A sermon by Joseph Liro, Director of Admissions and Director of Church and Alumni/ae Relations, delivered at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Austin, on February 20, 2005

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I was a high school teacher a number of years ago, and in this particular high school they elected the cheerleaders. They had cheerleader elections. And running up to the elections, there were campaigns, with posters, and promises, and slogans, and buttons -- all the stuff you'd expect. "Elect Laura -- Increase school spirit!" "Jennifer will take us to district!" Great campaign claims and wonderful campaign promises.

One of my students, Erica, was a candidate in this election, and Erica's campaign was the best and most straightforward I have ever seen in any election ever. Erica prepared little lapel tags out of construction paper (see below) that she ran through a Xerox machine, and on the tags was printed the entire platform of her campaign. "Erica for Cheerleader. She's Loud!"

Erica tapped right into a yearning we have, a yearning to get right to the heart of things. We want the truth, the key, the short cut, the magic words, the secret that will turn a "no" into a "yes." Or even the secret that will turn "perishable life" into "eternal life." For a lot of people this verse -- John 3:16 -- is one of those keys. What a wonderful statement of God's working. Everybody knows this verse, and if someone knows just one verse, this is probably the one. Martin Luther called it "the Gospel in Miniature." And until the NFL and NCAA put a stop to it, remember how you would see that citation on posters in the stands at football games on television? Did you ever look at the first few pages of a Gideons bible? The Gideons have translated John 3:16 into dozens of languages. This verse is the way Jesus wraps up his conversation with Nicodemus.

It's a curious conversation -- you get the idea that maybe Jesus and Nicodemus are talking in two different languages. Nicodemus is having a really hard time understanding. He asks "How can a man be born again when he is old?" Jesus explains, gives him an example, but Nicodemus doesn't get it. He presses "How can this be?" And it seems Jesus is not very patient with him "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?" (Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a leader, probably a member of the Sandhedrin, probably holding the first-century equivalent of a seminary degree.) It's hard for Nicodemus to understand, and it's hard for us to understand, because in this conversation Jesus is talking about heavenly things and Nicodemus is talking about earthly things. And understanding spiritual things, heavenly things, does not come easily for us. Even having the message delivered by someone who is Loud will probably not help very much.

The stage that John has set for this conversation is a very spiritual one. John reports a series of heavenly things, cosmic events, signs and wonders. Jesus speaks with Nathaniel of the heavens being opened and angels ascending and descending. Then, at the wedding at Cana, Jesus performed his first miracle, and John tells us that in this miracle "his glory was manifested and the disciples believed in him." Then, in Jerusalem, after he ran the money changers from the temple, Jesus stayed for Passover, and John reports that "many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did." These signs of the spiritual dimension, the reports of these miracles, were all around Nicodemus, and Nicodemus has noticed them. But even with this rich context, Nicodemus is perplexed. His faith is strained by mysteries beyond his understanding. Jesus has to remind Nicodemus: "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

Jesus makes it really clear to Nicodemus and to us: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Water… Spirit… Earthly things … heavenly things… John baptized with water, but Jesus says that birth into the new order is through water … and the Spirit. And this new order, Jesus tells us, is "eternal life," the "kingdom of God."

St. Paul, a few chapters later in his letter to the Romans, gives us an idea of how this can be ours. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." The kingdom of God. Eternal life. Those are ours, not by moral achievement, but by a transformation wrought by God. One commentator says "We are not human beings whose vocation it is to have a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings whose vocation it is to have a human experience." "Eternal life" is not something that starts when we die -- it is participation in God's life, life more abundant, life in the presence of God, now. The "kingdom of God" is at hand, the "kingdom of God" is all around us, now.

Our response to God's transformation of us takes many forms. Paul tells us that all the members of the Body do not have the same function. But we are nevertheless all called to let our love be genuine, to hold fast to what is good, to never flag in zeal, to be aglow with the Spirit, to be constant in prayer. All baptized people -- baptized with water and the Spirit -- are called to make Christ known as Savior and Lord. All are called to share in the renewing of the world, in having eternal life, in living in the kingdom of God. And some are additionally called to work among us as pastors, and leaders, and teachers.

Men and women come to seminary, not just for theological education, but to be formed for ministry. They come to seminary to learn how to lead the Church to live out the promises of the Baptismal Covenant. They come to be equipped for the work of ministry and the building up of the Body of Christ. They come to be transformed, to learn to proclaim the Gospel and to make Christ and his love known. Pray for them, friends -- pray for all those of us who work with them -- that we all may be faithful to our call. Pray that God will continue to bless God's Church with faithful teaching and sound learning.

And now glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Amen.