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| An Icon of the Hospitality of Abraham |
The Rev. Seth Olson © 2022
Holy and Undivided Trinity, One God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
When I went off to college, I was set on being an English major. My dream was to be the next great sports journalist, like Stuart Scott of Sportscenter fame, Dick Schapp from the Sports Reporters, or even the great Grantland Rice before them. That was until I attended an introductory Psychology course.
Dr. Horace Craft, an assistant professor in the department, entered the 100-level course in an unassuming way—almost apologetically taking attendance as the 50-minute class began. However, after some housekeeping, the professor immediately went deep, asking the weary-eyed freshmen and sophomores in the room, “How do you know love exists?” Up until that moment, I am certain I had never wondered that question.
Throughout this first lecture, Professor Craft articulated through curiosity that quite often we cannot measure the invisible forces which guide our very existence. We do not see, hear, smell, or taste love, rather we feel the effects of love not outside but within us. Then, the teacher did something that pushed me outside of my 18-year-old comfort zone as he asked, “How do you know God exists?” His point was that sometimes our five external senses do not pick up on God, even if internally we have felt God’s presence.
By the end of class, I was starting to question my desire to be a sportscaster, as I was far more interested in how we as people navigate our shared reality. I was curious about how we make known invisible forces like love and even more intrigued by how I could share the presence of God, our ultimate reality. Today is all about this very thing.
Today is Trinity Sunday when we celebrate that God is three-in-one and one-in-three—unity in diversity and diversity in unity. We will have 52 Sundays throughout this year. Some will be during seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter, but today is the only occasion when we insert a theological principle into our celebration of the Day of Resurrection. Today is a day when we attempt to name that which cannot be named. It can be quite a fun day to watch preachers crash and burn in the process. Charles, as an Examining Chaplain for our seminary students, I expect you to shout out all the heresies I commit throughout this sermon
Today presents a challenge, because if expressing an articulate answer to questions, like “How do we know love exists?” or “How do we know God exists?” is difficult, then responding to a query such as “How do we know the Trinity exists?” is nearly impossible. Still once a year, this is the mischief traditionally assigned to the shortest-tenured priest at a particular church—notice that Brad skipped town today.
Perhaps answering a question about the Trinity using systematic theology, “a form of theology in which the aim is to arrange religious truths in a self-consistent whole”[1], perhaps giving a neat answer via academic means is not the purpose of this occasion. Maybe Trinity Sunday is not solely about understanding. It could be that this celebration leads us into something else entirely, like a trip I took the summer before 7th grade.
When I was in Middle School my Episcopal Youth Community went to Six Flags over Georgia. We traveled there for the Episcopal Youth Day at the park. Caravanning early in the morning to Atlanta we arrived before the park was even open to the public. We did this to attend a morning prayer service. At the time, I was only secondarily interested in the Episcopal youth fellowship time. Primarily I was going to Six Flags for the rides, and for one in particular. That late spring was the first time Batman: The Ride was open, and that was at least 85% (okay 95%) of the reason I was there.
Now I had seen commercials on TV for this ride. I had heard the terrible Six Flags jingle playing like a siren song calling me to come ride this ride. And that morning, I was finally in the park—and what was more I was there before the general population was even allowed into the park. There was only one small problem: I had to sit through a church service first. Don’t get me wrong, even back then I loved Church, but this did not feel like a normal Episcopal service. This was as though a bunch of Episcopal youth were doing an impersonation of a Southern Baptist Service. I don’t think there was even a slight connection to the Book of Common Prayer.
In the middle of this service, it became clear that my entire youth group including the chaperones were very uncomfortable with even some of the theology being expressed. Mercifully, the leaders of this “liturgy” told us that the praise band was going to play a few extra songs, but that the rides were opening. Gesturing to my group leaders, I knew this was our chance to excuse ourselves, and make a beeline toward Batman: the Ride. And so, we went.
Even arriving early and moving quickly through the park, we still had to wait a few minutes in line at this popular, new attraction. While we did, I thought about the commercial for the ride, what it might be like, how I might actually feel like Batman flying through the air. Seeing the promotion play back in my mind, envisioning what it might be like to be part of this attraction was one thing; however, experiencing it was quite another.
No amount of time watching the commercials would have prepared me for experiencing the rollercoaster itself. Learning about Batman: the Ride is one thing—riding Batman: the Ride is another. In much the same way, learning about the Trinity is one thing—experiencing the Trinity is another.
Charles, how am I doing on heresies? Only six heresies. Okay, good!
Our task as followers of Jesus, not just on Trinity Sunday, but always, is to live our lives within the ultimate reality that is the Trinity. Yes, it’s important for us to work on our understanding of God. Yes, it’s crucial for us to strive to express true things about God’s nature as diversity-in-unity and unity-in-diversity; however it's our highest, our paramount, our utmost aim to dwell in this reality. What does this mean? Let me explain using a show-and-tell method.
Now, next week in Sunday School Surprise (I know I am giving away the surprise) we are going to have a spiritual show-and-tell. I will be away at a wedding, so I am bringing mine today. This is an icon called the Hospitality of Abraham. In it you see three divine visitors who came to see Abraham and Sarah under the Oaks of Mamre. [Pointing to the All Saints Cross] Those oak leaves around our cross remind us of this hospitality. And, in this icon we can see three divine visitors—maybe they are angels, maybe they are messengers of God, maybe they are God themselves.
What’s missing in this icon (and really all icons) is us. But, here at the bottom of the Hospitality of Abraham we see a little box. Some say that a mirror was on the original icon, so that you could literally see yourself within the life of the Trinity. In much the same way, around our cross there is a blank space up at the top left corner. That space indicates where we make up the bit that completes the circle. Without you, without all of us the community is incomplete.
God desires for us to be a part of this circle, to be a part of the community, to be a part of the life of the Trinity. The way that we live into this can be heard in our Gospel lesson this day. We are to be guided by the Spirit, so that we, like the Spirit, glorify God.
What does it mean to glorify God? Karoline Lewis, a Lutheran theologian put it this way, “We are to make visible the presence of God.”[2] We are to make known the unknowable, to make seen the unseeable, to make heard, the unheard. Sounds easy enough.
Experiencing the Trinity is not something that we will always understand. The beauty of the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement is that we collectively encourage holding complexity—living in the both/and of life—not simplifying the Great Mysteries, but engaging mystifying encounters with a three-in-one reality even when it overwhelms or confuses us.
How do we know the Trinity exists? Simply enough, we know the truth of this reality by experiencing it—by seeing the diversity of all things united via the love of God, which holds all things as one. And like a rollercoaster we might tell someone else about it, but they won’t quite get it until they are riding this reality, careening around in the overabundant joy and excitement, zooming through both highs and lows! May we find our place in the unified, diverse community of the Trinity and invite others to be part of this wonderful and sacred m[1] Definition from Oxford Language Services Dictionary, https://bit.ly/3O9kDq6.
[2] Karoline Lewis on Sermon Brainwave Podcast https://www.workingpreacher.org/podcasts/848-holy-trinity-sunday-c-june-12-2022
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