We always talk about being enlightened in our faith, that the more we know about God, our faith and our church, the closer we are to Him.  That works for a little while, but Jesus most often pushes us in the exact opposite direction.  He tended to endarken people to faith much more than enlighten them. If this seems cruel of Jesus, that’s because our opinions of ourselves are still too high, and we aim to low. Jesus doesn’t want a better me and you, he wants a new me and you, filled with his Spirt and love. Until we own up to how in the dark, how low and lost we are, there is no light, no rising and no return. ‘Very truly I tell you,’ warns Jesus, ‘no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again from above.’ And this rebirth is to happen not just once, but over and again in the course of our lives.