Three Faces of Love given May 31, 2015

            Some years ago there was a minister in a small industrial town in Massachusetts.  It was a mill town, and most of the parishioners were mill workers. They were good sturdy people who put in long hard hours at work. Yet once a year, their pastor would preach a sermon on Astronomy.  Once he was asked why he did such a thing. After all, Astronomy certainly didn’t have much relevance in the day-to-day lives of his people.  And it most certainly wouldn’t be much help in the pressing personal crises that they, like all of us had to struggle with from time to time. The Pastor was more than willing to grant all those points,

            “But, I do it,” he explained, “because it greatly enlarges my idea of God.”  I need that, too. You need that. We all need that--a greatly enlarged view of God.

            Many people who believe in God are running around with a conception of God in their heads that is relatively small.  We shortchange God when we do that. And we end up shortchanging ourselves out of God’s gifts to us when we do that.

I’m reminded of the story of the home where Dad, Grampa, and Grandson all lived together—and were all named John. One day someone called the house and asked to speak to John.

A very exasperated voice answered, “Which John did you want to speak to? John the father, John the son, or John the holy terror?”

The Historic Theological witness of the church is clear.  Christ’s church is Trinitarian. We believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—three faces of the One God—co-eternal and co-equal in power, authority, Grace and Love.

 Over the centuries, Creeds were written, peoples and nations were included and excluded from the church both fairly and unfairly, over understandings and misunderstandings over the nature of the Trinity.  But the Trinity was always affirmed in the end--the church asserts that God is Three and One--unity in diversity.

            The church’s witness in worship is even clearer.  Every single one of us here was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Most Sundays in most churches we repeat a creed, or sing a hymn or response, or we say a prayer, that affirms the Trinity. We pastors pray for the congregation, and send them on their way with a blessing in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Some may pray in the name of  Maker, Redeemer and Sustainer—or Creator, Christ and Spirit—whatever the choice of words--the essential three-fold nature of God’s self-revelation is always retained.

It’s our profession of belief in the Trinity in one way or another that officially makes us Trinitarian Christians. And yet, though we probably are not aware of it, the plain fact of the matter is that in our heart of hearts, a surprising number of us are really  (small “u”) unitarians of one sort or another. Let me quickly add at this point that some of my best friends are capital “U” Unitarians.

Are you? How do you understand God? How do you visualize God? How have you encountered the Divine presence in your life? To whom do you address your prayers? Which spiritual gifts and graces have you experienced? What are some of your favorite hymns? Where do you find God?

            Many of us say that we feel close to God out of doors. We speak of the beauty of Creation, the wonder of the Universe, the ordained perfection of the natural order of things.  We are people who are moved to prayer on first seeing the Grand Canyon. Our God is the One who made the Universes, who set the stars in their courses and yet notes the falling of sparrows.

This is the God first revealed in the Hebrew Bible—the God Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Moses and Miriam knew. This is the God who led the Hebrew children into the desert.  This is the God who gave us the prophets and the Law. This is the God praised, loved, sang to, and at times complained to in the Psalms.

            Those of us who encounter and love deeply this face of our God praise the Creator in songs like “How Great Thou Art”, and “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “For the Beauty of the Earth” We are people who know and experience God as Creator, as Maker, as Loving Father, as Eternal Parent.

Others of us have come to our faith through a personal encounter with the face of God in humanity.  We have been "saved"-- inspired, rescued, forgiven-- through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the World—the face of God we see in the Gospels.  And we follow Him. And we come to Him as Brother, Christ, Redeemer, Word made Flesh who was always with God and is of God. 

And many, many of us who come to the faith and to God as (or in) Jesus. We sing of our relationship with Him. “I Come to the Garden Alone.”  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”,  “Blessed Assurance”, “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. ’Hope of the World”.

            Still others of us think of ourselves as “Spirit people”. We pray to the God revealed in the Book of Acts. We come  for moments of strength in times of trial, for empowering love to persevere through crises, and to find ecstatic joy in our faith. It is the Spirit who works the miracle of empowerment and faith in our hearts. It is the Spirit who gives the lesser gifts of ecstatic utterance, of healing, of preaching, of administration, of prophecy, of teaching, of doing works of mercy and stewardship. It is the Spirit who gives the eternal gifts of Faith and Hope. It is the Spirit who gives us the greatest gift of Love.

            Those of us who pray to the Spirit often encounter that Spirit in the helping hand of a friend,  in the fellowship of other committed Christians, in the opportunities to serve in God's name, in study and in action in the world, and above all, in the highest expressions of human love. We find the Spirit spoken of in songs like “Sweet, Sweet Spirit”, “When the Storms of Life Are Raging”, “The Spirit Song” and "Spirit of the Living God".

            Perhaps your experiences and understanding of God are limited to mostly one of the members of the Trinity. If so, you probably only got about a third of what I just said. If so, I’m here to tell you that's okay. But there are experiences and blessings you’ve missed and that are available to you. I encourage you to open your heart and experiences to God in new and unexpected ways and places.

            I invite you to open your eyes a bit wider. Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as if everything is." Do you perceive the miracle? How much? When?

             Some of you may relate to two persons of the Trinity more than the third. Some may relate to God equally in all three persons of the Trinity. What difference does it make?

            Simply this. The bigger the concept of God that you and I carry around in our heads and hearts, the more power we give to God in our lives. And the clearer we can see the miracles of life in everything that Einstein spoke of. You and I can see God at work in this world all the time--but we have to be willing to stop and look around.

Our God can move within us and among us only where we are willing to make room. Our God can speak to us only when we choose to have ears to hear. God’s only hands in this world are yours and mine. God’s only words of witness in this world are the words you and I speak.

            Like God, you and I are each of us one, and at the same time many. Each of us plays many roles in this life—parent, spouse, employer, employee, friend, grandparent, and neighbor. And we are each a slightly different person to each different person who we encounter in each of our roles in life. Intentionally or unintentionally, I am not quite the same man to my grand-daughter Eden, as I am to my nephew Kyle—or to any of you. Yet I am beneath it all—I am essentially the same me. And so it is with God.

We all share a common humanity that makes us brothers and sisters. We all are children of the same Heavenly Parent. And yet, no two of us are totally alike—not even identical twins. For better or for worse, there is not, and never has been, and never will be, another me—or you. 

Each of us is distinct, unmatchable, unique, unrepeatable, precious and irreplaceable. We’re each hand-made by God.  That's cause for celebration!

            In 1953 Phyllis McGinley wrote a light-hearted poem called “In Praise of Diversity”,

….Yet who would dare

Deny that nature planned it other

When every freckled thrush can wear

    A dapple various from his brother.

When each pale snowflake in the storm

Is false to some imagined norm.

Recalling  then what surely was

     The earliest bounty of creation

That not a blade among the grass

     But flaunts its difference with elation,

Let us devoutly take no blame

If similar does not mean the same…

Rejoice that under cloud and star

    The planet’s more than Maine or Texas

Bless the delightful fact there are

    Twelve months, nine muses, and two sexes.

And infinite in earths dominions

Arts, climates, wonders and opinions...

Praise the disheveled,  praise the sleek;

   Austerity and hearts and flowers;

People who turn the other cheek

   And extroverts who take cold showers;

Saints we can name a holy day for,

And infidels the saints can pray for.

Praise youth for pulling things apart,

    Toppling the idols, breaking leases;

Then from the upset apple-cart

     Praise oldsters picking up the pieces.

Praise wisdom, hard to be a friend to,

And folly one can condescend to.

Praise what conforms and what is odd,

   Remembering if the weather worsens

Along the way, that even God

    Is said to be three separate Persons.

Then upright on upon the knee.

Praise Him that by His courtesy,

For all our prejudice and pains,

Diverse His creation still remains.

            Creation is awe inspiring and bountiful in its diversity. Humanity is multi-colored and multi-cultured and beautiful in its diversity. The timeless, still on-going History of our Maker’s interaction with humanity and the world reflects the on-going self-revelation of God’s very nature in many ways—at least three--and at the same time one.

Our God is a God who exists in all things. The same God who moved across the face of the waters of chaos to create all that is, transcends that Creation.  And that same God moves into the world and into History in saving and redeeming acts revealed in Jesus Christ.  And that same God works and moves in the hearts and lives of men and women as the Spirit, to bring them to respond in faith to that same saving action.

            One God--three movements. One God—three Persons. . One God—three faces revealed to humanity and the world. One God—Father, Son, and Spirit---beyond us, among us,  and within us all. One God—Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. One God—Eternal Parent,  Living Word, and Transforming Power. One God—One Ultimate Reality revealed in three faces of Love.