Come to the Waters |
St. Mary's Episcopal Church Green Cove Springs, Florida First Sunday After Pentecost (Trinity Sunday ), Year B June 7 , 2009 Go to St. Mary's Home Page |
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Come to the Waters |
St. Mary's Episcopal Church Green Cove Springs, Florida First Sunday After Pentecost (Trinity Sunday ), Year B June 7 , 2009 Go to St. Mary's Home Page |
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Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
The Collect of the Day
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "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." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:1-17)
The Unity of Trinity
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
In the original Star Trek™ series, there is an episode called “Mudd’s Women,” in which Harry Mudd finds himself stranded on a planet with one human-looking robot named Norman. Norman, needing something to do, created whatever Harry wanted. Harry had Norman create a whole series of women robots, whose only purpose was to serve Harry. Soon, Harry found himself bored with his own happiness. After the Enterprise arrived on the scene, the robots had other examples of humans to learn from and did not want to let anyone go. Commander Spock, the super logical first officer, and Captain Kirk figured out that Norman was the key. Kirk went to Norman and told him that “Humans never lie.” Norman accepted this as an axiom. Then Kirk said, “But that was a lie.” Poor Norman went into a fit: “You say you do not lie, but yet you now say that you are lying. If you are lying, then that is a lie, but it cannot be a lie, because you cannot lie…” Norman was consumed trying to figure this out, and the crew along with Harry Mudd escaped. Norman’s confusion is a little like the contradiction we Christians present to the world: We say we believe in one God, but then simultaneously claim that we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
So what is God the Father?[1] Some might say that God is omnipotent and holy, and maybe a little capricious. That God created the world with all kinds of imperfections, and then insists that we be perfect. That God gets really angry when we fail. That God sometimes interferes in the world through judgments and miracles distributed with a lot of favoritism. That God’s a dictator, only larger and more arbitrary.[2]
What about God the Son? His name was Jesus. He is friendly to humankind, and did his best to reconcile human beings with God. Some might say that Jesus is influential with God, so if you want God to do something, it’s best if you go through Jesus.[2]
What does the Church profess about God the Holy Spirit? Who knows? The Spirit was not seen until Pentecost. Some point out that there is a sin against the Spirit that damns you forever, but nobody knows exactly what it is (Mt 12:31-32).[2]
Today is Trinity Sunday. It is a day when we pay special attention to the Tripartite nature of the Godhead. Christians have been celebrating Trinity Sunday since the fourteenth century, when the Roman Church added it to the liturgical calendar. Many people might believe that somewhere in the Bible lies an explanation of the origin of the doctrine of the Trinity. They would be wrong. Unlike the doctrines of creation or redemption, there is no explicit affirmation in Holy Scripture for the doctrine of the Trinity. And yet, to be a Christian means believing in the Triune God.
So where did the Trinity come from? It came from the early church, a church that grew out of fiercely monotheistic Judaism, but a church that also experienced God and the work of the Divine in the person of Jesus. Jesus’ presence on earth presents many contradictions: How can God be in heaven and on earth at the same time? How can a perfect and transcendent god become an imperfect human being? How can Roman soldiers kill an eternal God with nails and a spear? The early church as it wrestled with these questions tried to make sensible something that is really incomprehensible: The Holy Trinity.
One way of examining the Trinity is to look at the meaning of the Trinity rather than the specifics of it. To look at the meaning of the Trinity is to look at our own experience through the eyes of psychologists like Ericksson and Jung. Very young babies see themselves at the center of the cosmos. Everything they experience comes from beyond themselves. Parents bring food, change diapers, and give seemingly endless, caring, love. This is not unlike the early concepts of the gods: they were powerful, creative, nurturing beings, who lived beyond this world. The God of Abraham and of Moses was such a transcendent figure: God was the Being who was, and is, and will be forever more.
As children grow, they learn of their own finitude, and they slowly begin to see themselves as individuals within a community of other individuals. They also see that they, and their parents, are vulnerable. Parents become less transcendent and god-like, and far more human. Likewise, young adults see themselves less as objects in the world and more in control of themselves. If you doubt this, just ask any teenager you know! When the disciples looked at Jesus they looked into a human face that their hearts recognized as the face of God. And then they wrote stories about his teaching and healing to illustrate to others something about the all embracing goodness of God that they experienced first hand.
As children mature into adults, they enter into deep and profound relationships with other people. As adults, we give of ourselves to another person, and if we are blessed, that person gives likewise to us. In so doing, we learn about what the theologian Martin Buber called the “I-and-Thou” interpersonal relationship. But I believe that when we are in solid relationship we actually create a third entity: the “We.” The “we” is more than an “I” and a “Thou,” because with a “we” there is an intrinsic loss of the objective separation of the two people as the “we” emerges. This experience of loving creation is what the Trinity intends to reflect. The Anglican theologian Bill Green described the Trinity as “an image that points to God as mutual love.” 1 St. Augustine proposed an analogy for the Trinity based on love. Love implies three things: the lover, the object that is loved, and the bond of love uniting them both. In the Trinity, the Father is seen as the lover, the Son as the beloved, and the Spirit as the love passing between them.
In the end, though, the Triune God remains ultimately a mystery, and our language, metaphors, and intellectual models are all inadequate and provisional. The Trinity, is just not adequate to describe the Godhead. God will always slip out of our definitions. God is the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, the mystery within us. The Trinity “is to speak of God the Father, the fount of all being, and the Lord of creation. It is to speak of the historical persona and activity of Jesus of Nazareth, in whose life, death, and resurrection the human face of God is disclosed. It is to speak of the presence and action of the Spirit developing and enlivening the Christian story and bringing it into contact with today’s events.” 1
So rather than getting bogged down in trying to explain Trinitarian doctrine and creedal formulation as things foundational to our faith, what we can do is lovingly lead others toward the great mystery that is God, and then let God do the rest. We need to remember that the concept of the Trinity is not itself sacred. Rather it is the truth it attempts to put into words that is sacred. It describes an archetypal experience that we can feel in our hearts to be true, generation after generation. And by living into that truth – by showing it in our words and actions – we can lead others to discover for themselves the face of Jesus, the power of God, and the Spirit within.
I for one am grateful for the Trinity, because it speaks of a kind of unity in diversity; where true wholeness can be found, that does not require absolute conformity or adherence to a uniformity. There is in this kind of unity complete inclusiveness, where everyone can be in, and enjoy God’s presence and love. The Trinity is a way of describing the perfect relationship of Being.
God has invited us into God’s house; God has spread the table before us, and set out bread and wine for us to share. Just as God has called us into God’s presence, we are to call others to come and experience the wholeness and wonder of God.
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In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "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." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] I am very indebted to my seminary professor, The Rev. Canon Dr. Bill Green, for this sermon which was published in William Baille Green. Ask, Seek, Knock. (Austin, TX: Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, 1999). 49-54. Dr. Green is an extraordinary human being who taught by example that it is by our actions, words, and deeds that we reveal and share our theology.
[2] Adapted from the essay entitled, “The Dogma is the Drama” by Dorothy L. Sayers, as quoted in Green, 49.
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5 June 2009
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