I
will begin with some background of today's scripture lesson which
comes from the 16th Chapter of John. The passage, verses 12-15 comes
near the end of a very long discourse of Jesus with his disciples.
The discourse begins in Chapter 13, on the night of the last supper,
after Judas had departed. Jesus was explaining to his disciples what
his life had meant and what was to come for him and for them. In
John 14:10 he says, "Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? Verse 16 "I will ask the
Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever."
Then verse 26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all
that I have said." Chapter 15, v 26 "When the Advocate
comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth,
who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf." The
discussion continues until the end of Chapter 16. It must have been a
very long evening.
This
brings us up to our selection for today, Chap 16, v 12-15. CEB
John
16: 12-15
12
"I have much more to say to you, but you can't handle
it now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you
in all truth. He won't speak on his own, but will say whatever he
hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify
me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. 15
Everything that the Father has is mine. That's why I said that the
Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you.
You've
probably heard the expression, "In for a penny, in for a pound."
That is what came to me as I contemplated today's scripture. There is
a lot of theology that I don't understand or that just doesn't lend
itself to knowing by reasoning or logic. Jesus understood that, so he
said to his disciples, and to you and me, you can't handle it right
now. That is the way I feel when it comes to some of our Christian
doctrines. I can't handle it right now. Paul expressed the same idea
in his first letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says (in
the KJV) :For now we see through a
glass, darkly" or in the CEB "Now we see a reflection in a
mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then
I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely
known."
Today
is Trinity Sunday. In Jesus long discourse, from which today's text
is taken, he established the basic structure of the the Trinity by
talking about the Father God, and the Holy Spirit, whom he gave
several names. The Trinity has always been one of those hard to
understand and hard to explain topics. Trinity Sunday marks the
culmination of the season of Pentecost which celebrates the coming of
the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the church. We are moving to
the season of Ordinary Time. We will not celebrate a special season
again until the beginning of Advent in November when we begin the
anticipation of Christ's coming. We move through Epiphany, Christ on
earth, and then into Lent, a season of contemplation and preparation
for his death and resurrection. We pay attention to these seasons to
remind us of God's story of his relationship with us and all of
humankind.
These
seasons mark events that we accept on faith, because we have no
empirical or scientific way of knowing what literally happened. This
lack of empirical evidence presents a problem to me because I am the
kind of person who wants the facts. Concepts like virgin birth,
resurrection, ascension, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity - these are
mystical, supernatural events and are not subject to factual proof.
But I feel like if I put my penny in the plate and accept the
existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, mystical, supernatural
God, then I'm as in for the whole pound of theology, even if some of
it doesn't make sense to my rational mind.
Today
we affirmed our faith using the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is the
oldest and most definitive statement of faith used by the church. It
was adopted by the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was revised to the
contemporary version in 381 AD. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote
about it at the time saying, "Just as the mustard seed in one
small grain contains many branches, so also this Faith has embraced
in few words all the knowledge of godliness in the Old and New
Testaments." You may want to look again at #880.
"We
believe in one God" – the first paragraph describes the nature
of God
"We
believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God" – the
second section goes on to describe the character of Jesus, his holy
birth, his human nature, his death, resurrection and ascension.
"We
believe in the Holy Spirit" - it defines the Spirit of God with
us, and the nature of the church universal.
I
have to admit that I have never particularly liked using the Nicene
Creed in our worship service, but I selected it for today because of
its historic definition of the Trinity. It seems so formal and
stilted and I'm not sure I understand or really believe everything in
it, at least not with my rational mind. John Wesley did not encourage
it's use in the early American church. He thought it too strongly
tied to the Church of England and not understandable to the common
people to whom he preached. So in American Methodist churches, the
Apostles Creed, Wesley's choice, is the standard. I really like the
Modern Affirmation of Faith. I can say it without any mental
reservations.
What
these three statements of faith have in common is an affirmation of
the triune nature of God. I encourage you to compare for yourself,
#880, #881, and #885 in the UMC Hymnal. Triune simply means three-in-one. Sort of like
WD-40, that mystical 3-in-1 lubricant that penetrates, lubricates and
protects. Sort of like my toothpaste that cleans my teeth, protects
them from decay and freshens my breath. But the Holy Trinity is
orders of magnitude different from these common examples. Theologians
through the centuries have struggled to explain the three-in-one
nature of God.
There
is a Greek word, Perichoresis, which literally means “dancing
around” or “dancing in a circle.” That's what I've been doing
with the Trinity this morning, dancing around it. Christian
theologians have used this concept of perichoresis, dancing in a
circle, since the third century to describe the dance of the
Eternal-Three-in-One, each person distinct yet interpenetrating the
other, each pouring out grace and love to the other in the dance. It
is into this eternal dance of the Eternal Trinity that we have been
invited.
I
can't explain Trinity in logical terms to you. But I can confess it
when we say together as a church family and as part of the church
universal what we believe. I can sing it. Today, together with
multitudes of other Christians of all varieties, we have confessed in
song, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world
without end." We have praised the Trinity in song, "Praise
God from whom all blessings flow, Praise God all creatures here
below. Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and
Holy Ghost." We have affirmed it in song with the beautiful
hymn that celebrates the Trinity, "Holy,
Holy, Holy."
Even
with all that said, the Trinity remains a mystery - to be explored
and experienced, not explained. Here's how Bishop Ken Carder
describes it. (I'm sure some of you remember him as Pastor at
Concord, Oak Ridge and Knoxville before becoming Bishop). He wrote a
great little book called, "Living Our Beliefs " in which he
describes the Trinity as "a narrative description of God who is
a communion of love and freedom into which we are invited to
participate. It is the framework for understanding the nature,
character, purposes and presence of God. At its core meaning is the
declaration: God, the Father, who is before us; God, the Son, who is
for us; God the Holy Spirit, who is with us…. Faith is
fundamentally a relationship with God…living in relationship with
God." We know the Trinity by our relationship with God.
Bill
and I recently saw the movie "Life of Pi." I recommend the
movie. It is PG, but not for kids. It is the story of a boy and a
tiger, shipwrecked and stranded together on a small lifeboat, but
there's not that much action. It is really a story of a boy's search
for God, and his search for himself. The boy, Pi, is born into a
Hindu family. He has a great hunger for God. He says he is lucky to
be a Hindu, because there are so many gods, and as a Hindu, he is
free to believe in all of them, some of them, or none of them. Hindu
is not strictly a religion because there are no core beliefs. You may
have heard that said about Methodists. Things like, "you can
believe anything and be a Methodist," or "Methodists are so
broad-minded that they're empty-headed." Anyway, while remaining a
Hindu, Pi discovers Islam, and begins to know God from the Muslim
perspective. He learns and follows the prayer rituals among other
things. But he is still hungry for God and curious when he wanders
into a Christian Catholic church. He develops a relationship with the
priest and learns much about Christianity. In one of my favorite
lines of the movie he says that Christianity is a religion that makes
no sense. A God of Love who kills his own son to prove how much he
loves us. How crazy is that! Yet he couldn't get that son out of his
head. Near the end, the adult Pi tell another version of his
shipwreck story, one more logical and believable. And in the end, the
interviewer asks him which version of his shipwreck story is true.
He, in turn, asks the interviewer, "which one do you prefer?"
"The one with the tiger, of course." And Pi responds, "And
so it is with God." The movie ends.
And
so it is with God. We have a God story that makes no rational sense.
We have multiple versions of the story to choose among and not just
from among the 'religions of the world' but from among our own
protestant denominations and even within Methodism. Which one is
right and true? We have United Methodist doctrines and creeds that
were formulated in the very beginning of the church. Some of these
doctrines are very hard to believe. I just can't wrap my mind around
some things. Pi said “If you stumble about believability, what
are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is
hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any
believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”
One
of the things I like about being a United Methodist is that I don't
have to believe exactly like everyone else. I can think about my
faith, be different, and still be a faithful member of the church. John Gooch, in his book "Being a Christian in the Wesleyan
Tradition" has a chapter entitled 'Don't check your brains at
the door.' I like the idea that reason is one of the ways of knowing
what is right and true, along with scripture, tradition and
experience. I like that there is no "anti-intellectualism"
in Methodism. I like the idea that beliefs are to be lived out, faith
to be experienced in relationships. I like the idea that I can stand
before you and say I don't understand. I have doubts about some of
the theology. I can't honestly say all of the words of all of the
creeds.
Is
that OK? Can I be a good United Methodist member of Trinity Church
and have doubts about some of the basic doctrines. Bishop Ken Carder,
in the book I mentioned earlier, reassures me and I will quote,
"Doubt is sometimes the most honest and authentic affirmation of
faith. Questioning is a gift of God by which we "test the
spirits to see if they are of God." Then he goes on to quote the
poet Tennyson: "There is more faith in honest doubt, Believe me,
than in half the creeds." So is it OK with you that I have
doubts? It's OK with me.
But
doubt alone is not a faith. My reasonable mind tells me that there
must be some bottom line of belief if I claim to be a Christian. For
me that is summed up in Jesus declaration of the greatest
commandment. Mark tells it in Chapter 12, verses 28-31.
28
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one
another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which
commandment is the first of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The
first is, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31
The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The
doctrines of the church have grown out of theologians understanding
and explanations of scripture. The Trinity, God in Three Persons, is
the most fundamental doctrine for Christians. Christianity really
makes no sense without it. We don't have to be able to explain all
the whys and wherefores. If we put our penny in with Jesus greatest
commandments to love God and love our neighbor, then we're in for the
whole pound.
Closing
Prayer:
Eternal God, your have revealed
yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit - God the Father before us,
God the Son for us and God the Holy Spirit with us. Grant that we my
always hold firmly and joyfully to this faith. Amen
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