GO IN PEACE & BE HEALED

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live."

So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (New Revised Standard Version)


Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we are given not 1 healing story in the gospel passage but 2: 2 women, 2 healings, 2 miracles. What’s it all about? And, most importantly, what is the gift in these stories and how can it bless us and move us on toward greater healing?

Well, we really don’t know much about either woman. We are not even given their names. We do know they are both in crisis. And they are both subject to the taboos around the mysterious power of life. Neither a bleeding woman nor a dead girl were to be touched. They were considered ritually unclean and needed to be avoided by practicing religious people.

The author of this gospel also carefully weaves in the number 12. The hemorrhaging women has been sick for 12 years and the little girl who died had lived for 12 years. This number has important symbolic value in Judaism. In their history, the nation began from Jacob’s 12 sons who founded the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus would later go on to choose 12 apostles. This number even affected the western calendar, which is why the year is divided into 12 months. It was thought that this number represented God’s mysterious union with humanity. And in this story, we certainly see these women transformed by God’s union with them.

The scene opens with a synagogue leader named Jarius approaching Jesus with the request that he come to heal his daughter. The death of a child was quite commonplace in those days. Historian John Pilch estimates that in Jesus' time 60 percent of live births usually died by their mid-teens. So parents would have been always bracing themselves for the strong possibility that they would lose some of their children to death. Not only that, this was a time when daughters were not valued as much as sons. Yet Jarius obviously loves his daughter wholeheartedly. He cannot bear the thought of losing her. He has faith in Jesus, who is known as an itinerant preacher-healer who was already in trouble with the religious authorities. He himself is one of these authorities having problems with Jesus. Nevertheless, he wants his daughter healed but he has to go out on a limb to do so. By asking Jesus to come heal his child, he risks being ridiculed by his peers. Yet his faith drives him and he makes his request to Jesus and thankfully, Jesus agrees and goes with him straight-away to the house.

As he is going, however, Jesus encounters the hemorrhaging woman. She has been bleeding for 12 years. It has continued to flow. This word could also be translated as "river." For all these awful years, the woman was being taken down a river of physical and social pain. She must have felt depressed and exhausted from all that she had endured. No treatment had worked for her. Her physicians had failed her. And yet for some reason, she has not given up up. No, she continues to hold on to her faith. She believes God has the power to heal her. And so when she hears that Jesus—this mighty healer from God—is in town, she is desperate to see him.

For her to be out in the public was forbidden. She was supposed to stay isolated because of her ritual uncleanness. Yet she ignores this law because more than anything she wants to be healed. Not only does she have faith, but she allows that faith to move her into action. She actively pursues Jesus, thinking: If I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed. And so she goes out in faith and finds Jesus. The crowd is thick and she must press her way through to get to him. Finally, she makes it to Jesus and touches his robe and immediately, Jesus can feel the power rush out of him. God’s mysterious connection with humanity (that the number 12 represents) is given to this woman who had been suffering 12 years.

Jesus whirls about and asks, "Who touched my clothes?"

This seems to stupefy the disciples. They are aware of how huge the crowd is. It’s a hot day it the desert. All those sweaty bodies bumping up against one another. Who touched Jesus? Pretty much everybody. They’re all smashed up around him. How could he possibly notice one particular touch?

But Jesus knows this is not an unintentional bumping-into-someone in a crowd touch. It is a faith-filled touch of someone who has come to him in grateful expectation of healing. Thus, he continues to look for this person. The woman cannot hide. She knows that she’s been transformed by this encounter. So she comes forward in fear and trembling. She falls down before him, and tells him the whole truth. Then Jesus says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

Even though Jesus was on a mission to get to the 12 year old girl, he allows himself to be sidetracked by the need of this person who has reached out to him in faith. His the son of God, after all, he can multitask. He compassionately heals her before moving on to the task at hand: to help a woman who is barely a woman—just a little girl of 12.

As Jesus is still speaking to the crowd, some people come rushing from Jarius’ house and give him the terrible news that his daughter is dead. Even this devastating news does not ruffle Jesus’ feathers. He calmly uses it as a teaching moment. He says: "Do not fear, only believe." Some call this Jesus’ shortest sermon. It says it all: Do not fear, only believe.

They go to the house and find the typical demonstrations of grief for that time and place going on. People are weeping and wailing loudly. But Jesus heads right into the whirlpool of grief and says: "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." They are so surprised by this statement that they actually laugh at him. So Jesus takes these unbelieving nay-sayers and put them outside the house. Perhaps he knows their negative energy might affect his healing and so he creates a space of faith and not fear by sending them out.

Jesus takes the little girl by the hand. Again, this is against the religious laws. He is supposed to stay away from unclean, dead bodies but the compassion of God is greater than the religious customs. Jesus breaks the rules in order to break the bonds of death. He says to the little girl: Get Up! And astonishingly, she does. She comes back from the dead by the touch of God’s power in Jesus!

Do not fear, only believe. This is what Jesus had told them and this is exactly why. Even death has no sting with Jesus at hand. The little girl is immediately able to awaken from death and be so healthy that she is ready for a snack. Jesus tells them to go get her something to eat.

So what are we to take from all of this? Where is the blessing? What seems most prominent in these stories is the power of faith. Jesus has the power to heal and to raise from the dead. Yet many people around him overlook that and even criticize him. But Jarius and the hemorrhaging woman believe in him. They know he can change their situations and so they do everything in their power to reach out to him in faith. They push passed the boundaries that existed for them and grab at Jesus with all they have inside them. This is what God wants from us. Do we reach out for Jesus? Fervently? Do we want to be healed? Do we trust him with our life and our death?

In these stores we glimpse the power of God that is ours for the asking. God wants to forgive and heal us. God wants to grant us eternal life. May we take inspiration from the characters in these stories and reach out to Jesus anew, trusting he will say to us what he said to the woman: your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed. Amen.

FUNERAL SERMON FOR NANCY AMBLE

Sermon for Christians Gathered Together at the Death

of

Nancy Amble

June 27, 2009

1:00 p.m.

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Isaiah 43: 1-7
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 11:17-26
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It seems all too soon that we’ve gathered today, at the end of Nancy’s journey on earth, to celebrate her life and entrust her to God. Yet celebrate, we must, because Nancy lived a life worth celebrating.

In the reading from Isaiah, we heard those comforting words from the Lord: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” In the waters of Baptism, God first claimed Nancy and promised to walk with her through all the days to come—to be her God, to give her faith and love her unconditionally.

As Nancy grew, so did the faith God had given to her. She embraced the grace and love of her Savior and reflected it in her exuberant life.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Nancy had courage, boldness and joy as well as sensitivity and kindness. Her family and loved ones gathered here can attest to Nancy’s amazing ability to care. She was a shining light that brightened our lives more than we can describe.

Here at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Nancy was a true treasure. She was always ready to serve and was instrumental in many of the innovations in the way we do things around here. For example, we now have a sanctuary filled with lilies on Easter, geraniums on Pentecost and ponsettias on Christmas. Nancy started that. And we have flower stands to put them on—Nancy ordered those. And the beautiful oil candle Advent wreath we put out each year—Nancy ordered that too. You may know that she was a great shopper. When we ran a children’s choir, she propped me up as we managed the mob of kids—or at least mostly managed the mob of kids on rehearsal days. Yes, her faith was always in action.

And Nancy’s faith bouyed her up throughout her life. That passage from Isaiah goes on to say: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Like the rest of us, Nancy had to pass through the rivers and walk through the fire at various times in her life. Yet, because of her faith, the rivers did not overwhelm her. Because of her faith the fire did not burn her, the flames could not consume her.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

Nancy’s confidence in grace was never more evident than in her battle with cancer. No matter how much she suffered, Nancy remained confident that she was walking in the love of God. She refused to be consumed by the fire of her illness. She held fast to the rock of her faith and seemed more able to talk about her own death than her

loved ones. When they’d cry too much she’d say something along the lines of: “Cut it out!”

Nancy’s faith informed her that death was not something to fear. Fear not, her Savior had said, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. Just has she had not feared living, Nancy did not fear dying. She knew that death is but a gateway to eternal life. As we heard in the scripture passage from l Corinthians: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

There is no sting for those who have faith in Jesus Christ, who has won the victory on our behalf and saves us by grace. There is no sting. When we are claimed by our Savior, nothing can take us out of that grasp. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. “ Nancy knew this. She believed it in her heart. She was certain that grace would lead her home.

Yes, it is true: Nancy has left this world. She is no longer walking among us in the flesh. We can’t see her or touch her. We can’t call her up on the phone as we liked to do. But we are confident that she is not gone. Her soul is imperishable and it is now in the hand of God. We believe that we’ve not seen the last of her. No, we will be reunited with Nancy and all the saints that have gone before. In God, her love is eternal and so is ours. This makes our lives so profoundly meaningful and beautiful. We must embrace this beauty and live in it each and every moment that we are given.

This is why we may have tears today but it is really a day of celebration. We celebrate the wonderful, loving life of Nancy Lou Olsen Sherwood Amble. We celebrate the multitude of things that she meant to us. We celebrate how she enriched and changed our lives. And most of all, we celebrate the God who created her and gave her faith and guided her through all her days—helping her through the ups, the downs, the rivers and the fires—never once leaving Nancy’s side or allowing her to be consumed or burned. We celebrate the God who does not let his children go. And we look forward with great confidence to the day when God will call us to be home in heaven.

We will gather at the river that flows from the throne of God. It is difficult to believe that there is a river more beautiful than the Mississippi but apparently there is. We will one day arrive at that river and stand with Nancy and all the saints in light and praise our Maker with joyful dancing and singing that has no end.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

FOOLS FOR CHRIST

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

by Pastor Laura Gentry

As you may know, I went to Clown Camp in LaCrosse last week. There, I was immersed in a culture of clowning that I previously knew little about. Now if I were not a laughter therapist, you would probably be saying to yourself: “What business does a pastor have being at Clown Camp?”

And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today. What place DOES a clown have in the life of a Christian community? I mean, we come here to worship in a way that is done in “decency and order,” as Martin Luther would say. We want to be respectful to God and show our thanks and praise in a dignified manner because, after all, we are good Christians. That’s why we’re at church, isn’t it? We strive to follow the Ten Commandments and serve God with our whole lives. And we look really good, too. We certainly wouldn’t want to look foolish like a silly old clown.

But are we not fools already? If we’re honest with ourselves, our Christian piety is just a mask for our own shortcomings. At our core, the Bible says, we are sinful and unclean. So I’m going to do a demonstration for you about the foolishness of each one of us. (puts on cap and sets up make up table)



EYES
First of all, why would we want to put clown make up on our eyes. Our eyes are serious. They are pure and holy. Are they?

Jesus didn’t think so. (begins painting clown face on eyes) When he witnessed the behavior of the people, he said:

“For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
(Matthew 13:15)
Even with Jesus offering healing, their eyes were foolish and shut to the needs of others. Are not our eyes so foolish? We pass opportunities to help others nearly every day. How foolish.

Jesus also said:

Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. (Luke 11.34)

He used the term darkness to describe the sense of being lost and without direction. We have eyes and yet we too, end up wandering through life without the direction of faith.

Oh, and our eyes get us into trouble because of our judgmental nature. Jesus chastised his followers by saying:

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor,* “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? (Matthew 7.3-4)

Why not just admit our eyes are quite foolish and unholy? A fool can admit his eyes are up to no good.



MOUTH
And why would we want silly clown paint on our mouths? Our mouths are pure. We sing God’s praises each Sunday. We profess our faith with our lips, reciting the Apostle’s Creed week after week. We speak to God in prayer. Why wouldn’t our mouths be holy? Are they?

Jesus didn’t think so. (begins painting clown face on mouth) In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was so angry he said:

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ( Matthew 12.34)

Our mouths might have good intention but they speak evil—so much so that Jesus said this behavior was like a brood of vipers!

And when the disciples were getting their undies in a bundle about people not following the proper religious practices about cleaning their hands before eating, Jesus reminded them that:

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ (Matthew 15.11)

In the book of James, there are many bad things said about our tongues. Take this passage, for example:

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. (James 1.26)

Yes, if we take a hard look at ourselves, we must admit our tongues aren’t as controlled as they need to be and our mouths defile. We might as well be wearing foolish clown mouths, for that’s what Christ reveals.




NOSE
And what about our noses? Clowns are famous for their wacky red noses. How silly and undignified. Our noses are serious and wonderful. Are they? (begins attaching clown nose)

We tend to stick our serious and wonderful noses into the air as if we are better than other people. We can be so snooty that it is a stumbling block.

In Romans, Paul said not to:

“...think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12.3)

How come he knew that we are so prone to turning up our noses at other people and thinking ourselves more highly than we ought? Our noses are just as foolish as any red-nosed clown. Let’s just admit it.


HEAD
Okay, so maybe our faces aren’t so perfect and we’re on the foolish order, but who wants a big old clown wig? That’s just a bit too much. Our heads are far too dignified to be covered by such ridiculousness. Are they?

In Matthew, we read this:

But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? (Matthew 9.4)

Our heads are filled with wrong thoughts. Indeed, our heads are also foolish and may as well be covered in a foolish, rainbow wig.


And perhaps even a silly hat.


In a letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul summed up this reality. He wrote:

Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3.18)

He wanted them to take themselves less seriously. We are NOT wise, we are NOT holy. We are in great need of help! We must cling to Christ with all that is in us, admitting our foolish nature and not thinking we can impress God on our own. We’re as goofy as a clown. (takes off alb to reveal a whole clown outfit)


Paul strongly advocated this and often called himself a fool. He proclaimed:

We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. (1 Corinthians 4.10)


Clowns, you see, can be profound teachers because they remind us of who we really are. We are nothing but fools. We might think otherwise, but the clown hold a mirror up to us and show us how we are fools. Our eyes and foolish. Our mouths are foolish. Even our noses are foolish. And our heads are most definitely foolish. We have no holiness in us. And so we must learn to laugh at ourselves. (points to self and laughs hysterically)


But the great news is that in Christ, we are redeemed. In our Epistle lesson for today, Paul writes:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (II Corinthians 5:17) We are brand new! We are free to be the clowns we really are! We are free to admit our incompetence. We are free to try and to fail and know we’ll get picked up again. We can dance and sing and be silly because we have been saved by the King of Kings—or perhaps we could even call him the Clown of Clowns. That’s what I learned at Clown Camp.


Now that I’m all dressed as a clown, I’m going to have to stay this way for the remainder of the worship service. Many forms of clown ministry have been developed all over the world and sometimes, entire worship services are facilitated by a gaggle of clowns. Go ahead and giggle at me if you feel like it but remember that you are just as silly as I am dressed like this. You and I both need Christ because without him, we are just bumbling fools.


And now I will close with the clown’s prayer:

As I stumble through this life,
help me to create more laughter than tears,
dispense more cheer than gloom,
spread more cheer than despair.
Never let me become so indifferent,
that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.
Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,
make them happy, and forget momentarily,
all the unpleasantness in their lives.
And in my final moment,
may I hear You whisper:
“When you made My people smile,
you made Me smile.”
Amen




Here I am with some of the children and youth.


Here I am in a post-worship nursing home visit.

COMMUNITY OF THE TRINITY

A Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Today, we celebrate Trinity Sunday—the only day of the church year dedicated to a theological teaching of the church not associated with the life of Jesus and given the name “Trinity,” which is not even in the bible. Now why in the world is such a ancient and difficult-to-understand festival sandwiched right into our church year?

It all began in the ninth century where Christians in French monastic communities would celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. They were carrying on the tradition of the early Christians, who developed the teaching of the Trinity in order to give them a common understanding of God , which helped Christians understand that God was one, not three gods. Later, in the fourteenth century, the festival became so widespread that it was added to the church calendar and has been celebrated throughout the world ever since.

So now let us look at the three persons of God to help us understand and celebrate the Holy Trinity.


FATHER
God as God the Father—the Creator of our entire universe. In this morning’s lessons, we heard from the Genesis story of creation in which God calls the universe into being by the power of God’s word. God the Father is the all-powerful, eternal, yet loving source of all life. All that we are and all that we have come from God the Father. In the explanation of the Apostle’s Creed, Martin Luther said we ought to thank, praise, serve and obey the Father. And added his signature ending: this is most certainly true.


SON
God the Son in the form of Jesus. What does it mean that God became flesh and dwelt among us? We ponder this each year at Christmas time.

Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian, tells a story of a prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand?

He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor. As you might have guessed, the prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

This very simple, written by one of the most brilliant minds of our time explains what we Christians mean by the incarnation. God came and lived among us. I am glad that this happened for two reasons. One, it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is with us, that God is on our side, and that God loves us. Secondly, it gives us a first hand view of what the mind of God is really all about. When people ask what God is like, we as Christians point to the person of Jesus Christ. God himself is incomprehensible. But in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of his glory. In the person of Jesus we are told that God, that mysterious other that created the stars and the universe—who didn’t even need to bother to be mindful of us—is willing to go all of the way, to become one of us: talk our language, eat our food, share our suffering and die on a cross. Why? So that a single person, you, me, might be redeemed. And, grow to love the infinite God who created you.

HOLY SPIRIT
And we know God as the Holy Spirit —the one who is with us in this very moment, inspiring us, illuminating the Scriptures, animating our faith and worship, interceding for us in our weakness "with sighs too deep for words," leading us, strengthening us, turning on the lights for us when our paths become unclear. Just last week, we celebrated the Sunday of Pentecost, in which we talked about how the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and has been blowing through the church ever since, blowing as powerfully as the wind. Jesus told us that this Spirit blows where it pleases. That is something we ought to be excited about.


TRINITY

Saint Augustine often puzzled about the whole idea of describing God as a Trinity. He described an incident in which he was walking along the beach and observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine asked, "What are you doing?" The boy replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole." It suddenly occurred to Augustine that just as this boy was pursuing the ridiculous goal of putting the whole ocean into the hole, he was pursuing an equally ridiculous goal: trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind. We, with our very limited brains (in comparison to God’s wisdom), have come up with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity—the belief that God is expressed in three parts as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we must recognize, as Augustine did, that we could never fully understand God—we could never capture God’s entire essence with a doctrine. But this doctrine can be helpful in getting us to know our three-personed God.

Garrison Keillor once said of love, “We should not think that we have figured this out, because it is not a problem, it’s a mystery and always will be.” The same could be said of the doctrine of the Trinity. We don’t have to think of it as a problem to be solved, but rather a glorious mystery in which to relish.


But what does it mean for us that God is three, yet one? The Athanasian Creed states “And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.” These three, equal persons of God work together in community as one, unified God. Some theologians insist that what is most important about belief in a triune God is not that we see God in three ways, but that we understand God as dynamic community. God, you see, is a like a committee that actually works.

What is unique about Trinitarian theology, is that it explains that there is an inner relational energy within the three forms of God. John of Damascus, an eighth-century theologian, described the Trinity with the Greek word "perichoresis." This word comes from the same root as the word "choreography." It suggests that there is a movement, a harmonious dance within the internal life of God.

So if God is a community and we are created it God’s image, what does that mean? It means that we are created to be in relationship, just as God is in relationship. The doctrine of the Trinity gives us a vision of a community of women and men in church and society who treat each other as equals and work together in shared responsibility of unity and love. You see, when we understand God in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity, we can see within the very person of God, a radical example of a community built on justice, relationship and care.

So that is what we are celebrating today. In clear terms, the profound mystery of the Trinity tell us who God is: the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Spirit who exist in perfect community with one another. And as people formed in God’s image, it tells us who we are, and why we crave community. May our hearts follow this natural impulse to search and out and find connections with God and with one another that we may be one as God is one.

© 2009 Laura Gentry