the book read for the children's message at APLC on Holy Trinity Sunday
Holy Trinity Sunday
Matthew 28:16-20
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
a sermon for the people
of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church
“Three
in One and One for all!” This is what my
imagination comes up with as I think about explaining the Trinity, and of
course, it does’t completely capture God in three persons. In the course of my life in the church, I
have seen (and used myself in my youth ministry days) a variety of imperfect,
incomplete, or downright laughable “illustrations”…none of them quite hit the
mark. Let’s see, there is shell + white
+ yolk = egg, or peel + flesh + core = apple, or that perennial favorite, steam
+ liquid + ice = water. The water
analogy is another version of the “I am always only ever me. Yet, at the same time, I am ‘mom’ to my children, ‘daughter’ to
my parents, ‘sister’ to my siblings. One person, three ways of being
known." But that kind of thinking is called modalism. And it is heresy!
How
are we to think of the Trinity then?
Excellent question. And the truth
is I have no idea. Like much about God,
the Trinity is a mystery…one beyond our human imagination. Unencompassed by even the very, very
clever (and completely original, I’m sure) “Three in One and One for all!”
In
our lessons for today: Genesis tells of God the Spirit moving on the waters and
God the Creator creating the world by speaking it into being; and since the
Gospel according to St John says that God the Son is the Word of God and that “in
the beginning was the WORD”, we who are self-professed Jesus-as-Son followers
can find traces of the Trinity in the first creation account.
The
New Testament and the Gospel readings are a little more explicit; Matthew refers to baptizing in the name of the “Father,
Son and Holy Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians refers to the grace of Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. There’s no “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” language
here. Rather there is a focus more on
community, love, and grace than on the names or titles of the three in one.
Nowhere
in scripture do we find the word “trinity” or an explanation of how God is both
three and one at the same time.
So
maybe rather than thinking about the “how” of the Trinity and risking a burning
at the stake as heretics (just kidding.
I’m pretty sure we don’t do that anymore), but just maybe we
should be thinking about and praying about the impact that the Trinity has on
our lives, on our reality.
The
Trinity shows us God in relationship…in God’s way of mutuality.
And
that relationship is ever changing, ever growing, ever expanding to invite
absolutely everyone to relationship with God and with one another. Where each is valuable, “good”, precious,
beloved by God. Where each seeks to
value, love, and call one another “good”.
I
believe that we are called to God’s way of mutuality.
“Jesus'
believed that God's way for human beings to live, to live with each other and
the planet that is in our care was emerging and in-breaking. He taught that
while the kingdom of domination was all around us and in us, that God was
moving to change that. Jesus invited disciples to join him in announcing and
living within God's Reign of Mutuality.
Everyone
was invited: Jews, Greeks, Romans, gentiles, Samaritans, the poor, the rich,
the blind, lost, the confused, those who were too certain of themselves, women,
men, children and so on.
Everyone
is still invited. Everyone.
In God's Reign of Mutuality we are invited to practice Baptismal
Awareness: to integrate into our conscious lives the paradoxes and
contradictions of human life. This means that human beings can learn to reduce
the teeter-totter of dominance and submission and learn to hold one another as
equals and to remember that we are beloved of God. Paul speaks to this in his
beautiful imagery of the church as the body of Christ.
In domination culture the ideal human is a powerful one. In
mutuality culture, the ideal human is one who embraces life-as-it-is and who
seeks to hold others as equals with differing gifts. Mutuality culture can be
understood as an open circle with the cross in the middle. The cross represents
God's willingness to join us in the midst of our humanity and to suffer with us
rather than to dominate us. Jesus whole life reminds us of God's self-giving
love.”[1]
God exists in community, and God invites us into that community,
too, into a family of equals who share a common mission and a common life but
who exist in that community as individual members of creation uniquely
beautiful but who are more brilliant together than they could ever be on their
own.
If we think about God this way:
God in relationship, then it makes our reality more understandable…we
are made in the image of God and God needs community…of course we need
community, too! A community centered
around our God…who created us, loves us, and calls us into life with God…living
in God’s way of mutuality in which no one person or group of persons is more
valuable or beloved than another…but in which we are called to love and to
serve and to invite the whole world.
as my Goddaddy says,
“Our calling today, on this Holy Trinity
Sunday, is neither figuring out the Trinity nor explaining it.
Our calling is living the Trinity in our lives
and in the holy and loving community we call the church. (and inviting others
into God’s Reign of Mutuality)
Our calling is to join with one another in
caring for creation.
Our calling is to take up our cross and follow
the Christ in the work of spreading God’s love in the world.
Our calling is to pray together and to be open
to the leading of God’s Spirit on our lives, come what may.”[2]
Amen.
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