The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
June 16, 2019
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
Speaking Through Love
Last
Sunday we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit and it sure was a joyful
Pentecost here – with so many parishioners wearing red - and the kids
processing in with their streamers - and Dee Dee leading the parade with the
dove - and great Holy Spirit music - and, yes, a wonderful barbecue and picnic
outside on what was a picture-perfect day.
Happy
Pentecost!
And,
now here we are on the First Sunday after Pentecost. But, if you were
listening to that Gospel passage I just read you might think it’s still
Pentecost – or, maybe, not yet even Pentecost.
At
the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus says to his disciples:
“I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…”
And
then Jesus goes on to describe some of the complex interplay of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that’s our signal that today we’re widening our
scope – today we’re reflecting on God’s inner life – today is Trinity Sunday.
The
Holy Trinity – our belief that God is One in three Persons – is notoriously
difficult to talk about and, in fact, reminds us that our human language is so
very limited when it comes to talking about God.
The
other day I came across a quote from a writer from the last century named
Evelyn Underhill. She said:
“If
God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be
worshiped.”
And,
that’s certainly true, right?
We
do the best we can but the language and the images that we come up with for the
Trinity – the three interlocking rings, the triangle, the three-leaf clover –
none of them really come close to capturing the inner life of God.
The
Trinity is so notoriously difficult to talk about that there’s a running joke
among clergy that this is a very good Sunday for vacation or to invite a guest
preacher.
Either
I wasn’t quick enough to find a substitute or I am of great courage because
here we are and you’re stuck with me!
And,
I think we have to start with the fact that God did not have to create
anything.
From before the
beginning, God was already a community of love – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit –
a perfect community of love that some theologians and poets have described as a
divine dance – a dance of love for all eternity.
But,
for reasons known to God alone, God did choose to create.
Who knows, maybe
there was just so much love within God that God could hardly contain God’s Self
– so much love that God decided to share that love with all of us – to invite all
of us to the dance.
But,
since God is big and mysterious, since God is completely “other,” the challenge
for God and for us has been communication.
But,
God likes a good challenge and God never gives up.
So,
in fact, the whole story of God and us is the story of God speaking to us – not
so much with words, though there’s some of that, but speaking to us most of all
through love.
Since
the beginning, the Holy Trinity has been speaking to us through love.
God speaks through
love by offering us this beautiful creation. You know, the world really didn’t
have to be as beautiful as it is, it could have all been black and white and
straight lines but even in a paved-over and polluted place like Jersey City,
it’s still awfully beautiful. For me, it’s that season again: I’ve been taking
my long morning walks and each day I’m struck by how much beauty there is on
even some of the toughest blocks – there’s always at least one house where
people are caring for flowers and plants – each day when I make my way around
Lincoln Park I’m just amazed that I get to live near such a beautiful place.
God speaks through
love.
God speaks through
love by giving us one another – giving us one another to relish the good times
together – to enjoy the simple feeling of a hug or holding the hand of another
– on this Father’s Day I think of the experience of a father seeing the face of
his child for the first time. God gives us one another to laugh at jokes or to
celebrate successes and milestones – and God gives us one another to be there
for each other during the tough times, to help us somehow endure what seems to
be unbearable.
Just in the last
week or two, it was so moving to see some of us travel out to the suburbs to
celebrate with our fellow parishioners who were being honored – so moving to
see some of you provide such loving support for our parishioners Ursula and
Bill as dear Ursula faces the end of her life – so moving to see Jeremy and
Patrice read the lessons on Friday at the funeral of Chesley Bowers, providing
such a loving support for their lifelong friend Kadeem – so moving to see some
of our parishioners quickly organize a repast after the funeral with good food
and drink, providing a welcoming environment for people to mourn, to reminisce,
and to celebrate.
God speaks through
love.
God speaks through
love by sending us Jesus – Jesus who shows us what God is really like – Jesus
who shows us what we are really like – Jesus who gives away his life in loving
service to others, especially the poor and the outcast.
God speaks through
love by sending us the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit who comforts us when we’re
sorrowful – the Holy Spirit who emboldens us when we’re afraid – the Holy
Spirit who reveals the truth so we can never really get lost, no matter how
hard we may try.
God speaks through
love.
And, God longs for
us to speak through love, too.
We speak through
love in our prayers – in the words we say out loud and the words in the quiet
of our hearts.
We speak through
love when we care for our family and friends and especially when we care for strangers
and the people we don’t much like and even the people we just don’t trust one
bit.
We speak through
love when we offer loving service to others, making sandwiches with the Squad,
serving lunch to the homeless, giving up a night of sleep in our own bed to
support Family Promise – we speak through love when we give to people who can
never pay us back, people who may never even know who we are.
We speak through
love when we resist the temptation to judge other people because of how they
look or talk or love, when we resist the temptation to judge other people on
their mistakes, on the worst thing they’ve ever done.
God speaks through
love and God longs for us to speak through love, too.
So, today is
Trinity Sunday.
It’s a day when
we’re challenged to reflect on and celebrate a God who is way too big to fully
understand – a God for whom words just don’t cut it – a God who, for whatever
reason, invites us to be part of the divine dance – a God who wants to
be known by us – a God who speaks to us through love.
Amen.
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