Tag Archives: Holy Trinity

Unknown's avatar

Full of God’s Glory!

by

“Full of God’s Glory!”

Isaiah 6:1-8 (6:3) – May 26, 2024 

Have you ever visited a really beautiful church? Magnificent, with lovely stained glass windows, carved pews, high, vaulted ceilings? What comes to my mind is the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., or St. Paul’s Church in London, or perhaps one of the great Gothic cathedrals in the Rhine valley in France or Germany. Think of a church like that, only magnify the beauty and wonder of the building ten times. I cannot even imagine a place that spectacular.

Yet that is just what Isaiah is trying to describe for us in our scripture passage today. A church—or, more specifically, a heavenly temple—so magnificent that he can hardly even begin to describe it.

That is only the beginning! What is even more magnificent, more awe-inspiring is what Isaiah sees inside that heavenly temple. The prophet says he “saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isaiah finds himself in the throne room of heaven in the presence of the Lord of creation. Awe-inspiring, terrifying, humbling, overwhelming. I don’t know about you, but God’s magnificence and glory can knock me off my feet when I least expect it. God can bump me and shake me up. God can turn my self-sufficiency inside out. Has that happened to you, too?

Perhaps you recognize the words from our opening hymn this morning: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!” Today is Trinity Sunday, that day in the church year, the week after Pentecost, when we lift up one of the ineffable mysteries of the Church: the holy Trinity itself. I love this passage from Isaiah for several reasons. First, this is Isaiah’s call story, how the Lord God reached out to Isaiah and touched this man with the power of God, and placed him on the road of being a prophet for God.

Such a moving story, and one that resonates with anyone who has been similarly called by the Lord into a God-ordained calling or vocation. (And not necessarily just a “churchy” vocation.) Some people feel very strongly that they have been called to be doctors or nurses, teachers or social workers, farmers or mechanics. God can call people to a variety of positions, all to serve to God’s glory and for the good of humanity.

Yet, this reading today is much more than that. Not only is Isaiah’s experience one of marvel and awe. This reading is one of the sources for our worship service today.

As Dr. Lisa Hancock advises, “The whole encounter begins with Isaiah showing up at the temple. So, consider taking some time to welcome and orient the congregation toward showing up to God’s presence in their midst. Acknowledge all that we bring with us into worship, the burdens and joys and everything in between.” [1] We as a congregation strive to tune into God’s presence with us even as we have come to be present to God and one another. The most amazing part is, we come into God’s presence each time we gather to worship!

            Orthodox Christianity confesses the Holy Trinity each time a congregation repeats the Apostles Creed. Confessing belief in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – or in more modern language, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer – is an intellectual, static form of statement of faith. Yet, as we consider the Trinity more deeply, even more theologically, we often are thrust into the midst of relationship! This awe-inspiring, terrifying Presence that Isaiah saw in the heavenly temple is also a vibrant Three-Persons-in-One. Difficult for us to even comprehend, but the idea of a Divine Relationship, companionship, a heavenly Community-in-One is the beginning of our understanding. As complex and mind-blowing as it can be.             

            Just as those seraphim sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts!” and just as we are welcomed into God’s presence each time our congregation enters into worship, so the Holy Trinity is here in this place. The Three Persons of God are in beautiful relationship with one another, and we are invited into that heavenly relationship, too!      

            We are cautioned, however. God does not only want the people from this particular neighborhood as a part of that heavenly relationship. God does not only belong to this particular church. God also is God of our Catholic friends, and of Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago, and of Trinity UCC and San Lucas United Church of Christ. God is also God of the Quaker meeting in Evanston as well as Chinese Christian Union Church in Chinatown, and our Korean friends Love Sharing Disciple Church in Morton Grove. A whole multitude of different faith traditions, too, from every tribe, every nation under heaven.

            As my online friend Rev. Bosco Peters says, “We live in a world that so often fears difference. We bully them, persecute them, will not employ them, do not want to live in their neighbourhood, kill them, go to war with them. Yet the universe…holds wonderful diversity in unity. This beautiful multiplicity held in harmony in our universe is no accident because the source and heart of all reality is the one we call “God” – three in one. To live the Trinity life is to rejoice in diversity and to work towards holding it in unity.” [2]

It does not matter to God – the awe-inspiring, humbling and overwhelming God is above all and over all. Just as the Holy Trinity is in relationship and in heavenly community, Triune Three-in-One, our God wants a relationship with each of us! The Lord desires to develop an intimate relationship with every person, in beautiful diversity, promoting harmony and unity regardless of color, creed, cultural difference, language or nation of origin.

We are encouraged to enter into relationship just as we are encouraged to enter into worship each week! With God, yes! And with every other person in diversity, regardless of color, creed, cultural difference, language or nation of origin. God created each one of us to live the Trinity life! Rejoice in diversity and work towards holding it in unity. That means each and every person, each and every child of God. Including you, including me. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/ascribe-to-god/trinity-sunday-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes

[2] https://liturgy.co.nz/trinity-sunday-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR30CzSonnCEtgz7V1bvjxP9SYmzEmRrJj2NYa4L3R2dl-dmA1nf3cPFzL4_aem_ATWps3Va7lMKpyFuppPtoxnznrMJ8apyP_Fq3to2Rlo1zOv7fsosZJtrIT-639n4JB33Yo04O1K_sCdt-hhKevdp

Unknown's avatar

Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit!

by

“Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit!”

holy trinity mosaic

John 16:13, Psalm 8 – June 16, 2019

In our everyday lives, all kinds of things come in threes. The rule of threes tells us that when things are presented to us in threes, they are easier to remember. Comedy tells us that when jokes come in three parts, they are somehow more satisfying and funnier.

Commentator Alyce McKenzie reminds us, “We read The Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Goldilocks and the Three Bears before we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a knife, fork, and spoon. We hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil despite the fact that we are threatened by lions, tigers, and bears. We play rock, paper, scissors. Our goals are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and we count on the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government to assist us in this pursuit, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, because we cherish our government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We live a hop, skip, and a jump from snap, crackle, and pop. Our journey of life has a beginning, a middle, and an end. On the journey we encounter lights that may be red, yellow, or green. Our motto, for the past, the present, and the future is Ready, Set, Go!” [1]

The rule of threes does have relevance in our Christian life; we know the Trinity with the traditional expression Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the Triune God. One in Three, and Three in One. Yet, how can we wrap our heads around such a huge concept as the Trinity?

We might consider God in this way: God was, God is and God will be. God past, God present and God future. Our psalm reading for today, Psalm 8, talks about the majesty and power of God the Creator, God the Father. That is what our opening hymn of praise lifted up: “How Majestic is Your Name.” God created the whole universe, everything we see when we look up in the sky, times 1000. Times 100,000! It is truly mind-blowing to consider how enormous the universe is. I cannot even comprehend a tiny sliver of how immense the cosmos is!

And yet, God still thinks about each of us, and loves each one of us as very special people. As our psalmist King David said, “What is man – humanity – that You are mindful of them?” In other words, how can the amazingly huge God who called the whole universe into being ages ago with a word even think about such tiny, insignificant beings such as humans? Yet, God does exactly that.

God the Father, God-not-only-in-the-past is part of this incomprehensible God, One in Three, Three in One, the Trinity.

Yet, there is God the Son. God the Son was eternal, too. He was in the beginning with God, as John chapter 1 tells us. The eternal Son was incarnate, was made flesh. That is fancy wording for Jesus becoming a baby. What’s more, He emptied Himself of all Godhood, all God-ness. Jesus became a baby just like any other newborn baby you might meet.

Jesus grew to adulthood, and lived life as a human being, like you and like me. Jesus got hungry, tired, slept, worked, laughed and cried. Yet, at the same time, Jesus was God. I can’t understand it, yet that is what our Gospels and many other places in the New Testament tell us. Here, in John 14 through 16, Jesus tells His disciples some very important things. This is God the Son talking, who would very shortly die on the Cross and very soon transition into His Resurrected form.

We see God-in-the-present here in John 16, telling His friends about the not-so-distant future. Jesus is talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, what kind of wondrous happening was this, Jesus the Eternal God the Son, talking about a Spirit of truth? Even though the disciples probably had some kind of idea about the wisdom that came from God – Proverbs and several Psalms serving as great examples – when their Rabbi Jesus started talking about a Holy Spirit, I have no idea what must have been going through the disciples’ heads!

When Jesus talked with His disciples in the Upper Room on that Thursday, that Passover night before His crucifixion, He knew everything was going to change for His friends. Jesus would no longer be with them, in a human body. Jesus was promising them something for the future. God-in-the-future, as well as in the present and in the past. Jesus promised the coming of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to live with them and remain with them as long as they were on this earth. The Holy Spirit was—is indwelling every believer in Jesus Christ. And, that is still the case, today.

Another—very imperfect—way to think about the Trinity is in the family context. All of us are members of a family. All of us came from a mother and a father. I will take myself for an example. I am a daughter to my parents. (Now deceased.) I am a mother to my children. I am a wife to my husband. Those are three distinct roles. Very different roles, too! Yet, I am one person. Not wanting to compare myself to the eternal, ineffable, transcendent Holy Trinity (much), I hope this family example might be able to give another example, some idea of the complexities in considering the Trinity.

Which brings me to the question I passed out to everyone in your bulletin: “When I—when you—thought about God, I used to think…” What did we used to think about God? How has it changed? What do we think about God, now? Has the blessed coming of the Holy Spirit into each of our lives changed those thoughts?

When we come at this theological doctrine of the Trinity head on, yes. It is important. It is part of our Creeds, and a foundational aspect of the Christian faith this church proclaims. Yet, a perfect understanding of Christian theology is not at all necessary for us to be saved, for us to enter into a close, deep relationship with God.

Throughout the Easter season, for the past weeks, I have been preaching on testimonies. When various people were confronted by the claims of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and what happened after that. Mary Magdalene was the first evangelist when she ran to the other followers of Jesus on that first Easter morning and cried, “I have seen the Lord!” Mary did not have a full understanding of Christian doctrine and of the three Persons of the Trinity, But, she knew that Jesus had risen, and was alive again.

I hope and pray that our understanding of God keeps growing, deepening, and maturing.  I hope that each of us keeps that excitement, that exuberance in our lives and our testimonies as we proclaim Jesus, as we tell all that the Trinity has done for each of us.

Alleluia, amen!

[1] https://www.patheos.com/Progressive-Christian/Power-Three-Alyce-McKenzie-05-21-2013.html

“The Power of Three,” Alyce M. McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, 2013.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my regular blog for 2019: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and my other blog,  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!