May 26, 2024 - Solemnity of the Holy Trinity - Nicodemus and the Trinity, What Are We Talking About?

This was posted in this week's Creator Connection regarding the Holy Trinity for Sunday's worship:

When we say God is the triune God, we are saying something about who God is beyond, before, and after the universe: that there is community within God.  When we pray to God as Jesus prayed to his Abba (an everyday, intimate parental address), the Spirit prays within us, creating between us and God the same relationship Jesus has with the one who sent him.

This post's assertions about the Trinity works better than the most. The more often cited "natural world" examples of egg and butterfly commonly used as explanations of the triune God don't get to the heart of the matter for me. Yet how do we imagine this Trinity - a God who is beyond, before and after the universe? How can a "community within God" truly integrate into our being?

To meditate on these questions this week I began with a Lectio Divina reading of the Acts from last week. Traditionally, there are four steps to Lectio Divina: read; meditate; pray; and contemplate. Reading the lectionary passage from Acts was inspiring. Prayer and contemplation naturally followed.

In Creator's Lectio practice, we often isolate a standout word or phrase that personally "shimmers" for us. That leads to followup discussions of why. For the Pentecost story, the word that stood out for me was bewildered. And this week's Gospel reading left me empathetic to Nicodemus' bewilderment. I felt all these interactions and events went beyond my present apprehension.  What I prayed reflected my inability to take these truths into my being. I thought about something I had once read which commented on the wisdom of Jesus.

Serene light shining in the ground of my being,
draw me to yourself.
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words
that I may discover the signified:
the word unspoken in the darkness
that veils the ground of my being.

This Byzantine Hymn served as my prayer to understand God's triune nature at this moment. I imagine it also could have become a prayer for Nicodemus, judging by his interaction with Jesus. Although Nicodemus was not wrong in what he asked Jesus, he was not right either. 

Jesus’ response to Nicodemus  does cut straight to the heart of the matter. No one can see God’s reign without being born again/from above (the Greek word another means both “again” and “from above,” and both senses are important here). Unless Nicodemus allows God to change his whole way of being in the world, he will be unable to perceive God at work. 

And ultimately, Nicodemus did see that world with new eyes.  He became a follower of Christ and played another central part in Christ's story. Together with Joseph of Arimathaea, he took down and embalmed the body of Jesus. He became bold in his faith, rather than being cautiously cloaked in darkness and fear.   

I'm afraid I am over and over caught in that caution. I indulge in too many restless, reasoned reveries about what should be done rather than offering reckless responses to God's call (like Jesus made traveling the road to Jerusalem). Kierkegaard once wrote that faith is a "reception of revelation", a "happy passion that overcomes offense", and "a passionate appropriation of an objective uncertainty". He thought of faith as "a leap and a striving" and, more specifically, that it is "a striving pathos that goes against reason". 

I agree with Kierkegaard, but will add that I find his "leap" must be plural. This past Saturday marked the four year anniversary of George Floyd's death. Creator demonstrated sympathy with protesters when they marched in Happy Valley. Frequently it is hard to engage with a struggle for justice but there was a passion to be bold in overcoming an obvious injustice four years ago. Yet resting on any past laurels seems wrong.  

Sunday Worship Service Setting - Now The Feast

Matt led the congregation on this Trinity Sunday celebration in an energetic We Are the Church as our Gathering Song. More visitors than usual worshiped with us today. I appreciated the enthusiasm they brought to the service together with our regular worshipers.

Pastor Emillie gave a beautiful Children's Sermon that physically demonstrated how the Holy Spirit can support us through times of trouble. She used a cloth dipped in water to talk about how we can absorb and get weighed down by the adversities around us. I delighted in her introducing the Holy Spirit as a shield against the stresses we often encounter in life. This can be a shield that can keep us faithful.

During Announcements, the congregation sang an impromptu request - God Bless America.  This was in recognition of this Memorial Day weekend where military member s who died while serving in U.S. forces in any current or previous war are honored. Personally on Friday my family went to Willamette National Cemetery in remembrance pf my father and his service in World War II.  

I know I was in past congregations where this song was sung at worship. Today my thoughts went to Nicodemus who saw the world around him with new eyes. The Gospel often teaches in unexpected ways. I reflected on last week's celebration of Pentecost. We took steps towards diversity and inclusion that were filled with joy for so many. Granted there were unaccustomed steps for many of us as we departed from Creator's traditions. At the same time those steps were made possible last Sunday in ways unimaginable this time last year. 

Today I saw a long road that we could walk to journey to a truer reality of welcome at Creator.  We may need to reinvent our perceptions; to be open to change, expand our imaginations, and appeal to each other's better natures. As I looked around at everyone gathered in our sanctuary for this particular worship, I heard this patriotic song from my past with new ears and a changed perspective.   

Today's service and Pastor Emillie's sermon articulated and agitated what the Creator Connection sparked throughout the week. She preached that our understanding of the Trinity, while inspiring deep faith, is vague. Nicodemus' questions are still our own, all relevant and real. 

I valued the music and lyrics of the Hymn of the Day, which was Come Join the Dance of Trinity. This was a response that did not require a complete knowledge of the Holy Spirit. It was an invitation to  everyone to learn and join in that dance.