{"id":1370,"date":"2016-05-22T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1370"},"modified":"2019-09-24T14:29:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T18:29:04","slug":"blessed-trinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2016\/05\/22\/blessed-trinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed Trinity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

John 16:12-15<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the\u00a0meditations\u00a0only<\/a><\/p>\n

Triune God<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

For this Sunday our lessons evoke a Triune God, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers. \u00a0We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. \u00a0The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My friend attended another, here unnamed, divinity school, which at the time was blown about by many if not every wind of doctrine, so much so that my friend, with a bit of whimsy and humor, \u00a0described their theology thus: \u00a0\u2018God in seven persons, blessed heptopoly\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, today, we shall limit ourselves to three, the three persons of the traditional Godhead. \u00a0Psalm 8 evokes God as Creator. \u00a0Romans 5 evokes God as Redeemer. \u00a0John 16 evokes God as Sustainer. \u00a0Father, Son, Spirit. \u00a0\u00a0These are choice, endlessly lovely passages, any one of which, and any verse from any one of which should deserve 22 minutes of preaching attention and acclamation. \u00a0Memorize them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Christian doctrine of Trinity is of course a deeply mysterious matter, out of reach of most of us most of the time. \u00a0How can God be, both one and three? \u00a0\u00a0Faith we must guess involves more than math. \u00a0Not less than math, but more than math. \u00a0If nothing else, about the Trinity, we remember this: \u00a0God is relational, on this teaching. \u00a0At the heart of the divine there is relationship, of First to Second to Third to Second to First. \u00a0This is what the early church found in Jesus: \u00a0the God to whom Jesus prayed, the God who guided and inspired Jesus, and the God in Jesus. \u00a0This is what the early church found in the Scripture: \u00a0Psalm 8, Romans 5, John 16. \u00a0This is what the early church found in Life: \u00a0the rush of creativity, the joy of love, the breath of spirit. \u00a0In our Gospel today, the Scripture goes even further, in a way giving privilege, at least here, to Spirit that guides into truth. \u00a0Once the creation has emerged; once redemption has been offered; then it is a matter of spirit, Spirit, wind, breath, gusting Spirit of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

We preach and pray at the crossroads of faith and culture. \u00a0This is true for every congregation, pulpit and place, but especially and keenly so right now at Marsh Chapel. \u00a0In a new, perhaps conflicted way, across the country, we may be listening this summer for words of grace, out of our holy scripture, out of our traditions, out of our sacred history, and wondering, hoping, perhaps doubting but still hoping, that these as preached may help us make some sense of what is becoming of us, as a people and as a country, in our time.<\/span><\/p>\n

We desire a faith amenable to culture, and a culture amenable to faith. \u00a0For what good is a baptized cleansing if we are simply thrown back into the mire? Personal and social holiness are married to one another. \u00a0Loving faith expects loving culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

For all the attention we\u2014rightly\u2014give to politics and economics, it is really the cultural realities that have most impact on individual lives, over time. \u00a0\u00a0When an 8 year old bursts through the back door, crying, saying that her school friend, from Mexico, we will be deported, hers is a culturally inflicted wound; when an 87 year old woman, in a nursing home, rues the collapse of her life long party, and surveys its demise and damages with the word \u2018dismaying\u2019, hers is a cultural assessment; when a candidate, given to insulting his competitors, and branding them with epithets, reflects on defeating one by calling him \u2018low energy\u2019 and, months later, in reflection, \u00a0saying, \u2018that was a one day kill\u2019 and then adding, \u2018words are beautiful things\u2019 (as my Dad said, \u2018its one thing to be tough, but its another to be mean\u2019), we suffer a cultural decline; when a great Christian denomination lacks spiritual leaders, general superintendents, who could simply say, \u2018gay people are people\u2019, and then keep silent (only one active UMC Bishop in the Northeast, Peggy Johnson, did so this week), this is a cultural measurement; \u00a0when only 24% of 17-24 year olds are eligible to seek admission into armed forces (the other 76% ineligible due to obesity, lack of a high school diploma, drug use, criminal record, failure of physical exam or other), here we trace cultural influence; \u00a0when forms of worship, meant for enchantment, give way over two generations to a pseudo-worship aimed at entertainment, with direct connections to features of Reality TV, professional wrestling, and beauty contests\u2014the same social expressions now driving some political selection and debate–we face a cultural deficit; in short, when a culture, like ours, \u00a0has a mirror held up to it, as has happened this calendar year, and the image is more appalling than appealing, then some among us may begin to return to, revert to, a reconsideration of our more ancient repositories of wisdom: \u00a0scripture, history, thought, and scrutinized experience. \u00a0In an age of broad cultural malaise, some may seek more steadily the reassurance, peace, insight, and resolve to be found in moments of truth, goodness, beauty\u2014and ordered worship. Those in the pulpits across this country have our work cut out for us in 2016. \u00a0\u00a0How shall we invoke and evoke faith fit for culture and culture fit for faith? \u00a0How will we address incivility in a civil way? \u00a0How do we oppose demagoguery with democracy? \u00a0How do we contrast buffoonery with beauty? \u00a0How does one supplant cultural disorder with liturgical order? \u00a0How do we combat fear with faith? \u00a0We have our cultural work cut out for us this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank goodness we are not alone! \u00a0Blessed Trinity blesses us, especially as Trinity leans to Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a self-correcting Spirit of Truth loose in the Universe, leading us. \u00a0\u00a0Next week we shall begin hearing, along with Luke, from Galatians, chapter by chapter, speaking of spirit and truth, speaking of relationship, speaking of the new creation. \u00a0The Trinity leans toward Galatians, on this Trinity Sunday. \u00a0Here is your preparation for the Holy Scripture of the next month, your shake down cruise for the trip to Galatia, your introduction to Paul, Freedom, Spirit and New Creation, and the Magna Charta of Christian freedom. \u00a0Such beautiful verses: \u00a0<\/span>I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. \u00a0For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefor and do not be enslaved again. \u00a0The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith, gentleness, self-discipline. \u00a0Bear one another\u2019s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.<\/span><\/i> Here is the story behind the Epistle lessons you will hear through June.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Creation<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s Epistle to the Galatians is one of the great high peaks of the New Testament. \u00a0It is about a whole new life, a new creation. \u00a0In fact, it may be the highest peak in the whole range, the Mount Everest of the Bible. \u00a0It is written to address this question: \u00a0\u201cMust a Gentile become a Jew before he can become a Christian?\u201d. \u00a0Is there a religious condition to be met, prior to the reception of God\u2019s apocalypse in Christ? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Paul had been converted to Christ, he spent 17 years in unremarkable, quiet ministry. \u00a0We know nothing of these two decades spent in Arabia. \u00a0All the letters we have of Paul come from a later decade. \u00a0Paul was converted to Christ, as he says earlier in this letter, \u201cby apocalypse\u201d. \u00a0Christ revealed himself to Paul. \u00a0Thus, for Paul, the authority in Christ, is not finally in the Scripture, nor in traditions, nor in reason, nor in experience. \u00a0Christ captured Paul through none of these, but rather through revelation, the apocalypse of God. \u00a0\u00a0In short, Paul was not a Methodist.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a singular, awesome freedom in the way Paul understands Christ. \u00a0We have yet, I believe, in the church that bears His name, to acknowledge in full that freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

After these 17 years, Paul went up to Jerusalem to meet with the pillars of the church. \u00a0Can you picture the moment? \u00a0All in one room: \u00a0Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Titus, Barnabas. \u00a0And in that room there was argument, difference. \u00a0Paul preached the cross of Christ to unreligious people, and they heard. \u00a0What would the Jerusalem elders say? \u00a0Jesus was a Jew, and had been circumcised. \u00a0So also were all the first Christians, including Paul himself. \u00a0But God had done something astounding. \u00a0It was the Gentiles, not the Jews, who fervently believed the Good News. Should these unreligious children of God be brought back into the Covenant of Circumcision? \u00a0No, they all agreed, no. \u00a0God had done something new. \u00a0So, Peter went to the circumcised, and Paul went to the uncircumcised. \u00a0Peter went to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles. \u00a0They agreed to disagree, agreeably. \u00a0And the meeting ended and it was settled.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you know how sometimes it\u2019s not the meeting but the meeting after the meeting that counts? \u00a0What was settled in Jerusalem was unsettled later. \u00a0Peter couldn\u2019t be counted on to hold the line, and Paul told him so, to his face. \u00a0Peter was inconsistent about freedom\u2014sometimes he ate with the unclean Gentiles\u2014that\u2019s all of you by the way. \u00a0Sometimes, when somebody was watching, he backed away. \u00a0And Paul caught him at it and as he ways, \u201copposed him to his face\u201d. \u00a0I wish all opposition in church was so clean, direct, personal, and honest. \u00a0\u201cOne of us is wrong and I think it\u2019s you!\u201d \u00a0Paul doesn\u2019t talk about Peter, he talks to Peter. \u00a0There\u2019s a life lesson. \u00a0Said Paul: \u00a0\u2018In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither Slave nor Free, there is no Male or Female\u2019. \u00a0Not religion, not wealth, not gender\u2014no, all these give way before Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the resurrection, in Christ, in faith, in the new creation, there is no gender. \u00a0At least, according to Paul in Galatians. \u00a0In Christ, there is no \u2018male and female\u2019. Gender is swallowed up in victory. \u00a0The Oneidas and the Shakers could sense this, odd and contrasted as were their ways of living it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have yet, I doubt, to take seriously the Good News of liberation found in these passages. \u00a0\u00a0Your identity does not come from your sexuality, your gender, your orientation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this passage, in the Bible, Paul points to a clue, as well, to one of our great arguments today. \u00a0Here, your identity is not to be inferred from creation\u2026.but from new creation! \u00a0This apocalyptic baptismal formula declares the erasure\u2014who says there is nothing radical about Christ?\u2014of the distinction we so heighten, that between male and female. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, my teacher, J L Martyn: \u00a0<\/span>\u201cIn Rom 1: 18-32, Paul uses an argument explicitly based on creation, drawing certain conclusions from the \u201cthings God has made\u201d in \u201cthe creation of the cosmos\u201d (Rom 1:20). In effect, Paul says in this passage that God\u2019s identity and the true sexual identity of human beings as male and female can both be inferred from creation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a different argument lies before us in Gal 3:26-29, 6:14-15! Here the basis is explicitly not creation, but rather the new creation in which the building blocks of the old creation are declared to be non-existent. If one were to recall the affirmation \u2018It is not good that man should be alone\u201d (Gen 2:18), one would also remember that the creational response to loneliness is married fidelity between man and woman (Gen 2:24, Mark 10:6-7). But in its announcement of the new creation, the apocalyptic baptismal formula declares the erasure of the distinction between male and female. Now the answer to loneliness is not only marriage, but rather the new-creational community that God is calling into being in Christ, the church marked by mutual love, as it is led by the Spirit of Christ (Gal 3:28). The result of such a radical vision and of its radical argumentation is the new- creational view of the people of God…It is Christ and the community of those incorporated into him who lie beyond religious distinctions…Baptism is a participation both in Christ\u2019s death and in his life; for genuine, eschatological life commences when one is taken into the community of the new creation, in which unity in God\u2019s Christ has replaced religious-ethnic differentiation. In a word, religious and ethnic differentiations and that which underlies them\u2014the Law\u2014 are identified in effect as the \u201cold things\u201d that have now \u201cpassed away\u201d, giving place to the new creation (2 Cor 5:17).\u201d (Martyn, in passim, <\/span>Anchor Bible Commentary: \u00a0Galatians<\/span><\/i>).<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

God is calling into existence a new community of faith working through love. \u00a0There is your identity. \u00a0Not what is natural but what is heavenly about us forms our primary identity. \u00a0That is, the Bible itself, from the vantage point of this great mountain passage, opens the way for an understanding of identity that is not just nature or creation, but new creation. \u00a0This is the community of faith working through love. \u00a0Here, there is a place where God may be doing something new, revealing something new. \u00a0And, most strangely, it may be those who are not so easily confined by the creational categories of male and female, those who are both or neither, who are on the edge of the new creation. \u00a0I know what Paul writes in Romans, but you still must ask yourself, at this point, which is Mount Everest: \u00a0Galatians 3 or Romans 1? \u00a0I think it is Galatians 3. \u00a0I have come to believe that gender and orientation do not provide our primal identity. \u00a0No male and female means no gay and straight, no homosexual and heterosexual. \u00a0God is doing something new, which includes all in the community of faith working through love. <\/span><\/p>\n

We worship on Trinity Sunday. \u00a0The Triune God summons us to relationship and complexity and courage to seek the truth. \u00a0The Spirit of God leads us into all truth: \u00a0Come Trinity Sunday we recall that there is, by God\u2019s triune grace, a self-correcting spirit of Truth loose in the universe. The trajectory of Paul\u2019s preaching in Galatians, and thus in total, makes ample space in our churches for gay people. \u00a0If you love Jesus, and especially if you love the Bible, then you may just find courage not only to defend a moral life in a post-moral culture, but also to preserve freedom for those who have found a whole new life, and so are very harbingers of the new creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

God in three persons, blessed Trinity. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers. \u00a0We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. \u00a0The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

– The Reverend Doctor, Robert Allan Hill, Dean.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


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