The phrase “born again” is, at best, an overused and meaningless cliche. At worst, it’s dirty word that represents a kind of Christianity that beats it’s message on the heads of those who don’t believe in it. The phrase comes from an encounter that Jesus had with a religious leader of his day. Jesus always spoke somewhat cryptically and he is surprisingly straightforward in his conversation with Nicodemus. My guess is that this was because Nicodemus knew the old testament backwards and forwards and Jesus wanted to point out that, despite his knowledge of the scriptures, he really knew nothing of what it meant. Jesus spoke on a few different topics and it’s here that we find the two most referenced phrases in Christianity: “born again” and John 3:16. Because “born again” is such a loaded term, I like to use the phrase “born all over again”. It’s really a very strange thing to say: “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Nicodemus, who was used to applying scripture very literally, replied “How can this be? How can someone enter the womb a second time?” Jesus then explained that there are two kinds of births that need to happen: one of water, and the other of the spirit. Jesus then moves on and references an event in Jewish history recounted in the Jewish scriptures. God was extremely upset with their disobedience and struck them with a plague. He asked Moses to put a snake on top of a pole. He said that everyone who looked up at the pole would be saved (incidentally, this is where the medical symbol with the snake on the pole comes from). Jesus uses it to introduce John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would have eternal life.” Salvation, Jesus explained, is simply “looking up” at Jesus for salvation. Nicodemus doesn’t show signs of understanding what Jesus was talking about during that conversation and it really frustrated Jesus since he was supposed to be a religious teacher. I imagine, though, that he went away and was plagued by these words. “What does it mean to be ‘born of the spirit’ and how do I do it?” “What does it mean to ‘look up; at Jesus?” I’ll bet he scoured references in the scriptures to these concepts. He would have found plenty of references to Jesus, himself, in the writings of the prophet, Isaiah. He would have found an important reference to “the spirit” in the writings of the prophet, Joel, when he says that a time would come when people wouldn’t worship God in Jerusalem, but in “spirit”. I wonder the same things myself. What the heck does it all really mean? “Born again” has been used to simply describe people who go to church or who call themselves “Christian”. The true message, though, is quite profound and incredulous. God would actually give you some piece of himself in the form of his spirit. Somehow Jesus made this possible. In my experience it’s such a crazy idea that you could only believe it by experiencing it. You have to throw off preconceived notions or bad experiences with the church and take Jesus at his word. I wish I had a better understanding of all of this.

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A British newspaper recently called the Obama’s “America’s Royalty” which may be more a harbinger than a compliment. 232 years ago we fought a war to rid ourselves of a king who was going to put an undue tax burden on this country without giving us a say in it. We may have been a little too hasty trying to throw out King George. After all, everyone loves a king and we could all use some love right now. When our national debt tops 2 trillion and our economy is tanking, we should remember that the cost of love is expensive.

Michelle O is the new Jackie-O and we should be happy about that. While the rest of us are sitting at our kitchen table in our bathrobes combing through the want-ads, our first-lady-queen will be putting on a good face. Our president will be on the hottest talk-show selling us on green energy jobs. “Well look,”, he’ll say, to give us all confidence that despite the fact that it makes no sense to the rest of us, he must know something that we don’t. His years of economic experience will warm our hopes as we warm ourselves with our homemade costco brand coffee.

You don’t have to understand the macro or micro-economics of how wind energy will get you a new job. Just flip the page over to the “energy want-ads” section and start looking. You’ll see companies like Americas Wind Energy (located in Ontario, Canada), DeWind (Germany), Fuhrlaender (Germany), Gamesa Eólica (Spain), Mitsubishi, or Norwin (Denmark). If you’re not into Europe or Japan, then try GE. They are providing jobs in wind-energy right here at home. In fact, they currently have 8 job openings right now in the U.S. so buck-up Americans and put your trust in America’s Royalty.

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“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” was what the priest said as he smeared ashes on my forehead in the shape of a cross. It’s a strange ritual that, in the past, I would have been creeped out by. I did not grow up in a tradition that observed Lent or Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent which is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It has become one of the most important times of the year for me. Lent is a time to mourn our sin, our humanity. Christianity is a message of grace and mercy but it’s difficult to understand mercy if you aren’t cognisant of what mercy is being given for. We need to remember that we are selfish, undisciplined, hurtful people before we can be grateful for the grace which God extends to us. That is what Lent is about.

Lent has another aspect to it: the temptation of Christ. Jesus was lead out into the desert to be tempted for 40 days. It’s anyone’s guess why this was necessary, but he resisted temptation and fasted for 40 days during which he resisted the devils entreaties to break his fast and test God. When I give up something for lent, I identify with the tempation that Jesus went through. I understand how difficult it is to resist temptation when you’re all alone and hungry.

It is important to consider one’s own mortality. Our understanding that life is short should guide our decisions; not to live a wild life, but to not waste our days in the short time that we’re on this earth. We need to understand that we are not our own little gods who run our lives. God is sovereign which means that he alone guides happenings on earth. When we consider our mortality and humanity, we put ourselves in our proper place before God.

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