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May 18, 2008

Rik Rasmussen

Trinity Sunday A - RCL

To read the lessons for the day click here:

http://www.io.com/~kellywp/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/ATrinity_RCL.html

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Psalm 8

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Let us pray,

Father, you sent your Son to bring us truth

And your Spirit to make us holy;

Open our hearts to exalt you,

Open our lives to reveal you,

Our one true God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. (from the New Zealand Prayer Book)

Today is known as Trinity Sunday in our church year. It is a Sunday in which many a preacher has been tempted down the path towards heresy. After all how do you explain the Trinity in 10 minutes or less? The concept of the triune Godhead is hard for many people to get their heads around. Do we worship one god? Three? Is the Trinity a construct to help us mere mortals grasp the multifaceted nature of our God? Luckily, for me it is not that difficult of a concept. As a scientist I was trained to realize that there exists a point in time when all three states of matter - Solid, Liquid and Vapor co-exist at one time. That Point is the “triple Point” - All three phases are in equilibrium at the triple point. One substance with the same molecular structure, very different manifestations in perfect equilibrium. That scientific/physics explanation works for me in trying to grasp the Trinity. If the physical universe can co-exist in time and space why can’t our God. Now I have to admit, the triple point is not one that we can see with our naked eyes most of the time. It is only under certain pressures and temperatures that it exists. But we can see something close to it with water. Have you ever noticed how ice can be solid with a little liquid and vapor all at once? It is not really the triple point because the three phases are slightly out of phase but it is close. That is how I see the Trinity at work in the world about us. But is this all really important? Does it matter if we can identify the manifestations of our God? Do we have to say “The Spirit did that! Or The Son did the other thing? Or the Father was present in this case? I don’t think so.

In our lessons today we start with one of the two creations stories in Genesis. This creation story starts with the wind or spirit of God moving over the earth. The same spirit who still moves over the earth. The spirit of creation. And God speaks the words and creation comes into being. And God saw that creation was good. This is the version of the story that has man and women co-created in God’s image. None of this business of creating a women out of the flesh of a superior male form that was created first (Ok can you see that I have a little bit of a prejudice for one of the two creation stories over the other?) The important part for me in the story of creation is that God saw, and I believe still sees, that at its core creation is good. All of creation in its varied manifestations, warts and all, is good!

In our epistle lesson we hear Paul tell the church in Corinth to “Finally…agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Paul spends a lot of time instructing the church in Corinth about the faith. Paul talks about the Body as God’s temple, keeping Christian fellowship, the image of the Christian community as the body of Christ, marriage, dietary rules, spiritual gifts, Gods love…I could go on. The first and second letters to the Corinthians are packed with material. Some of that material we would all probably agree is good and some of it leaves many of us scratching our heads wondering what Paul meant. Some of it, at least on face value, is even contradictory. But in the end Paul sums it up in Love. Live in peace with each other and you will know the love of God.

Finally we have our very short reading form the end of the Gospel of Matthew. This passage is usually called the great commission. We are called to go out and make disciples of all of the nations of the world baptizing them in the name of the Trinity. Simple stuff right? Go out and make converts. Fill the pews. But that is not really what it really says. Now here it is rather important to pay attention to the original Greek of this text for in the Great Commission there really is only one command, and that command is “disciplize.” The word in the original text involves disciple is not a noun. Rather it is a verb. And that’s the problem. Listen again to Jesus’ commission.

“All authority in heaven and upon earth has been given to me. Hence disciplize all nations by baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to keep all as much as I commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days onto the culmination of the age.”

Richard Carlson from the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg says ““Make disciples” is much easier than “disciplize”. Why? Because there is a realistic end product in mind. You get a new member, you baptize them, you teach them, and then you are finished. Mission accomplished. The church made a disciple, now it can move on. But Jesus’ understanding of disciplizing is a lifelong process. It doesn’t end with confirmation. It involves teaching folk continuously to understand anew what being in a relationship with Christ involves. It means that the church’s mission is not a matter of making people into members of an organization but it is the always, ongoing task of equipping people for discipleship as participants in a living organism which is the body of Christ. Much easier to make members; once they are in and paying their dues you’re done. But disciplizing? That’s a 24-7 call to obedient and faithful discipleship. That assume commitment; that calls for life-long learning; that’s a lot more than helping me actualize myself. Do we really expect that much in and for our disciplizing mission?

And what makes matters worse is that not only is this a vision of our discipleship being a 24-7 call, Jesus is saying that he is with us 24-7. On the one hand, we may say that it is nice that Jesus is with us all the days, but when it gets right down to it do we really want Jesus with us all the days? Isn’t it easier to reserve Sunday morning for time with Jesus? Can’t I be on my own and in charge of my own actions and decisions on Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Friday night? If Jesus is always with me, Jesus is going to have some expectations that I might really keep all that he has commanded. That I might actually

• love my neighbor as myself

• love and pray for my enemies

• forgive not just 7 times but 70x7

• be the light of the world

• not to be anxious about tomorrow

• be merciful as our God in heaven is merciful

• serve rather than be served.

To take this text seriously is not a “business as usual” mode of operation either for our individual lives or our corporate life as the community of Christ. This vision for mission is not realistic. The church knows it and consequently the church hasn’t operated this way for several centuries.

• To take on this vision means disciplizing is a lifelong encounter with the living Christ who is always drawing us out of ourselves and into the world as light of the world.

• To take on this vision means moving away from an “if we build it they will come” mindset for mission and embracing the reality that we are the light of the world that is sent into a very dark and hurting world.

• To take on this mission is to assume the position of follower who not only brings Jesus beyond the walls of the congregation but also obediently goes where Jesus says “go” and lives and Jesus says “live.”

Jesus was asking his rag tag group of followers for go out and continue his work. To show in their actions, not just with their words, that the God of radical love is still with us. That radical love that wants to embrace all of creations, warts and all! We, being modern day disciples of Christ, as much of a rag tag group as the first disciples, are still being called to go out of the church and into the world. To show through our actions that radical welcome is being offered to all of God’s creations. No matter our race, gender, age, sexuality – we are all called, by our actions, to show Gods love, forgiveness and acceptance to the world, and even more dramatically to empower those we meet to, in their actions proclaim the wonderfully radical welcome of God to others.

It can be scary to deciplize because when we do it we are sending out others, people not necessarily like us, to proclaim how they experience God. To share their understanding of God’s love for creation with others in language and metaphors that we may not understand. It is, after all, not about filling the pews with like minded folks, it is about sending out into the world a legion of diverse folks who can, in their very diversity, try and bring God’s infinite love to a people who, in their very creation, can only grasp parts of creation at anyone time. Just as we all have different ways of learning and understanding, we too have different ways of experiencing and understanding God. None of us, not even our patron Saint Paul, has the one right or correct way of experiencing and explaining God’s work among us. That is why I believe it is so important to have a diversity of people at the table. We need the scientists, mystics, realists and non-believers to help us all see that “Triple point” in creation where God’s perfect love reigns in Glory.

Amen