This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
The Collect for This Week
Eternal Lord, our beginning and our end: bring us with the whole creation to your glory, hidden through past ages and made known in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
God of glory, you nourish us with your Word who is the bread of life: fill us with your Holy Spirit that through us the light of your glory may shine in all the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer your foot to stumble; he who watches over you will not sleep. 4 Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand, 6 So that the sun shall not strike you by day, neither the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall keep you from all evil; it is he who shall keep your soul. 8 The Lord shall keep watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 21, verses 1 to 4
12 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans, Chapter 4, verses 1 to 5 and 13 to 17
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. .
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St John, Chapter 3, verses 1 to 17
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to John Glory to You, o Lord
1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He 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.’ 3 Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4 Nicodemus 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?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8 The 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.’ 9 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10 Jesus 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. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that 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.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
This week’s sermon is delivered by Rev. Laura Brinicombe
I brought these with me today. These are my kingdom goggles! *put on paper glasses*
I know some of you might have heard me mention kingdom goggles before – I’ve brought them with me today because I wanted my final talk here to encourage all of us to keep LOOKING for God!
As we heard Jesus describe in our gospel reading, when we follow Him, we’re invited to engage in a continual process of letting our old worldly way of seeing things die, so that our eyes can be opened to something new. Something better. I like to think of this process as trying to remember to put our kingdom goggles on!
Lent is a great time to practice putting our kingdom goggles on. So let’s do this now, *mime putting on glasses.*
They’re there to remind us that the journey of Lent is all about seeking to SEE more of God – not with our eyes but with our hearts.
This is the process that Nicodemus is trying to engage in in John 3. Nicodemus was a religious leader in his community and during our reading he’s come to see Jesus under the cloak of night.
We can probably sympathise with Nicodemus and his journey of faith. He’s making his enquiries quietly, at night, because he’s unsure -he doesn’t know where things will lead. And he responds to Jesus like I’m sure we all have many times when we think things like, ‘I don’t get it, God! I simply don’t get why this is happening, I don’t understand what it means, I can’t see how it all fits together or how it’s all going to work out?’
Nicodemus is having real difficulty SEEING what Jesus is getting at. And I’m sure we’ve all experienced moments like that on our faith journeys.
Nicodemus is struggling because he hasn’t got kingdom goggles on.
Jesus talks about ‘being born of Spirit’ but Nicodemus’ view of life is limited to the worldly perspective. He’s stuck with a very restricted picture of what it means to be a person and what it means to be alive. He sees that people are finite and temporary, because we age and we’re limited by time. And he sees that we’re flesh, because our life can only come through the procedure of being put in and coming out of a womb. And that is ALL he sees.
And I think we’re all like that sometimes. We look at ourselves and the world but we do not really see.
Jesus does not criticize Nicodemus for his lack of understanding or laugh at him for asking questions- far from it. He carefully answers everything that Nicodemus asks and he encourages Nicodemus to come closer to Him and to really look– not with his eyes of flesh - but using his kingdom goggles.
This Lent, we’re all offered that same invitation by Jesus. To draw closer to Him. To pay attention. To really look.
So let’s examine what Jesus is saying.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, no one can SEE or enter the kingdom of God without being BORN of water and the Spirit.’
This all sounds a bit bizarre. But what if we really stop and look?
We know Jesus was baptised in river Jordan, it was a significant moment in His life. We know that without water we die and Jesus tells us that those who come to Him will never be thirsty. And we know that water cleanses and brings new life. We saw water symbolise all of this at Harper’s baptism in church last month.
So, Jesus is saying that access to a new kind of world, a new reality – access to the kingdom of God –
comes through knowing Jesus, who is the water of life.
In baptism, we start looking in that new direction - we start trying to SEE Jesus’ new way of living and being.
But there’s more to this. So, let’s keeping looking…
Next, Jesus talks about how those who can access this kingdom of God will need to be ‘born of the Spirit.’
Again, it’s a bit strange but let’s try to break away from Nicodemus’ very narrow view of being born and look at the bigger picture.
Jesus is describing how who we are as individuals is seen very differently by God. Jesus is talking about how every single one of us can be TRANSFORMED through a rebirth in the Spirit – that the Spirit of God can come and live within us and that this makes the journey of life something completely new! Something that has a greater purpose, something that is not limited by time or by death. In fact, this is what Jesus says it really means for a person to be alive – when they can live as they were created to be – as citizens of the eternal, peaceful, holy kingdom of God.
This reality that Jesus describes sounds pretty good to me! But I wonder how often we try and glimpse it here and now?
I think we’re probably all a bit more like Nicodemus than we’d like to admit, struggling with ideas of wombs and only seeing human beings as flesh. Our culture tends to insist that we exist for this earth alone doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, this view reduces human beings to so much less than we are, than we can be. It makes us small. It shows nothing beyond what we want and how to get it now…because that clock is ticking. It encourages us to never look too closely at the consequences. And in that landscape all our fears loom large! Tempting us to always chose what’s safe, rather that’s what’s right. Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus and us, to think about what life would look like if we recognised that it is of eternal significance.
If we looked in the mirror every day, wearing our kingdom goggles, and saw a person touched by the divine. A beautiful, powerful citizen of the kingdom of God.
We read in Johns’ gospel, ‘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.’
Lent is an opportunity for us to look at our lives and see which of our actions and decisions are challenged by the gaze of a loving God. We’re reminded to stick our kingdom goggles on and see Him. To see His Spirit in us, in others and to see His marks of love all over our world.
Lent asks us to keep looking closer, examining which of our actions and decisions blind us to that love? When are we tempted to only view something with worldly eyes?
It can be so tempting to take our kingdom googles off and close our eyes. When we struggle to see eternity, it can feel simpler to give into worldly perspectives. To hate, rather than learn how to love.
To trust in strength, rather than service. To judge and gossip, rather than forgive.
Next time we’re struggling to see our way through a problem or deal with somebody we find difficult, can we become aware of that temptation. The temptation to think might is right, the temptation to walk, talk and act like the world, the temptation to put up barriers, the temptation to join in the narrative of fear instead of speaking hope. And when we feel that temptation getting stronger, can we put on our kingdom googles and pray?!
All through Lent, we’ll probably feel ourselves in the in-between – glasses coming on and off - between condemnation and being saved, between believing and not believing, between staying in darkness and coming into the light, between doing evil and doing what is true. Being a Christian often feels a bit like that process of trying to get used to new varifocals. Just when you’ve got the kingdom into focus, you move, and lose track of it again.
But I want to encourage all of us to keep coming closer to Jesus. To keep looking!
Perfection is not what makes us Christians. What makes us Christians is what captures our gaze.
Are we looking to God, who offers eternal life and who looks upon us and upon this world with unfailing, death-defying love?
If we do look to God, the world will likely tell us our eyesight needs checking! But with our kingdom googles on and our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will see the truth.
‘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.’ And if you want to hear more about how Jesus overcame the world, then please come back at Easter!
Amen.