Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday: 22 May 2016

Sermon for Sunday 22 May 2016

The Holy Trinity

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith

Psalm 8

***

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

son-father-mother
on the way to church
NOT the Trinity!
Not heresy!
Just one place I noticed the presence of God
this Sunday in Jerusalem.

Anniversary:

1:  the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event; broadly:  a date that follows such an event by a specified period of time measured in units other than years, such as “the 6-month anniversary of the accident”

Or

2:  the celebration of an anniversary.

From the Middle English anniversarie, from Medieval Latin anniversarium, from Latin, neuter of anniversarius meaning “returning annually”, from annus (year) + versus, past participle of vertere, “to turn”. First known use in the 13th century.

Friday was my wedding anniversary – or as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary would put it, the “annual recurrence of the date marking the notable event that is my marriage to my spouse”. I wonder how I would have felt if Robert had come home on Friday evening with a card featuring a definition of “anniversary”. Something like:

“Dear Carrie, since today is an annually recurring date of personal and historical importance to us, I bought you this card. Did you know that the institution of marriage originated out of concern for inheritance of land? And that the celebration of wedding anniversaries goes back to the Holy Roman Empire?  Anyway, happy anniversary. Love, Robert.”

This didn’t happen, of course. Instead we had a lovely anniversary dinner at a restaurant, and we talked about the last 21 years, as well as the next 21 to come, and celebrated the mystery that is love and marriage and making a life together.

We know very well that definitions, doctrines, and explanations are hardly appropriate for the celebration of anniversaries, birthdays, or graduations. So why is it that when we’re presented with “Feast of the Holy Trinity” on the church calendar, our first instinct is to define, describe, and explain God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Why do we assume this is the way to say “I love you” to Jesus? 

We would never show up to a friend’s birthday party and expect to be greeted by a lecture on why we eat cake for birthdays. We would never go to a wedding and ask the couple to explain their love for one another. We don’t go to a graduation ceremony and ask to see IQ scores and grades for every graduate. We wouldn’t do this, because we recognize that such events are occasions for celebration, not explanation.

In the same way, the Feast of the Holy Trinity need not be a day to analyze God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It need not be a day to assert proper Trinitarian doctrine or root out heresy (or false belief) in the church. In fact, as soon as we attempt to do that, we commit heresy anyway.

For example:

The Holy Trinity is like a three-leaf clover, one leaf but at the same time also three leaves? Heresy.

The Holy Trinity is like water, found in the three different forms of liquid, ice, and vapor? Heresy.  

The Holy Trinity is like the sun in the sky, in which the star itself sends out heat and light to the world? Heresy.

The Holy Trinity is like a BLT sandwich, part bacon, part lettuce, part tomato, but still one sandwich? (This one was offered by a friend, and while it is definitely heresy, it also sounds delicious!)

The mystery of the Trinity is best described as just that – a mystery. Ancient ecumenical councils were held to try and solve this issue. Theologians have twisted themselves in pretzels trying to make the math of “3 in 1, but 1 in 3” make sense. But Martin Luther rightly said that there is no human reason which can make sense of this mystery – which is why we call it a mystery. It is best understood through faith, which itself is a gift from God. 

The Redeemer Church Sunday morning welcome crew.
1 Lutheran and 2 Muslims.
Nope, this isn't the Trinity, either!
but it is another way I noticed the presence of God this Sunday.

Dear friends in Christ, instead of “church-splaining” the Trinity this morning—and risking heresy at the same time—I’d like to turn our attention back to the psalm of the day. Please open your bulletins and read aloud with me the words of Psalm 8:

“O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

AMEN! Now that is a love letter! These are words which honor the Divine Mystery who is our God, one-in-three and three-in-one! This is the way to praise the One whose creation is more beautiful than we can ever describe, whose forgiveness through the cross of Jesus Christ is more perfect than deserve, and whose work through the Spirit is so boundless. This is how we celebrate God’s unity and diversity: Not with doctrine or creeds or dissertations, but with an outpouring of love, and awe, and wonder.

For when we see the heavens, and the moon and the stars;

when hear again how God silenced enemies through the birth of a baby;

when we stand near the cross and the empty tomb;

when we experience this community of faith gathered together through the power of the Holy Spirit from all the ends of the earth —what else can be said, except for these very words of the psalmist: “Who are we, Lord?”

Flowers of Jerusalem.
NOT a Trinity analogy!
But also a sign of God's presence.

Who are we, in the presence of the One who made all of this?

Who are we, to think we can understand the Mystery of one-in-three and three-in-one?

Who are we, that the Triune God would pay us any attention at all?

Who are we, even to sing your praises?

We stand in awe of your greatness!

O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Amen! 

Yes—today is a day for celebration, not explanation of the Holy Trinity! And yet, so is next Sunday. And the next. And the next. And in fact every other day of every other week in the year! Every day in which we wake up to the sun is a day to praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who makes it all possible.

But of course, some days we also have to go to work. And shop for groceries. And fix the car. Some days we find ourselves standing near a great and ugly separation barrier or walking through a military checkpoint. Some days our friend’s home has been demolished (again) and planes crash into the ocean with no explanation. Some days we are sitting next to a friend’s hospital bed, or we find ourselves alone for yet another Friday evening. 

On these days, the awesome mystery of the Trinity is likely not the first thing in our minds, or on our lips.

In fact, we may find ourselves asking: Where is God at that checkpoint? What if I don’t feel Jesus at all in this hospital? Is there something wrong with me when the only spirit I know is a spirit of disillusionment, or depression, or despair? 

On such days, the question is not so much “Who are we, God, that you are mindful of us?” but rather “Who are you, God, that my mind can’t seem to make sense of you?”

Recently I heard a radio story about a new training program for police detectives in the United States. It’s an unconventional kind of police education, as it takes place in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is taught by an art history teacher.

This art history specialist takes policemen and women through the art galleries and asks them questions like “Did you notice the rainbow in the background of that portrait of George Washington?”  (The answer, most of the time, is “No.”) and “If you were in the scene in this painting, what would it smell like?” (The answer: horse manure). The idea of this art training is to make these women and men better detectives. She teaches them to be more mindful and attentive to things they normally would miss, in order to better solve crimes. She teaches them to notice.

As I listened to this story, I thought about how often we walk through life without noticing the beauty and the presence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all around us: The flowers on your walk to work. The tree near your apartment. The cats in the street. Can you picture them? Can you smell them? What do these familiar places sound like?

And what of the people God has placed in our path? How often are we mindful of the people in our lives—not just family and close friends, but those who make us coffee and pick up our trash? The ones who are holding guns at the checkpoints and the ones searching our bags?

Are these not also children of God, made in God’s own image?

Is not your healing from addiction the healing hand of Christ in your life? 

Have you not seen the Spirit bring down walls, reconcile warring peoples, and bring peace where it once seemed impossible?

Have you not seen? Have you not heard?

Or have you just not noticed?

The answer, all too often, is no….we have not noticed. We have not been mindful of the presence of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in our day, in our lives, in our world.

And so we need special days, don’t we? We need anniversaries and birthdays. We need graduation ceremonies, and farewell parties. Just as we need days set aside to remember to give thanks and celebrate the people and the milestones in our lives, so we also need Holy Trinity Sunday—a day to be mindful, intentional, and loving.

A day to stop, to give thanks, to sing, to pray, to celebrate.

A day to stand in awe of the God who is present with at all times, in all places, in at least three ways.

This is a day to notice.

This is a day to say to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: “We love you.”

Let us pray:

Holy God,

you have revealed yourself to us in a trinity of ways: as our powerful Creator, our dying Savior, and our comforting Spirit.

But we also know you as a loving parent, a risen Lord, and a dynamic breath of fresh air.
We're never really sure of how you are able to be all these things to us, but you are. And we praise you.
Holy God, lead us down your Holy Way that we may grow in becoming who you have created and redeemed us to be.
As we hear what may seem to our limited minds to be an impossible call, teach us the grace to place our limitations within the wonder of your unlimited hands.
In Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

~ this prayer was posted on the Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren website.http://rockhay.tripod.com/worship/orders/2011/11-02-20.htm