TRINITY SUNDAY, CYCLE C

DO YOU REMEMBER THE STORY FROM GENESIS WHEN ABRAHAM AND SARAH WERE VISITED BY THREE STRANGERS, AND AFTER THEY HAD EXTENDED HOSPITALITY THE STRANGERS ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WOULD RETURN IN ONE YEAR AND SARAH WOULD HAVE A CHILD. AND SARA LAUGHED BECAUSE SHE AND ABRAHAM WERE EXTREMELY OLD. THERE IS A GREEK ORTHODOX ICON WHICH DEPICTS THIS MOMENT. IN THE FOREGROUND ARE THE THREE STRANGERS, SITTING AT A TABLE UNDER A TREE, IN THE FRONT OF ABRAHAM'S TENT. ABRAHAM IS HOVERING BEHIND THEM, WAITING ON THEM, AND SARAH IS A LITTLE FURTHER BACK, ALSO SERVING. THE THREE STRANGERS SEEM TO BE IN CONVERSATION WITH ONE ANOTHER. AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION FROM VERY EARLY TIMES SEES THIS AS A MOMENT WHEN GOD MANIFESTED HIMSELF AS TRINITY.
THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS IMAGE THAT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT THE TRINITY THAT WE PROBABLY DON'T THINK ABOUT MUCH; THE THREE PERSONS IN ONE GOD ARE IN CONVERSATION WITH ONE ANOTHER; THEY ENJOY EACH OTHER'S COMPANY; THEY FIND COMFORT IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND; THINK OF THAT PERSON OR PERSONS THAT YOU CAN BE COMPLETELY AT HOME WITH, THAT YOU CAN BE YOURSELF, THAT YOU CAN LET DOWN ALL YOUR GUARD. THAT IS SOMETHING LIKE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. IN EACH OTHER'S PRESENCE THEY ARE COMPLETELY THEMSELVES; THEY EXPERIENCE THEIR SAMENESS, THEIR GODHEAD; THEY EXPERIENCE AND REJOICE IN THEIR DIFFERENCE, THE FATHER IS NOT THE SON. THE SON IS NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND SO FORTH. THE TRINITY IS NOT JUST AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT WE CHRISTIANS MUST BELIEVE; THE TRINITY HAS CONSEQUENCES. IF GOD IS FUNDAMENTALLY A RELATIONSHIP, WHICH IS WHAT THE TRINITY TEACHES US, THEN IT IS IN RELATIONSHIPS THAT WE BECOME GOD-LIKE. AND FOR A RELATIONSHIP TO BE GOD-LIKE, IT MUST APPROACH THE KIND OF TRANSPARENCY, OPENNESS, TRUST, THAT IS IN THE GOD RELATIONSHIP.
THE TRINITY ALSO TEACHES US ABOUT WHY GOD CREATED US. OUR OLD CATECHISM USED TO SAY THAT GOD CREATED US TO KNOW, LOVE, AND SERVE HIM IN THIS WORLD AND TO BE HAPPY WITH HIM IN THE NEXT. STILL A GOOD ANSWER. BUT GOD DID NOT CREATE US OUT OF NEED, OR OUT OF SOME SORT OF GENEROUS IMPULSE. GOD CREATED US BECAUSE IT WAS A NATURAL OUTGROWTH OF THE LOVE THAT EXISTS BETWEEN THE THREE PERSONS. SOME PEOPLE HAVE ARGUED THAT IF THE UNIVERSE IS SEVERAL BILLION YEARS OLD, IF THERE ARE COUNTLESS STARS AND EVEN MORE COUNTLESS PLANETS; IF LIFE ON EARTH HAS SPUN OFF IN MILLIONS OF DIRECTIONS, AND WHOLE SPECIES HAVE COME AND GONE DOWN THROUGH THOUSANDS OF CENTURIES, IT MUST MEAN GOD IS TERRIBLY INEFFICIENT IF THE OBJECT WAS TO CREATE MAN. AND IF THE OBJECT WAS TO BRING MAN TO SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, THEN WHAT ABOUT THE BILLIONS OF PEOPLE, PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE, WHO HAVE NOT HEARD OF CHRIST OR WILL NOT HEAR? ISN'T THAT EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT? ISN'T GOD REMARKABLY WASTEFUL? BUT I SEE IT INSTEAD AS GOD'S WAY – IN THE CENTER OF THE TRINITY, THERE IS AWESOME CREATIVE LOVE, MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYTHING WE CAN IMAGINE; AND IN THAT LOVE, CREATION IS HAPPENING ALL THE TIME, THINGS ARE COMING INTO BEING, GOING OUT OF BEING; AND SOMEHOW IN THE END, ALL WILL BE GATHERED TOGETHER AS GOD PLANS. THE GIFT OF BEING, WHETHER YOU ARE AN ANGEL OR AN ANT, IS A GIFT IN AND OF ITSELF WHICH NO BEING CAN GIVE ITSELF OR ANY OTHER BEING.
ANOTHER INSIGHT FROM THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH HAS TO DO WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY SUMMED UP IN THE GREEK WORD “PERICHORESIS”. THIS MEANS SOMETHING LIKE “DANCING AROUND” AND REFLECTS THE FACT THAT THE TRINITY IS NO STATIC THING; EACH PERSON ENFOLDS, AND IS ENFOLDED, BY THE OTHER PERSON. THAT IS WHY WHEN THE FATHER IS CREATING, THE SON AND SPIRIT ARE THERE AS WELL; AND WHEN THE SON IS REDEEMING, THERE THE FATHER AND THE SPIRIT ARE; EACH PERSON CARRIES OUT HIS ROLE AS GOD, BUT THE OTHER TWO PERSONS ARE RIGHT THERE IN A SENSE STEPPING BACK, BUT AT THE SAME TIME PARTICIPATING. HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH ALL PARTICIPANTS RECOGNIZE AND REJOICE IN THE GIFTS OF EACH OTHER; IN WHICH EACH SUPPORTS THE OTHER IN EXERCISING THEIR GIFTS, AND THERE IS NO RIVALRY, NO JEALOUSY – THESE RELATIONSHIPS ARE TRINITARIAN.
AND FINALLY THE TRINITY IS ENMESHED IN OUR LIVES. HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE GOD THE FATHER? IF YOU ARE AWARE OF CREATION – NOT JUST THINGS, BUT THE BEAUTY OF THINGS, THE GRANDEUR OF THINGS, THE WAY ALL CREATION SORT OF WORKS TOGETHER, YOU ARE MEETING GOD THE FATHER.
WHEN YOU SEE SOMEONE WHO IS NEEDY, AND WE ALL ARE, BUT WHEN YOU SEE SOMEONE ELSE, SOMEONE WHO SHARES YOUR HUMANITY, SOMEONE WHO MAY BE EXPERIENCING PAIN, LONELINESS, JOY, -- YOU ARE EXPERIENCING GOD THE SON, WHO BECAME ONE OF US, AND SHARED EVERYTHING WITH US, AND BY DOING SO UNITED US AND MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO TRANSCEND OUR LONELINESS. AND BECAUSE HE BECAME ONE OF US, IN SOME MYSTERIOUS WAY HE BECOMES US AND WE BECOME HIM AND HE CAN SAY, “WHAT YOU DO FOR THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS, THAT YOU DO FOR ME”.
AND WHEN YOU HEAR THE WHISPERINGS IN YOUR HEART, WHEN YOU FEEL THOSE IMPULSES TO REACH OUT TO SOMEONE AND DO SOMETHING FOR HIM, EVEN IF IT IS TO DROP A QUARTER IN A PAPER CUP HELD IN A FILTHY HAND, OR OFFER A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO SOMEONE WHO IS STRUGGLING, YOU ARE ENCOUNTERING THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HELPER WHO SPEAKS WITHIN EACH OF US, WITHOUT WHOM WE CAN DO NOTHING THAT IS GOOD.
GOD GIVES US EVERY GOOD GIFT AS CREATOR; GOD PROVIDES THE MEANS FOR US TO USE THOSE GIFTS AS REDEEMER, WHO LIVES IN US, WHO IDENTIFIES WITH US; AND GOD TELLS US HOW TO USE THE GIFTS WE ARE GIVEN TO MAKE THE WORLD HOLY, AS THE SANCTIFIER WHO MAKES US HIS TEMPLE.
GOD DID NOT REVEAL HIS INNER NATURE TO US JUST SO THEOLOGIANS COULD SPEND LIFETIMES THINKING AND WRITING ABOUT THE TRINITY. HE REVEALS HIS NATURE SO THAT WE WOULD KNOW THAT WE FIND OUR SALVATION IN RELATIONSHIPS, NEVER OFF BY OURSELVES; AND THAT RELATIONSHIPS MUST DEVELOP AND BECOME PERFECT BY FOLLOWING THE TRINITARIAN MODEL.
SO ON TRINITY SUNDAY LET US ASK THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT TO PERFECT EACH OF US AND PERFECT OUR COMMUNITY SO THAT THOSE WHO SEE US WILL SEE GOD, AND BE MOVED TO JOIN US IN OUR JOURNEY BACK TO THE CENTER OF THE TRINITY.