Genesis 12:1-4 and John 3:1-17

What does it mean to be “born again”? According to some Christians, being “born again” means that you officially accept Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. If you ask them, these Christians can often tell you the date on which they were born again. The moment was rich and moving for them. Such an understanding of being born again is powerful and compelling.

This idea of being born again as a moment when you accept Jesus as your savior is not an idea common to Lutherans. We Lutherans tend to believe that we were born again at our baptism. The Book of Concord and Bible passages such as Romans six teach us that, through baptism, we are reborn as children of God. For us Lutherans, then, when we talk about being born again, we don't mean declaring officially that Jesus is our savior. Instead, for us Lutherans, the phrase “born again” means “baptism.”

Even so, we Lutherans are not to be quick to toss into the recycling font this idea of being born again meaning accepting Christ as your savior. Don't get me wrong: When we were baptized, we were reborn through Christ. Because of baptism, we have new lives as Christians.

But now imagine that, each day, we remember our baptism by recommitting ourselves to Christ. What if, each day, we said to God, “Lord, today I am starting over. Yesterday is over. Today is new. Today I am accepting you anew as my lord and savior. Today I am starting over.” What if, each day, we remembered that we are baptized and then lived like baptized people by accepting Christ for the first time once again as Lord and Savior?”

Indeed, Luther tells us in the Book of Concord that, every day, our old sinful self is to die and our new, Christian self is to be reborn. Every day, as we remember that God has baptized us, we know that, because of our baptism, we can start over. Every day we can be born again.

Isn't that exciting? So often in life, we don't get a second chance. This physical life we only experience once. We will never be physically born again. We will never be babies again. We will never be teenagers again. Our physical life only happens once, but, with our spiritual life, we can be born again every single day. When we repent and say to God, “God, I want to start over. I want to be born again as a Christian,” God responds by saying, “Okay. You are one of my baptized children, so you get to be born again as many times as you need to be.” Every day, every hour, every minute, every second.

Father Abraham and Mother Sarah get to be reborn. In our first reading, Genesis 12, Abraham is seventy-five. If he were a member of St. James, in five years, he would get an invitation to the Senior Saints Luncheon. Sarah, also, is a senior citizen. By our youth-obsessed, human standards, Abraham and Sarah aren't good for much, but God has different standards. God says to Abraham and Sarah, “I will make of you two a great nation, and I will give you the Promised Land.” In other words, because of God, Abraham and Sarah get to start a new life. In a sense, they are reborn.

Of course, being reborn does not mean that life will be easy. Abraham and Sarah endure wars, famines, long journeys, doubt, and danger in Egypt. Life is painful for Abraham and Sarah, but they still get to the Promised Land and they still get to be parents of a great nation.

In the movie Bright Lights, Big City, Michael J. Fox plays Jamie, a young man who has moved to New York City in the hopes of becoming a famous writer. Instead, his wife has left him, and he is stuck in an unfulfilling job as a fact-checker for a magazine. Jamie tries to fill the void by getting drunk and snorting cocaine, but such a strategy never works. Jamie's life falls apart. He keeps reading in the paper about a pregnant woman who is in a coma. He wonders what will happen to the baby. Will he live? Will HE live?

Jamie meets a young woman who is clean and who can help to straighten him out. Finally, after many struggles, he sees the latest paper. The headline reads, “COMA BABY LIVES.” Jamie trades his sunglasses for a loaf of bread and talks about starting over. Jamie is born again, maybe for the only time, maybe just for the first time. Jamie is born again. Sarah and Abraham are born again.

Come to think of it, Michael J. Fox has experienced a rebirth, as well. Parkinson's disease did not end his career; it just led to a new career of his fighting for financial support to help find a cure for this evil disease. Jamie, Abraham and Sarah, Michael – all have been born again. You and I can be, too.

Lent is a time specially designed for us to be born again. God has baptized us into Christ, therefore we have hope perpetual. Because of our baptism, we have, by God's grace, the power to say, “Today, I will be born again.”

(from www.goodpreacher.com/blog/)