Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Born Twice #2: We may as well be aliens

CHRIST CHURCH NYC Sermon (From 18th of May 2008)
John 3:1-21 (Sermon is from the NRSV)

And so we have this culture divide. An 'Us' Verses 'Them' divide.

If any of you are not Christian; or you are not sure; or even if you are consider yourself only 'religious', then you probably do not understand your crazy in-laws... the ones who call themselves 'born-again'.

And if you are Christian, you are concerned for your family, or your friends. They don't understand what being a follower of Jesus means to you. They call your faith a 'phase' in your 20s, a 'security blanket' in your 40s, 'Conservatism' in your 60s.

And there you both are, sitting and staring at each other thinking: We are so much alike -- same gene-pool; same race. But sometimes, we may as well be aliens.

The way to (at least) understand the divide is to know what Jesus meant in V3:
'No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.'
Jesus is the one who put the phrase on our cultural map. So it's important to let him define his own phrase. So don't go with just what you think. Or what you were brought up with. Or your crazy in-laws. And certainly don't go with what the media say.

Let Jesus have his word.

______________________
Pic by Peter Kim.

1 comment:

Benjamin Ady said...

"let Jesus have his word"

But you're going to expound on it, aren't you?

Maybe I should have said "and" rather than "but"?

Or mabye I'm just being a general pain in the arse.

Is "arse" allowed here?