Trinity Sunday
May 17-18, 2008
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20
A Knowable God
Hillary T. West
Child psychiatrist, Robert Coles, spent his professional life learning what is on the hearts and minds of children from all over the world. He was especially interested in how children had knowledge of God. So, in his research, he often asked the children to draw pictures of God. During one visit to an elementary school in Massachusetts, Coles meets Martha. When invited to illustrate, Martha carefully goes to work on her picture. She draws a tear stained brown faced, small eared, tiny nosed, mouth opened head of God, with shiny white teeth. The eyes of God dominate the picture. Dark, big, black eyes with thick brows implying that God is watching everything and sees all. God is very present.
Probing, Coles asks Martha about her picture of God. Martha shares with Coles a dream she had one night. The trauma of the dream woke her. Lying in bed, in a cold sweat, shaking like a leaf, her stomach aching, Martha was terrified. She recalls that something in her dream frightened her. She says, “I was scared for a little while, but all of a sudden I stopped being scared.” Coles asks Martha what is it that keeps her from suddenly being so scared. “I remembered God,” she responds. “I’m not sure if I actually saw him. Maybe I just felt him. I pictured his face, those big eyes were actually smiling at me. He didn’t seem scared, so I decided that I shouldn’t be scared either. I woke up and stopped being scared. God was nearby. He touched me and I was better. My grandmother tells me that we can’t see God because we can’t see a Spirit. But, he knows me; and I know him. He makes me feel better, especially when I’m afraid.”
Every Wednesday the preschool, comes to this worship space for chapel. Now, you’ve heard us say this before: if you’re having a bad day, come to chapel on Wednesday mornings and you’re guaranteed a change of heart. These precious children, they know God. They shout at the top of their voices, that Jesus can’t be hidden. They cry out together that Jesus is the light of the world. And when we ask, where is Jesus, they yell happily: he’s in our hearts, and he’s all around us! We all love hearing about the purity of children’s hearts and their knowledge of God’s love for them. It just seems that for the children, they don’t worry a lot about how they know God. They just stop to be with God and that’s, enough.
This Sunday is what the church calls, Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is always held just after the church’s celebration of Christ’s ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost. It is the one Sunday of the year designated to the Church’s central understanding of God as one substance existing in three beings: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God reveals God’s self equally in all of these as these three parts are distinct. Augustine, wrote 15 books about the Trinity to say that The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Son is not the Father. The Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. But, there is only one God.
The concept is perplexing and difficult to grab hold. Early thinkers questioned it as well. Some believed that God the Father as Creator came into being at creation, therefore questioning God’s eternity (Tertullian). Some thinkers held fast to the idea that because Jesus was human, that there must have been a time when he was not fully divine. Consequently, others held to the theory that the Holy Spirit came from God through Jesus and did not exist until he ascended. See the loopholes? Eventually, around 325 a group of thinkers put together the Nicene Creed in an effort to wrap our arms around how we “know” God as the Father, the maker of all things; of Jesus Christ eternal with God who comes to show us God’s saving love through his life, death and resurrection; and the Holy Spirit, the glue, that unites us and binds us in the love of God in Christ. All these theories were designed in a passionate movement to “know” God. But, the truth is, we don’t fully “know”. We live in the mystery of it all.
One ancient theologian professes that the Trinity is not “three rays coming from the same sun but three suns producing the same ray.” (Placher, William. The Triune God). Another sees God as a verb with the one in three as “one surge of motion”. Others claim that these beings “are the three who do this work in perfect, mutual glorification” (Placher, p. 149), all moving together, about one common purpose, to do the work of God. This is more information than we want to hear about the Trinity. Thanks for bearing with me. Because, the truth is, it seems to me that what God is trying to get across to us, is that God is miraculously ever present, constant, prevailing, ubiquitous, surprising us with his greatness and glory. God’s love is so great, that God makes himself known to us in all kinds of ways. And, for each of us, my guess is, it’s going to be different.
This past week, I had the privilege of spending some time with some folks who have a passion for gardening. The great Augustine reminds us that in creation, God doesn’t just create one beautiful flower, or two extraordinary blossoms, but many. And flowers are not without life. In fact, they turn look to the sun for nourishment and drink the waters of the heavens for growth and shine throughout with a richness of color and design that is often unexplainable.
So, is the case with this garden. This dedicated couple, years ago, looked upon the littered hillside of their backyard and decided to try a little gardening.
Hauling rocks and stone from the creek bed at the edge of their property, they created paths and steps. When those slipped and eroded, they tried again until the right combination worked. They filled every nook and cranny with one precious plant after another, each complimenting its opposite. They remembered to plant just enough trees to provide shade for hot summer days. Everywhere your eye looks, you see the wonder and delight of God’s creation. It is a sight to behold and living proof of how, with the help of God a slippery slope of debris is transformed into a sanctuary where the glory of God’s grace is revealed.
It’s easy to know God in the purity of the hearts and minds of a preschooler and the beauty of a splendid garden. But, all too often, we’re confronted with the reality that God’s creation is broken and we’re kind of a mess. Bad things happen. Life slams us with pain and disappointment. We get discouraged, overwhelmed and suffering is real and profound. So, it seems that in our pain, knowing God becomes a deeper quest. Two weeks ago a 121 mile per hour cyclone that resulted in a tsunami devastated Asia’s Myanmar, also known as Burma. Hundreds of thousands are holding on to survival by a thread as aid workers struggle to find ways to help. Last Monday an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude torn apart the central region of China, south of Beijing. At least 5 million people are returning to the ruin and rubble to find that they are homeless.
And, we ask, “Where is God in all of this?” “How can we know the saving grace of God in such suffering?”
We are not alone in our trials. God suffers with us, fully immersed, present in our agony and despair. God, in Christ, who, chooses to come and live as one of us, and takes on all our suffering, through his life and death. A God, who in raising from the grave, redeems and saves and brings us new life and promises hope.
This is where God is. In our pain, loving us so intensely, so great, so richly, with the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, that we are restored to wholeness, and good will prevail. This is the gift of God in Christ, given for us. Jesus, who knows us intimately and craves for us to know God. So, he calls us to him and into action. Commissioned by God, he, in turn commissions us. He tells us, go, do my work. He calls us to bring others to God. Teach, and preach the gospel. Live lives filled with loving one another. Find ways to forgive. Look for reconciliation and understanding. Bring one another to God, with me, through baptism. Become fully immersed in one another loving God. We say ok. And most days we actually do live lovingly. Most of the time, we know God is good because life is good. We find joy and promise. We live, with grateful hearts for God’s blessings in our lives. But then, tragedy strikes. We fall into dark places. We’re in agony and despair. And, we wonder, where is God? Where is God when natural disasters leave thousands, millions, homeless and helpless? Where is God when unexplainable pain and sorrow leave us lost and angry?
I wish I had the magic answer. But, the truth is, I don’t know why bad things happen to good people. But, I do know this: God only works good and we see that good over and over again in our joys and successes. And, God only works good in the dark places of our lives, also. How do I know? Because, we have this loving, tender God who will not leave us alone. He’s in our ugly places and in our celebrations. He is our strength. Through him, we can do all things. He does not waiver in his belief in us, promising always that “all things are possible with God. And, in Jesus that he tells us, “I am with you always, to the ends of time.” C.S. Lewis tells us, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains…” God responds. God does not abandon us.
We are the very inhabitants of God’s love, of God’s goodness. At the very beginning God mandated it so. God created us, in his image, and called us good, blessing us, making us holy. Here’s what we can most surely know about God. God is good and intends only the same for us. He comes into our pains and wounds, as a great comforter, and creates for us, avenues for new beginnings. The apostle reminds us in his letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And, God is for us, loving, redeeming us to wholeness, through his great mercy.
So, rather than ask, how do we know God in the pain and suffering, maybe we’re to ask, how does God know us in the pain and suffering?
When tragedy strikes, and darkness falls, how do we reveal the Christ within each of us? We are an Easter people, resurrected in Christ. We will not be destroyed, alienated or lost. We live life, forgiven, loved. In Christ we are given the promise of the Holy Spirit and showered with gifts that unite us to him and to one another. So, we use these Spirit filled gifts. We reach out in love. We give and care. We expect the best. We look for the miraculous to bloom within each of us. And, bit, by bit, in deciding to know God, by making our selves known to God, we can bring change to the world and hate and hurt can be reduced and maybe even needless pain can be eliminated. Our God is a knowable God, abundant, and plentiful. And, there’s enough of him to go around. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us capable of great good, people who serve justice and peace. We’re the very ones who go out into the world, in his name, turning dismay into hope.
So, this week, maybe this month, maybe for the rest of our lives, how do we want to make ourselves known to God? This God who just can’t get enough of us. He sees us, and indeed, it is very good. And, bound in the promise of Jesus, know that we are not alone in the journey, he will always be with us, loving us, to the end of time.
