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church that have dedicated
themselves, not only to their own profession, but also to the studying and
living out of every jot and tittle of Jewish religious law for the Hebrew
people. John also goes on to say that Nicodemus
was one of the leaders of the Jews. This
meant that he was not only a Pharisee, but also a member of the Sanhedrin.
Nicodemus
came because of all that had been going on; the miracle at the wedding in Cana,
the dramatic cleansing of the Temple of the moneychangers, all of his teachings
that had gotten him a reputation, and all the signs and wonders that he was
performing which had gotten him quite the following. But he came by night. One might wonder if he was ashamed or fearful
to be seen with Jesus by day. Or were
there too many people clamoring for Jesus’ attention by day? Perhaps if there were to be any chance for an
honest, uninterrupted conversation it would have to be at night.
When
he arrives, he addresses Jesus by the title that people probably addressed him,
“rabbi” or teacher. So, Nicodemus, at
least recognizes Jesus’ calling and work among the Jews as a peer. And he says, “we know” that you are a teacher
who has come from God. I do think it is
interesting that he says, “we know”, for he seems to be speaking for more than
just himself. Nicodemus may have come to
voice some of the questions raised by perhaps a whole group among the Pharisees
and within the Sanhedrin. The group
wanted to know by what authority Jesus was doing these things, for what purpose
and finally, did Jesus have some new truth to reveal?
Jesus
responds to Nicodemus by coming directly to the heart of the matter. He doesn’t waste time on peripheral
issues. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “I say
to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And once again, as we’ve read over and over
again in the gospels, Jesus has used a basic earthly category – human birth –
to illuminate a profound spiritual reality.
You
must be born again! That phrase is
arresting and fresh, alive with meaning when Nicodemus hears it for the first
time. Another chance, starting over, new
life! Is that even possible? Nicodemus is baffled and confused by such an
idea. It wasn’t what he expected Jesus
to say. In spite of all his religious
knowledge and living by the very essence of the law, he can’t grasp Christ’s
meaning. How can anyone who is
physically mature start over again within a mother’s womb? Surely a person can not undo 40 or 50 years
of physical growth and return to the birth canal and be born again. And if this is true physically, it’s also
true on the moral and spiritual realm.
Are we not the sum total of all our experiences, both good and bad, at
any stage of life? Surely we can’t wipe
all of that out and simply say that we will start over. You can’t wipe a slate clean of who we are
like that.
Nicodemus
just doesn’t get it. But, you know what? Neither do we. In our age, we have tossed those words around
“being born again” so much as if they were simply another fad, or a password to
get into the right religious circles, or like a get out of jail free card on
the Monopoly Board. Those words have
become jaded, part of religious jargon that have sapped them of their original
radical meaning.
This
new birth is not an intensified continuation of old ways, a deepened
interpretation of the law, or a more urgent effort to obey the Levitical
code. No, this is a “new
beginning”. This is new life given by
God, a breaking in of God’s grace, a supernatural act bringing forth a new
creation. Just as physical birth is a
mystery, but a very specific reality, so there is a deeper mystery and reality
about spiritual birth. Physical life is
born through the intimacy of human love shared by male and female in which
there is a union. But there is also
another kind of life – a spiritual one, which is born out of the act of divine
grace when God gives God’s own self to a particular person, who, in receiving
it, is born anew. It is the union of the
divine and the human, the supernatural and the natural, the heavenly and the
earthly, and that is how we are born again.
I
don’t think even I fully comprehended this concept that Jesus is referring to
until recently when two things collided.
It was
just over a year ago when we all went to church, sat in the pews and worshiped
God together believing that we would continue to do so from one week to the
next from one year to the next without much change to our normal routines. We would hear the scriptures, sing our hymns
of praise, be admonished in the lesson of the day during the minister’s
message. We would pray for family and
friends. We would collect money for our
mission and ministries and we’d give thanksgiving for all that God has blessed
us with. Who knew, at that time, that
life for our churches, as well as everything else, would change forever? But life has changed and we’ve been gone from
our normal routine for a year. As we
anticipate the wonderful opportunity to return in just another two weeks, what
have we learned from this time apart, from the disruption in our normal
routine? I was thinking about this when
I went for a walk earlier in the week when the temperatures had gone up to
nearly 70 degrees. As I walked in my
neighborhood, I saw the beginnings of the crocuses, daffodils and tulips and
suddenly this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus made sense. The bulbs that were planted in the ground
were coming up, they were energized with new life having had a period of death. They weren’t the same flowers, they had
completely new leaves on them, the buds that would open in a couple more weeks
would look similar to the ones last year, but they would not be the same ones. They’d have different perfections and
different flaws and where there had been three blooms, perhaps this year there
would be five, where there had been only one plant, this year there may be two
or three as they grew and spread. This
was the union of the divine and the physical made manifest in the breaking
forth of new life in the spring.
Are
we, as a church, ready for that same union with God, now that we’ve also had a
time of death and separation? Are we
ready as a church to be born again to find new life in our existence as a
Christian body, the union of the divine and the human? Are we ready to leave behind our complacencies
and fully embrace the work that has prepared for us? I don’t know about you, but I know I am. I don’t want to go back to normal. I want to envision and be a part of something
greater – full of new life, new hope, a new future.
This
whole concept of finally being part of the union between the divine and human,
the heavenly and the earthly; being born again is for one purpose only – and it
comes to a climax in the 16 and 17 verses of this chapter in John – for the
purpose of love. “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not
perish but may have eternal life. Indeed,
God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that
the world might be saved through Him.”
Love
is central to the very nature of God, reaching out to all who are unlovely and
sick, outcast and alone, frightened and deeply wounded. God’s love is not selective or
discriminating. It is universal, with
absolutely no limitations. God comes to
the whole world in love. Jesus came in
love to save, to heal, and to offer us a new spiritual birth. He did not come to condemn or judge. But there is a decision to be made. One of union or one of separation. New life, or the old. Only you can decide.
Thanks
be to God. AMEN.
Hymn O Sacred Head Now Wounded
Benediction
God’s great love and
rich mercy have made us alive in Christ.
Let us live lives of grace and do good works. AMEN.
Postlude Forty Days and Forty Nights (Aus Der Tiefe)
