Created in and for community…
So today,Trinity Sunday, which is a day to explore the idea of God being Three in One... traditionally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is one of those topics that theologians love to discuss and even debate, especially to debate!
Sometimes i think the discussion and debate actually distracts us from the real message of the Bible.
Ya know…Love God, Love neighbor? Serve both?
And now I am oversimplifying…
It’s complex. Because GOD is complex! The MIND of God is infinite, so God’s mind has ideas and creativity and concepts that we may never be able to imagine. The most thoughtful, brilliant, creative human mind ever, still does not come close to the mind of God.... but human nature makes us keep trying to understand!
Our Psalm: Psalm 8.
I think the Psalmist beautifully expresses some of that desire to understand, and the wonder and artistry of creation! And how a mere mortal human can ‘have dominion” over the whole earth. The Hebrew people believed dominion not as subjugation, but in the sense of being in partnership with God, but they were to exercise dominion --as care with humility and respect for God’s creation. Psalmist exclaims the joy and beauty of creation and the wonder that humans are to participate in the care of it all!
Over the centuries, that care has not be done very well in many ways. But many are working towards better care of our planet. To protect our water supply, the fragile life systems.
The reading from Genesis …chapter 1
the earth was chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. What is this wind? The Word here is translated as wind, breath, and Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, the breath of God. right here at the very beginning of time, of creation.
The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus was present at this moment as well, He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made;
..each step of creation, God says “It is Good.”
But after the creation of human beings… it is VERY good! People are the image of God. I like to use the example of each person, ever, is a facet of God, like the facets of a diamond. Every human, no matter size, ethnicity, ability, gender, talents, age, is a facet of God. Every child of God who ever was or ever will be is part of God and part of the enormity and beauty of creation.
So we’ve seen that the Triune God, God, Jesus, Spirit, was in the very beginning. Whether one believes that this a description of six actual time periods that occurred, or a beautiful story told to explain where we came from? That is another thing that scholars love to debate…whcih I think is demeans the beauty of the text!
― Barbara Brown Taylor, The Luminous Web: Essays on Science and Religion
Stephen Jay Gould: “No scientific theory, including evolution, can pose any threat to religion– for these two great tools of human understanding operate in complimentary (not contrary) fashion in their totally separate realms: science as an inquiry about the factual state of the natural world, religion as a search for spiritual meaning and ethical values.”
science --means to tell me the truth about physical reality)
religion --means to tell me the truth about spiritual reality)
Yet we human beings are physical, and spiritual beings! We are not just one or the other. When Jesus addressed this! said to Love God with heart, soul, strength and mind, --to love God with every aspect of our being.
BBT: If God is the origin of all that is—earth, moon, and stars, as well as spirit, soul, and consciousness, then how can science (which means to tell me the truth about physical reality) and religion (which means to tell me the truth about spiritual reality) be enemies? And why should living my life require me to use two different operating manuals? If God is truly one and truly God of all, then how can truth be divided?”
Also BBT “Because I believe all this, I take the physical universe very seriously. It matters to me because it mattered to Jesus and it matters to God. No part of it seems negligible to me. I read science for the same reason I read theology: because I am a seeker after truth.”
The trinity, the triune God, three in One….
God’s own Self is a community.
The Spirit hovers over the waters.
The Creator speaks the Word.
Creation itself emerges through divine relationship.
Throughout Genesis, creation is marked by interconnectedness.
Light and darkness.
Land and sea.
Plants and animals.
Humanity and the earth.
Everything is connected.
Creation is not a collection of isolated parts but a living community sustained by God.
Some pastors and writers will use other sets of 3 names to help define and comprehend the trinity.
Mother, Child, and Breath of God;
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier;
Creator, Christ, and Compassion;
Sovereign, Savior, and Shelter;
Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery;
THESE last two are from author Wil Gafney… Author, Word and Translator;
God who brings us to life, calls us to freedom, and moves between us with love.
Our Gospel lesson today: Matthew 28:16-20
Living in the community of the Trinity
28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted.
28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
28:20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Anne Lamott wrote that, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness, and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”
It’s ok to doubt. It’s not lack of faith. It is rather noticing and being attentive to the current struggle. Faith does not ignore questions. Instead, it attends to and embraces them. Doubt and questions are necessary and vital parts of faith.
The disciples saw Jesus and worshiped him!! And he said 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
I am with you always. Jesus was named Immanuel (“God with us”) at His birth (1:23), and now He promises to be with His disciples to the end of the age.
BBT again: “Jesus was born into the physical world, not to remain above it all but to live through it all and in it all, so that we might discover the holiness of our own lives in the flesh.”
Jesus, One with God at the beginning of time, will be with us until the very end of time. To help and guide us to better live our faith, to walk together thru doubts, thru questions, thru hard times, and times of Joy, to care for and listen to one another. How do we do all that? as oour kids verse said 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
We here at UCB do these things very well. We support ministries and organizations in many ways. We participate in community events and lenten services and hold greek nights, and host the Foundry Theater group and give out school supplies and so much more.
A way that our church and several others here will work together is thru this new project starting this fall, Awaken Beloit. The participants will meet together once a month, for a meal and some devotional time, called Dwelling in the Word. and time learning and practicing the skills we are developing to deeply listen for the Spirit of God. and then to carefully listen to the people in our community, to learn their needs and worries, to build bridges that transcend differences.
God who brings us to life, calls us to freedom, and moves between us with love.
Is calling us today. To live our faith, even if we have questions or doubts. To care for each other, for our community and for creation.
We were created in community.
We were created for community.
And we are sustained by the community of God’s own life. Let us take this certain knowledge, of life, freedom &love out into the world today, and every day! May it be so amen.
Closing Hymn: We Are One in the Spirit (They’ll Know We are…) #300
Unison Benediction: (based on 2 Corinthians 13:11, 13)
Dear brothers and sisters, farewell. Let us always be joyful. May we grow in spiritual maturity. Help us to encourage each other, and live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with us. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen!