Friends,

We had a little blizzard! It gave me time to do some quilting, do some writing, and to get some rest. Ken did the shoveling so I haven't been out in yet.

I head out tomorrow to Vermont for skiing, games, and visiting with family.

-Liz

Baptized by Water and Spirit

In John 3:1017 Nicodemus is presented as one of the group those people--the ones who oppose Jesus' ministry. He seems to be sneaking out of that group to join Jesus and seems confident Jesus is of God. It is the miracles that convince him.

Nicodemus makes me wonder about people who are changing their mind about the present political leadership. Cubans who are shocked to find that Cubans are being deported. Rural communities losing their hospitals. White people killed. Fewer jobs and higher prices. Involvement in foreign affairs. Epstein. People who thought they wanted drastic change, but didn't mean this.

My instinctive reaction to this is frustration. Now you get it? Where the heck have you been. But that is not Jesus' response. He has skepticism, but no rancor. Jesus first checks that Nicodemus understands that Jesus is proposing a completely different way of life. It is not just joining a group. Being impressed by the miracles is not sufficient. Nicodemus is confused by this, but Jesus sticks with him.

With our friends and family we've probably already got the rancor built into our responses. We've been dealing with their comments and behaviors for years. This story calls us to a different approach. It allows us to to test for sincerity, but then requires that we accept people.

The problem with this interpretation is that I am mapping the first century pharisees--the Jewish leadership of the time--with MAGA. The story of pharisees as the bad guys is a completely Christian stereotype about historical Judaism. From a Jewish perspective the pharisees are the pre-cursors to the modern Rabbi. They may have saved the faith from disappearing at the the destruction of the temple.

It is one of the ways that anti-semitism plays out in our faith--the bad pharisee sees the light and finds Jesus.

Isn't that always the story if we think that those who agree with us are the good people and the those who disagree are the bad people. Our faith asks us to treat all people as children of God. Theoretically we can be against behaviors without being against the people who do them. We can be excited that Nicodemus and conservative voters want to think about a new way forward without making generalized attacks on their past.

This begs the question for me of what it means to be born of water and spirit. It suggests that change, new life, a new path forward, these develop in two ways, not one. Perhaps it is body and soul, perhaps it is thought and action, perhaps it is a trust and honesty. Perhaps, in a relationship one person can find a new path because the other person is willing to adjust the path some, make it wider, so as to welcome someone new.

What I know is that our nation was not working for many people and they were looking for something different. Our present leadership manipulated that using fear and hatred. We cannot overcome fear and hatred unless we can figure out how to love and welcome all of God's children.

For me, that will take being born again, of water and spirit.

What is going on in your purple congregations? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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What Should Americans Do Now from the Atlantic Magazine uses the self-organization from Minneapolis as a model for all of us.

Why quilting is political and why that is good. By Ingrid Alteneder.

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