St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
May 22, 2016
Year C: The First
Sunday after Pentecost – Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
The Trinity: Our Inclusive God
One
of the more surprising recent developments in my life is a renewed interest in
baseball.
When
I was a kid, I had no skill at actually playing the game but I enjoyed watching
the games, collecting baseball cards, and followed my father in becoming a fan
of the Baltimore Orioles. I remember watching lots of games on TV and even
listening on the radio sometimes. I remember getting up in the morning and
turning on the radio eager to hear how the Orioles – and their archenemy the
Yankees – had done the night before.
But,
for whatever reasons, over time I lost interest in the game and moved on to
other things.
Yet,
this season, both Sue and I have been watching more games – it’s been fun and a
nice distraction.
But,
watching games on TV, I’ve noticed something. Maybe you’ve seen it, too.
Often,
many of the seats behind home plate – some of the most desirable spots in the
ballpark – are empty.
Since
that’s the image you see on TV every time a pitcher pitches to a batter, it
looks terrible. Makes it seem like the ballpark is empty.
But,
that’s not it.
Instead,
it seems that many of those prime – and quite expensive - seats are held by
wealthy season ticket holders, many of them businesses, who use them to impress
clients or, I hope, sometimes reward employees.
This
means that those seats – some of the best seats in the house – are out of the
range of ordinary people who might like to watch a ballgame.
Recently
Sue and I commented about this to someone who suggested that the teams might
consider inviting other fans to come down and fill those empty seats, if for no
other reason than it looks terrible o TV.
But,
Sue said, no, they probably wouldn’t want lower class people taking the seats
reserved exclusively for the wealthy.
Exclusivity.
We
see lots of examples of it in our society, don’t we?
If
you’ve flown in the past few years, you know that the gap between first class
and the poor slobs squeezed like sardines in a can back in coach has grown so
wide that it almost feels like we’re not on the same plane.
The
airlines have created programs with names like “Elite Access Advantage” for
frequent flyers with deep pockets.
They
get exclusive perks like getting to board first, real food and plentiful drink
served on china and in actual glasses, lots of legroom, free checked baggage,
and, yes their own bathroom – and God help those in coach who might try to use
that first class bathroom – for some reason the TSA has a rule against that
kind of mingling!
Exclusivity.
And,
sadly, sometimes we’ve seen or even still see that kind of exclusivity in the
church.
Yesterday
we had a joyous celebration of the renewal of ministry over at our sister
Church of the Incarnation.
Some
of you may wonder why Incarnation is only four or five blocks from St. Paul’s –
and even less than that from the former St. John’s, which stands only about a
block and a half away.
Well,
as I mentioned in yesterday’s sermon, sadly, shamefully, Incarnation was
founded because a century ago people of color were unwelcome at the other
Episcopal churches in the city, including, I’m sorry to say, this one.
I
suspect that this racial exclusivity wasn’t loudly declared, but instead was
subtle and quiet – but, nevertheless, all too clear.
Obviously,
we’ve come a long way but I wonder if today there are certain types of people
who we subtly and quietly – but all too clearly – make to feel unwelcome.
Exclusivity.
Why
do we behave this way?
Well,
we know that sports teams and airlines and other businesses cultivate
exclusivity because it makes them money.
But,
why do we behave this way?
The
answer is obvious, right? We like exclusivity because it feels good to build a
wall and be on the inside, to be a winner, to look down at others who are
different, who are, in the eyes of the world, “losers.”
Fortunately,
for us, God is not like that at all.
Today
we celebrate Trinity Sunday when we’re invited to reflect on God’s inner life,
the great mystery of one God in three eternal Persons, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit.
Over
the Christian centuries, much greater minds than mine have meditated on the
Trinity, pondered how it is that God can be both one and three at the same
time, puzzled over the relationship among and between the three divine Persons.
All
I can say is that the Trinity reveals to us that God’s very nature is
community.
And,
since God is perfect and doesn’t need anything or anyone, the divine community
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could have spent all of eternity, for ever and
ever, all alone, the most exclusive community of all.
But,
it turns out that instead of being exclusive, God is inclusive, inviting all of
creation, all of us, to be part of the divine community of love.
We
see this way back in the Old Testament, in God’s Law, which takes a special
interest in the lives and well-being of the poor and the foreigners and even
the domesticated animals who were supposed to also share in Sabbath rest.
And,
we Christians, see God’s inclusivity in Jesus, who hung out with the “wrong
kinds of people,” who invited everyone to the table, and who still invites
everyone – those in the best seats and those in the nosebleed section – those
enjoying the legroom of first class and those squeezed into coach – everyone –
no matter what we look like or sound like – everyone is invited, everyone can
be included in the divine community of love.
And,
we know that inclusivity is God’s way, we know that this is the way to go,
because while exclusivity might feel good, at least for a while, nothing beats
when we’re all together.
On
Wednesday night I had the pleasure of attending Hudson County Community
College’s commencement out at NJPAC.
I
was honored that our parishioner Missy had invited me and was excited to
celebrate her achievement.
But,
I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful it all was.
Waiting
to get into the hall I was surrounded by excited family members and friends,
all different kinds of people, speaking many different languages, but bound
together by love and pride and gratitude.
When
I got into the hall, I counted about 100 different flags on the stage,
representing the homelands of the graduates.
And,
when the grads, who, I’m guessing, were in many cases the first in their family
to earn a degree, entered the hall and took their seats they did something I’ve
never seen at other graduations: they turned around and looked up at their
people in the balconies and cheered and yelled and clapped and waved - it was
just an amazing outpouring of joy that brought tears to my eyes.
Inclusivity.
And,
yesterday, we – the people of all three churches - had a beautiful celebration
over at Incarnation – welcoming a new priest, yes – but more than that taking a
big step toward healing some of the sins of our spiritual ancestors and
finally, truly, becoming the Episcopal Church of Jersey City – finally, truly
becoming what we – all of us - were always meant to be – what we – all of us -
really are – the Body of Christ in this place.
Inclusivity.
As
human beings, we like exclusivity, we like building walls, because we like to
feel like winners.
It
fees good, at least for a while.
But,
it’s not God’s way.
God’s
way is inclusivity – inviting everyone to be part of the divine community of
love – where we’re all winners.
Amen.
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