Born Again - Chapter 6

We began our evening by discussing our reactions to The Tomb of Jesus documentary. The documentary will be re-aired on the Vision Channel - (21) - on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m.

There was ambivalence towards the "discovery". We could see that some people would be threatened by the proposal that this was the remains of Jesus and his family. Others felt that it could be exciting. The sense was that it wouldn't change our faith, and it wouldn't negate or threaten our belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

We reviewed our experiences of the discussion group thus far by considering the following questions.

• What has been the impact of this program on you so far?


• What are you appreciating about the process of our learning and being together?


• What questions have emerged for you as a result of being exposed to Borg's teaching and the process of this course?

Individuals read their Alphapoems and Jesus Statements, which were homework from the last session.

Lydia began this week's discussion by reading the story of Nicodemus and Jesus. Jesus tell Nicodemus that he must be born again. We each read aloud a phrase that could be mean "born again". Some of these phrases were:

• Reconnect with God


• Live from the inside out


• Die to the false self.

We discussed how we felt about the term "born again". Borg is suggesting that being "born again" can have a very board and rich meaning, and it can be a starting point or bridge between the emerging and earlier traditions.

After discussing the socialization process and how it makes us become self-aware and self-concerned, we engaged in a journaling exercise about the "Road into Exile" or self-awareness and the "Road of Return from Exile" or being "born again" into an identity centered in God.

Questions to consider when journaling about the Road into Exile were:

1. Recall a time in your childhood when you remember yourself as a unique child, relatively unshaped by societal, parental, cultural, and religious messages.

2. Recall a time in adolescence or early adulthood when you remember yourself as self-conscious and significantly shaped by the three A's: appearance, achievement, and affluence.

3. Recall a time in adulthood when you would say that you were living "a false self" and were exiled from your true identity.

We were asked to journal about the "four kinds of Born-Again Experiences" that may have happened in our life.

1. A sudden and dramatic moment in your life (a revelation, a life-changing epiphany, a sudden conversion)

2. A gradual lifetime incremental process (experiencing the self-forgetfulness that accompanies a deepening trust in God).

3. The shorter rhythms of our lives (may occur several times in periods of major change or transition)

4. The microprhythms of daily life (each day forgetting God -becoming burdened- remembering God -rising from confinement).

We shared our thoughts in small group discussion.

We ended our evening with the Prayer of Jesus.

Our homework for next week is:

• Read chapter 7


• Imagine what the world would be like if God were in charge.


• What would the world be like if we lived the way God intends us to be? Think about this in terms of the Environment, Economic Justice, Health Care, and Imperial Power.