February 20, 2005

Second Sunday of Lent

John 3:1-17

“Open House”    

     If I were to ask you which verse of the Bible is known better than any other, you just might say it is John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in him may not perish, but have everlasting life.”

     Martin Luther (the guy Martin Luther King, Jr. was named after) was the father of the Protestant Reformation about 500 years ago.  He was a faithful Roman Catholic monk, a fine musician and a deeply religious thinker.  He liked to say that John 3:16 is “the Gospel in miniature”.  In other words, the Good News about Jesus Christ is basically summed up in this one verse.

     Jesus was God’s gift to the world.  Jesus became our Savior and gave his life for us to show how much he loves us.  He was a channel for God’s love.  And when Jesus rose from the grave he defeated death so we don’t have to fear it anymore, so we can see and experience a life stretching into eternity.

     John 3:16 reveals God’s way of seeing things, of seeing us.  It says that we can know God’s love through the love of Christ.  The core understanding of the Holy One who is the life-breath of the universe, shrouded in mystery, beyond the capacity of the human mind to fathom, is revealed here.  Love fuels the engines of the cosmos.  Love is the string that connects all things and gives life to all things.  Jesus brings this truth home.

     That’s why, as it says in John 3:17,

“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 passage is not just the Gospel in miniature, for it sums up the entire biblical story, reveals God’s truth that runs through every page.  The Bible is not a science book or even a history book, but a faith book, an ever-unfolding salvation story about an awesome God who so loves the world.  Jesus brought this to light in human form.  He was God’s most personal expression of love.  Of course, we still struggle to get our minds around this understanding and the mystery of it is still more than we can fathom, but John 3:16 and 17 help.  They sum up God’s Good News.

     Now, we can all use some good news these days.  There are hopeful signs in the Middle East and we need to keep the people of Palestine and Israel in our prayers.  There are hopeful signs in other places where elections have been held and brave people are standing up for democratic principals.  But of course the world remains a violent place, even in places where elections are held.  We dream of peace, yearn for peace while at the same time commissioning the most lethal submarine ever built.  Don’t you wish the day would come when no country in the world would feel that such massive destructive power is needed?

     Faith proclaims that what is needed in this world is the massive healing power of God’s love, a love that does not condemn us, but saves us.  Faith proclaims that this is not just sentimental warm and fuzzy wishful thinking, but tapping into the very power that created and sustains the universe.  Faith proclaims that real and lasting peace is possible one heart at a time.  Faith proclaims, as did Martin Luther in his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, that the one word which topples all evil, against which even the gates of hell cannot prevail, is love.

“For God so loved the world…”

     When Kay and I moved to New London in 2001 we had friends who thought we were crazy.  Well, they think we are crazy for a number of reasons, but they thought we really lost it when we told them we were moving to the Big City, this teaming metropolis with all its urban blight!  They were wrong about New London.  It’s not a blighted place.  It’s a hopeful place.  It has its problems as any city does, but things are beginning to turn around here.  There are hopeful signs of renewal.  Just look at State Street for instance - the number of buildings undergoing major renovation right now.

     It has been said that houses have dark basements and attics but you don’t have to live in them.  There are those who will see shortcomings and those who will see possibilities.  Right now, there are people looking at some of the old, run-down buildings of New London with an eye for something better.  Buildings that could have been condemned are now getting a new lease on life.

     John 3:16 tells us that God sees us a bit like this, that no matter what others might say about us or how we might feel about ourselves, God sees something worth saving.  God has no intention of condemning us.  Instead, God wants to invest in us, give his love to us to heal us, change us, make us new again, to breath new life into us, to restore us so we can open the doors of our hearts, have an open house, let our love shine forth!

     The Crocker House across the street has certainly been through the mill.  It’s former glory gradually decayed through misuse or lack of interest.  Some of you might remember its better days.  But there is a new day at the Crocker House now.  Someone is fixing the old place up.  Construction crews have been buzzing all over it for the past year or so.  Several months ago, I had the opportunity to go inside and see what’s been happening.  You might not know it from the outside yet, but much of the inside is now beautifully restored or reconstructed for new purposes.  The old place is getting a new lease on life.  This is a hopeful sign.

     There are hopeful signs for you and me, too.  Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save.  The Savior loves us and forgives us, shows us that the power of God’s love is here to restore us, make us new.  It’s new day!  It’s a new opportunity!  Life and all its possibilities opens before us!  Thus, we can open our hearts, have an open house and let our love shine forth.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”