 |
| At our son's preschool on December 14, 2017 |
Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
Trinity Sunday, May 27, 2018
May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ahh. Here were are on the oddity known as Trinity Sunday. It is the only feast day where we honor a doctrine, a belief of our tradition, rather than some particular event in the life of our Lord or a particular Saint of the Church. For those of us who love a good intellectual argument, it can be tempting to add to all the ink that has been spilled over the years trying to define the Trinity or trying to find an adequate way to put the mystery of who God is into a neat and tidy metaphor or formula.
As you might guess, I do love a good intellectual argument, so it is tempting to do that, and if any of you would like to do that, I would be happy to have a discussion after the service or to recommend some of my favorite reading on the Trinity. But given the state of our lives and the world, it seemed to me it would be a better use of our collective time today to focus on the Good News that in our readings today.
In fact, perhaps the best thing I can say about believing that God is Trinity (besides that it is a mystery, of course) is that we know God is Trinity through our experience. We know God as Creator through the incredible beauty of this world and through our relationships with each other. And our relationships, particularly the moments of joy and beauty in our lives, show us that God is present in the midst of us as the Holy Spirit. And, of course, we encounter the fullness of who God is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
I don’t know about you all, but I need some experiences of God in my life right now. I need that tangible connection that grounds me in the midst of chaos or challenges. The news is getting to me. I am weary and heartbroken at the story of yet another school shooting. I am disheartened by the ways in which our society seems polarized. And as our clergy conference recently reminded us, the sin of racism is far too real in our nation. If I really let the news get to me, I could be overwhelmed. It could be tempting to become a pessimist and to give into a belief that the good cannot win. But that is not the way of Jesus. That is not what we believe. We are a people of Hope. We are a people of Love.
This is what our readings remind us today. Our reading from Romans reminds us that we are beloved children of God. We have been blessed by God’s spirit. And that spirit is all about love for the world. Our beautiful, familiar Gospel passage reminds us that Jesus came into the world, precisely because of how much God loves the world. Really. God loves us so much that he is willing to send his only son to prove it. God is willing to turn his Son over to the worst humanity can do just to demonstrate to us that Love always has the last word.
There it is. That is what we need to hear, or at least what I need to hear. I need to be reminded and grounded in the all important truth that God’s love is more powerful than anything else in all creation. All evil that humanity can create. All those things in the news headlines that fill our hearts with fear or pain. None of them are more powerful than Love.
And it would be tempting to stop here. To withdraw from the world. To just rest in that truth of the reality of God’s love. It would be tempting to say that since God loves us so much, and God is in charge then we can just rest and wait on God.
But then we have our reading for today from Isaiah, where Isaiah says: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’” Uh oh. No resting for us. We don’t just get to turn it over. We are called to join God’s work in the world!
This is gd news for those of us who aren’t very good at just waiting, we get to funnel our anxiety into activity! Ultimately there is a profound and beautiful gift in our call. It is indeed a gift to be about the holy work of building up God’s kingdom.
Ultimately there is a holy invitation in all of this. It is an invitation to imagine the world differently. As Bishop Curry so inspiringly stated in his sermon at the Royal Wedding:
“When love is the way, then no child would go to bed hungry in this world ever again.
When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, poverty would become history.
When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields down by the riverside
to study war no more.
When love is the way, there’s plenty good room. Plenty good room. For all of God’s children.”
There we have it. An invitation to imagine a different world. And an invitation to be a part of creating that world. Here we are. May God send us forth from this place renewed, to be about the holy work of transforming our world into one where Love is the Way. AMEN.
