What Trinity Means

Today is Trinity Sunday.  Trinity is the way in which Christians throughout the ages have tried to understand God.   When I was growing up in Sunday School I was taught to view the Trinity as a triangle: God the Father or Creator at the top of the triangle, Jesus the Son or Redeemer at one of the other angles; and the Holy Spirit, the sustainer, or God at work in the world and in our lives, at the third angle.  This provided a visual image with a circle placed around the triangle to describe the Unity or Oneness of God.  You can see this image in the stained glass window high up on the east wall above the chapel altar.

In our opening prayer this morning, the Collect for Trinity Sunday, we “acknowledge the glory of the eternal trinity, and the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity.”  Is this confusing?  What does it mean?  How are we to understand or comprehend God as triune, as one in three?

During our worship we normally use the ancient statement of faith, the Nicene Creed, and affirm our belief in a triune God: “in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;…in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,…God from God, begotten not made; and  in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

There are phrases in the Creed that many people find difficult to follow, especially in a literal sense.  What is important, however, is that the Creed was developed and adopted in the year 325 at the Council of Nicaea as a statement of faith designed to bring the Christian churches together from many different regions and countries.  The Creed reflected the language and culture of that time.  Much of its value is as an historical document that puts us in line with faithful Christians of the last 2,000 years and continues today to affirm our faith in the reality of God.

In discussing of the Creed and the Trinity in his book, “The Meaning of Jesus,” Marcus Borg writes, “the one God is known in three primary ways: as the God of Israel, as the Word and Wisdom of God in Jesus, and as the abiding Spirit.”

This coming Fall I will be teaching a Philosophy course at Rhode Island College.  It is titled “The Idea of God.”  The description of the course states, “concepts of Divinity are critically examined.  Issues include polytheism, monotheism, atheism, gender and the God(ess).  Students are challenged to critically examine their own ideas through various philosophical and religious traditions.”

One of the texts we shall use is a book titled “The Case for God,” by the British theologian, Karen Armstrong.  As part of her case for God she discusses the doctrine of the Trinity and examines our understanding of its meaning.  She cites Basil, the bishop of Caesarea in the 4^th Century, who insisted that we could never know God’s ousia, a word that means “being” or “essence.”  But we could form an idea about the divine “energies” that have translated the ineffable God into human idiom: the incarnate Word and the immanent divine presence within us that scripture calls the Holy Spirit.  Armstrong says the whole point of the doctrine of the Trinity was to stop Christians from thinking about God in rational terms.  Trinity was mythos, mystery.  It spoke a truth that was not accessible to logos, to reason, and it made sense only when translated into practical action. 

One of the most influential figures in Christian history was Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa.  St. Augustine lived from the middle of the fourth century to the year 430.  He was a major figure in both Protestant and Catholic Christianity.  Augustine understood the Spirit of God as the bond of love between the Father and the Son.  As in God he stated that three different faculties – memory, understanding, and love – constitute “one life, one mind, and one essence” within ourselves. 

Augustine also thought that wherever the literal meaning of scripture clashed with reliable scientific information, the interpreter must respect the integrity of science or he would bring scripture into disrepute.  The text had to establish the reign of charity, compassion, and be treated allegorically if it appeared to do otherwise.

All of this has implications for us as it is realized in our practice of liturgy and worship.  When you worship are you drawn into another dimension of life, a mysterium, or a sense of awe?  One of St. Paul’s converts to Christianity, Denys the Areopagite, said that priests and congregants should plunge together into that darkness which is beyond intellect, a space in which we are actually speechless and unknowing.  It is being drawn into the mystery that is beyond our rational capacity, a place that gives us an awesome experience of being in relation to God.  It is mystical, a conscious awareness or communion with God the Holy Spirit.

So as we celebrate the ancient Doctrine of the Trinity, I invite us all to enter into the divine mystery of what we cannot in our human and rational limitation fully comprehend.  It is our worship of God who is beyond all that is and yet is fully present to us in the life of his Son Jesus, and in the Spirit of truth who strengthens and sustains us throughout our lives.  Amen.

The Holy Spirit

The Festival of Pentecost is here.  The word Pentecost means fifty days after Easter.  It marks the birth of the Church.  It is a new day for a new church, a day to commemorate God’s gift of himself through an Advocate, a helper, the Holy Spirit, to enable all of us to carry on the work that Jesus did in his ministry.

Yesterday, the Diocesan Eastertide service of Confirmation was held here at All Saints’.  Forty-seven people were confirmed, or received from other communions, or reaffirmed their vows.  In confirming and welcoming them Bishop Knisely asked that God, with the Holy Spirit, would empower them for his service, and sustain them all the days of their lives.

He then prayed, “Almighty and ever-living God,…let your Holy Spirit ever be with them in the knowledge and obedience of your Word, that they may serve you in this life, and dwell with you in the life to come.”  To live our lives in the Holy Spirit of God is both the meaning of Pentecost and what we are to be and do as Christians.

An article in the current issue of The Christian Century by the Baptist pastor Barry Howard, offers an important statement about Pentecost.  “The story of Pentecost… marks the inauguration of the church and launches the globalization of the Christian faith.  We cannot recreate the phenomena of Pentecost; our God is not the god of repeat performances but a God who is always seeking to do a new thing, and the Holy Spirit is pressing us to creativity and innovation and persistence.”

Our Scripture lessons are all about God’s gift of himself to us so that we can proclaim the gospel and work for that peace which the world cannot give.  It is the peace of God.  It is about focusing our lives on the Spirit and becoming heirs of God, as we are taught what we need to know in doing the works that Jesus did.

The Gospel reading is about Jesus preparing his disciples for the work they will have to do following his death and resurrection.  But Philip indicates that he still does not fully understand.  He said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus replied to Philip, “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”  If you have trouble understanding this, then “believe me because of the works themselves.  Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Then Jesus continued, if after all this you still don’t understand, but you love me and keep my commandments, “I will ask the Father to give you another Advocate, to be with you forever…. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

Barry Howard offers a comment about the role of the Advocate.  “This advocate is assigned to us Christ followers to navigate our steps, to keep us affirmed by God’s love, to steer us toward a lifestyle of service and simplicity, and to protect us from legalism by keeping us grounded in grace.”

The Acts of the Apostles explains how the Holy Spirit comes.  It comes with “a sound like the rush of a violent wind.”  It filled the whole house where the disciples were sitting.  Appearing among them were “divided tongues, as of fire, and a tongue rested on each of them.” 

This is a mystery; it is impossible to understand exactly what happened.  We have all experienced violent winds.  Wind gusts can be awesome and unpredictable.  The point made in the Book of Acts is that “all of the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.” 

My wife and I recently entertained a family we know who are immigrants from Gambia.  They have two children and live in Providence.  They are raising their children to speak both English and Fula, their native language.  A variety of ethnic groups live in the Gambia, each preserving its own language and tradition.  Fula is one of several languages in Gambia and, as you can imagine, there are hundreds of different languages throughout Africa.  And right here in Providence there are dozens of languages represented in our schools.  God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is to everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike in the first century, and people from every country and region today who speak their own language.

The story in the Book of Acts is about proclaiming the good news to people everywhere, in languages they can understand.   The Holy Spirit enables this mission.  Jesus’ followers spoke “in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”  They spoke “about God’s deeds of power,” and Peter quoted the Old Testament prophet Joel who said, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,…[and] everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

As St. Paul stated in his letter to the Romans, to be led by the Spirit of God is to know that we are children of God by adoption.  The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit so that we may be glorified with God.  It is a message of hope for our human future, a hope born of suffering so that as “joint heirs” with Christ we may share in the glory of God, be affirmed by God’s love and grounded in his grace and service.  Amen.

Making God’s Name Known

This is a special day in the life of our congregation.  It is Mothers’ Day, a day to honor all of our mothers and the mothers everywhere who nurture and care for God’s children as they grow and develop into responsible adults.  It  is also a special time as we are baptizing four people into the household of God.  In baptism they, their sponsors, and all of us affirm our ministries of compassion, justice and peace.  We are called to go forth into the world reconciling all people to unity with God and each other in Christ’s name.

Jesus prayed for his disciples: "The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

This is part of a prayer that the Gospel’s author uses to portray Jesus as a person whose life reveals divine glory and the very name of God.  It is the setting for a review of his ministry and his vision for the church and the world.

The gospel of John emphasizes that Christ is present with us now.  To live where God is means to live deeply rooted in the present, while always going forward to a newness of life.  There is great hope and promise: unity with God, even as God and Christ are one, and a life of fulfillment in God's love.

This is both a gift and a challenge.   God’s love is a given; it is unconditional and available to everyone.  We cannot afford to hide behind a naive, childlike faith that fails to ask questions.  Nor can we allow our faith to be manipulated by the standards of the contemporary world.  Our world, by its enlightened understandings of science, literature, philosophy, and technology, constantly challenges religious belief.  I submit to you that the real challenge of these new developments is asking us to enlarge our understanding of God.

The Gospel challenges us to be instruments of God's unity and God's love.  It is easy enough to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, and Jesus' prayer and promise of the unity of all believers in God can give us comfort and hope.  But part of the challenge of unity and love is about forgiving our enemies, meeting violence with nonviolence, entering into dialogue rather than forcing others to submit to our point of view. 

How contrary this is to the ways of our world.   Lives of meeting violence with nonviolence and entering into dialogue with those who differ from us comes across as foolishness to a world that continues to meet violence with violence, and that advocates confrontation as a way to deal with opposition.

 

Jesus made known God's name.  We come to know God by having faith and trust in God as Jesus did.  For us who profess the Christian Faith this means behaving in a loving and understanding way and working for unity and reconciliation among all people.  We must also make God’s name known so that the love with which God loves us will be in them, and we in them.

A significant part of our Christian faith is our continued nurturing and spiritual growth through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.  As our Prayer Book states, “Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.”  “The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again.”

Baptism is both God's gift to us and our response to that gift.  It is a time for giving a person his or her Christian name.  It marks a person’s initiation into the community of the Church, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.  It is about God’s relationship to us, our relationship with God, and our relationships with one another.  It also looks toward continued growth into the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

Baptism is more than a momentary experience using water and the sign of the cross.  It is the beginning of a journey of a life-long relationship with God and the people of God.  As St. Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, those who are baptized are called upon to reflect the glory of God as they are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, with ever-increasing splendor. 

The life of a Christian is necessarily one of continuing struggle, yet it is also one of continuing experience of the grace of God.  In this new relationship, the baptized person lives for the sake of Christ and for the world that he loves, while waiting in hope for the realization of God's new creation when all people will be reconciled to God.

As we continue to grow in the Christian life of faith, we demonstrate that humanity can be regenerated and liberated.  We share a common responsibility to bear witness to the Gospel of Christ,  and we acknowledge that baptism has ethical implications that motivate us to strive for the realization of God’s kingdom on earth, working for peace and justice with love and compassion for everyone.  Amen.

Making Our Home

Jesus said, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

I am not sure about you, but whenever I go away from home either for a brief time to attend a conference or meeting, or for a longer time for a vacation or an extended visit, it is always a good feeling to return home.

When I have been away for a week or two and come back I am always interested in what has changed.  Whether it is progress on construction projects, repairing potholes on the roads, seeing new life at Springtime or the fabulous colors of the Fall season, there is always something to observe that is different from what it had been at the time I left town.

Jesus told his disciples that he was both going away and coming to them.  He said that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of God would come to them and teach them everything.  He also reminded them of his gift of peace.  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

The Rev. Anne Howard, and Episcopal Priest whom I knew when she was in seminary, now lives in Santa Barbara, California.  Anne is the Director of the Beatitudes Society, a Christian leadership development organization, and she is a gifted writer.  I quote her at some length from an article titled “A Word in Time.”  She writes, “In Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples, Jesus reassures his faithful followers that he will send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to empower them, and he promises them peace even as he leaves them behind.”

The author of John’s Gospel “writes with the metaphors of a good novelist as he spins the Jesus story, writing at least two generations after Jesus.  He uses words like Light of the World, Bread of Life, Good Shepherd, Lamb of God, the Way, the Truth, the Life.”

“John told…stories because his community needed them. The little band of Christians were, just like Jesus, already being killed by the Empire.  Their hearts were troubled and they were very much afraid.

“So John offers them his imagining, he paints for them a picture of Jesus at supper with his friends, so that they might picture the very first disciples huddled in a room, hidden from the authorities, just as they too gathered in secret, listening for the clank of Roman armor.

“In John’s telling of it, Jesus doesn’t say that things will get better. He doesn’t tell them about any silver lining in the clouds. He doesn’t talk about a bright blue heaven. He doesn’t offer them religion of any kind.  Jesus offers them something the temple and the Empire can’t: he offers them his presence, a new kind of presence.  He calls it “home.”

“We will come to you. (John shows us Jesus so close to God that he speaks of himself and God as ‘we.’) We will come to you. We will make our home with you.

“’But how will we see you?’ one of the disciples asks, ‘How will we know it’s you?’

Love each other, and we will make our home with you. Just try it.  When you turn toward your neighbor, you will turn toward me.  When you open your hand, and your heart, you will touch me.  I will make my home with you.  When you stop to notice, you will know me.

“I am with you when you hear your name and claim it as your own, as Mary did in the garden on the morning of the third day; I am with you when you discover the balm of being right at home inside your own skin.

“I am with you when you invite the stranger to supper.  I am with you as I was at Emmaus, whenever the bread is broken and the wine is poured.

“I am with you, as I was with Peter on his fishing trip, when your net is full; but even before that, I am with you in the dark before the dawn, when your net is empty and your strength is gone.

“With his mystical imagining, John is telling his friends… to be on the alert for that moment of beauty when… we feel like we’re not alone any more, we are home.  And it’s still and always Easter.”

Not long ago I had a conversation with someone who told me how she has learned to relax and reduce stress during times of anxiety and uncertainty.  She mentioned having an operation and feeling confident because she could trust that God was with her.  She recalls a favorite hymn and recites its lyrics in her mind.  It is for her the peace of God that surpasses understanding.  As Jesus said to his disciples he is saying to her, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Her experience, and John’s stories of Jesus with his disciples can help us learn to be at peace during times of uncertainty when life is filled with ambiguity.  Think about your own experience and how you are aware of the peace of God in your life.  A s you reflect on God’s peace and what it means to be at home with God, I share with you a few verses from Psalm 85:

Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him.

Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. 

May God through Jesus come to you and make his home with you.  Amen.