Sermon: Peace With God, Through Jesus, By The Spirit
As we just sang in Psalm 8 - today we proclaim the mystery of the Creator God - whose fingers created heaven and the earth, who set the moon and stars on their courses – the same One who made us all “a little lower than the angels.” We proclaim the mystery of God the Son, the Redeemer - Jesus Christ – God with us – through whom we have obtained access to the grace and love of God the Creator, God the Father. And we proclaim the mystery of God the Holy Spirit – God with us still – God in us - through whom we have received this love of God - this love which has been and is continually poured into us so that it can flow out of us to one another and to those who do not know this love and grace. Today we try to sum all of this up – and proclaim and celebrate this Triune God – in prayer and scripture lessons and in song – as we will also sing in our closing hymn – “Holy Holy Holy – God in three persons, blessed Trinity.” Now this is a whole lot to proclaim - an awful lot to even attempt to understand and share and celebrate. But stay with me here – don’t tune me out yet. It is possible to catch a glimpse of all this – possible, as Paul says in his well-known I Corinthians 13 passage, it is possible to “understand [God] in part” and “through a glass dimly.” The first thing to say about all this, right up front, is to say that this is all a mystery. The “Trinity” – the “Triune God” is, fundamentally, a mystery. Now you and I hear that word “mystery,” with our modern ears, and several things may come to mind. A mystery can be something frightening – something scary – and we push it away or we don’t like to think about it. There are mysteries in the world and in the cosmos – in biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy – all kinds of disciplines that have mysteries and unknowns. These things do pique the curiosity of many people – who then study to become doctors and scientists in these disciplines – and they work to understand these mysteries. They try to “solve” them – and there have been many successes – and we have all benefited from these successes. And sometimes, in the process of solving one mystery, even more are discovered – which should keep us all a bit humble. Maybe you hear the word mystery and you think about a mystery novel – a Sherlock Holmes story - or the TV show “Murder, She Wrote” with Angela Lansbury – Maybe you are a fan of the many TV crime shows, like “Law and Order CSI” and “SVU” [I usually get these all mixed up – and I joke with Judy and ask if she’s watching Law and Order SUV]. In these novels and shows something happens – some crime – or some evidence sheds light on a “cold case” - and for the rest of the show the characters work hard to “solve” the mystery. In all of these the word mystery is understood as a problem or a puzzle, an unknown – and if we work hard enough - and we are smart enough - then the mystery can eventually be solved or resolved or at least understood. When this occurs the mystery is no longer a mystery. It follows then that if the mystery can be solved and understood, then perhaps it can also be controlled or manipulated – hopefully in a positive way - but as we tragically know, sometimes the effect is otherwise. It is very likely then that some would think of the mystery of God or the mystery of the Trinity in this same way. If God is a mystery, something that is unknown – perhaps, like with other mysteries, if we work hard enough – or maybe in this case – if we pray hard enough and study the Bible hard enough - we might eventually come to understand God. We might “solve” the mystery of God. And then by understanding God we might think we could gain some control over God – or at least be more able to tap into God as a resource for power or insight - in order to accomplish our goals and our desires. Some might think that, given the modern and popular understanding of mystery – but they would be mistaken. Friends, the mystery of God – the mystery which is at the center of our lives and our faith – the mystery of the Triune God is just not that kind of mystery. God is not something to be “solved.” God is not an unknown that we can eventually know fully. As the theologian Karl Barth said, simply and profoundly: “God is God and God is God.” God is divine, outside the categories of human thought and understanding, God is away, removed, “up, up and away,” beyond our comprehension and awareness. And yet – and yet out of love, out of a desire to be in relationship, God has created the heavens and the earth – and you and me – and God chooses to be revealed to us and wants to be with us and in relationship with us all – but this God does not force this on any of us. I was rather encouraged when I took out my trusty Webster’s dictionary and looked up the word mystery. There I discovered that our modern understanding of this word is indeed very modern – it was among the later definitions of this word. The first definition given was this: a religious truth that one can know only by revelation and cannot fully understand. “A religious truth that one can know only by revelation and cannot fully understand .” This Triune God – this Three in One God, this God Father, Son and Spirit – this mystery we can know only in part – has chosen to be revealed to us, and wants to be in relationship with us, with you and with me. We have a witness to that revelation of God in the words of the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments. In many different texts, taken together, we see the mystery of God in three ways, in three persons, in three manifestations. Though the words “trinity” and “triune” do not appear in the Bible, we do discover in the Bible these three revelations of God – God the Creator, whom Jesus called Father – the Son of God, the Word of God become flesh in Jesus the Christ – and the Holy Spirit – God with us still, creating and calling us to a relationship of faith and trust. One reading where we see a partial understanding of the Triune God is at the very end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians – in chapter 13, verse 13. And I suspect you are all better biblical scholars than you think, because you know these words. You hear them nearly every Sunday morning when I offer a benediction – the final, good word. I usually add a few words to this verse – but if you’ve been around here for even a short time you likely know them well. With me now: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all….” (don’t leave yet!) Here is something of the mystery of the Trinity – of God in three persons – who in Jesus Christ offers us grace – this unmerited favor and regard. This is all part of the love which God, the Creator God has for us. And we get a hold of this grace and love by the “communion” – by the presence, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit – in communion with us and in us in our baptism and offered fresh and new in the sacrament of the Lord Supper – which we also know as Holy Communion. Today we have also heard one text which reveals another part of this mystery of our faith and life – again from Paul, in this reading from Romans 5. In these first 5 verses, Paul offers us another glimpse into this mystery we call the Trinity, the Triune God. These verses are taken from a conclusion of Paul’s discussion about faith – how we are “justified by faith” – how we are restored to a right relationship with God not by our works, not by anything good work we could ever do – but by this freely offered grace of God – again, not forced on us – but offered freely – which we have but to accept and claim in faith and trust. Paul says, because we are restored to a right relationship with God through faith, we have peace. Peace with God – through Jesus Christ, by the Spirit. One of my favorite prayers, one that I almost always pray at a graveside service, begins by asking for God’s support “until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes…..” That prayer concludes with these words: “Then, in your mercy, Grant us a safe lodging, A holy rest, And peace at the last.” Peace is possible “at the last” – we have all heard the expression “make your peace with God.” But friends, peace is also possible now – right now, in your life and in mine. It is available from Jesus Christ – as Paul says, “through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand – this grace in which we stand, right here and right now. Grace, love, communion – and peace; the gifts that are yours and mine – through the mystery of the Triune God. Accept these generous gifts – and live them every day. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. |