RCL Year C - Trinity Sunday - May 26, 2013

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Trinity Episcopal Church
Towson, MD

RCL Year C (Trinity Sunday) - May 26, 2013
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8 or Canticle 2 or 13
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

It is probably not a surprise to any of you… but the word “trinity” never shows up in the bible. It’s just not there. Jesus never refers to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as “the trinity.” However, in the celebration of the life of the church, and the calendar year today is “Trinity Sunday.”

This is the Sunday that scares most preachers to death, as they stumble about trying to explain what had been discerned by the early church and revealed to us in their teachings as the mystery of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  (Probably the reason for my floundering around this morning with the kids - trying to explain Trinity using the image of the tricycle)

So how did the concept of the Holy Trinity (the triune God) end up with its prominent place in Church doctrine, if it doesn’t show up in the scriptures?  I for one, don’t think that they sat around one day and just dreamed this stuff up.  It took the church nearly 350 years of prayer and discernment, arguing and struggling to articulate their faith to one another in terms that they understood.  Reasoning about how God had been revealed to them, and what it all meant.

So, in effect, if we look at it, the Holy Trinity is God’s revelation to the Church, it is how we perceive God… as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is our perception of a mysterious divine relationship of the ONE, true and Holy God.

You can find graphical representation all over the place, some that even originated in medieval times, but they don’t do the trick of giving an explanation to the unexplainable. Because that’s what God is… to our limited feeble minds… (regardless of how educated we are)... God is the unexplainable, the incomprehensible, the divine mystery…  But for some folks, that’s not good enough.  They need to be able to explain the mystery – so it’s not a mystery anymore, but fact!

But every explanation that we could ever come up with, only leads us to further confusion and a deeper need to pray and reflect on the mystery.  To me, I like to view the mystery of the trinity as a divine relationship.  It helps me get my head around it.  There are many images that come close to describing this relationship.  Most of the best ones are from the early church, and they still speak to us today...

In the 16th Century, St. John of the Cross explained it, “God is the One who loves so completely that there must be a co-equal lover to God to receive that love; and the love between the two is so dynamic and powerful that it is the third person. God is Lover, Beloved and Love.”

But, for my favorite, and probably the most profound that I have ever heard, you have to go back real early… it is the way Tertullian describes it. Tertullian was an early Church father that lived between 160 and 220 a.d. He said, the Trinity is like a plant with a flower...  "God the Father is a deep root, the Son is the shoot that breaks forth into the world, and the Spirit is that which spreads beauty and fragrance."

Tertullian’s description is definitely one way that we can try to understand Trinity, but it still comes up a bit short, because we are still trying to describe the indescribable – and explain the unexplainable.

There have been some that say: The Triune God is such a mystery, that any attempt to explain it would be heresy. But the Trinity for us, the Church, especially Trinity Church in its complexity of divine mystery and all things unexplainable...  it becomes for us the lens through which we view the world. And if we let it, it helps us put things in perspective so we can build the bridges for ourselves off of what we know.

We know the person of Jesus Christ, who is the word that the prophets spoke, the word that become flesh and dwelt among us. Who lived and died as a human being, yet without sin. Who while he was on this earth, he taught and healed, preached justice and peace, and casted out demons and raised the dead. Jesus died on the cross as a perfect sacrifice of sin for the whole world, to open the way of access for us to have a relationship to God.

We know that the person of Jesus Christ taught about God, and referred to him as Abba, (Father) which is a term of endearment - probably more like “Daddy” – a term of deep compassion and respect, a term of admiration and equality.  And we know that God, Abba, Father, created everything that is – and is the source of all being.

And We know that the person of Jesus Christ spoke of the Spirit of Truth that guides us into all truth… the Sophia or wisdom… called the pneumas or Ruach – the mighty breath of God or a violent rushing wind (like we heard about last week when the disciples experienced the wind at the feast of Pentecost) that guides and sustains the Church into all truth.

So we know God, by how we have experienced God… We know God as the One God who created us, and we know God as the One God who redeemed us, and we know God as the One God who sustains us – and we refer to God in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. and referring to God in those terms gives us the words that we can use to share the wonderful story of divine relationship.

God is complete in God’s self as One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… And I hate to break it to you… But God doesn’t need us, God doesn’t need any one of us… It is us who so desperately need God.  But even though God doesn’t need us, God loves us, his created image.  He loves us so much, that he desires to have a relationship with us… He desires that relationship to the point that he became one of us so that he could invite us into himself = the divine relationship.

We may not be able to completely understand it, but we trust and strive to live into that relationship on a daily basis… And as we participate in that divine relationship, we invite others to participate with us…  It is our purpose in this life, and it is how we find true communion and unity with God and with each other.

RCL Year C - Pentecost - May 19, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Trinity Episcopal Church
Towson, MD

RCL Year C - Pentecost - May 19, 2013

Acts 2:1-21
Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Romans 8:14-17
John 14:8-17, (25-27)

 

Come Holy Spirit, our souls inspire, enlighten us with your celestial fire!  The Holy Spirit – the 3^rd person of the God Head, the Paraclete or comforter, the Ruach Elohim, or the mighty breath of God.  The mighty Wind that moved over the waters of the deep in the beginning of creation, that moved over the masses in the city of Jerusalem, and still moves today among God’s gathered people…

The disciples where all gathered there in one place and at once the Holy Spirit came upon them, divided tongues as of fire appeared on each of them and they begin to speak in different languages...  Different Languages to the gathered assembly, and the whole crowd heard the word of God in their own native language.

On the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and ignited the apostolic flame and it spreads like a wildfire – out of control…  so out of control that the people were able to understand the words that the apostles were speaking about the power of God…  And they understood the message, each in their own language.

What an incredible and confusing site that must have been. 

So confusing that some even accused them of having too much to drink.  Peter perks up (not one of his most brightest moments) and comes to their defense, telling them that it is only 9 o’clock in the morning and that the prophecy of Joel has come true… That the Spirit of the Living God had been poured out on all flesh and was alive right there in that place and was witnessed by all of Jerusalem.

The church is gathered now, 2000 years later and the Spirit of God continues to pour out upon all flesh…  bestowing upon us the gifts of wisdom and reason, judgment and strength, knowledge and reverence and a wonder filled with awe. 

And what I ask is, do we recognize it?  And when we do think we recognize it, what are we doing with it??  God is alive right here, present with us and the spirit is being poured out… and how do we respond?

At the 9am service, with the kids, I decided to teach them about the Holy Spirit with a pin-wheel.  A pin-wheel was one of my favorite toys as a kid.  I used to make them and I could sit there and blow on it for hours.  In fact, since these came into the office, I haven’t stopped playing with them.  So now you’re saying, “ok Ken – how did you use a pinwheel to teach about the Holy Spirit.” - Hold on, I’m getting there…   

I call this message the Parable of the Pinwheel:

Well, the scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Ruach Elohim – the mighty breath of God… the rushing wind…  that same wind moved over the deep in the beginning of creation, and that same wind was the one that the disciples experienced in today’s reading from acts…  The thing is – you can’t see wind… it’s invisible. 

You can only see reactions to the wind.  Stuff blowing around, or this pinwheel…  that when then wind blows it and the pinwheel is in the right position, ready to receive and respond to the wind, it spins…  and spins and spins, and spins… 

However, then it is against the wind, it doesn’t spin so good… 

That’s what I taught about the spirit.  When we are ready, and positioned open, ready for the spirit, then the spirit can use us to produce good things…  The spirit can drive our energy and empower us to reach out and help others and so we can do what we are meant to do…   and then we can spin and spin and spin…   but if we are not open, and we have our backs toward God, then the Holy Spirit can’t do its work though us, it can’t give us the energy that we need in order to function properly. 

When we are turned away, we don’t spin so good… 

It’s all about orientation and direction…  and about us being open and ready to receive the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit of God can work in our life, to empower us with courage, wonder, wisdom and reverence.

The disciples were still in Jerusalem, and they were starting to come out of hiding.    After all, it had been 50 days since Jesus’ first appearance of being alive after a horrible death…  and it was 7 days after the disciples saw Jesus raised into the heavens.  They remembered Jesus’ promise…  His promise that they would not be alone, that He would send them a comforter and protector. And when the disciples were there that day, they experienced it – and it gave them the wisdom and power to communicate the power of God to everyone there in Jerusalem.

I want to throw in a fun fact to know and tell:  you know that funny looking hat that the bishop wears, called a miter?  It is made that way on purpose – made to look like a tongue.  A great tongue of fire sitting on his/her head, like the tongues of fire that landed on the heads of the first apostles on Pentecost.  It is a symbol of that apostolic flame that continues to burn throughout the church. 

See, every bishop in the Episcopal Church is ordained in what they call apostolic succession where you can trace the lineage of ordination (even the bishop that ordained me) back to the original apostles.  This is done by 3 apostolic bishops (or more) laying hands at ordination on the newly ordained bishop…  thus conveying orders all the way back to the original followers of Jesus…  kind of like a 2000 year old game of tag… 

At a bishop’s ordination, the bishop accepts a responsibility to bear the apostolic witness to the faith and guard the unity of the church… that unity and oneness that I spoke about last week.  (if you missed it, you can get it on-line).  See, all of this stuff all ties together…

At Pentecost, the Spirit of God comes down upon the disciples, resting on each of them and thereby bringing them, and us, all together once again.  The disciples got a crash course that day in the language of God.

As the Spirit used the speech of the disciples on Pentecost to reshape and redirect the lives of those who listened to their words, so that same Spirit on this Day reshapes, remolds, and move us…   But ONLY if we are willing turn, and listen, and be open.  After all, God speaks to us all the time in the one true word that ends our fears and brings us everlasting peace — the Word-Made-Flesh, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

RCL Year C - Easter 7 - May 12, 2013

RCL Year C - Easter 7

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

Trinity Episcopal Church

Towson, MD

May 12, 2013

Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

What does it mean to live in one-ness?  How do we define unity?  Does it mean that we are all like-minded?  Or is it that we all have the same goals and aspirations in life?  Or is it even that we all believe the same thing?  I don’t think so.

I would suggest that if we were all like-minded, and we had all the same goals and believed all the same thing, we would be no more than starving brain seeking zombies with no intellect, no soul, and no future.  Life would be pretty boring - and we would drone on mindlessly, continuing to seek-out something because it feels good.

So, if that’s not it, what is unity?  What is oneness?

Today we find ourselves in the middle, as we so often do, in church…  as we celebrate the life and ministry of Jesus today, we find ourselves in the place between his ascension into heaven (which we celebrated on Thursday) and the coming of the promised Paraclete (the helper or supporter), the holy spirit that will continue to help and guide us; help us remember Jesus’ teachings, and comfort us with the promises of salvation and everlasting life.

In our celebration today, we are found right here in the middle of those two significant events in the church calendar, but the scriptures appointed for today take us back…  They chronologically takes us back to a time when Jesus prayed for unity for his followers that they might be one, as he and the father are one.

The seen we have from today’s gospel reading from John is familiar.  Jesus and his disciples are gathered in the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus has gone off by himself to pray.  He knows that the end is near, and soon Judas and a caravan of Roman soldiers will come trampling up the path to arrest him.

He is stressed and worried.  So, Jesus then begins to pray for his followers and everything that he has been trying to teach them.  He prays that they understand, and that they will continue to be and act together and “be one” with each other in community.  Jesus prays that they “ALL may be one.”  And he prays this so hard that his sweat was like drops of blood! – as Luke’s gospel tells us.

To be a follower of Jesus IS to be a part of a greater whole.  Part of a community…  Because he knew, united they would stand and divided they would fall.

According to Jesus, there’s not supposed to be any solitary Christians out there or spiritual Lone Rangers.  Does this mean they have to get along all the time?  No!  Does this mean they have to agree all the time?  No!  If we think primarily that this is some sort of functional or political statement, then it would seem to call us to constant agreement and like minded consensus.

But if we think on more along ontological terms (as it relates to our general nature of being) then it becomes more of who we are.  We are one in Christ whether we agree with each other or not. And, we are one in Christ whether we like one another or not.  To become a part of Christ is to become a part of the community; to be a part of the one.

It’s one of the most difficult things that we can learn to do.  And yes, I believe that it’s a learned and practiced trait and I use the word practice, because we haven’t perfected it.

The world and even the church (the followers of Jesus) have not shown us good examples of this unity that Jesus prays for.  The violence and destruction modeled by governments and social systems only adds to the division and exclusion…  He or she is not one with us because he or she…  (you can fill in the blank) 

                        Has a different color skin…

                        Speaks a different language…

                        Lives in a different part of the world…

                        Doesn’t make enough money…

                        Makes too much money…

                        Doesn’t have the right job…

                        Is disabled or handicap or has a learning disability…

                        (and the list is infinite!)

And the church is just as bad (mia culpa).  He or she is not one with us because (fill in the blank)

                        We don’t worship the same way…

                        You ordain women / homosexuals…

                        You don’t use the right prayerbook…

                        You say odd prayers that include the Virgin Mary…

                        You think that organized religion is stuffy and has no value…

                        You don’t celebrate communion every Sunday…

                        You practice private confession…

                        You pray extemporaneously…

                        You don’t kneel or you don’t stand or you don’t genuflect…

                        You don’t know Jesus like I know Jesus…

                        You don’t pray the right prayers…

                        (again the list goes on and on and on…)

                       

Yet Jesus’ most stressed and personal heart wrenching prayer was for his disciples to be one, and for them to continue practice community…  and for them to love and live into their diversity…

This oneness doesn’t rear it’s head and say, “I have no need of you.”  It says, “come my brother or sister, sit and eat, feast at the table and be refreshed and renewed.” 

It doesn’t say, “I’m upset because you don’t play my way, so I am going to take my toys and go home.  That it’s my way or the highway.”  It says, “I’ll walk with you, learn from me, and give me your burdens, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Together we can share the journey and the load.”

Jesus’ prayer for unity reminds us that our unity, our oneness with each other, is to be an outward sign to the world of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus.  We understand from his prayer that oneness and unity is about love.  It embodies the trust and allegiance.  That Beverly talked about last week.

And if you have been a part of a family, or a member of a church, or a community, you know that within that love that it can get messy sometimes…  there are always disagreements and squabbling.  Because we are all human, made by the one creator, God.  But the mystery of the incarnation (God coming into this world, embodied in the person of Jesus the Christ) is that God desired unity with us so much; God became one of us.  And at that moment we were invited into the oneness of God, in unity with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  It is only with God’s help that we are able to continue to live into that oneness.

Like the disciples, who were in the middle, in a time without Jesus between the Ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  We are in that time between the first coming of Jesus Christ and his coming again.  May we rejoice in the promise that Jesus the Christ continues to be one with us in our diversity, as we continue to pray for our oneness, and for the unity of humanity as community.