STOP-—LOOK-LISTEN Broad Street Presbyterian Church
John 3:1-8 Columbus, Ohio
John M. Buchanan June 6, 1982

It was late in the afternoon on the day of the Sabbath.

Nicodemus =~ Pharisece , —scupewenise=wal respected civic figure,

religious leader, legal expert,» did something which endangered

his career, certainly his reputation, perhaps even his life.

With his friend_Joseph, he went to the Governor, Pontius Pilate

and asked for the body of an executed rabble-rouser, Jesus of

Nazareth.\ Pilate, somewhat relieved - one has to assume - to
ed ee |

have at least one detail handled by someone else - quickly

at
eongen te? | anal Nicodemus and Joseph - I picture them middle
a | |

aged, paunchy. with more than a little gray in their beards, ~~

‘ \i@less
picked up the form, one at the head, the other at the

feet, and awkwardly carried it away to Joseph's private garden, ~fer lbyrrel,

doing tat,
It isn't easy to be inconspicuous# /It is impossible to be dig-

nigied, imperious, formidable. etalon His por must have thought

that he was balmy .| "did you hear what
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Nicodemus did? | the corpse of that Nazareen trouble-
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a
mue
maker. er. | Some sight that ed have been. se bee © you oa love +o heve

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i ae —— el seen the two of them huffing and

puffing through the streets with a bo dy on their hands?"
— = awe Wet
"Why, Nicodemus?" one of his colleagues finally asked.

"Why did you do it?" | ana Nicodemus may have answered something

Bike —
y .( I can't give you a simple

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like this..

a

answer.| I suppose it has something to do with an incident that
happened one night several years ago \ You remember when he
was around here before, don't YOU? v- Teaching, healing, telling
people that God expected more than obedience to the religious
law and that God would give more Phew the law provided by
way of happiness .\ Well, I was intrigued by that.\ Frankly, it
we ——[_— ae f osemeree 5)
sounded like something I had been thinking about for some time.
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i ey

deg
np)! 6d found out wherdne was staying,

looked him up, and after dark knocked on the door.\ We talked

for a long time.\ He said something about birth yvssy heing
— — ieee
born again, I think it was \ I asked about that,I remenber. \ 1
(teil fener nner
tried to be funny....I said something foolish about a grown man
finer] em —— a
and his mother's wond.\ And ee the strangest thing happened.
Se
A gust of wind blew down the chimney and the embers in the fire 4
eter} Ce en ea |
suddenly sprang to life.| You've seen that happen , haven't you? fy
ie
It's always a surprise.|(%That's what I'm talking about, ® }Jesus R
said --'rebirth -- like that unexpected gust of wind and the “
Say es

Po , a Fa » *
embers.* Cowl de (ete. /Ged wl surerise Yov ila at ag Y >

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“That experience turned out to be one of the most important €

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in my ite. \ rt helped me to see some things I've never seen
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before.\ I thought I knew where God =.\ I was content that the
God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, God of Moses and David could be
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located in the story of our. people. | I'm a Pharisee. | I love
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the law. | I leve its orderliness, predictability, its logic and
ee Lie) wt,

dignity \ The reality of God and his Kingdom had to do, with Living

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that ancient, magnificent aw. \ But after that night I began to
=a ho ate a

see God in unexpected places and I slowly concluded that his

Kingdom both demanded and offered me much more than I ever

thought possible.\ In fact grand you'il have trouble with this-#,

I know -- I claimed the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth because

I have concluded that when * was talking to me, it was actually

ue emetic

God encountering ne.\ Not a new God,-~ precisely the God of
psasteaemessecsatte cxaua

Abraham, the giver of the raw. \ That God spoke through this
—o Sea en

voice and lived through this man's life.| And I know you're
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thinking that I've completely lost my grip on reality -- but
nee

I'd rather have you —— I've been born again, like the

‘ae Pwentieth century, assumptions about the whereabouts of

God are not unlike Nicodemus's. \ Those of us who frequent the

church on Sunday morning may not be altogether mystical in our

theology but we do believe that the realit of God has something

to do with wadseeee

he, the work we do together, the word
eee,

we hear and the sacraments we celebrate. \ nah O
me —_ UM

may even be prepared to locate

God in his mighty acts in the past.\ We are willing to entertain

wud,
the notion, that when an

mn .
Yorganized group of semitic slaves escaped
esc enemy ars

, God had a hand in it.} We are willing to
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from Egypt @upm.5. ieee

entertain the notion that when those slaves became & nation and

callee

exhibited a kind of public obsession with monotheism and justice,
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God was involved And, of course, we are willing to believe

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that when Jesus of Nazareth rode inte, lerusdien, got himself

——— —— ae
crucified and then appeared to his disciples, God was more than
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a little involved. \We're willing, that is to say, to locate
Se — ——
G4 in grand, sweeping, historical phenomena, the more general
[ene
the better.
h
n
ELen

We think, finally, that we can locate God in the mind: \ in

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a brilliantly constructed argument,\in a creed,\in a persuasive
be

Mead Vews fore\culor ly,
essay. \We think that the experience of God will happen to us
es ae]

when the idea of God clicks in our minds. Therefore, some of
While Some pacte—6

us spend a lot of time and energy doing theology. Cw circ holding revive _
Desoyberime are over at HR Torna
Lately, however, some theologians are suggesting that WE )tyn, ft dara
Ete hia hrececy
are looking everywhere but the best place \ In recent years Pieced ent |
es . ; —aae oy

SIS

kecruryr ts tTarreeme, theol as stor as become ver op-
£ theology Y geet y_pop

ular. \It means that God is located not just in his mighty acts
as ioe

— la [| ae
in history but in his not so mighty acts in your life and mine.
=o aap —m- sa accel

One of my favorite Christian thinkers is Frederick Byechner,

the femt 9 a UT

preacher, theologian, novelist. Sie iadheonmamenntode atest *
— =— =" ne svqqerta Xuuat .-

book, The Sacred Jone, adie eadistinanddaentedimeabinpeelimmpindineibiliigt..

hiinteelentinconionienenteriomtineeremectimetasare.. ("211

theology, like all fiction, is at least autobiography....what
nee pe inca

a theologian is doing essentially is examining as honestly as
ee =F

ISveehner, + Wanmy ots hie Wm,
_ are suggestiyy Hat pre's felrysove

he can the rough-and-tumble of his own experience with all its
— ooo = ,
ups and downs, its mysteries and loose ends...."
oT =— aa Lo

Later ¢nmthentebeeseeeeem, discussing the actuality of
oo, ===.

God addressing us, Buechner writes... (ore seems to me that if
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God speaks anywhere to us at all in this world, it is into our
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personal lives tiweebe=weeaks., » Into the_thick of it...at
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moments of even the most humdrum of our days, Geduspesks,"'
[

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It's intriguing to consider that the raw material for your
—_ as | meee | =e

search for God, your experience of God is not solely the

—_—_ ae — le >...
thinking of other people, however brittiant;|not solely the
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dramatic encounters of others, however eloquently described,
——_ om S————————_ Ee
but the humdrum, mundane, common, day to day realities of your

Ss ee
own life. Cm, mne?") we are tempted to ask.\\ Moses and God,
—— ed Ee — ee

perhaps :\’ Mary and God: \zoan of Are and Goa: | Dietrich
== =e — oe —
_—______ ap

Bonhoeff and God: \ but surely not God and me!
=... eae

Reve\ Howe, kL Ws ~

w f e* cemgemy, used to ask participants to engage in an exercise

Pies
s peo which was utterly fascinating, sometimes emepy difficult, but

wh

Pee

: i 1 heet of
| always @=t@™mely helpful \ Each was ggiven a large sheet o

newsprint, a felt pen and told to spend several hours drawing
tesa [ne Se ee eressee |

——s
the floor plan of the first house in which he or she lived.
——ae a a eee
That accomplished, each was asked to locate in memory various
ee eee Cae
significant events and experiences, including those which might
nore aoa aoa

be called theological.” Every time it happens, people discover
[vente | ow aia =

that their own history, their own experience is far richer

-

than they ever understood.

(ven the trim nm whies vad =A if eth WLa 3 y th Preise ,

ferpte ideadity Send, Sele! rescka glaudpatels, Prout sity ~% cleret as
cel, Mewarres it (faror 2% Caidiec/ fark, Crees | “ names ds of Angad
joy we tele brotion . Lavariebl, there es ymyee ron meer! seem, waitry 4°

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The late CarliTe Marney, using a simila evise used to

talk about te balcony on aC buildin f you fsonality.
yv ji aia

The people on ae are your saints; the ones who intro-
duced you to Gow

It is not always an easy process for us.\ In fact, we are
+ nb ey

———»
~ a ise aw der een bog
accustomed to perceiving =. as a@ experiencesothers have
and then tell us about. | We are almost locked into a way of
— =e

thinking about God as an idea in the mind, and as soon as someone

begins to expand the perimeters we become uncomfortable™ Theme

P WW re De Ww Imemarc ia

ove pesmel \ivess .

bittodfind it helpful when a philosophy
ie ee watch-

ing a sunlit world;-a tasty meal, .é compa f friends,

hy

observes -- "I happen to be consté

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a

listening jg faabebiiterbdigcourse or Yéartitul music, and

al ‘ma
arriving at. *énding are full of meaning forme."

nistry, May, 1982, P. 15; Remy Kwan, "The

That is to say there-“tS~ijere to humar experience than that

which happens inside thé mind. ‘And_thete is more to God's

"
ae

a

relationship “CC @ t

understands A ee observes: "Preaching

that does not engage mwhole person is theologically incomplete."
ga rae
peal Be sSubu, y

We have to begin to think differently about God, theses
grrr So

teat Wye have to cultivate the possibliity that God may be
we ETE.

There bs yore A b€ , ebviousl, ta ee bh of She mind. Then ,
mim fi 0s 43 jndiwedel tha. au mkilet. And ther is my,
to End thin te ides chit 6rd we aa cole hy vidlesfaued,

encountering us in a variety of ways other than our thought

Act ean hele vs incthis ceqar’: Pasir

Art helps us to experience the deeper significance of

ordinary obiects.\ University of Chicago Theologian Langdon

eo wee~meked to addresst$raduating students at the Art

Institute in ChE Chao, Sit ees aine— ew em nae TS spepe to the

similarities between art and theology.| He said "The role

of art (is) to make us see in different ways than before,
— SS eo Qari ee

below the surface and beyond the obvious.\ Art opens up truth

we i ee Sa Sap
hidden behind and within the ordinary." }(Critérion, U. of C.
SSS MRE ee

Divinity School, Autumn, 1981) rt |
av ers’,

I was privileged recently to stand before p Monet painting
Mn

of a wooded glen with the faintest shadow of a church in the

—_
background. | It is all paste™ shimmering almost, delicate,
bee) =e Cee ee

I never even saw the church until my host pointed it out | And
—_— ae

in a order
I thought, how magnificent to be able to see what “ee
ess Oe ee

sees.\ Monet saw and expressed the meaning-- the significance -
oe —

the beauty of thatscenario which you and I would never notice.
ae 4 .£—==— =e #842

Gilky told the graduatin ecudente “Cb: thatt "the importance of
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artists is not that they do enliven @ useful. | mey si say , sti ‘stop,
—<—saQ oe

look and see what is real.
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That is a word I would transpose into religion. ( ne top -

fei ee

look - and see - what is real.\ See the presence of God in
= ieee [wre] | — oe

the ordinariness of your own life: | see the creativity of God
eh Soe

— ee [ee af
in the vitality of your own family: | Ssee—the—stttering—o God
— a

—

: : see the triumph
‘ Pa eetniaeeate ee)

reed -of Wofussra- of ave’

or th you 2 Star sywnwy
5. atime mode by Sites why
/ vey Sinply fefise be alktcakd by dee %,
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of God in the vey [tou yourself, keep affirming life in the
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face of death.
eS Ss

Of course, it may be necessary to stop, in order to look
— — A. |

Eaxwe and listen.\ It may be that our religious experience is second-
oe eas ee

yeewar™ hand because we've never taken the time to reflect on our own
: oop [eee sl See |

story.| The poets have always known that.
Le)
Listen to Emily win
"He comes with western winds, with evening's
wandering airs.
With that clear dusk of heaven that brings the
thickest stars.
But, first, a hush of peace, a soundless calm
descends
The struggle of distress and fierce impatience
ends:

Mute music soothes my breast."

( The Prisoner)

It is not easy for us to locate God .in our own experience
a

wes a : a
because re active, agressive, busy. ote" send Srey

” because when God speaks we may not always like what we hear.

thea 2 GgeandfeMe why hed fetined fo an ard form the practic sf selective Aearins | Ale singly

Saas! eee eee en:

dvduf respmd elo Most at ha Atrives heppenis bide Aes Nose , Cee teapede Chen he Ly) ar ded wan
' i i we.are inclined not _to hear the
pos Ves Capea it mirece lous foltqud. (IZ is nit Qu UAComuen - Of AK Vue bom poy Milad 1
. word of the Lord when it is not what we want to hear. Isaiah's “En Fact
smuniiennlinos pan

experience in the Temple, after all, was not confined to a

wonderful encounter with the Almighty | The bottom line, as it

were, was a command. "Go," the voice said.
qa SL +

—_ =o

ant it takes empty dime feFleelive timm uwhirk man of us are

lect te aves
G Pleiths,, Alm prxie F [eskewdy to Gob ts wk cosy

, He Comes ope us bet in GH
-9- “pe dinestnes Y M th critics
Cttrenus«% Le - ~» meee COMMY

wa, ¢ Av te wife: vs, ~~ stard wih o>.
a God speaks, I would submit, in order to assure us that he
7) ; .
are x exists, to comfort our_sorrow and to heal our burt.| Sometines
wv oe he speaks to us in order to tell us to do something.*/And sometimes
aoe XA 'ftelling us to do something ia*the way he is trying to assure
v c omfort, heal and help us. } There comes a time in post-crisis
«*fhealing, whether the crisis is the death of a loved one, a
} lo! —==3 een tee Sse
he we divorce, a personal calamity, when the person simply has to
wr! fee Eee
we reduce the amount of attention showered on self and begin to
fam Sep a
wr: concentrate on someone or something else. \ An important corner
= _ a: ee (See
in therapy is turned when another person, a cause, an organiza-—
Qa arabe. CY

tion begins to edge out the concern we have been lavishing on
RS Se

self. | I think God is in that. \ Ang I think it can be very

difficult for us to acknowledge it.

Nicodemus was shown a new way of being by Jesus Christ.

It began when he saw that God's presence in his own life was
qereern cy Le Gems camo

aa
as dynamic, @um@e unexpected and unpredictable, as the wind.\ His
S| Cr a 2 aa
new birth proceeded, as he learned to stop and look and listen
soa Sole Ee. [i ceteese
to his own experience.
ae ee

The Gospe} is the good news that God is in 1ite:| that he
end ue 4“

has been a dynamic force in your own life:\ that he is today,
Be" Sy | ee

a power at work, a creative potential, an unseen presence.
— ona aera ==

Look for him in your story.| Locate him in your own
eee ol

experience. | Celebrate him there. t

See 1f your VR dees mk tstity *
the +trvth copyured a4 Ga Glee ¥-

-10-

"Praise ye the Lord, who o'er all things
so wondrously reigneth

Shelters thee under his wings, yea, so
gently sustaineth.

Hast thou not seen, How thy desires |
have been

Granted in what he ordaineth."

AMEN

Lord of life, we praise you for your presence, hidden in the

ordinariness of ovr lives;

Give us minds to know you, hearts to love you and voices to

sing your praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN