St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
May 26, 2024
Year B: The First Sunday after Pentecost – Trinity Sunday
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
The God Who Does Not Fall Apart
I’ve mentioned to you before that I’ve always been a pretty avid reader – a fact that I’ve been reminded of each time we’ve moved.
All those heavy boxes of books!
Although I read a lot, I’ve very rarely reread a book, even books that I love.
Sometimes I consider revisiting an old favorite, but then I always think of all the books that I want to read but haven’t gotten to, yet – and how there’s only so much time to read.
Actually…there’s only so much time. Period.
But one of the very few books that I have reread, several times, in fact, is the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Have any of you read it?
Things Fall Apart is set in the late 19th Century, among the Igbo people in what is today Nigeria.
The novel begins by giving us a glimpse into everyday life in an Igbo village, where people’s lives were shaped by the seemingly timeless rhythms of sowing and reaping, births and deaths, war and peace.
This way of life is upended by the arrival of the British, who gradually but steadily introduce and impose their rules, their culture, and, yes, their religion.
A way of life that had once seemed to be as permanent as the sunrise and sunset, turns out to be quite fragile and fleeting.
For some, this change will be beneficial (like every culture, the Igbo had their injustices and cruelties), while for others it will be devastating, catastrophic.
Things fall apart.
Each time I’ve revisited this book, I’ve gotten something else, something more, from it, probably because each time I’ve brought more years behind me, more and different life experiences, more losses – a deeper and sobering awareness that things do indeed fall apart.
I suppose that this is always true but right now it certainly feels like we are in a falling apart time, doesn’t it?
The horrific wars in Ukraine and Gaza and in smoldering hot spots all around the world, threaten to spark even wider and more destructive conflicts.
In our country, institutions and norms that once at least seemed rock solid are now looking wobbly, fragile, easily manipulated and broken.
And once things get broken, we all know that it’s hard to put them back together again.
And in our own lives, some of us are facing illness or a rupture in our families. Some are worrying over the loss of a job. And some of us continue to grieve the death of one we love.
And some of us are preparing as best we can for change: transition, retirement, getting ready for kids leaving the nest or for a move halfway across the country, to start over yet again, to become part of a new community.
Things fall apart.
And since things do fall apart, it’s important that we focus on what is forever.
It’s essential that we hold onto the One who is forever.
Today is the First Sunday after Pentecost – Trinity Sunday.
It’s the one day of the year when we are specifically invited and encouraged to reflect on the inner life of God – God who is One in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity is difficult to grasp, of course, and lots of people have wasted much ink and expended plenty of hot air trying to “explain” it.
In fact, in Things Fall Apart, one character describes the Trinity as “madness.”
But the Trinity is not madness.
And the Trinity is not a puzzle to solve.
No, the Trinity is a mystery to ponder and to celebrate.
And whenever I reflect on the Trinity, I’m awestruck by the idea that God is in fact community.
Somehow, this is what God is: a Perfect Community of Love.
And, as if that weren’t mind-blowing enough, we – you and I – all of us – are invited to be part of this Perfect Community of Love.
Some early theologians described the Trinity as a dance – and you and I – don’t worry, it doesn’t matter whether we can dance or not - we are all invited to join in.
In today’s gospel lesson we heard the familiar words of John 3:16, reminding us that God loves the world – loves the world enough to send the Second Person of the Trinity, to send the Son, to live among us, to save us.
God loves our falling apart world.
God loves each of us.
And so, Isaiah with his unclean lips, he’s invited to join the dance.
And well-educated Nicodemus who wasn’t quite ready to fully commit to Jesus, who came to Jesus under the cover of dark, not really understanding or not ready to accept the new life offered by Jesus, he’s invited to the party, too.
And all of us, no matter how many years there are behind us or how much time is ahead of us, no matter our political leanings, no matter how much or how little money we’ve got socked away, no matter how many mistakes we’ve made, no matter how much of our lives has fallen apart, all of us are invited by the God Who is a Perfect Community of Love, to dance with God forever.
And that dance doesn’t begin in heaven.
No, that dance begins now.
And what might that choreography look like?
Well, as some of you know, our much-loved parishioners Bob and Carla Kenyon are preparing to make a big move to Kansas.
I’m happy for them, I guess, but I sure am sad for us.
It’s bittersweet, for sure, but I’m trying to focus on the sweet part.
And I don’t know what went on before, but during their years at St. Thomas’, Bob and Carla have certainly accepted God’s invitation to the dance:
Sharing with us their musical gifts.
Caring for the environment and urging us to do likewise.
Pushing us to adapt more modern technology, new ways to stay connected, new ways to share the Good News.
Welcoming new friends from a faraway land, inviting them over to the house, even driving one of them back and forth to work for many months.
Walking past the handful of headstones outside the churchyard wall and wondering, and asking, who are these people and why are they here?
Yes, during their time here with us, Bob and Carla have accepted God’s invitation to the dance.
And I have no doubt that they will go right on dancing – and singing - with God in the highlands of Kansas.
So, I’m sorry to say that things fall apart, and they will go right on falling apart.
So, we have to keep rereading and retelling the story of God and us.
And it is essential that we hold on to God the Holy Trinity, God Who is a Perfect Community of Love.
Let’s keep on dancing with the God who will never let go of us, the God who does not fall apart.
Amen.
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