I’m preaching on John 3:1-8 at New Melle, Mo. On Sunday.  In the text Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit one cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Back in Genesis 3, “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”  However, once mortality entered the human equation, Eve became the mother of all the dying. (I’m not forgetting about the man of red clay.)  To be born is to be set on the path to dying.

Though we have a Mother’s Day in May paying respects to the one who gave us birth here below, there is a second Mother’s Day in December.  The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her and she gave birth to Jesus and became the New Mother of Life.  Armenian Orthodox priest, Vigen Guroian writes, that in baptism we become sons and daughters of Mary, the Mother of New Life.  To be reborn in baptism is to be born into new life, a life which comes from above.