A ruler crossed the city

When the lamps were burning low.

He came with careful honor,

With more questions than he'd show.

"No man can do these wonders

Unless his God is near."

But signs were only doorways

To the word he came to hear.

The wind moves where it chooses;

Its sound is heard, unseen.

So is every life awakened

By the Spirit breathing free.

"A man must be born again,

Or God's kingdom stays unknown."

Nicodemus held the saying

Like a seed against a stone.

"Can age return to childhood?

Can the first beginning start?"

Flesh can only bring forth flesh;

The Spirit births the heart.

The wind moves where it chooses;

Its sound is heard, unseen.

So is every life awakened

By the Spirit breathing free.

"Art thou a teacher in Israel

And cannot read this sign?

If earthbound words are doubted,

How will heaven change the mind?"

The Son of man came downward,

Yet heaven knew his name;

A wilderness of poison

Would frame the saving claim.

As Moses raised the serpent

Above the dying ground,

So must the Son be lifted

Where faith and life are found.

Not lifted for the righteous,

Not given for a few;

The love of God reached toward the world

With what no world could do.

God so loved the world,

He gave his only Son,

That every heart believing

Should not be overrun

By death that has the final word,

By darkness closing in;

Everlasting life is given

To the one who trusts in him.

God sent not the Son to condemn the world,

But that the world through him might live.

Light came into the darkness,

Yet some defended night,

For hidden deeds grow fearful

When they stand before the light.

But truth walks toward the shining,

Not claiming works as pride;

What God has made within a soul

Need never run and hide.

God so loved the world,

He gave his only Son,

That every heart believing

Should not be overcome.

Born not by flesh alone,

But by the Spirit's breath;

The lifted Son becomes the way

From darkness into life.

The ruler left the night,

Carrying the sound of wind.