The next day John saw Jesus coming toward Him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I meant when I said, 'A Man Who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.' I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel." Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The Man on Whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." The next day John was there again with two of His disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are You staying?" "Come," He replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:29-42)

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We call them “life-changing moments.” Things that suddenly happen that render our lives totally different than what they had been. Many of them are good. When you get married, your life changes –hopefully for the better! Parenthood brings many challenges but I have discovered for myself at least that it is perhaps also the greatest of blessings. There are of course (as there are with all things in life) those life-changing moments that aren't positive. When you get the diagnosis you were totally unprepared for or when the person you've shared your life with is suddenly gone. Those are life-changing moments, but they're moments we'd really prefer to avoid. We've all had them, and I suppose that, in a way, all of us here today share at least one life-chaning moment, although none of us can actually remember it. Perhaps the biggest and most challenging life-changing moment of all is the moment of birth, when we're squeezed out of the warmth and comfort and security of the womb and find ourselves suddenly and inexplicably confronted by what is literally, by comparison, the cold, cruel world. We don't remember that moment, of course, but how terrifying and overwhelming and disorienting it must have been for all of us when it happened to us. It may explain why Jesus used the phrase “born again” to refer to the process of coming to faith. Setting aside the uneasiness many feel about the term – an uneasiness that comes from the fact that it's literally been hijacked by some groups who want to claim it for themselves and leave everybody else on the outside looking in – it's nevertheless a great analogy for the process of coming to faith. To be confronted in some way (whether suddenly or gradually) by God calling us to enter a new kind of life can be a terrifying and overwhelming and disorienting experience. Although Jesus referred to the experience as being “born again” or “born from above” it is in a way the reverse of being born. When we're born we begin the inevitable process of taking on more and more control of our lives; when we're born again we begin an equally inevitable process of surrendering more and more control of our lives to the God Who has called us. For the most part over the years, I've discovered that most people like to think that they're in control. How unsettling and uncomfortable it is to be confronted with the reality that we're not in control – God is. That's why some people refer to those moments of encounter with God as something even more exciting and dramatic that “life changing moments.” They become the “Aha! moments” of our existence. Those are the moments that really do turn everything upside down.

Our reading today described a few of those “Aha! Moments.” John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching him and said “Aha!” “Look, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” It was John's moment of blinding realization that the One he had been speaking of had suddenly appeared and that his mission was now going to be eclipsed; overtaken by the ministry of Jesus. Two of John's disciples heard what John said about Jesus and said “Aha!” “When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.” It was their moment of blinding realization that caused them to change allegiances in a sense, as disciples of John became quite suddenly disciples of Jesus. And then there was Simon Peter – confronted by the two (one of whom was his own brother) with the words “We have found the Messiah,” leaving Peter himself with a decision to make. “Do I believe, or don't I?” This was a life changing, Aha! moment for Peter, and he had to think I'm sure about what he was giving up. We have this image of Peter (and many of the disciples of Jesus) as poor fishermen who had little to lose by following Jesus. The truth is a lot different. The fishing industry in Galilee two thousand years ago was quite a lucrative business, and while it was hard work you could make a good living off it. In Canada today we have our own mythology of the poor fisherman. I lived for three years in Newfoundland, and many of my parishioners were among those who had fished all their lives, and the truth is that until the cod fishery closed in the mid-90's some of them were doing pretty well. They worked long and they worked hard but they did pretty well. That's why the closing of the cod fishery was such a devastating moment. Well, Jesus didn't close the fishery and put Peter out of work, but the implication was plain – if Jesus was the Messiah, things had changed, and maybe there was more to life than fishing, and maybe it was worth the sacrifice.

Peter had a choice. We all have a choice. I can lay it out for you pretty easily – if you don't want your life to change, make sure that you don't let God into it, because the moment you let God in is the moment that changes are going to start. It's inevitable. Peter had to make that choice. I suppose that when those two men came running to him and said “We have found the Messiah,” Peter could have looked at them doubtfully and said, “You want me to believe He's the Messiah? I don't think so.” Now that would have changed history, wouldn't it! What if there had been no Simon Peter, no Cephas, no Rock on which to build the church! The Gospels would look very different without Peter, and probably the church would look very different if Peter had said. “You found the Messiah? I don't think so.” Or Noah could have said “You want me to buld an ark? I don't think so.” Or David could have said “You want me to be king? I don't think so.” Or Paul could have said “You want me to preach to the Gentiles? I don't think so.” Or any one of us could have said “You want me to do what? I don't think so.” And in the decisions we make about how to respond to God and whether we let God change our lives or not we impact one another and we impact the church, because the church is us. If we choose to be embraced by the Holy Spirit then we will be changed and so will the church. If we choose to quench the Holy Spirit then change won't come quickly or easily, to either us or the church. And if change doesn't come at all then it can only mean one thing – I've been told that anything that doesn't change is dead! And for all that, I wonder if change is enough. Perhaps to change something isn't sufficient. Perhaps the goal is to be transformed rather than merely changed. We all know the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Change is no guarantee of transformation. What happened to Peter was more than change. Peter was transformed into something completely different than he had been before. I wonder if at times we don't play at change and satisfy ourselves because we've changed something, when really what we haven't done is let the truly transforming power of God loose in our lives or in the life of our church.

How often does mere change get substituted for transformation in our life together as a congregation. The minister might choose to preach from the top of the steps instead of the pulpit – and that's a change! Except that it transforms nothing – a lack of transformation seen clearly when it becomes the source of complaint rather than transformation.. Or we buy a new hymn book and sing some new hymns – and that's a change. Except that it transforms nothing – a lack of transformation seen clearly when it becomes the source of complaint rather than transformation. Change becomes transformation when we take our “Aha! moments” and allow them to become sources of inspiration for us to reflect on Who God is to us, on how God relates to us, on what God wants of us and how we can fulfill that call. Change remains change when we use it as an excuse to dig in our heels and say “no. Not doing it. Case closed.” Or at the very least when we use change as nothing more than an excuse to complain.

Peter had to make that choice. “We have seen the Messiah!” Peter could have said, “No. I don't buy it. I'm not going.” His life would have been changed. His brother would have been gone. But it would have been a change that led only to resentment and anger. Or he could have gone reluctantly and complained all the way about having to go and said to Jesus when he got there “You know, I could have been fishing. That's what I like. Why do you want me to do something else?” But instead, Peter chose to embrace the moment and willingly say “Yes.” Andrew “brought [Peter] to Jesus,” and Peter's life was transformed – and from the transformation of one person, the whole world was transformed. How often do life-changing, “Aha! moments” come to us and we let them slip away because we don't want to risk the transformation those moments might bring to us. How many opportunities I wonder have we as individuals and as a church missed out on? But fear not because God never stops! Or perhaps you should fear – because God never stops! A life-changing “Aha! moment” is available right now to hearts and souls that open themselves to Jesus and ask Him to lead, and if those moments are seized then we may well join the ranks of those who have played a part in transforming the world by creating a bit of the Kingdom of God within it!