The Trinity

sermon by Carrie Eikler

Romans 5:1-5, Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
May 26, 2013 (Trinity Sunday)

(I am also calling this sermon, "The one that was never preached".  Worship has a way of doing the following: you start late, there is great movement in the service, people are sharing, that hymn went longer than you expected, many prayer requests and perhaps a lengthier than usual pastoral prayer.  A beautiful, but long poem for the Peace Lamp.  And to top it off, I had an extremely long story to tell for the children's story.  Truth be told, I wrote a *bit* shorter sermon to compensate.  But by the time I got down on the steps with the kiddos there was only 15 minutes left in the "normal" time of the sermon.  So I decided on the fly to make the executive decision that the chlidren's story could stand on its own as a sermon, with a bit of improvisational commentary, and I told everyone there would be no "Carrie sermon" today.  I thought the fall out from THAT would be less than the fall out from the service going 20 minutes late.  And no, I've never done that before. 

 

So here it is "The one that was never preached".  In case you are interested, the children's book I read was called What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester where God is assisted in creation by the angel Shaniqua and God's secretary, Bruce.  And it may be that I get up a video of this sermon (preached to an empty sanctuary, after the fact), but I can't figure out how to not have me "horizontal" so if you watch it, just close your eyes and listen, rather than turning your head and getting a crick in your neck)

 

One of the biggest changes our family has faced in this past year, as you can imagine, has been moving from a family with two kids to a family with three kids.  I don’t know how it appears to you all, but I feel we have made the transition rather well.  But I didn’t think that way when I found out we would be adding a little Eikler to our brood.

 

On the day I discovered I was pregnant, I wasn’t able to get to sleep that night (as you can imagine).  So in the middle of the night, I went to the trusted source of all information.  Google.  I googled the words “having 3 kids” because I really had no idea what I was going to do because I had felt completely exhausted by the first two.  Funny enough, I found a website called “Having 3 Kids” written by a woman who…has 3 kids.  She named it such because she discovered that when facing life altering situations, like me, most contemporary adults turn to Google.  And one of the most googled phrases when facing the arrival of third child was “Having 3 kids”.  So there you go.  Good name for a website

 

She has some great advice with just the right amount of humor.  But the best advice I ever had about having three children came from my mentor and collegue, Kurt Borgmann.   Kurt is the pastor of the Manchester Church of the Brethren in Indiana, and he and his wife Loyce have three kids.  He told me something to the effect: “With one or two kids, you can still convince yourself that you can do it all.  You can’t, but it’s easy to convince yourself you can.  When the third comes along, that goes out the window and you realize you just can’t be everything to everyone.”

 

I am a happier mom to 3 kids than I was with just one or two because of that advice: I can’t be everything to them, and they just have to deal with that.

 

Today is Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate the 3-in-1 nature of the divine as Christians understand it.  Or maybe…how we don’t understand it, but we celebrate that we try to figure it out anyway. 

I would love to hear how some of you have come to understand the nature of the Trinity, for I have never fully understood how the Trinity “works” or “exists”: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.

 

 But after having 3 kids, I like to think that maybe God got some good advice from a friend.  Like Kurt was to me.  Like the angel Shaniqua was to God in the children’s story.

 

God the Father, or Mother, had that loving person who said “Hey God, you can’t do it all and the sooner you realize it the better off you will be” and somehow God decided that she or he had to do some changing. 

 

Somehow, God the Mother knew there would be far more talking to these children of hers than she could handle--a whole lot of hot air--so She took all that air and crafted the Holy Spirit to do some of that work for her, blowing it over the darkness before creation was even created, breathing into the muddy creation once it was formed.

 

Then God the Father took  a little of the divine playdough and molded this Jesus to show us how to live on earth and with our rowdy brothers and sisters.

Because we all know we only will really believe what we see,

because no one likes the hot air of their parent blown on them the whole time.

So just break it up a bit,

we’ll have some God in the flesh walking around on earth.

 

And that’s how I think about the Trinity today.  At this moment.

 

What, you were thinking something a little more theologically sophisticated?

 

I’m sorry to disappoint you!  Maybe you have struggled with the concept of the Trinity, and you know what, I think that is ok.  In fact, I think that is how the understanding of the Trinity actually came about. 

 

Because if you read through scripture,

nowhere does it say anything about the triune nature of God, explicitly.

There are suggestive verses such as Matthew 28:19 (where Jesus says to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and 2 Corinthians 13:13 (where the Apostle Paul ends his letter by invoking a triune blessing).

 

 It’s clear through scripture there is worship of God, witnessing of Jesus, and, as we know from last week, a fiery experience of the spirit.  But it doesn’t really put them all together anywhere and say this is the nature of god.  Three-in-one. Triune.  Trinity.

 

 

In fact, it wasn’t until the Council of Nicea in 325CE that the Trinity was brought forward

as doctrine

 

But all of that aside,

it doesn’t mean that the Trinity holds no water.  Rather

the concept Trinity was formulated in the church as the community sought to understand

the meaning of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

How they tried to interpret what happened at Pentecost.

 

Now over time, I have moved a bit of in my positions on some religious issues.

I used to be very critical of anything

that was doctrinal and came from those ancient councils.

I would write it off as simply the creation of falliable humans

posited more for political gain and power over any real

religious devotion.

If it wasn’t in scripture then it was a fabrication.

 

I do still look with a critical eye at dogmas and doctrines,

but more for the fruits that come from them,

not because they were created by men (and yes, here I do mean it.  MEN).

 

Because while there was certainly politics involved,

I also believe in so many ways over time

Christians—and indeed all religions—just simply have to make things up

to understand them.

Humans create a narrative to understand their world

and most certainly they have to create a narrative to understand

or approach the divine mystery.

 

My mom sent me an article that looked at some studies done at

Princeton and Yale, at the science behind storytelling.

And specifics aside, what it comes down to

is that people understand hard-to-understand ideas better

when put into a story.

Bullet points?  Not so much.

Statistics and timelines?  Eh, not really.

But a story. 

Stories, these studies have shown, are the way of conveying information

that utilizes the most of our brains.

Our brains, in effect, are more active when we are hearing stories than receiving any other type of information.

 

So I can suggest to you that no, don’t think of the Trinity as

God suffering from multiple personality disorder rather

let’s look at it through…

 Jungian psychology

which talks about the masks actors would wear in

ancient Greek drama.

and so too God has multiple expressions of God’s essence.

 

Or…

 maybe I should tell you a story about when I was suffering from fear

in the NICU at the hospital when Sebastian was born, and had seizures
and we didn’t know what was wrong.
And then I can tell you the story about God, the Mother who takes
us in her arms in our suffering.

 

I could say, well,

maybe we think of it as St. Patrick told the ancient Irish

that God was one being with three parts
like this beautiful green Shamrock.

 

Or…

 maybe I should tell you a story
about when I stood up in front of my high school English class

when I was a senior and gave a report

against the death penalty (the only one in the class who thought such a thing),

 with sweaty palms and flutterby stomach.
And then I can tell you about the Christ who taught me to love
my enemies and do good to those who persecute you
and who said that flutterbys or no, you’ve got to find the courage

stand up for what you think is right.

 

I could say, don’t even question the Trinity.

It’s all mystery anyway, so let’s leave it at that.
It’s too complicated for you to understand
I could confound you and myself with terms such as “preceeding from the godhead”
“preexistent nature of…”

 

Or…I could tell you a story
about hope.

The story I’m living now.

The story we’re living now as a congregation and we can say

mystery or not, the Holy Spirit is breathing her

hopeful voice over us and I can’t explain it,

but I can sense it.

 

To me, to believe in the Trinity

means I am sensing a story that has been

crafted over time.
And that’s what makes it real to me.

It is a story that tries to bring God more fully

into our lives

into our hearts,

yes, even into our brains.

 

So maybe you’re someone who feels you’re a Christian

but can’t believe “all those things”: virgin birth, bodily resurrection, “TRINITY”

And that’s ok.

But I wonder if you start telling your stories
and enter deeper into these stories
and being aware of this story,

you’ll find yourself not necessarily believing it.

But sensing the truth within it.

 

May you begin sensing

even deeper, the power of

the Trinity

Who meets you

and gives you

grace, peace, and joy.

Creator, Christ, and Spirit.  Amen.

 

 

 

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