Surely
the most widely known, but perhaps not fully understood passages of scripture
come from these verses. Anglicans may
recognize them as an element of the Comfortable Words1 of the Book of Common Prayer—oddly enough
lovers of America football will also recognize seeing hand-held placards in the
stadium that say, “John 3:16,” although they may not know the corresponding
Bible verse: “For God so loved the world, that anyone who believes in him shall
not perish, but will have everlasting life.”
However, as the American radio persona, Paul Harvey, oft stated “now,
for the rest the story.” Jesus advises
Nicodemus (a learned Jewish scholar) that for our salvation, we must be born
again in Christ. Our Baptist brethren
heartily affirm that we must be born again2. But how?
Jesus answers that we must be born again through water and spirit. Again, some argue that being born again must
be an earth-shaking personal experience.
Charles Wesley described a deeply spiritual moment when he felt his
heart "strangely warmed.” Was this
Anglican priest reborn? How are we to be
reborn? Will the clouds open and God
speak to us? Well, yes and no. We are born into the church as the cooperate
body of Christ in the sacrament of Baptism which includes the presence of the
Holy Spirit poured upon us with water.
We are baptized in the name of the Trinity. Yet, we may not recognize the significance of
those gifts as children, thus we re-affirm our commitment and are reborn
through Christ in the laying on of hands by our bishop in the Sacrament of
Confirmation. Weekly, we are washed pure
with the blood of the lamb (Angus Dei) in the Sacrament of Communion. So, how and when was I “reborn?” As a life-long Anglican, I was born again at
Baptism and Confirmation. I have always
fell Christ’s comfortable presence and pray that I can allow the Holy Spirit
within me to let me do good works to glorify God, and I may as a child accept
and honour Christ without question. When
(not if) I falter or fall from this difficult path, I return to the Agnus Dei
and the Comfortable words. And, during
football season, if I see those hand-written signs—John 3:16—I hope that others
will also see them. And, God willing,
someone watching that football game will turn to his buddy or you and ask:
“what is so important about John 3:16?”
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the
world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the
world, have mercy upon us.
O
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Rich
Goodwin
1“The
Comfortable Words as a form of consolation literature return us to God, to our
life in God, to his goodness and truth as living and moving in us. It is
radically about our life in Christ. In a way, that is the simple yet profound
teaching of the “comfortable words”. They counter our anxieties and our
worries, our narcissisms and self-regard simply by turning us to God. As such
they belong to the literature of consolation which in one way or another
recalls us to the truth and goodness of God in whom there is no suffering, no
loss, no pain, because in God we have all and everything that belongs to our
good and our happiness. The task is to learn to see this; in short, to see the
radical meaning of Christ’s sacrifice which opens us out to the goodness of God
who alone brings good out of evil and turns sorrow and suffering into joy and
delight in the goodness of the God who cares for us.” SOURCE: The Comfortable
Words and the Literature of Consolation Lenten Quiet Day Addresses, 2018
retrieved from http://christchurchwindsor.ca/wp-content/uploads/documents/2018QuietDay_ComfortableWords.pdf?292119&292119
2
“Ye Must Be Born Again” retrieved from https://www.calvaryroadbaptist.church/sermons/00-05/sermon__yemust_be_born_again.htm?
Christ
and Nicodemus, James Tissot, 1836-1902, Brooklyn Museum, New York
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