John 3.1-17
+ I try…I really do. I try not to
complain about other preachers. But,
there is one thing I have never enjoyed about preachers.
I am always made uncomfortable by
preachers who use the pulpit as a confessional booth.
That’s a joke, of course. Because,
who does it more than me? I’ve confessed to you from here before. And I
apologize for that.
But…this morning—this Sunday of the
Holy Trinity—I am going to do it once again. I apologize in advance for this
one too. This is a confession that one I
don’t think I’ve ever share with too many people. Not many people know about
this fact about me.
But…many years ago, long before I
became a priest, not long before I became interested in the Episcopal Church,
as I was still searching on my spiritual journey, I…joined the
Unitarian-Universalist Church. I know some of you know about the so called UU
Church. Some of you were members of that denomination at one point.
I joined while I was searching and
was a very content Unitarian, actually. I enjoyed the UU Church. It was
certainly a progressive church. I was very welcomed into the Church and was
treated very well by them. I still hold them in high esteem. And I still have a very warm place in my heart
for the UU Church.
I ultimately had a few issues with
them, though. One of the main reason I am not a Unitarian-Universalist now, is
that the church was very humanist in its beliefs. Oftentimes, I felt as though
I was at a college lecture, rather than at a church. And I was craving
something spiritual at that point in my life—and of course still am. I was
craving God in my life at that time, and there was not much talk about God at
the UU Churches I attended.
Another issue was, of course,
liturgy. I need my liturgy! And there was no liturgy of any sort in the UU
churches I attended. I did not yet know about a Unitarian congregation in
Boston called King’s Chapel, which was originally founded as an Anglican
church, but later became Unitarian while still keeping a worship and liturgy
that is based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Finally, the biggest issue for me
was, of course…Jesus. Jesus was THE issue for me. I, as you all know, always
believed, in some way, in the Incarnation—in the belief that Jesus was God come
to us in the flesh, which Unitarians definitely did not believe. At this point in my life, I was exploring
other aspects of spirituality, but when it all came down to it in the end, this
was a very major part of my spiritual life, I realized. In that sense, it was a
good thing to explore UUism. I came away with an even deeper appreciation of
Jesus after my very short time with them.
The UU Church is a very old, very
respected strain of religious thought, that comes from the so-called “Arian
heresy” of the third century. Unitarians had an issue with what we are
celebrating today—the holy Trinity.
Now, as a Unitarian, I never really
had any issues with the Trinity. I didn’t become a Unitarian because I didn’t
believe in the Trinity. In fact, the Trinity was just something I has always
kind of lived with and accepted.
Most of us, let’s face it, don’t
give the Trinity a lot of thought. We assume God is Trinitarian. But for the
most part we don’t lose sleep over what it is or how it works.
People who are losing sleep over the
Trinity these days are those preachers who have to preach about the Trinity on
this Sunday. Our own Sandy Holbrook was originally going to preach about it
today. I’m not saying she chickened out on it (she actually did preach on Holy
Trinity Sunday three years ago).
But I had no issue taking up the
baton for the sermon today. It’s my job after all, as your priest. I definitely am not one of those preachers who
lost sleep this week fretting over what I was going to say about the Trinity,
even despite my Unitarian background. I approach
this Sunday and this concept of the Holy Trinity as I approach any similar
situation, like Christmas or Easter or, as we celebrated last Sunday, the Holy
Spirit and Pentecost.
It’s a mystery. And I love the
mystery of our faith. And let me tell
you, there is nothing more mysterious than the Trinity. God as Three-in-One—God as Father or Parent or
Creator, God as Son or Redeemer and God as Spirit or Sanctifier.
I know, I know. It’s difficult to wrap our minds around this
concept of God. The questions we priests
regularly get is: how can God be three and yet one? How can we, in all honesty, say that we
believe in one God when we worship God as three? Certainly our Muslim brothers and sisters ask
that very important question of us: Aren’t you simply talking about three gods?
(We’re not, by the way—just to be clear about that)
Whole Church councils have debated
the issue of the Trinity throughout history. The Church actually has split at times over
its interpretation of what exactly this Trinity is. We can debate it all we want this morning. We
can talk what is orthodox or right-thinking about the Trinity all we want. But
the fact remains that unless we have experienced God in some kind of tri-personal
way, nothing I or anyone can say about the Trinity is going to matter.
Now did you hear that word I just
used? Tri-personal. There, for me, is
the key to everything this Sunday is about.
So, what are talking about here is
not three gods, as some people seem to think. What we are talking about it one tri-personal God—a God who cannot be limited in any
way, but a God who is able to come to us and be revealed to us in a variety of
ways. We can go on and on about theology
and philosophy and all manner of thoughts about God, but ultimately what
matters is how we interact with our God.
How is our relationship with God and
with each other deepened and made more real by this one, tri-personal God? How
do become closer to God? This is our
primary responsibility: our relationship with God. How can all this talk about
God—how can this thinking about God—then deepen our relationship with God? Our goal is not to understand God: we will never understand God. God is not some Rubik’s Cube (I’m dating myself
with that reference) or a puzzle that has to be solved. Our goal is to know God. Our goal is to love God. Our goal is to try to experience God as God wishes to be experienced by
us.
Because God does know us. God does love
us. And, more likely than not, we have
actually experienced our God in this tri-personal way more than once in our
lives.
I personally have experienced God in
a variety of ways; certainly I have experiences God in that tri-personal way countless
times.
I have known God as a loving and
caring Parent, especially when I think about those times when I have felt
marginalized by people or the Church or society or by friends and colleagues.
I have also known God as my redeemer
in the Person of Jesus—as the One who has come to me where I am, as One who
knows my suffering because this One also has suffered as well. And this One,
Jesus, has promised that I too can be a child of this God who is my—and
our—Parent. Because of Jesus, I have been able to take
comfort in the fact that God is not some distant deity who could not comprehend
what I have gone through in my life and in this limited, mortal body. God as Jesus the Redeemer knows what it was to
be limited by our bodies. There is
something wonderful and holy in that realization.
And I have known the healing and
renewal of the Spirit of God of my life. Certainly we, at St. Stephen’s have
experienced and continue to experience this Spirit’s presence in the life and
renewal we are celebrating in our congregation. We have known in a very real way the healing and
renewal of the Spirit of God here among us.
And, I don’t need to tell you, it is wonderful.
Last year I preached about the famous icon of the Trinity, written
(that’s the proper way to say an icon is painted or drawn) by the great Russian
iconographer, Andrei Rubelev. I have placed the icon here. Definitely go and take a look at it and see how truly beautiful it is.
In it you’ll find three angels seated at
a table. According to some theological
interpretations, these three Angels represent the three Persons of the Trinity.
In the icon we can see that all three Angels are shown as equals to each other.
In a sense, this icon is able to show in
a very clear and straightforward way what all our weighty, intellectual
theologies do not.
What I especially love about the image is that, in showing the three
angels seated around the table, you’ll notice that there is one space at the
table left open. That is the space for
you. In a sense, we are, in this icon,
being invited to the table to join with the Trinity. We are being invited to join into the work of
the Trinity. And I think that is why
this icon is so important to me.
If all we do is ponder and argue and
debate the Trinity, we’ve already thrown in the towel. And we are defeating the work of the Trinity. But if we have sat down at that table with
this tri-personal God, if we have joined in that circle of love and, as
followers of Jesus, shared that love with others, then we are truly celebrating
the Holy Trinity. We are joining the Holy Trinity. We are sharing the love and
work of our tri-personal God.
So, no matter what the theologians
argue about, no matter what those supposedly learned teachers proclaim,
ultimately, our understanding of the Trinity needs to be based on our own
experience to some extent.
The Trinity does not have to be a
frustrating aspect of our church and our faith. It should rather widen and expand our faith
life and our understanding and experience of God and, in turn, of each other.
So, today, as we ponder God as
Trinity—and we should ponder this tri-personal God in our lives—as we consider
how God has worked in our lives in a tri-personal way— and who God is in our
lives, let us remember how amazing God is in the ways God is revealed to us. God
cannot be limited or quantified or reduced.
God can only be experienced.
And adored.
And pondered.
God can only be shared with others
as we share love with each other. When
we do that—when we live out and share our loving God with others—then we are
joining with the tri-personal God who is here with us, loving us with a love
deeper than any love we have ever known before.
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