Trinity Sunday
June 7, 2020
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20
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| Days 1-6 of creation drawn by my children (ages 5 and 7) and me |
This is one of those Sundays when I especially miss
children’s time. The story of creation is such a great one for counting and
doing a timeline and just lends itself easily to a children’s lesson. It’s also
a Sunday when I’m glad I get to preach outside, in God’s creation, as we read
the story of creation, separating the light from the dark, day from night,
seeing the plants and trees, flora and fauna from that first garden. It’s the
story of order coming out of chaos, God creating ex nihilo, out of nothing, and declaring each part of creation to
be good. It’s also a story showing how God was there in the beginning, just as
God will be there at the end, and not just God the creator, God the Father, but
all three persons of the Trinity.
In both of this morning’s readings, one about beginning
and one about ending, we find the Trinity, God in three persons. The Bible, the
story of God and God’s people begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface
of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God
spoke…” In the beginning there was God, the first person of the Trinity, God
the Father, God the Creator. The Spirit of God hovered over the water, the Holy
Spirit, who’s usually considered the third person of the Trinity, God the
Sustainer. And then God spoke God’s Word. The Word is Jesus Christ. The Gospel
of John says “the Word of God became flesh and came to live among us.”[1]
Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, God the Redeemer, fully
God and fully man. All three persons of the Trinity are present there in the
beginning at creation. And all three persons will be there at the end as well.
Matthew ends his Gospel with what’s called the Great Commission. Here, Jesus’s
final words are to tell his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching
God’s word. Baptizing in only one part of God misses the fullness of God. It’s
important that God is the creator, the maker of heaven and earth. It’s
important that God is the Son, the redeemer, who laid down his life so that all
who believe in him might have eternal life. And it’s important that God is the
Holy Spirit, the ongoing presence of God with us today. It took a couple
centuries for the early church to adequately explain the doctrine of the
trinity, so if this sounds confusing, that’s okay. What I want to make sure you
know this morning is that God knows about relationships. God is in relationship
with God’s self. God is not schizophrenic or multiple personalities; Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit are all still God. God accomplishes different work as
different persons; it’s all still God. All of God was there at the beginning
and all of God will be there at the end.
However, let’s talk about that middle. The middle is
messy. Sometimes it feels like the hugest fluster cluck there ever was. God
made this beautiful creation, pronounced it good, and appointed us as
caretakers of all creation. Sadly, instead, we became greedier and started
fighting more. We wanted to do things our own way and be in charge. We take
things that aren’t ours. We don’t share what we have. We don’t live how God
wants us to live. We don’t take care of all that has been entrusted to our
care. We don’t make sure that God’s world and the people and the animals in it
are cared for. God’s good world is broken, and we have felt that especially
these last couple weeks. God says “take care of everyone,” and we have looked
to our own instead. God says “share what you have,” and we hoard toilet paper
instead. God says, “resist evil, injustice, and oppression,” and we say “it’s
ok, as long as it doesn’t affect me directly.” We forget that when our brother
or sister is hurting, we all hurt. We forget that when one is missing, instead
of staying in our security where we’re safe, we’re to go looking for that one
who is missing. Or sometimes it’s a conscious decision and we say, “It ok,
because I’m here, so it doesn’t matter that someone else is missing.” God says
we need all of us for his family to be complete.
God
says to go looking for those who are missing, to tend to them, to make sure
that they have what they need, too – air, food, water, shelter, security. Too
many people in our world are missing these basic things. Too many people in our
country are missing these basic things. And the Coronavirus has made the gap
between rich and poor even wider, disproportionately affecting those who are
poor, have fewer resources, who literally don’t eat if they don’t work, and so
are more at risk for getting the virus. I’m on the Conference Committee for
Hispanic/Latinx Ministries and I’ve been hearing these stories from my
colleagues who serve in those ministries. I’ve also been hearing stories from
African-American colleagues about how when their grown children are pulled over
by the police, they call their parents and put them on speaker phone during the
whole stop. It is terrifying. And they are terrified for their children. They
are terrified when they go out at night. Beloved, this must stop. This is not
part of God’s purpose and design for creation. Our own security and salvation
is wrapped up in everyone else’s as well. When Cain killed Abel, the first
murder recorded in the Bible, God told Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries out to
me from the ground.” The same thing is happening today. We are accountable to
God and to each other for each other. This is part of being in relationship;
this is part of taking care of each other; this is part of being part of
humankind. All is not as it should be. All shall be well, but all is not well
right now. Our brothers and sisters are hurting, and instead of having empathy
and compassion and love, we are blaming them for their own hurt. (When I told
the story of the police, how many of you thought that it was their own fault
they were pulled over? How many times have you been pulled over? I’ve been
pulled over twice in my life, once for doing a supposedly illegal u-turn, when there
was no sign saying no u-turn, and once for being one month over my license
plates’ expiration date, which I’d completely forgotten about.) Let’s stop
blaming the victim. Let’s stop holding others down. Let’s stop holding
ourselves down. God created us to live and to thrive and to help others do the
same.
This is where and why we need God’s promise in the Great
Commission that “I am always with you.” I am with you when you mess up. I am
with you when you don’t speak up. I am with you when you’re hurting. I am with
you when you don’t pay attention to the effect that your words and actions have
on another person. I am with you when you’re greedy and when you’re kind. I am
with the oppressor and with the oppressed, the oppressor to change their ways
and the oppressed to break their chains and set them free. I am here to redeem
you. Nothing is beyond redemption. Hope is never lost.
This past week in my Johns Hopkins CPE training we talked
about discrimination and harassment and I heard the best definition of
harassment I’ve ever heard. It said that the intent of the person whose
behavior may or may not have been inappropriate is not what matters. The impact
of the behavior on the recipient is what matters. I’m going to repeat that. The
intent of your words and behavior are not what matters. The impact of your
words and actions on the recipient is what matters. So start imagining. Howard
County Public School’s socio-emotional lesson for young elementary school students
this week was empathy. It’s putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, imagining
how they feel. I remember a time when my daughter was only 18 months old and
showed empathy toward my friend who was on speakerphone. My friend was sharing
the story of her miscarriage. And my daughter heard the sadness in her voice,
stopped playing and climbed up next to me, bent her face toward the phone, and
started rubbing my back. This week, cultivate empathy. Put yourself in the
shoes of someone you hear about one the news and imagine how you’d react and
what you’d do. Let’s build some understanding and compassion around our human
community, so that we can truly love each other as ourselves.
PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS:[2]
God of justice and peace, we
know that you created us in the diversity of your image but still we refuse to
see you reflected in the face of our neighbor who lacks adequate health care,
experiences hunger, doesn’t have a home. We don’t see your image in the face of
our neighbor who has a different skin tone, worships in a different tradition,
speaks in a language we don’t understand. Forgive us for lashing out from our
sense of scarcity and greed, ignorance and fear. Turn us around to be
peacemakers and justice builders, recognizing the abundance and balance of your
garden.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE: Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “agree
with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with
you.” In our faithfulness, we know that
Jesus forgives us and guides us back to the garden path. Thank you, God. Amen.
[1]
John 1:14
[2]
From Peace with Justice Sunday Liturgy http://s3.amazonaws.com/Website_UMCGiving/resource-files/2020_PWJS_Liturgy.pdf
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