This year I keep hearing the term Lenten Journey.  That strikes sort of a positive chord in me and sounds good….but what is it really?  Traditionally Lent was a time of the preparation of catechumens, that is Christian converts under instruction before baptism for baptism.  Long ago the Lenten or preparation period was only a couple of days, then it became about three weeks then it was changed to 40 days to Jesus’ time in the wilderness and how he confronted and resisted temptation.  Now, it’s forty days, not counting Sundays, because Sundays are always celebrations of the resurrection of Christ.  So preparation for baptism.  The liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptism describes the faith practices that grow out of our baptism.  We are to “…live among God’s faithful people; hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper; proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; serve all people following the example of Jesus; and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”  So, how are we doing with that?  That’s a good fair question, and over time the Lenten season has become less a baptismal preparation time and more a time of penance, that is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, or a time of reflection.  It sort of gets at that question of how we are doing with the promises made in baptism.  It’s a journey examination and seeking to eliminate those barriers to our relationships to God and one another  and to take up habits that build our relationships.  It’s a time of examination because there is a lot of discernment that goes on there.  Life and our behaviors are generally not like a light switch where we just toggle on the good and flip off the bad.  We’re human and it’s a struggle, not instantaneous, but a journey, a journey for Truth.  After meeting with my pastor friends and having a fantastic discussion this week I discovered the two saints that we are commemorating this week, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.  In thinking about the lenten journey the name Sojourner Truth really struck me so I did some searching.  As it turns out Sojourner Truth was born in slavery as Isabella Bauman. But escaped to freedom in 1826. After her conversion to Christianity, she took the name Sojourner Truth: “Sojourner because I was to travel up and down the land showing people their sins and being a sign to them, and Truth because I was to declare the truth unto the people.” This new name reflected a new mission to spread the word of God and speak out against slavery,  Harriet Tubman escaped from her enslavement during the summer of 1849, one year before Congress enacted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. She traveled at night following the North Star, She made it North and found shelter and friends, and learned about the Underground Railroad.  She had made it to freedom, but….She had made it to freedom, but felt it was God’s calling for  her to return and to help lead others to freedom.  She returned and led people through the darkness to the light of freedom 18 times.  300 people  were shepherded or in underground railroad terms “conducted” by  her.  She also partnered to lead a regiment to conduct a raid and free over 700 more people.  Frederick Douglass, wrote about Harriet Tubman, “. . . Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day — you in the night.”  Night and day, light and dark and moving from the darkness into the light.  Here are two individuals that set aside themselves and their personal interests to live courageous lives of service, hearing, proclaiming and striving in both word and deed.  They are both far more than adequate examples of living into our baptism.  Both womens’ lives were about journeys, really difficult ones.  Both journeyed from darkness to light but then they both did an amazing thing, they both returned to the darkness to help others find their way out.  In our Gospel for today a man named Nicodemus appears and we hear the story of how he questioned Jesus about what being born again means and the story culminates in the most famous of verses, John 3:16.  The problem with stories that contain a really famous verse is that we sometimes get stuck on them and miss a lot of what the surrounding material has to offer.  For example, What’s John 3:17?  Here’s an equally important verse, one that we could stand to hear a lot more frequently, one that needs to be taken to heart and one that stands as a beacon of light to those who live in fear and darkness.  God did not send Jesus to condemn us but to save us.  Aside from the difficulty of famous verses is the way that we go about making our way through the readings.  We use the lectionary, which is awesome, so awesome in fact that a lot of people have no idea what it is.  The Revised Common Lectionary is one of the best ways to expose us to as much of the Bible as possible in our readings in worship.  It lasts for three years and then repeats.  The three years are called A, B and C.  A focuses on Matthew, B on Mark and C on Luke with John dispersed through all three.  The problem is that we sometimes lose continuity or the big picture.  John’s a pretty crafty, heady writer and big picture thinker so we need to have the opportunity to step back a little and see some things come into focus, and guess what Nicodemus is one of those people and one of those times.  This is the story of Nicodemus, right?  Actually this is a story about Nicodemus.  Nicodemus appears two more times and as it turns out Nicodemus too is on a journey, a journey from night to day, darkness to light, fear to courage.  Check out the Nicodemus arrival time.  Nick comes to Jesus at night.  That’s a great time for a curious leader to make a low visibility visit.  He also shows some cards that others would not be comfortable with, there alone, at night, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” It’s pretty obvious that Jesus reached him that night in some way because steps out a little more public.  He’s still behind closed doors, but he is standing up in front of his peers.  He’s not out in the light of day, but I think John is showing a contrast here to the dark of night private meeting.  Nick goes to bat for Jesus with the Sanhedran making a point with the law.  It says, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before and who was one of them, asked,  “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”  They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”  Nicodemus didn’t make any friends here and he is being called into question.  But then Nicodemus makes his final appearance.  It’s just after Jesus had died.  It says in chapter 19, “Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.  They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.  Broad daylight, because they have to be done and home about 20 minutes before sunset because that is when the Sabbath would start. I think John is saying something about Nicodemus’ journey, about the journey to truth, the truth that sets you free, about Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth about you and me.  Think about Nicodemus’ journey and then what it says immediately after today’s reading.  John writes, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”  So there’s our Lenten call to action. Stopping to reflect and ask ourselves the hard questions, “Are we journeying or moving to the light or are we content to sit in darkness.  The repentance part of lent goes to the very meaning of the word repentance itself.  It doesn’t just meaning saying your sorry,  it simply means “to turn around and go the opposite direction” if you are traveling down the wrong path.  If we are walking in darkness to then walk in the light, then to ask the Spirit for the courage to go to the valley of the cross to journey with others to the truth, to the light, to freedom in all its forms.  Harriet Tubman was five feet two inches tall, born a slave, severely mistreated, had a debilitating illness, and was unable to read or write and she and Sojourner, guided by their faith,  made a difference, brought so many to freedom, inspired so many others and changed the world.  We thank God for their lives, their service and their example.  May our lenten commitment be to journey in such a way.   Amen.