This coming Sunday (Lent 2) one of the gospel readings is John 3: 1 – 17 it is the account of Nicodemus visiting Jesus. This hymn reflects on that.
1 The riddle of salvation,
not of a cross or tomb,
confronted Nicodemus
within a quiet room.
Christ took him back to childhood,
and challenged all he knew,
his intellect was tested
by hearing what to do.
2 ‘To reach the end you hope for
you must be born again’.
He looked uncomprehending,
and wondered, was this sane?
But Jesus answered gently,
‘you have your life and worth,
another change is called for,
just like a second birth’.
3 The change that he was facing
would turn his life around,
that was the riddle’s answer,
what he had sought he found.
The life that Jesus offered
required a different frame,
and from that moment forward,
he’d never be the same.
4 And now that call still echoes
in every place and time,
the movement of God’s dancing,
the rhythm and the rhyme
disrupt and change, transform us,
move to another plain,
and those who follow Jesus
will never be the same.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948) based on John 3 vs 1-17 Nicodemus
Words © 2011 © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Metre: 7 6 7 6 d
THORNBURY; WOLVERCOTE
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