Radical Hospitality

Matthew 10:40-42

Second Sunday after Pentecost / June 26, 2011

I have to tell you, I was pretty excited when I realized that this week’s lectionary text was about hospitality.  After talking with the Church Council two weeks ago about practicing radical hospitality, and then sending out Bishop Schnase’s definition of Christian hospitality in this week’s eNews,[1] I just knew God was giving me the perfect opportunity to preach on hospitality.  I went back and looked at the concepts the Church Council had highlighted – concepts that push us to think of hospitality as more than welcoming.  These include genuine love of others and respecting the dignity of others; they also include an outward focus, reaching out to those not yet known, and a willingness to change our behaviors as we welcome others.  I was so looking forward to writing a sermon that pushed the limits of our understanding of hospitality.  Hospitality is more than welcoming the stranger.  So much more!

But then I spent some more time in scripture – digging more deeply into this passage.  These verses at the end of chapter 10 are the concluding words of Jesus’ missionary discourse.  He is sending the twelve disciples out to proclaim the good news; to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.  They are to travel lightly and accept hospitality where it is granted.  If they are not welcomed, they are to shake off the dust from their feet as they leave the town.  And finally, as a note of encouragement, Jesus tells the disciples, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” (10:40).  This passage is not about the disciples extending hospitality to strangers, but about strangers extending hospitality to the disciples!  Jesus isn’t asking us to reflect on the ways we extend hospitality to others; Jesus is asking us to reflect on the ways others extend hospitality to us!  Isn’t it just like God to turn things around?

The questions this passage raises are: How do others welcome you?  How do others perceive you?  What do people see when they look at you?  At the heart of these questions there is one very important question: When you encounter a stranger, does that person see Christ in you?  I tell you, when I zip into that parking spot cutting off another car, the driver of the other car is most certainly not seeing Christ in me.  I’m not surprised when that driver does not say hello to me in the store.  I’ve done nothing to invite hospitality.

What intrigues me about this passage is that it isn’t about what we do, but about what the stranger does.  Jesus gives three specific examples.  First, does the stranger welcome you as a prophet?  Prophets serve as a channel of communication between humanity and God.  Do they hear you speaking the truth about God into this broken world and listen with open hearts?  Second, does the stranger welcome you as a righteous person?  Do they see that you are in a right relationship with God?  Do they repent of their sins and seek to live righteous lives because of your example?  And third, does the stranger give a cup of cold water to a little one in your name?  Do they recognize God’s calling to serve the least, the last, and the lost in you, and respond by doing the same?  In other words, does the stranger see the Christ in you?

Earlier this week The Upper Room Daily Devotional was written by a father in Ghana.  He wrote:

My six-year-old daughter, Jessica, came home from school smiling. She slumped onto me and said gleefully, "Daddy, Daddy, I met a man today who asked me whether I'm your daughter. When I said, 'yes,' he smiled and said that I look like you."

"Is that the reason you are happy?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied, "I'm always happy when people tell me that I look like you."[2]

The little girl was happy because someone else recognized that she looked like her father.  In the same way, we will receive our reward when others recognize that we look like Jesus, who looks like our Heavenly Father. 

But more than that, they will receive the same reward because they recognize Christ in us.  That is an astonishing gift!  So I ask, how does your life witness to the good news of Jesus Christ?  How does your life reflect God’s image, compelling others to welcome you and to welcome the one who sent you? 

I don’t know about you, but I get this kind of queasy feeling in my stomach when I think about this... being a witness, reflecting God’s image... these are far from easy!  I want to believe that since the passage is Jesus’ missionary discourse, the words are just for missionaries.  I get uncomfortable when I realize these words, spoken to Jesus’ first disciples, are intended for us, too.  I want to look like Jesus, but there are so many times when I fail miserably.  We are all sinners; we all fall short of the glory of God.  And Jesus knows being a witness to the good news is far from easy. 

Listen to the words Jesus tells his disciples just a few verses earlier in the missionary discourse: “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:19-20).

Do not worry.  The Holy Spirit is working in us, empowering us to be witnesses to the good news.  It is God’s grace that goes before us that enables others to see the Christ in us.  So do not worry.  Be like David and trust in God, and your life will witness to the One who died for us and was raised on the third day – the one who promises us abundant life.

Today we have the extraordinary privilege of baptizing Jonathan Boyette.  Jonathan has seen Christ in us, and today he is welcoming us into his family.  Today, as he comes up out of the waters of baptism he will die to sin and be clothed in Christ.  As the Holy Spirit is poured out on him, Jonathan will make a commitment to join the ranks of witnesses to the good news.  Like the little girl in Ghana, Jonathan is so happy that he will more closely resemble his Heavenly Father.  It is my prayer that others will give a cup of cold water to one of the little ones because they have seen Jonathan do the same. 

But, before we move on to Jonathan’s baptism, let me return to the question: Do strangers see the Christ in you?  I ask, because this begs a second question: Do you see Christ in the stranger?  If we truly believe that the Holy Spirit works in us and that God’s grace goes before us, then Christ is at work, even in the one who does not know the name of Jesus.  We are not the only ones who bear the image of God.  All of humanity is created in God’s image.  Some have fallen so far away from God that the image is quite soiled – but it is still there!  Looking for Christ in the stranger takes time and energy – it takes more than a hand out, a VBS Manna Bag, or free food from Loaves and Fishes.  Looking for Christ in the stranger means we have to welcome the stranger in ways that may make us uncomfortable, in ways that may call us to change.  There’s that queasy feeling again!  But seeing Christ in the stranger is Godly work.

This truth has always been profoundly revealed to me in our jails and prisons.  I may be the one who walks in to the prison without chains on my hands; I may be the one carrying a Bible and a prepared devotional; but I go to prison to meet Jesus.  Christ is present in the midst of those broken lives, offering healing and hope.  It is the witness of the prisoners that leads me to welcome them into my life.  It is the image of God in them that leads me to offer a cup of cold water to a little one.  I offer that cup in the hopes that that little one might be protected from ever committing a crime that might put that little one behind bars.  I offer that cup because it was not offered to the prisoner who has shown me Christ.

Do you see Christ in the stranger?  Does that lead you to welcome the stranger?  Does the stranger see Christ in you?  Does that lead the stranger to welcome you?  When this mutual welcoming occurs, we get a glimpse of true hospitality.  When our eyes are opened to Christ in the other, our response can’t help but be a genuine love for the other and a deep respect for the dignity of others.  As we look for Christ in the stranger, our focus inevitably shifts outward and we reach out to those not yet known.  When the stranger sees Christ in us, we know the kingdom of God has come near.  This mutual welcoming makes us uncomfortable as it invites us to change our behavior, our attitudes, our opinions.  This mutual welcoming leads us to rethink what it means to be the body of Christ.  For Christ is most assuredly at work in you and in me and in the stranger, working to bring God’s kingdom on earth in ways that challenge us and push us beyond our comfort zones.  There’s a reason we call it Radical Hospitality.

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[1] Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, 11-12.

[2] The Upper Room: Daily Devotional, June 23, 2011.

For The Common Good

Pentecost / June 12, 2011

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 / Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place.  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages... so that each one heard them speaking in the native language of each... about God’s deeds of power.

I love the day of Pentecost.  The rush of a violent wind reminds me of Elijah standing on Mount Sinai waiting for the Lord to pass by.  It reminds me of the wind from God that swept over the face of the waters when the earth was still a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.  There’s something both terrifying and exhilarating about that wind that rushes over and sweeps through, and has the power to break and transform. 

And after the wind, tongues of fire appeared, resting on each person present.  Like the burning bush where Moses encounters the living God, this is not a fire that destroys.  It is a refiner’s fire that purifies.  It is the very presence of the Holy Spirit, making the very ground where the people are sitting holy. 

On that Pentecost morning, the Holy Spirit gave those gathered together the ability to speak in other languages – languages they certainly wouldn’t have known – so that all who heard, heard them speaking in their native language.  Imagine those from Mexico hearing Spanish, and those from Holland hearing Dutch, and those from China hearing Mandarin, and those from Zimbabwe hearing Shona, and those from the US hearing English.  It must have been an amazing and chaotic scene.  No wonder some sneered and said, “They must be drunk!”  And yet, those who were listening heard much about God’s deeds of power, and three thousand people were baptized that day.

That first Pentecost after Jesus was raised from the dead is marked by people speaking in diverse languages.   That day we call the birthday of the church is noted for diverse people gathering together from all over the known world – from Mesopotamia to the East, to the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean, to Rome in the West.  I am struck by the startling diversity of the early church; I’m saddened by the relative uniformity of most congregations today.

Pentecost is a day to celebrate diversity – a diversity began with creation.  God created plants and trees of every kind.  God created swarms of living creatures from birds to sea monsters to creeping things of every kind.  Just think of the diversity of wild flowers or of fish – of every color and size and kind.  And when the great flood came, Noah brought two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive, maintaining the diversity of creation.  In God’s eyes, diversity is a very good thing.  What a boring place the world would be if everything was the same!  The same is true in the church.  What a boring place the church would be if everyone was the same!

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians today, Paul writes that there are varieties of gifts, and diverse ways to serve, and many different activities – and all of these are given by one and the same Spirit.  To one is given the utterance of wisdom and to another the gifts of healing.  To one is given faith and to another the gift of prophecy.  To one is given the gift of working with children, to another a passion for leading worship.  There are varieties of gifts, diverse ways to serve, and many different activities.

The Corinthian church was an incredibly diverse church – with rich and poor, educated and uneducated, Jew and Greek, slaves and free, rough sailors and refined ladies.  And this led to all kinds of problems.  They couldn’t even gather at the Lord’s Table without problems, as some became drunk and others were given nothing to eat.  Paul is writing to a church in crisis!  Some thought that their gifts and talents were more important to the church than other gifts and talents, leading to jealousy, hurt feelings, and division. 

Unfortunately, throughout history, humans have thought this way.  From sibling rivalries – think of Cain and Abel! – to Hitler and his notion of the supremacy of the Arian race, some people have been marked as “better” than others. And the church is not immune from this tendency.

Paul is speaking into this tendency – this artificial hierarchy – this outright sin.  There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are diverse ways to serve, but the same Lord.  There are many different activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them.  It is one and the same Spirit who does all of this for the common good.  Imagine a church where everyone played the piano, but no one knew how to sing.  Or a church where everyone wanted to attend Sunday school, but no one could teach.  Or a church where everyone baked cookies for potlucks but no one knew how to cook a healthy meal.  Or a church where everyone wanted to preach but no one knew how to clean the toilets.  The church would be unbalanced; the church would be dysfunctional.  

The Spirit has given to each person gifts and abilities for the common good.  It is for the common good that some are leaders and others are followers.  It is for the common good that some are called to serve in worship and others are called to serve in the kitchen or outdoors or at Loaves and Fishes.  It is for the common good that the Holy Spirit has given each person different gifts and abilities.  And all of these gifts and abilities are important.

Perhaps, as you look across this congregation, you may be thinking, we aren’t unbalanced.  We aren’t dysfunctional.  Actually we get along pretty well with one another.  The situation you are describing doesn’t apply to us.  And I would respond: Praise God for that!  But...   Have you ever noticed something that needed doing and known you could do it and then thought so-and-so can do that better than I can, so I’ll leave it?  Or have you ever been asked to do something but said no because you didn’t think you were good enough for the task?  Have you ever thought, I’m not strong enough or smart enough or beautiful enough or skilled enough?  Or have you ever wished you were more like someone else?  Or, on the other side, have you ever thought you were the only one capable of doing the job right?  All of these are ways that we deny the gifts and talents God has given us.  All of these are ways we fail to embrace the diversity of creation.  All of these are ways we limit the power of the Spirit.

Paul writes, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  We have each been given different and diverse gifts and talents by the Holy Spirit for the common good.  Any time we deny the value of the gifts we’ve been given or think someone else’s gifts are better we do harm to the body of Christ.  Any time we embrace our God given gifts and seek ways to serve and be involved in the activities of the church or in mission to the world we are building up the body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit truly has given us a variety of gifts and diverse ways to serve for the common good.

This past week I went up to Loaves & Fishes for my first day of training as an interviewer.  The woman who was training me is currently unemployed and living on a shoestring budget.  She chose to use this time of unemployment to volunteer at Loaves & Fishes.  She knew she could relate to many of the people coming to Loaves & Fishes for food because she has been hurt by the economic downturn.  She didn’t say, I’m not good enough, or there must be someone more qualified.  She didn’t say I’m better than them; I have more important ways to spend my time.  She said, I can do that; I can help. 

What gifts have you been given by the Holy Spirit?  How is our Lord calling you to serve?  What activity has God activated in you?  Any time you are not using your Spirit-given gifts, any time you are ignoring our Lord’s calling on your life, any time you are suppressing the activities God has activated in you, then the body of Christ is not capable of functioning properly.  But if you use those Spirit-given gifts and listen for our Lord’s calling in your life, and act upon the impulses God has given you then we truly can work together for the common good.  And God has something for everyone. 

We are all children of God who have been blessed by the Holy Spirit and empowered to serve our Lord.  It is one and the same Spirit who is at work in all of us, baptizing us into one body, and empowering us to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.  It is one and the same Spirit who is working through us to transform the world.  So let’s invite the Holy Spirit to be powerfully poured out on us on this Pentecost Sunday.  Let’s be overwhelmed by that violent wind that has the power to transform.  Let’s invite those tongues of flame to purify us and make us holy.  Let’s work together for the common good.

Glory!

Seventh Sunday of Easter / June 5, 2011

John 17:1-11

Glory!  It’s one of those words that is easier to see than to define.  And it is all over our gospel lesson today.  “Father... glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” And, “I am asking on behalf of those whom you gave me... I have been glorified in them.”  That’s a lot of glory!  But what does it look like?

We’ve seen glory erupt on the soccer field when the game is tied and there are only seconds left.  A player kicks in the winning goal at the final moment and the field bursts into celebration.  The players lift the one who scored the winning goal up onto their shoulders as the team basks in glory.

We’ve seen glory at graduation.  As the graduates who have worked hard to receive their diploma walk across the stage there is a certain glow on their faces as they bask in the praise of that moment.  Then, as we look at the faces of the parents, we see glory there as well.  The glory that comes from knowing that all those years of hauling their child to soccer practice, helping with homework, having difficult conversations about how to make good decisions, and watching their child make mistakes – all of that has paid off.  Now, this child is no longer a child; she is going out into the world.  It is good to bask in glory.

Now God’s glory is so much greater than human glory.  God’s glory shone so brightly on Moses’ face when he came down from Mount Sinai that Moses had to wear a veil when he was with the people!  After the temple was built, God’s glory filled the temple with so much power and goodness and beauty that no one could enter the temple.  And now, the hour has come for Jesus to be glorified.

Throughout John’s gospel, Jesus has been telling the people, “My hour has not yet come.”  But now, as Jesus prays for his disciples just hours before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus prays, “The hour has come; glorify your Son.”  Like the parents at graduation, Jesus is looking back over his ministry – the challenges and the blessings – and he knows his disciples are ready to go out into the world on their own. 

The disciples are ready because (1) they have kept God’s word, (2) they know that everything comes from God, and (3) they believe that God sent Jesus into the world.  Let me repeat these three things, because they are also proof of our readiness to go out into the world. We are ready because (1) we have kept God’s word, (2) we know that everything comes from God, and (3) we believe that God sent Jesus into the world.  Let’s look more closely at these three points:

Throughout John’s gospel, keeping God’s word centers around one commandment: “Love one another as God has loved you.”  Love one another and show that love in very incarnational ways.  God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, who became flesh and lived among us.  Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus – raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus loved his disciples so much, that even though they called him Lord, he took off his outer garment and stooped down to wash their dirty feet.  The disciples are ready for this next stage of ministry because they know how to keep God’s word and love one another.

Jesus then points to their readiness by praying, “they know that everything you have given me is from you.”  God the Father gave Jesus the Son everything, and “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory... full of grace and truth.”  The Son, Jesus, has the power to heal, the ability to transform lives, and the words that speak truth in the face of injustice – and all of this comes from God.  In Jesus the disciples were given a way of seeing the world from the bottom up, through the eyes of the poor and the outcast and the sinners.  Through the Word, who became flesh, the disciples believe everything comes from God. 

Knowing everything comes from God, it does not take much of a leap of faith to believe that God the Father sent Jesus the Son into the world.  Jesus came into the world that all might believe and be saved.  And we have seen his glory, but in a most startling way.  Like the soccer players who lifted up the player who scored the winning goal, Jesus was glorified when he was lifted up onto that cross.  The crowds weren’t cheering on that day, because they didn’t know what would happen three days later.  But on that early Easter morning the women found the tomb empty – now that is glory! 

“This is eternal life, that [the disciples] may know... the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom [the Father has] sent.”  This is eternal life: keeping God’s word, knowing that everything comes from God, and believing that God sent Jesus into the world.  This is eternal life: knowing we have been saved through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus who is fully human and fully God.  This is eternal life: living as people who know that everything we have comes from God.  This is eternal life: glorifying God by loving one another. 

Today we celebrate the ascension of our Lord.  For forty days following the resurrection, Jesus appeared to many, speaking about the kingdom of God and teaching them many things.  And on that fortieth day Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of the sight of his disciples.  Jesus is no longer physically in the world, but we are in the world, and the Son is with the Father.  This means the hour has come for us to be the church – to be the body of Christ on earth. 

We know we can do nothing without God.  It is God the Father who gives us all we need; it is God the Son who gives us eternal life; it is God the Spirit who empowers us to be the body of Christ on earth.  And Jesus knew that the disciples were ready to be his body, his temple.  Jesus knows we are ready.  On this Service Sunday, Jesus knows we are ready to share the gospel of truth with the world.  Jesus knows we are ready to glorify God in all we do.  I know we are ready to take bold steps forward, knowing Christ and making Christ known through loving, learning, and serving.

And all of this begins right here in worship.  It is in worship that we learn to serve.  It is in worship that we learn what it means to love one another as Jesus has loved us.  And not just from the pulpit!  In worship we wash one another’s feet, revealing our willingness to stoop down and serve.  In worship we pray for one another, sharing our joys and concerns.  In worship we share the peace of Christ, seeking to be one as God is one.

Furthermore, it is in worship that we embrace God’s abundance.  We do this most visibly by giving of our tithes and offerings – giving back to God a portion of all that God has given us.  But we also acknowledge that everything we have comes from God when we listen to the Spirit’s nudging and give of our time and share our gifts – in worship and beyond.  Today we are giving of our time and sharing our gifts by building picnic tables and trimming bushes and cleaning the sanctuary.  In God’s abundance we give back to God in so many different ways!

It is also in worship that we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.  Through songs and creeds and prayers we give ourselves and our lives back to God because God has given God’s self so powerfully to us through his Son.  It is in worship that we are given a piece of bread – this utterly radical offering of God’s Son – Christ in us.  It is in worship that we taste the cup of salvation – the blood shed for us that we might have life and have it abundantly.

It all begins right here in worship.  But if it ends here, we’ve completely missed the point.  In our worship of the one true God we learn how to embody the teachings of Jesus.  In worship we live out the practices that make us the body of Christ in the world.  Worship shapes and informs all of the rest of our lives.  If it doesn’t then we are like a lamp that is under a bushel.  When it does, then everything we do glorifies God.   So let’s get about the business of glorifying God, filling the land with the Father’s glory.

Puzzling the Trinity

John 14:15-21

Sixth Sunday of Easter / May 29, 2011

Note: Trinity Sunday this year will be Youth Sunday, so I chose to focus on the Trinity this Sunday.

 

For many years, every time I went home to visit my parents there was a puzzle set out on the table in the family room for us to work on.  Mom chose puzzles that were one thousand pieces so that we would be challenged, but not overwhelmed.  It was considered cheating to actually look at the picture beyond that initial glimpse to have some idea where we were going.  Often the first few hours were simply spent turning pieces over, looking for color patterns, and trying to decide just where to start.

I suppose understanding the doctrine of the Trinity is a little bit like starting a puzzle.  We have this big picture of One God who is Three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We affirm in our Creeds that we believe in God the Father almighty, and we believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life.  But it takes time and patience and attention to detail to begin to put together the puzzle known as the Trinity.

It seems that there are two approaches to putting puzzles together.  The approach I prefer it to pick a color theme or a pattern and try to finish one part of the puzzle – discovering one part of the big picture.  My sister prefers picking up one puzzle piece at a time and trying to decide where in the big picture it belongs.  Both approaches work – and actually, they work quite well together.  I tend to get small portions of the picture done, and my sister tends to connect them to one another. 

In this puzzle known as the Trinity, both approaches are necessary.  While we may try to get a picture of one part of the puzzle, say the Son or the Holy Spirit, we can’t really grasp the significance of that part until we see the connections between the parts.  Today’s gospel lesson gives us the opportunity to explore the three Persons of the Trinity both in them selves and in connection to one another.  While we can see distinct pictures of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is the connections between them that clarify and unify the smaller pictures, giving us a glimpse of God.

Let’s start with the picture of the Father.  Jesus calls this person of the Trinity Father, immediately implying a relationship.  If there is a Son, then there is a Father.  So the first thing our passage tells us is that God the Father is relational.  As the pieces fall into place we begin to see the characteristics of this relationship.  First we notice that Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate” (v. 16).  This clarifies the relationship, in that the Son asks, and the Father gives.   We see that the Father is generous, giving freely.  He has given all of creation to human beings.  He has given the Promised Land to his people, Israel.  He has given his Son to the world. And here we are told that he will give us the Spirit of truth as well. 

The Father is giving.  But we also notice that the Father is loving.  Jesus says, “those who love me will be loved by my Father” (v. 21).  The Father loves those who love the Son.  But scripture attests to an even broader truth: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”  Certainly, the Father loves those who love the Son, but the Father’s love is much broader than that – truly unconditional.  The Father loves the world – all of creation! 

The picture we begin to see of the Father is that of a Person who loves unconditionally and is generous beyond measure.  But more than that, the Father cannot be separated from the Son, or from us.  Jesus tells us, “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (v. 20).  There’s an interconnectedness where individuality blends into community and community blends into unity.  This leads us to wonder about the other Persons of the Trinity.

Let’s move over to the picture of the Spirit.  There are several things about the Spirit that become clear: the Spirit is an Advocate and the Spirit of truth; the Spirit abides with us and is among us; and, the Spirit will be with us forever.  

This is a rich text on the Spirit, so let’s focus on one part of the picture: what does it mean for the Spirit to be an Advocate?  The Greek word used here is Paraclete, which means much more than Advocate.  It also means Comforter, Counselor, Helper, and Intercessor.  Jesus is saying that the Father will give us someone to come alongside, to advocate for us like a good lawyer, to counsel us when we need advice, to comfort us when we need encouragement, to help us when we are lost, to intercede for those of us who are voiceless.  In practical terms, if we are in legal trouble, the Spirit will stand up for us.  If we are lost or discouraged, the Spirit will help us find our way.  If we are abused or oppressed, the Spirit will intercede for us.  If we are sad or grieving, the Spirit will comfort us. 

You may wonder, how does the Spirit do all these things?  Well, first by always speaking the truth.  Second, by abiding with us and living among us.  We know that by speaking the truth and by abiding with one another we are able to develop deep and loving relationships.  The Spirit comes alongside each one of us seeking a deep and loving relationship that will last forever.  It is the Spirit who descends like a dove on Jesus at his baptism.  The Spirit is poured out on all flesh on Pentecost as tongues of fire.  The Spirit enters into the bread and the wine making them be for us the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Spirit is present in the healing oil that marks our foreheads when we are anointed.  The Spirit isn’t just a concept or a feeling; the Spirit is the Person of the Trinity present in the dove and the fire and the bread and the wine and the oil – dwelling among us and living in us – walking alongside us – and giving us hope and peace and joy.  In many ways, it is the Spirit of God who is most actively present in our lives today.

And yet we cannot understand the Spirit apart from the Son, so let’s move to that part of the picture. It is the Son who humbled himself, taking on flesh, and becoming obedient even unto death.  It is the Son who taught his followers the inestimable value of love by washing his disciples feet and giving them his very body – dying that we might have life and have it abundantly.  It is the Son who promises that he “will not leave [us] orphaned.”  Jesus died, but he promised we would see him again, and because he lives we also will live.  Jesus, by his life, death, and resurrection, gives us the gift of everlasting life.  But he also gives us his peace, to calm our troubled hearts and subdue our fears.  And he helps us to see that in the midst of all God’s commands, there is one command that matters more than anything else: love one another as I have loved you. 

This is overwhelming, yet it is not all of the picture.  As we keep working, we notice that Jesus tells us the Father will give us another Advocate.  As the Spirit is a Paraclete who comes alongside us, so the risen Christ is also a Paraclete who advocates for us to the Father, who helps us see the Father because he is in the Father and the Father is in him, who intercedes for us with the Father and who counsels us about the Father. 

The risen Christ connects us to the Father, helping us become holy – more like the Father – more loving and generous.  And yet, as we become more like the Father we become more like the Son, loving others as Christ has loved us.  And as we become more like the Son, we become more like the Spirit – advocating for and helping and comforting others.  This is what John Wesley means when he talks about going on to perfection in love – this is the goal of all Christians (or at least of all good Methodists!).

Did you notice that we ended up being a part of this puzzle as well? Like three characters whose stories are so intertwined that we glimpse their distinctiveness and yet cannot completely separate them out – we come to see that the three Persons of the Trinity truly are One.  Like the abundant love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are overwhelmed by the depth of love for one another that comes from the One God and overflows into all the world. As we grow in love for one another, empowered by the love of God, we become more like the Triune God – bound together into a unity that enables us to work as one.

And as we look around at a world that is fractured and broken, with people who affirm the Triune God and yet cannot worship this God together because they do not see eye to eye, we know we have much to learn from our God.  We have much to learn about repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation.  We have much to learn about being in relationship with one another, about coming alongside one another and remaining there through good and bad, about loving one another in ways that may lead to sacrifice, about being generous in a world that is suspicious of generosity.   But the amazing thing is that as we piece together this puzzle called the Trinity, we get a glimpse of the Kingdom of God in all its beauty and majesty and we know that God is with us through it all, showing us the way.  I don’t know about you, but this makes me hungry to learn more, eager to work on the next part of the puzzle, ready to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.  What an awesome God we serve! Thanks be to the Triune God for this glimpse of the world as God sees it.  May there be many more. 

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity