Readings
for Trinity/A:
Gen.1-2; 2 Cor.13:11-14; Mt. 28:16-20:
May 22, 2005
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Jesus said to his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." [Mt. 28] Paul ends his second letter to the Corinthians with: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." And today's reading from the book of Genesis speaks about God creating, God communicating, and the wind (or spirit) of God sweeping over the face of the waters. Whenever we speak of God in such expanded terms, we begin to point toward the doctrine of the Trinity. It is this subject of the Trinity that I would like to address in my sermon today.
On March 12, 2005, Ashley Smith was held hostage in her apartment by Brian Nichols, who was wanted for the vicious murder of four people in the Atlanta area. After seven long hours, Ashley was set free and Nichols gave himself up to the police. How did this young waitress manage to subdue the man responsible for one of the most sensational killing sprees in recent history? By staying calm, by getting personal, by reading to Nichols the book The Purpose Driven Life, and finally by convincing him that God did have a purpose for his life. Let me read to you a few of the same paragraphs that Ashley read to Nichols from Chapter 33: How Real Servants Act: "Whoever wants to be great must become my servant." (Jesus) [See pgs. 257-258 for details]
Whenever we equate Jesus' teachings with God's will and purpose for us, we are basically saying that Jesus has the authority to be the mouthpiece of God. We are saying that his ways are God's ways and that his teachings contain God's truth for humanity. In other words, Jesus has a unique and special relationship to God whereby his words, works, and teachings, are the words, works, and teachings of God. Christians have described this relationship in the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity basically says that there is one God and three “persons” or relationships. This God does not remain distant. God continues to communicate God's will and purpose for creation throughout history. At a specific time in history, God spoke God's word so clearly, that we say it became incarnate in the person of Jesus.
The Gospel of John describes this incarnation, this communication, this relationship between God's Word and Jesus in the following way: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." [John 1]
When the gospel of John describes Jesus' relationship to God using the terms "Father and Son," it does not mean that God is a man who has fathered a baby boy named Jesus. God is spirit, not a man. To hold onto an image of God as "a man" is heresy. However, using the terms Father and Son can be helpful when describing this intimate relationship between God and Jesus. It is a relational term that is deeply connected, life-giving, and holy. In order to maintain and emphasize this intimate relationship, Jesus is often described as God's Son or the second person of the Trinity.
After Jesus' earthly life had ended, the disciples continued to experience his life-giving spirit. They were empowered to preach the gospel. Their eyes were opened to the truth. They were transformed into agents of healing, icons of hope, and messengers of good news. They experienced this empowerment as God's power. They remembered that Jesus had promised that God would send them "the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the spirit of truth," who would teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus had taught them. [Jn. 14] The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity; the spirit of God that leads us into all truth and enables us to grow into the likeness of Christ.
The biblical narratives describe how the earliest Christians came to the belief that they had beheld God in their midst. From this witness, the doctrine of the Trinity emerged as an attempt to explain this expanded notion of God. Some refer to this expanded notion of God as: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Others as: The Vinegrower, the Vine, and the Fruit. Still others as: the Source, the Wellspring, and the Living Water (David Cunningham). Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier are a more recent reflection on God's character. What is important to note in this expanded notion of God is, that God is transcendent, and in our midst, and within- creating, communicating, and transforming us.
So what difference does this doctrine of the Trinity have or should have in our life today? All theology should have ethical implications; otherwise it is not of much use. If we believe that Jesus is the mouthpiece of God; if we believe that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, then the Trinity needs to be at the center of our lives as we discern God's will and make ethical decisions. I always get nervous when someone claims that s/he knows the mind of God yet acts in ways that are not in accordance with the words, works, and spirit of Jesus. The doctrine of the Trinity says that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all on the same page. And if they are all on the same page, they do not contradict each other! A blatant case of non-Trinitarian theology would be the woman who claimed that God had told her to kill her five children.
I also get nervous when leaders go war, especially with an attitude of revenge, fear, retaliation, and misinformation. It is not that Jesus laid out for us a specific strategy for dealing with international conflict. He didn't. He did not specifically address the issue of war! However, he did address the issue of humility in the face of conflict. He talked about forgiveness, repentance, turning the other cheek, and self-sacrifice. Jesus taught that we would never rid the world of evil through violence.
I get nervous when Christian politicians cut the budget, resulting in fewer medical and social services to the poor. On the one hand, I do believe that we need to be fiscally responsible and cut costs where possible. I don't want to pay more taxes. But on the other hand, if our national & state budgets do not reflect or take into account Jesus' preferential treatment of the poor, then our theology and belief in the Trinity is meaningless. Jesus said: "Just as you did to the least of these, you did it to me."
I get nervous when environmental protection laws are reversed or not enforced. Even though creation is not identical with God, Christians are still called to care for the created order and to preserve it. Christians are called to care for the earth not just because doing so is in their interest, but because the Triune God created the earth and continues to produce it by sending forth the Word and pouring out the Spirit. If the state refuses to carry out a strategy of "earth-keeping," we as individual Christians need to step in and do our part by leaving a light footprint on this earth.
Trinity Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to pause and to see how we can better connect our Christian theology to our ethical choices in life. Unfortunately, for the most part, our ethical lives as Christians are not shaped by the Church or by the narratives of Christ or by a belief in a triune God. Our ethical lives seem to be shaped by the prevailing winds of culture, and most importantly by television, the media, and public education. It is naïve to expect Christians to be persuaded by the authority of the one or two hours that they devote each week to the Christian narrative, while watching hours of TV and films and devoting most of their reading energy to the local newspaper and a few magazines. We need to admit that we have often allowed the Christian story to be overshadowed by the bombardment of cultural voices that point us in non-Christian directions. We need to at least make sure that the Christian perspective on violence, forgiveness, reconciliation, ecology, and inclusivity, is at least given a hearing alongside of culturally dominant voices.
Jesus spoke God's word to us. Before he completed his earthly ministry, he told his disciples: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth." Jesus did not give us a complete compendium on how to discern all of the complex issues of life. He did not specifically address issues of gender, race, slavery, sexuality, ecology, cloning, and international politics. He did however teach us the principles of grace, forgiveness, peace, mercy, justice, inclusivity, healing, generosity, servanthood, and most all, compassion. As you open yourselves up to the spirit of truth, who witnesses to the Son and originates from the Father, let these principles undergird your ethical choices.
The Trinity is an expanded and life-giving understanding of God that can heal and make whole the human endeavor. "Behold, I am making all things new." One of the ways I remember the Trinity on a daily basis, is by blessing myself as I leave my home. This helps me remember who I am and to whom I belong. It reminds me to listen to the spirit of truth rather than to my self-centered ego. It reminds me of the teachings of “the Word made flesh” from whom I have received grace after grace. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever, Amen. }
| Updated 5/27/05 |
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