Sermon - 3-5-23

<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"> <span style= "font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: windowtext;"> Mother Teresa once said, “The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality.</span> <span style= "font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"> There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I believe Mother Teresa’s words are very insightful.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I, too, believe there is a deep yearning and spiritual hunger for God in our country and in our world, a hunger that simply seems to increase with the passing of time.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"> <span style= "font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"> Today’s gospel reading tells the story of a man who has such a deep hunger for God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> In this story, Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness, and <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">he</strong> is hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> He comes to Jesus during the night, and he has a <strong style= "mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">spiritual hunger</strong> that is gnawing away at his very soul. <span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a hunger deep within, a hunger he cannot fully identify. Now, Nicodemus is a Pharisee, so he comes during the night when he will not be seen.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Yet, he comes wanting to find out more about Jesus and what Jesus is teaching.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"> <span style= "font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"> Spiritually hungry Nicodemus does not understand the things Jesus has been telling him, so Jesus references a strange Old Testame