Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw
On this day, Mother Church devotes herself to pondering the essence of God - It’s Trinity Sunday!
...as we survey God in 3-persons, Blessed Trinity -
Shall we ask St. Patrick about the lucky 3-leaf-clover - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? 3 leaves, one-plant!
Or perhaps the oceanographer who might use water, steam, and ice - all H20!
Our musician George might use the 3-note chord, 3-notes, one sound!
Or the 3-person dance troupe, that weaves together seamless motions with grace and purpose?
Or the woman who is a daughter, wife, and mother?
What about the egg? The shell, the white, and the yoke?
Or how about the cold beer -
The froth, the body, and the glass?
Pick any one you like - because they are all interesting - and they all fall far short of describing an indescribable God.
However, trying to comprehend something that is beyond our comprehension has never scared off humanity - Trinity Sunday is not a fool’s errand -
Human inquisitiveness at the daunting hasn't stopped scientists, astronauts, deep sea explorers, North Pole expeditions, or many other like-minded adventurers - nor will it stop you and me!
Why?
Because this very exercise of looking at the essence of God - may be what you and I need to make it through the day.
We’re in church this morning after a harried week of January 6th Capital attack hearings, gun violence incidents and debates, rising gas prices, relentless war coverage, and ongoing political turmoil.
We may be facing medical issues, relationship problems, snafus at work - and the nature of the God we explore today is not oblivious to this - but is actually an antidote.
God as Creator and Provider knows what we’re going through and how to help-
God as Compassionate Son sees us with mercy and grace-
And God as life-long Companion gives us an everlasting presence on which to rely.
God in three persons: Creator and Provider, Compassionate Son, and Spiritual Companion - this is the God we serve - and who longs to be with us more than our minds will ever be able to conceive. For our God is unbounded love.
-----------------
Imagine driving up to a fancy restaurant and giving the keys to your shiny blue S-U-V to the valet.
You go inside and enjoy a long, leisurely meal.
Then you come out and ask the valet for your car.
He pulls it up.
Only now it’s red.
And it’s dirty.
“What did you do to my car?” you ask.
“Why, you gave me the keys, and I really like red. So, I painted it, then I took it on some backroads for some four-wheeling. looks great, doesn't it?"
What would you say or do with that valet?
I sometimes wonder if that’s what God might feel like when God looks at the ways you and I treat planet Earth.
After all, this world is not ours.
Genesis 1 tells us that God created the world for God.
God didn’t make it for us.
God made it to share with us. But it’s not ours.
It’s ours as much as it is the lion’s, the tiger’s or the bear’s - we are all just a part of a much bigger picture - that is as interrelated as it is interdependent.
There's an Indian proverb that says,
"The river never drinks its own water.
"The tree never tastes its own fruit.
"The field never consumes its own harvest.
" They selflessly strive for the well-being of all those around them.”
As we are intended to do.
A friend of mine attended an interfaith luncheon.
He found himself sitting next to a native American man.
And he felt uncomfortable in his white European skin.
And he finally had to speak up.
He said, “I’m so sorry we stole your land.”
The Native American turned to him and said, “It’s not our land. It never was and it never will be. It belongs to its maker."
You and I understand God as both the Maker who is also the ultimate caregiver.
The same one who provides for the sparrows of the air and the lilies of the field provides for us: our existence, and even prosperity are not all up to us.
A few days ago, I sat with our sister Rena in hospice care. As many of you know she has been battling cancer for years. And as we sat and talked, she was just so surprised about how quickly her illness had advanced. "I know my doctor had warned me about this, but somehow I just never thought I'd be here."
Of course, we prayed, of course we mourned, and put our lives, again, in the Creator's hands.
In stark contrast to the cultural messages, we all hear, we cannot with any sort of reliability, predict, conquer, or dominate. We are so fragile - and dependent on the whims and whiles of unseen and unpredictable forces all around us.
Writer Margaret Wheatley says, "The future cannot be determined. I can only be experienced as it is occurring. Life doesn't know what it will be until it notices what it has become."
Realizing God as the Creator means realizing we are God's creation-
And what God creates, God will sustain.
Can we trust that God who creates and sustains the sparrows and the lilies will care for us?
In what ways is God asking you and me to put our trust in this power of this God of provision?
Can we trust the Creator to handle all those things we are so worried about today?
----------------
Last month many of us were glued to our TV sets after we saw a news story.
It was a Florida woman, a driver, slumped over the wheel of her car at a busy intersection.
She apparently suffered some sort of medical episode that caused her to pass out - while driving - leaving her car to slowly roll through that big, congested intersection, endangering herself and other drivers.
Then, almost immediately people came out of the woodwork, Good Samaritans, springing to action to help stop this car and rescue this woman -- which they did quite successfully.
And later, the heroes were honored at City Hall.
Asked why they chose to run into the middle of a busy intersection and rescue this woman, one of those Good Samaritans said,
"I just couldn't stand by and idly watch a potentially fatal event, I had to jump in and help."
If we conceive of the Father as the Creator who provides, then we can think of the Son as embodiment of Compassion - the one who saw the suffering of Creation and could not idly stand by - but had to jump into the fray - at great risk of bodily harm - to do the work of assisting those in need.
This is the nature of God: to lovingly care for us, to come to our rescue, and to refuse to stand by and idly watch something that doesn't have to happen.
The irony with this example of the compassionate life is that it’s not just good for those suffering, but it’s very good for those called to render aid. There’s another Indian saying that goes like this, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” (Attributed to Rabindranath Tagore)
When we have compassion, seeking to serve, as Jesus did, we reap our own reward.
There’s a story of a woman who loved libraries who learned the hard way. Lillian Moore writes:
"A few months after my husband and I moved to a small Massachusetts town I grumbled to a resident about the poor service at the library, hoping she would repeat my complaints to the librarian.
"The next time I went to the library, the librarian had set aside two bestsellers for me and a new biography for my husband. What's more, she appeared to be genuinely glad to see me.
Later I reported the miraculous change to my friend. "I suppose you told her how poor we thought the service was?" I asked.
"No," she confessed. "In fact—I hope you don't mind—I told her your husband was amazed at the way she had built up this small town library, and that you thought she showed unusually good taste in the new books she ordered.” (Source: Reader's Digest)
Having compassion on a small town librarian worked much better than the more common strategy…
So, if the nature of God is Compassion - how are we following suit?
To whom are we being called to be more compassionate, forgiving, and accepting?
In what ways are we seeing that modeling compassion is not only good for others, but good for ourselves?
-----------------
I was counseling an engaged couple the other day - they’re getting married later this year.
And I asked this doe-eyed, hand-holding couple, what they like about the other person.
And the man looked at his fiancé, then looked at me, then looked back at his fiancé, as he said, ‘I just love being around her.’
Subsequent meetings with them proved this to be the case - as they genuinely laughed, smiled, and joyfully interacted with one another.
Now maybe you’ve experienced that kind of feeling with a significant other, and hopefully this couple can have these feelings for the rest of their lives -
But I bring this up because we’ve looked at God as Creator and Provider -
God as Compassionate Son -
And now, the idea of the Holy Spirit, who speaks what the Father speaks, according to our Gospel reading, as one who is not only always with us - but ‘just loves being around us.’
This is very hard for most of us to understand, let alone believe.
Most of us don't think that's highly of ourselves.
We are much more apt to forgive others and to forgive ourselves.
We are much more apt to be swayed by the opinions of others, then of our own.
We are much more apt to think less of ourselves and more of others than the other way around.
But the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit In our lives is that ongoing persistence of God's description of who you and I are:
And do you know what that spirit says?
You are beautiful and irreplaceable in my sight.
You are so valuable that I would come down from heaven to save you from anything.
You have been given a unique mission that only you can accomplish.
Your reward is as expansive as it is certain, keep doing the next right thing.
And just because others are more beautiful, richer, and seem to have it more together than you do, does not negate any of this - they are on their own journey, and I am watching over them as well.
We spend so much energy on self-protection and maintaining the status quo, when letting go, letting the creator of the universe allow the world to unfold the way it's supposed to, with you and me relaxing in the safety of God's provision, and, thus using that energy to reach out and encourage a very unsteady world around us.
A study was recently done on the way passengers take their seats in commercial airliners.
Researchers looked at planes that sat first class passengers first, then had the rest of the economy class passengers walk past those seated in first class and find their seats in coach.
Then they looked at planes that sat the first-class passengers first, but boarded the rest of the passengers from the rear of the plane so that they never walked past the first class passengers.
And what they found is that those who had been exposed to the first-class passengers, and thus compared themselves, what they had and what they didn't have, had a much higher rate of in-flight attacks and arguments take place, versus those planes that never had to pass by the first class passengers.
In other words, the comparison game that we all play is rarely fruitful. Certainly, comparing ourselves to others can help motivate us, but by the same token it can lead to depression and sadness and even aggression.
This idea of the Holy Spirit being present with us and reminding us of our intrinsic value and worth means that much more to you and me.
So, in what ways are we allowing God's version of us to supersede the opinions and judgments of others?
what are we doing to craft an environment in which God's description of us is the most potent?
What might we do today to amplify the voices of Truth and godly influence around us?
Friends, on this celebration of the Holy trinity, in which we honor God as our creator and provider, the son of compassion, and that spirit that continually reminds us of who we are and what we are, may we be given power, courage, and wisdom to seek that God with all that we are.
Amen.