The need to be born again

This may sound like a sermon or a Bible study. It is. So be it. It is Advent season and the heart of the celebration is the birth of a child to a peasant couple named Joseph and Mary. The birth was of no note in and of itself. The embellishments of the event, that are so important to our celebrations, were added several decades after the event itself. Mary and Joseph, the angels, the wise men, and the shepherds are the cast of characters that make the birth story of Jesus memorable to us all. Strip away all the special effects and we still are confronted with the birth of a very special child, who was destined to set in motion a religious revolution that will not quit.

Jesus from Nazareth became a new and dramatic expression of one of the underlying themes that is found throughout the Bible material. That theme is repeated in several settings. The theme is simple. Change begins with births and rebirths.

This theme is established in the first chapter of Genesis. Most Bible readers read Genesis One as a creation story in which God creates everything out of nothing. That is at best a poor understanding of the passages.

At the time of the writing of the creation story, how everything began was not a matter of interest. That came later with the Greeks. The theological issue of the day was the phenomenon of chaos. Chaos was the enemy of the better life. In the common mythology of the times, the Babylonians had a god of chaos named Tiamat. Tiamat was the adversary of Marduk, a god with the responsibility to kill Tiamat. The two gods had annual battles. Marduk always won but was never able to destroy Tiamat with finality.

The Genesis One story was written in that context. It offered an alternative perspective.

In the Genesis account, the God of the Israelites is also confronted with chaos. In the words with which we are all familiar, “the world was without form and void.” In other words what God found was chaotic and useless. As the Israelite God approaches chaos, the Genesis writer uses the language of birthing. In the Israelite story God births an ordered and meaningful life out of existing chaos. In short, the Genesis One creation myth is about birthing new beginnings out of chaos. This theme became a major part of the traditions of both Jews and Christians.

Special births become a key element in the stories of Isaac, Joseph and Moses. In the midst of the troubles of his own day, the prophet Isaiah promises a new day that will be initiated by “a young woman who will conceive and bear a son, whose name shall be called Immanuel, which means God is with us.” John the Baptizer is named special at the time of his birth. For Christians the birth of Jesus is the pinnacle of all birthing accounts. The John gospel tells the story of an encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus asks Jesus how he can become whole. Jesus responded, “You must be born from above.”

The birthing theme becomes an argument with every person and every nation that believes a new and constructive day can be brought about by killing the enemy. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln gave a short, brilliant speech on the great Gettysburg battlefield. On that site soldiers of both North and South were massacred. Lincoln acknowledged the terrible loses, but then claimed “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” In his vision freedom would not come from additional battle but by a new birth.

During the majority of my 82 years, the United States has been at war, both hot and cold. The reality is that every “successful” war is the seedbed for the next war. We are living the story of the conflict between Tiamat and Marduk. War is so much a part of our national heritage that we see every challenge as a war. We conduct wars against poverty, drugs, alcoholism, cancer, AIDS and homelessness. Every political figure promises to fight for us.

We desperately need to reimage the way we conduct our lives. Understanding life as a series of battles does not serve any of us well. The Advent season is a good time to take a look at the new day that is brought about by birthing. I love the birthing image, possibly because of my own personal history.

Around 1890, my grandfather, John Henry Bess, was a young newly married person living in southeastern Missouri. He had one great problem. He drank too much. He was drunk when he married my grandmother. Today he would be identified as an alcoholic. My grandmother questioned her decision to marry him. A traveling evangelist with a tent came to Marble Hill, Mo. My grandpa went to a revival meeting. In the language of the day, he got saved. He was born again. He never drank again. He became a good husband and father. Grandma and Grandpa had five children and raised them in the church. They all raised their children in the church. I raised my children in the church. All of my children raised their children in the church.

I hear people speak of how hard they have fought for what they have. How sad. Everything I have has been a gift to pass on thanks to a grandfather who did not fight alcoholism but was reborn in a tent in the hills of southeastern Missouri.

I share my brief story as fact but also as parable.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.