February 20, 2005

The Choice of Testimony

by Faune Towery

In today's scripture passage from John, I really resonated with Nicodemus because he too had trouble understanding this concept that Jesus discusses of re-birth. Now, Nicodemus was a Jewish leader who came to Jesus at nighttime, perhaps to have a private conversation with Jesus-because he was afraid, or maybe he wanted to avoid the light, which Jews thought symbolized the presence of God. Regardless of why he came at night, Nicodemus asks Jesus about how individuals can be born again, especially in the physical sense. He even asks the nitty-gritty questions of how an old, adult person can come out of the mother's womb a second time! Jesus answers Nicodemus' questions with a discussion of what it means to be born of the Holy Spirit. Jesus states that Christians must be born of both water and Spirit. Now I can understand that people need both physical and spiritual life, but this whole idea of being born-again is confusing to me.

When I hear the phrase "born-again", I immediately think about televangelists who are trying to "save" people. According to my understanding of this, after a person is saved they can say that they are a "born-again" Christian. For some people this notion of being born-again is incredibly powerful and life changing. But other people find this idea of being saved and then born-again to be offensive to them. Some people are offended because it implies that there are "better" Christians than others or that you are only eligible for an after-life if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. But I do not believe that all people must undergo this specific process of being saved and then born again in order to be Christian.

In fact, I believe there are many different ways to interpret the particular Greek word that means to be born again, to come from above, again or anew. I want to redefine what it means to be born again so that all people are eligible to be re-born. I think that in today's scripture, the concept of being re-born means that you are working through Christ's love. You are connecting with the divine by manifesting Christ's love to others. To be re-born is to live in love and unity so that tangible good becomes irrelevant because you are experiencing the gift of God's love and grace.

This idea of being born-again can be a spiritual awakening of sorts, a new way of looking at the world through God's eyes. A re-birth may include finally seeing the injustices that were previously overlooked or choosing to live one's life differently.

I experienced something of a spiritual re-birth during my time in Central America because I realized how attached I am to my material possessions. I was shocked and embarrassed to realize that the big duffel bag suitcase I had brought with me for my three weeks in Central America included more clothes than the entire wardrobe of many campesino families-the working laborers, the farmers.

This revelation of how much I had brought with me, let alone how many things I own in my one bedroom, disturbed me. This revelation is particularly significant right now, during the Lenten Season, when Jesus was battling his demons in the desert for 40 days and nights. Most of us are familiar with the Lenten practice of giving something up or adding something to your life in order to remember Jesus' sacrifice-like not eating chocolate or drinking soda for 40 days, or giving five compliments a day. This idea of being conscious of what you are consuming and doing was overwhelmingly present during my time in Central America because there were so many happy Central Americans who had so few material possessions. Our group visited families who lived in one-room hut-style dwellings with a dirt floor, no electricity and no running water. Yet the families were incredibly welcoming and generous to our group-offering us food, drink and a place to rest. Unlike many North Americans, these families were trying to buy food for their family to eat rather than trying to secure a second family car. But who is to say that our way of life, with multiple cars, televisions, and computers is better than their way of life?

Perhaps I was especially shocked because we went to Central America right after Christmas, when North Americans tend to spend too much money on gifts that they cannot afford to give to each other. This whole idea of how much we consume in North America reminded me of a video I saw on simple living. Simple living is the idea that by reducing your consumption of material possessions and working less, you will be more satisfied and happy with your life. PBS made a video about this entitled Affluenza, which describes the phenomenon that North Americans are spending more time shopping and buying goods than the time they spend with their family or helping others. For example, the average North American shops for six hours a week in comparison to the 12 minutes a day that a working couple talks with one another, or the mere 40 minutes a WEEK that parents spend playing with their children. Imagine that, the average parent spends six hours a week shopping and only 40 minutes a week playing with their children.

Now when I think about these statistics of how little time Americans spend talking with their family, I am sad. I am especially sad when I think about this in terms of today's passage on spiritual re-birth. I think that if we were to really experience a spiritual re-birth, we would see how limiting our plethora of material possessions and constant desire to buy more, has actually hurt us. By wanting to keep up with the Jones', buying the same or a better luxury item than our neighbor, thinking that it will make us happy, we are actually preventing ourselves from experiencing a spiritual rebirth. In order to be able to have a spiritual re-birth, we have to take time to listen to God and see the ways that the Holy Spirit is leading us.

I think we can all learn something from our Central American sisters and brothers. Rather than focusing on our desire to buy and consume things, we need to focus on helping Christ's love to shine through each day. We can recreate our lives in love so that we may see our greatest joy as spending time with others; loving and caring for each other in a Christ like manner. If we were able to do this, I think we would be so enriched and fulfilled by our community that we would not need to fill our lives with material possessions. For some people, protecting the environment is a part of their spiritual rebirth. For others, creating art, feeding the hungry, volunteering, or spending time with family and friends can be a spiritual rebirth. No matter what it is that provides you with a spiritual rebirth, remember the story that Jesus told us about Nicodemus; that we need more than a physical life in order to be alive, we need a Spiritual life. Likewise, we need more than our physical possessions; we need God, our family and friends in order to be alive.

I challenge you today to learn from the example of the campesinos in Central America-to be happy because of your spiritual and community richness rather than material goods. Spend an evening with family and friends playing board games or volunteering at a senior center rather than spending money. Or you could attend the Lenten Healing Prayer Gatherings on Thursday nights with Pastor Julianne. You may be surprised by how much enjoyment can come from having a spiritual re-birth, a re-awakening to the goodness of God's grace.