"Beloved"
John 16:12-1512-15
A Baptism on Trinity Sunday
We sang “Holy, Holy, Holy” this
morning, because today is Trinity Sunday—the only Sunday in the
Christian year devoted to a doctrine of the church. The Trinity is one of two doctrines
we share with the church catholic—with a small “c”—the church universal, along with the Incarnation.
So… how do we speak of the Trinity? What does it mean?
The
Trinity is not in the Bible—though
the images and ideas on which it was based is there to develop what we sang
about as “God in three persons, blessed
Trinity.”
Jesus didn’t talk about the
Trinity. Neither did Paul. It wasn't until the fourth century-- “ 300
years after Jesus”-- that
Christian leaders formalized the idea of the Trinity at the Council of Nicaea
in 325, in what we know as the Nicene
Creed.
The
Apostles' Creed, in its original form, is even older, and has been associated
closely with the Sacrament of Baptism in many parts of the Christian faith—which is why we’ll
say it today--
in continuity with the historic church and in community with the church universal.
I like what David Lose
says about the Trinity. He says he
thinks the church has gotten a little off track with our thinking about the
Trinity. He thinks “the Trinity was the
early church’s way of trying to grapple with a monotheistic belief in one
God, in light of their actual, lived
experience of God’s activity…in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and
after an encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity provided an answer…of
sorts. An answer often couched in the
language of fourth-century
metaphysics….But somewhere along the way the Trinity because less about
describing an experience of the living God and more about accepting metaphysical
doctrines and definitions of God.”[1] I think that’s
where we got off track.
It’s a new day, and it’s time for us to be the church
for a new time. I think Karoline Lewis
is right when she suggests that nobody cares about doctrine if it’s left behind
in the 4th or any other century. Nobody
cares about doctrine when it is preached from the pulpit as if it is law….”[2]
In
the gospel lesson we heard today, we heard Jesus telling his
first disciples, "I still have many
things to say
to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the
Spirit of truth
comes, he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, because
he will take what is mine and declare it to you. For all that the Father has is
mine."
The
Nicene Creed was the ancient church’s answer to the questions of its time,
using the best philosophical constructs and language available to it at that
time. Who is Jesus Christ? How do we speak of God?
The Creed
and the doctrine of the Trinity were worked out at a time when the church was
being transformed from a movement—a network of house churches in which people gathered
for prayer and table fellowship—into something much more institutional
and connected with the power of the empire.
During times of
controversy, the church has found it necessary to re-interpret
the gospel for new times, in response to new situations and questions. We Presbyterians have a whole Book of
Confessions!
The “Brief Statement of Faith” of 1991
is the most recent confession in our Presbyterian Book of Confessions and one we use often in our worship at
Littlefield. It’s a Trinitarian
statement, which begins by stating that we trust in the one triune God,
whom alone we worship and serve.
The Presbyterian
Church is in the process of adding the Confession of Belhar—from South Africa—
to our Book of Confessions, out of the church’s desire to affirm our commitment
to unity, reconciliation, and justice.
General Assembly approved in 2014 in Detroit, and the majority of
presbyteries have affirmed it. The final
step is for it to go back to the 2016 General Assembly when it meets this June
in Portland. If the General Assembly
approves it, there will be a new edition of our Book of Confessions that
includes the Belhar Confession.
I don’t believe
that the “Belhar” is the last
confession of faith the Presbyterian Church will ever adopt, because I trust
that the Spirit will lead us into new truths that we haven’t even imagined
yet.
I don’t claim to fully understand
the mystery of the Trinity, and I don’t trust those who say they do. Basically, the Trinity is our best but inadequate
attempt to describe the mysterious nature of God in the language of metaphor.
The traditional formula of the Trinity is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and there are
times when we use the traditional language as an expression of our unity with
the universal church. For
example: We always baptize “in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” because we are commanded to do so by
Jesus in the Great Commission, and also because it’s an expression of our unity
with the universal church.
But in our own time, some have been exploring a
variety of alternative, more inclusive ways of describing the Trinity, like “Creator,
Redeemer, Sustainer.”
All
of the metaphors are inadequate to define or explain the mystery of God. The doctrine of the Trinity reminds
us that there is always more to God than we can comprehend… always more of God than
we can explain…
always more than we can sing or preach or prove.
Whenever we find
ourselves digging in to defend what we’ve always thought about who’s in and
who’s outside of the circle of God’s love, whenever we think we have God all
figured out, we need to remember in humility and openness what Jesus said: "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 the truth.
I think the
language of the Trinity points us to relationship and mutual devotion. A twelfth-century scholar, Richard of St.
Vincent, reflected on this and spoke
of God in terms of shared love, and a community in which that love is expansive
and generous.
The good news is that God is love. God loves the world and chooses to create and redeem
you and me and each and every person.
God chose to come in the person of Jesus, to live among us, full of
grace and truth,
to embody God’s love for us and teach us what it means to be beloved children
of God.
In the Gospel
accounts of the baptism of Jesus, we hear the words spoken from heaven to
Jesus: "You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased." In our baptism, these words are meant for us
as well: "You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
Beloved.
Child of God.
What difference does it make in our lives
when we come to believe we are beloved children of God? What difference does it make in how we treat
each person we meet, when we believe that they are also God’s children?
In a culture of individualism and competition,
it’s a counter-cultural idea to stake our lives on the amazing, gracious love
of God, freely given
to us—unconditionally.
The
early church marveled at this gift when they wrote in First John: “See what love the Father has given us, that we
should be called children of God-- and
that is what we are!”[3]
We believe
that. If you hang out with us at
Littlefield, you’ll be issued a name tag that says you are a “Child of
God.”
As followers of Jesus, we believe we are
called to love God and our neighbors, to work for peace and reconciliation and
justice for all, to embody the love of Jesus Christ in all our relationships.
As we grow in faith together, we trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us, to lead
us further into the truth, and to empower us to live into God’s Kingdom. Through the guidance and power of the Holy
Spirit, we teach and encourage each other to live in the way of God’s love, the
way of God’s wisdom.
One of the great joys of the
Christian life is when parents present their children for baptism.
This is their public declaration that they want their child to be
a part of the church and to have a ministry in it.
Baptism
is central to our identity as Christians.
As we live into our baptism, we learn who we are and whose we
are. We are nurtured to see ourselves as
beloved children of God, and that can make all the difference!
The
baptismal font stands at the front of sanctuary to remind us that we’ve been
initiated into this congregation, as well as into the universal church of Jesus
Christ.
In
our Presbyterian and Reformed tradition, our understanding of baptism
emphasizes God’s initiative. God reaches
out graciously to us, and offers us the gift of life in the kingdom as a free
gift. We respond by dedicating our lives to
Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and committing ourselves to follow him. Baptism is the beginning of our life in the
church…a first step in a journey that takes a lifetime.
When
we baptize
children, we promise to teach them who they are in the light of God’s truth.
We promise to teach them what makes them different as part of a holy
people…a royal priesthood…consecrated
to God’s service.
When
parents present their child for baptism, they promise to live the Christian
faith themselves, and to teach that faith to their children, by word and example. To grow up in the faith, we and our children
need to worship and learn together—in our families, and in the faith community
which is the church.
Today,
we’re inviting Dominic
to be part of the great adventure we call church. What God will make of Dominic’s
life, or where God will lead him, we don’t know. But what we do
know-- what we can say with certainty, because we have God’s promise—is
that God is with
us every step of the way.
May
God bless Dominic and his family and all of us on our adventure in faith, as we live into
God’s Kingdom together!
Amen!
Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor
Littlefield Presbyterian Church
Dearborn, Michigan
May 22, 2016
[1]
David Lose, “Trinity C: Don't Mention the Trinity!”. http://www.davidlose.net/2016/05/trinity-c-shh-dont-mention-the-trinity/
[3] 1 John
3:1
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