June 7, 2009 Sermon
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Trinity Sunday - B 2009
June 7, 2009 Allan Conkling Emmanuel, San Angelo
Since today is one of those lesser known holidays of the church year I feel the need to introduce it with a little history lesson. In the year 1334, Trinity Sunday was declared by Pope John XXII to be an official holiday of the church. It was introduced to mark the conclusion of the story of the life of Christ, which had begun in Advent and ended with Pentecost. In contrast to other holidays--like Christmas, Easter, or secular holidays like July 4th or Columbus Day, Trinity Sunday celebrates not an event but a belief. We express our faith in the Holy Trinity every time we say the Nicene Creed. Today the theme of the entire service is about the "three in one and one in three."
This of course is what we call "the mystery of faith" and it is a standing joke among clergy that if you want to watch a preacher sweat just come on Trinity Sunday and see how she or he handles the doctrine of the Trinity. If they resort to an analogy of a 3-leaf clover (as St. Patrick did), or a tri-cornered hat (like in colonial days), or if they tell you that God is like Coca-Cola (water sugar and flavoring), then you know they are in trouble!
Nicodemus, an elder of the Temple came to Jesus by cover of night seeking to find an explanation. "How can these things be," he asked? The answer he got was more than what he had asked for. Indeed the more I try to understand God the more humble I become.
There is a wonderful Greek word I learned many years ago. The word is Perichoresis. Its prefix peri-, means "around". The stem chorea means "to dance". It is where we get the word "choreography" the art of arranging dances or ballets. Perichoresis means literally to dance around. The relationship of the members of the Holy Trinity is described as a relationship of Perichoresis. Far from sitting stoically upon heavenly thrones the image we have from this word, Perichoresis, is a dance. Maybe not a hoe down, "swing your partner, do-si-do". Nor does it mean a hip-hop dance in a high school auditorium or a lock-step dance around a honky-tonk to the "Cotton-eyed-Joe". Rather it is a divine dance of love, an intimate pirouette between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The image of the Trinity is an image of intimacy. What’s more, into that intimacy, that divine choreography, you and I, and all of the created order are invited to participate.
Paul says in our second reading:
"When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ". (Rom 6:16)
When Jesus prays that all may be one as he and the Father are one (Jn 17:21), this is the call to strike up the band, to begin the symphony.
I said earlier that Trinity Sunday marks the end of the story which began in December at Advent. In to this world Jesus came. As Paul writes in Philippians,
"Though he was in the form of God...[he] emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness...he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross." (Philipians2:6ff)
That He lived and died as one of us is to say that he extended a hand to us, inviting us to enter a relationship of Perichoresis--a divine dance. This intimate relationship finds its continuation in every succeeding generation of Christians. What good news in times when we feel ourselves isolated, alone, or searching in our faith:
"For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
As partners with the Lord of the Dance we are a dynamic, living, growing church. We rejoice in our call to be led by the Spirit of God: "Here am I; send me!" (Isaiah6:8) Speak out against injustice, to respect the dignity of every human being with no exceptions, and to be good stewards of all that has been entrusted to us.
Without a faith, we are nothing. Perhaps this was in the heart of that pope way back in the 1300's when he set aside this day. Certainly it is in ours as we sing,
"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity." (Hymn 362)
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Revised: 06/22/09