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Trinity Sunday
May 22, 2005 Sermon
by Rev. Aron Kramer, Associate Rector
Readings
Eliot has this really
wonderful book collection one of which has become my all time favorite
books. My favorite book of his is called
How Did the Animals Help God? It is a
wonderful perspective on the exact
creation reading from Genesis that we
have in today’s lectionary. It starts with God and nothing at all. The
very first thing God does is create the heaven and the earth, a place
for God’s imagination to run wild. Once that place has been created, as
in our reading, God creates the fish in the sea, the birds of the air
and all the wild creatures of the earth. Everything is created and last
of all God creates humankind. But first, before humankind is created
this book takes a different twist, God says let us create humankind in
our image. In the past I have always assumed that God was speaking to
the angels, to the spirits to something else that wandered the universe
with God. But this book suggests otherwise. This book I read to a little
baby before he goes to sleep at night suggests that God spoke to all the
animals, fish, birds and other creatures walking, swimming and crawling
on the earth and asked for their help in creating humankind.
I find that fascinating, of course God would have spoken with the
animals he had just created. Of course God would have asked the
creatures to help create humankind, of course God would have asked for
their help in creating the unique characteristics that each human on
this earth possesses. The book has God say, let Us, (Us is capitalized)
make humans in Our image, after Our likeness. The animals all stop what
they are doing and ask God, “Are you speaking to us?” God replies, “Yes,
I am speaking to all that I have created.” It seems so obvious, so clear
that of course all of creation would have a hand in humankinds creation,
after all we are the ones that God is going to ask to take care of all
the earth, we are the ones that God has placed the burden of
responsibility on to bring voice to those things that seem to have no
voice. So each animal drops by God’s place and offers some sort of
advice as to what humans should be like. I will not go through them all
but they are quite amazing. The tiger asks that humans be brave, the
lamb asks that humans be gentle. The cheetah says humans should be fast,
the snail says humans should be slow. The dolphin says humans should be
playful and the shark says humans should have good appetites. The book
ends with God blessing humans and giving them the ability to choose
between right and wrong. “Just as you give to them,” God says to all of
creation, “they will give to you.” The book closes with the following
statement, “In the image of God and in the image of nature God created
us. And God saw that it was very good.”
God did not act alone when we were brought into creation. I find that
interesting, God went ahead and created all the creatures of the sea,
but when it came to us, God did not act alone, he acted in concert with
a large community. Today is Trinity Sunday. Rather than try to bore you
all with a theological and doctrinal sermon about God, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit and what the heck the early Church fathers meant by Three in
one and one on three, I want to ask you to imagine the trinity as one
simple thing. God in community. That is all, for now, that is all we
need to know about, the Trinity is God in community and we must
understand that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all around us,
speaking to our hearts, filling our souls and inspiring us to do God’s
work in the world. I say that because being in community, especially a
community that belongs to the Kingdom of God forces us to see power in
different ways. Being in community forces us to consider more clearly
how we use power in our daily lives. When one person or one group of
people grab onto power and hold it within themselves and refuse to let
go of that power, the Kingdom of God, the power for good is slowly
eroded. Likewise, when a community gives up their power, they become
ineffective and can no longer live into God’s call to transform the
world. I have always wondered about our struggles with the word Ruler in
religious language. I understand the negative connotations, the fact
that being a Ruler, or a King or a Queen these days is quite detrimental
to ones health. But I wonder if we are, when we change that word to
something such as steward, I wonder if we are giving up our power, I
wonder if we are saying to God, thanks for the responsibility but no
thanks.
We as humans in this earth have been given a great amount of power, over
the earth, over the creatures and over each other. Power gets used
poorly so often that we decide it is better not to have it. But I wonder
if it is not time to begin to claim our power, given to us by God. Does
that mean we should go around destroying and stealing and lying and
taking from everywhere we can? Absolutely not, look into it and you will
find that an ideal ruler, an ideal King in the Kingdom of God, is not a
person who raises themselves above others, the ideal ruler in the
Kingdom of God is someone who raises others up, someone who dies on a
cross in order to save others; someone who turns the idea of power on
its head so it becomes a force for building up, for healing and for
forgiveness. How do we use our power, our God given power to create a
world that is borderless, a world that transcends differences? Are we
not called by God to do just that? Is there anyone present in this
Church today that feels as if they are called by God to separate
themselves from the rest of the world? Is there anyone present here
today who feels as if they are called to rule over other people and make
themselves greater than even the least of God’s children? Are there
people present here today who feel called by God to forgive those who
have hurt you? Are there people present today who feel called by God to
live into the power of community, bearing fully and humbly the burden of
responsibility given to us by God and Jesus? Are there people here today
that believe power is more about peace and goodwill, and love than
corruption, hatred and war? I return to that wonderful quote from Nelson
Mandela, simply saying, “Our greatest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure.”
God, together with the animals of the entire world created us, formed us
and shaped us. It is truly fascinating to think about what that might
mean for us. How do we reflect that co-creation how do we now become a
part of that co-creating with God? We have been given so much, we have
so much, how do we give ourselves to God and to creation, saying thank
you for the inspiration you have given us, thank you for the
characteristics I have received. Each of us present today has special
gifts and talents name them silently in your head and don’t be shy, you
know what your gifts are, you know what you are good at. Those are the
gifts that bring power into our bodies and in to our beings, those are
the gifts that in concert with other people bring power into the midst
of community. Those are the gifts that help us to transcend our fears of
people who are different from us, people who are not like us. Those are
the gifts that allow us to share with the world what it means to be a
powerful community in this world. IT is counter cultural to participate
in such a way, to give the power you have as an individual to a
community to work for good. It goes against most people’s better
judgment; we want to hold onto that power so we can be protected, so we
can be safe. But this Gospel, today’s Gospel calls us to suck it up,
give ourselves over to God and community and go out into the world
baptizing and teaching. We are called by God to go out into the world
arms wide open embracing all people and sharing with them our story, our
powerful transforming story. A story that is rooted in the story of
Jesus, the presence of God and the blowing of the Holy Spirit. We are
powerful individuals, we are a amazing people and we are an even greater
community because we understand what it means to children of God,
powerful individuals loving, caring forgiving and rejoicing in the glory
and unity of God. May we no longer be silent, may we no longer refuse to
take the responsibility and power that God has given us, may we live
into what God is calling is calling us to do in the world as a
transforming borderless community of faith!