Isaiah 6:1-8
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
A month or two ago
I gave a homily
And after Morning Prayer ended
Charlie came up to me and said:
“Well…that was…complicated!”
And he was right. I was infatuated with my head!
I was putting too much stock in a certain kind of knowing.
The feast of the Holy Trinity
Given that it is the only Sunday dedicated to a doctrine
Naturally leans toward the head…toward engaging head kind of knowing
But…
[Thank you Charlie]
Let’s approach this a different way.
No solving
No explaining
Instead let’s dig into our own experience
In search of the truth about our Trinitarian God!
The first reading from Isaiah
Is his…Isaiah’s call story
The lectionary committee probably chose it
for its vivid images and other-worldly language
I love that bit about of the hem of God’s robe
Just a piece…a little corner… of his hem would fill the Temple!
Remember…the temple = 25 football fields!
And the Psalm uses Water, Thunder, Wind and Fire to speak of God’s power and might
Question:
How many of you have experienced the greatness, and majesty…
The out-of-this worldness of God?
(seriously, raise your hands)
The beauty of the natural world does this to us…doesn’t it?
The whole phenomenon of the eclipse
The sheer vastness of an ocean
The perspective from being on top of a mountain and taking in the panorama
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to an old friend who lives outside of Nashville and I could barely hear her for all the cicadas.
After I hung up…I’m wondering,
How do the Cicadas know when 17 years has passed?
What I learned was that kind of experience
THe life of the humble cicada…pointed to the creativity and awesomeness of God!
That’s one way of nibbling around the mystery of God.
In our reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans
It seems to me that Paul is getting at the other side of Majesty and Awe.
Paul is pointing to God’s closeness and tenderness and companionship
We are adopted by God
Invited to call God “Abba”/Daddy
Paul wants us to hear God saying “You…you…belong to me”
How many of us have experienced the closeness…the intimacy of God?
Like you could feel God’s breath on your skin?
A time when God was so near.
For me…the sign is tears. I tear up.
Maybe I am deliberately praying…maybe not.
But that companionship
Its that feeling when I am alone but I don’t feel alone.
These experiences witness to the fact that we know
We know
Not primarily in our minds
But in our bodies and memories
We know about the majesty and greatness of God
And we know the nearness and friendship of God
We have two out of three…one more
Nicodemus
I like Nicodemus…I can relate to Nicodemus
I am befuddled too
As John’s gospel unfolds Nicodemus becomes less and less befuddled
It’s as if he needs time to move out of his head
The thing I have learned about John’s Gospel is that he poses Nicodemus over and against the woman at the well
They interpret each other
What Nic gets wrong
SHE gets right
They both encounter Jesus
But the woman has no barriers
What happened between them changes her life
And she can’t help but tell everyone she meets
And from the Gospel we have
Wait…one more question:
How many of you have experienced the presence of:
the love…the joy…Of God
In an encounter with another person?
A spouse…lover…friend…stranger???
For some reason it’s the memory of being reconciled with someone I have hurt that comes to mind.
But also…strangers
A couple months ago
I was helping out at the food pantry
…some of you might remember this…
But there was a man coming along the line
Collecting his items
And at each stop he gave a gift
He gave me two buckeyes
I’m from OHIO…I know about buckeyes
I have those two buckeyes in a little bowl on a side table
I see them every day
I think this man wanted to not just receive
But to offer
He wanted the food pantry to be a place of encounter
Which is so much more than a “giveaway”
I don’t know but I can see him
And seeing him
Helps me see others
And more specifically
It helps me see the way God sees
So we have from Isaiah and Psalm --
the transcendence of God
The otherness…the over the top greatness of God
[God the Father]
And we have from Paul
The here and now companionship of God
[God the Son]
So Father
And Son
And
I’m going suggest that when we encounter God through the another person
That is the Holy Spirit at work.
So it is important
Without the majesty
We would have to live without awe and wonder
Without tenderness and nearness
we’ll have to walk alone
bearing it all
living as if I don’t need any help
without the Holy Spirit
I will fail to see the gifts others have to offer
right before my eyes
And all of that matters
All of that grounds
How I live and move and relate
All of that sustains me
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