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My sermon topic for this morning is...God. Now that's about as simple...or as complex...as one can possibly get. And I have all of about 18 minutes in which to explore the topic of "God." If I could really do it, that would be even more miraculous than "Thirty Minutes to Thin Thighs," don't you think?
Contemplating "God" reminds me of my favorite joke. I've wanted to tell this joke in a sermon for years...so please: indulge me. Here it is: What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic and a dyslexic? Someone who lies awake all night wondering if there really is a Dog! (I love that joke!)
Contemplating God. Something to which we are instinctively drawn. Something that many of us do to the point of fear and frustration. Something we want to understand - and try to - with all our might. Something which we are so ill-equipped to accomplish.
Two friends, both very spintual people and great thinkers, were walking along the seashore. As they walked they discussed the mystery of God. Each was convinced that the other was doing a poor job of explaining God. Both were full of objections and problems about the other's idea of God.
Suddenly they came upon a small child playing by the water's edge. She had dug a hole in the sand and kept running down to the sea, dipping her toy bucket in the water and running back up the beach to empty the water into the hole. They watched her for some time as she ran back and forth emptying and filling the bucket. They found the scene amusing, so they went up to her and asked what she was doing. The child pointed to the sea and told them, very seriously, "I'm going to take all the water in there and pour it into this hole."
The two friends smiled and went on their way, carrying on their discussion about God. Suddenly, however, one of them stopped and said, "You know, we were amused just now when that child told us what she was trying to do. Yet what we've been trying to do in our discussion about God is just about the same. It's just as impossible for us to understand the mystery of God as it is for that child to put all the water of the ocean into that hole. Our minds are but tiny thimbles, whereas the reality of God is as great as the ocean."
That's so true. And yet, today we contemplate God anyway. In the calendar of the church year, today is listed as "Trinity Sunday," a day when we recognize and celebrate the "Triune" nature of God. The concept of God as "3-in-1" made manifest in 3 "persons" - Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit - but, in essence, the One True God. The concept of the "Trinity" is what is known as "church doctrine": a teaching that has been handed down from generation to generation.
Through the years, some have argued that the "Trinity" is not a "biblical" teaching because the word "trinity" is never mentioned in the Bible. That's true. Of course, the Bible also never mentions the words "sacrament," "Christmas," or the expression "personal savior."
The traditional "Trinitarian formula," as it's often called, is only referenced in a couple of places. One is in our Scripture reading today from the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus tells his followers to go into all the world and make disciples, "in the name of Abba God (the Creator) and the Only Begotten (the Christ) and the Holy Spirit." The other similar reference to the Trinity is found in the final verse of 2nd Corinthians.
Otherwise, Scripture is filled only with various references to God as the Creator: the Parent, the Source...as Christ: Jesus (Emmanuel -- "God with us"), the Savior, the Redeemer...as the Holy Spint: the Counselor, the Sanctifier, the Comforter. Those are only a few of the names and descriptions for the three basic experiences the biblical writers had of the one God who interceded in their lives. The teaching of the Trinity comes to us mostly by interpretation of people's experiences of God.
Bottom line, what we believe about the doctrine of the Trinity mostly has to do with that important question to which we all seek an answer: Who is God and what is God like?
The Gospel of Matthew, as well as the other three gospels, gives us a description of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Child of God. And according to the gospel writers, Jesus is reported to have said something like, "If you want to know what God is like, watch me." Matthew's account of the Good News concluded with Jesus telling his followers to go out into all the world, preaching, teaching, and making disciples, baptizing them, "in the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Holy Spirit."
That instruction is clear enough. Yet still we struggle to understand and "get hold of" what God is really like. Now it would make my job, and the job of every preacher, a lot easier if I could give you an accurate description of God in 25 words or less. It can't be done. I wish it could. We humans have been trying to figure out God since some relative of the proverbial Adam and Eve first woke up one morning wondering why the sun rose in the East and set in the West every day. In our struggles, we've come up with a variety of concepts about God, some of which border on the ridiculous, while some may come partially close to being accurate.
A writer named Ralph Milton offers his interpretation of some popular conceptions of God. Some will make more sense to you than others, depending on your life experiences. Some, I hope, will be downright offensive.
First there is God as "Commander-in-Chief." This God sits "up there," in the divine HQ, directing the troops down here on earth. If the infantry gets outnumbered, General God can always bring ill the Air Force (the angels) to join in the battle. General God is always totally on your side and against "the enemy," whoever the enemy happens to be on any given day.
Then there is God the Head Coach. If you pay attention to the signals from the sidelines, you can't lose! But unlike many coaches of our day, Coach God has scruples. If you don't play by the rules, you'll find yourself on the bench, or if your violation of the rules is serious enough, you might even get suspended or kicked off the team permanently!
There is the modern version of the Clock-maker God, who is God the Computer Programmer. This God really doesn't care what happens to us. Computer Programmer God set up the world, worked out all the bugs in the program (well, most of them, anyway), booted up the system, typed in the "run" command, and then went on to program something else. It doesn't matter how many bugs the software develops, Computer Programmer God is just too busy with other projects to worry about us.
God the Rock Star is a bit of a prima donna - a very popular, flamboyant Super Star who has a lot of fans, lots of connections, and above all, lots of ego. If you want to stay in favor with Rock Star God, you have to go around saying nothing but nice things, flattering things, giving Rock Star God all the credit for everything good that happens and taking personal responsibility for everything that goes wrong.
God the Kindergarten Teacher is another popular concept. As long as you're in school, Kindergarten Teacher God will feed you milk and cookies, wipe your runny nose, and give you a big hug when you cry. But once you leave Kindergarten, you're on your own.
And, finally, there is, of course, God the Parent. God is a very good, very caring parent. The Parent God, traditionally referred to as Father, but in more inclusive terms also recognized as Mother, is loving and tender, and is familiar with all the material on how to raise children to be mature, responsible adults. Parent God hurts when the kids make a mess of their lives. But even so, Parent God knows that parents must allow the kids the freedom to make mistakes so that they can grow up. The Parent God respects us and believes passionately that we can and will grow up someday. Parent God gets very upset when the kids fight with each other or say mean things to each other, or refuse to "work and play well with others."
Which description of God fits for you? All of them? None of them? Actually, any one of them - or any combination of two or more - is a distortion, an incomplete description. Even if you put them all together, that wouldn't be right, because there's more to God than any definition, just as there is more to you and me than anyone else's description could encompass.
At this very moment, I am my parents' daughter, my brother's sister, my nieces' aunt...I am friend, acquaintance and stranger to any number of people, depending on who you ask. I am your pastor, Lorraine's partner and still, in it all, my own person. I am all those things but much more than just the sum of those parts. And so are you. And if any human being can be so much and yet be so much more...how much more is that true of God? !
One of the basic human failings of the church occurs whenever we try to place intellectual or even experiential limitations on the identity of God. We rob our faith of the mystery it needs to stay alive and growing.
People have attempted to explain God in terms of the "Trinity" through the years by using many metaphors. An egg: 3 parts in one package. Ice, water and steam as different forms of the same molecules. A seed planted...from which grows sugar cane...from which comes molasses: three separate things, that are inseparably linked, all of the same substance. The separate notes played together on a piano creating one chord of harmony. The Trinity is sort of like that...but not exactly.
When you come right down to it, the fact is that the doctrine of the Trinity is not holy arithmetic - where 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 - but it is holy mystery. It is a mystery that lives in the infinity of God. Our choice is whether or not to live with the mysteIy and proceed with faith.
In the vows of most of the Holy Union services I have officiated, there is a line the people being joined are asked to speak to one another that says, "I promise to accept the mystery of your uniqueness." Perhaps that is the vow we need to speak to God. Frankly, I believe that the more we are willing to accept the mystery of God's uniqueness, the better chance we have of learning to accept the uniquenesses and mysteries of ourselves and other people. And after all: how can we hope to follow Christ's commandment to "make disciples of the world" until we are willing to accept ourselves and others as God has accepted us: with unconditional love?
Let us celebrate this day, and every day, the mystery of the uniqueness of our Triune - 3 in 1 - God: Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit. And as St. Paul writes at the close of 2nd Corinthians, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Amen.
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