Gospel text for Trinity Sunday, 22 May 2016

John 16:12-15        Jesus said to the disciples, "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 all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 

Reflection       During the course of most of our lifetimes we stumble across varied images of God. God the old man, the heavenly boss, the judge, the cop or cosmic bell-hop. God the distant, absent, present. God the killjoy, God the puppeteer. God the friend, God the forgotten, God the healer, God the hope. God the unreliable or impersonal director. God just waiting to drop the other shoe or waiting to scoop us out of disaster. With time and experience we may come to know God as teacher or guide only to discover that even those images are not sufficient to convey our experience of God. What then? What are we to make of God that refuses to be constrained by a singular image to the exclusion of all others?

The theological  response to our quandary is this, God the Trinity, the Three in One. Since the fourth century C.E.  the image of Trinity is generally accepted as a way to understand the presence and action of God in the world.  The image of One God in Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; or, Transcendent, Immanent and Spiritual Presence,  is the central image of God in Christianity.  However, for many, the concept of Trinity stirs up confusion rather than understanding. It did for me until one November evening when witnessing the return of the sandhill cranes to El Bosque del Apache in New Mexico. 

A kind of hush susshes the crowd as the first trilled ‘r’ of the trumpeting cranes echoes in the distant skies. All eyes are turned in the same direction to catch the premiere glimpse of the wintering cranes returning to the Rio Grande wetlands. Much as an approaching train a screaming grey cloud of thousands of corpulent cranes glaze the sunset then settle a mere stone’s throw from our feet. It takes a few minutes to realize that every single one of the pointed billed, red headed creatures is  standing wing to wing and facing the same direction. After feeding all day in nearby fields this mass of ten thousand exquisite creatures whose wings span five to seven feet  have pulled themselves in and reunited for the night. In the dimming light they stand as one body, calling the night out from heaven.

In this glorious spectacle I experienced of God not bound by images; the One as many and the many as One, the Trinity. Each of the ten thousand cranes a unique and significant individual standing in its place amidst the other cranes and at the same the single body of cranes, united and turned in the same direction. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 12 May 2013

John 17:20-26        Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Reflection       What does it mean for the many to “be one?” In the secular world we are instructed to “...practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours.” Words from the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations. The word that leaps out for me is ‘tolerance.’ In the best sense tolerance means to be sensitive, charitable, kind and open-minded. It also bears a darker twist; to endure, be lenient or give lisence. Of more concern is what I believe is a fundamental assumption of tolerance  - we are not one. The implications are grave.

If we accept the premise that we are not one, rather than expecting integrity, connection and solidarity with my neighbors I expect partiality, incongruity and division. With this as the lens through which I see my neighbor naturally I approach her cautiously, using my discriminating mind to detect differences and relying on my intellect to protect my individuality. I hate to admit it but, too often this is my default position. No wonder harmony among peoples is so elusive in our world. No wonder Jesus did not pray for tolerance.

In the course of a single sublime prayer Jesus manged to step beyond the bicameral tendency of the human mind. First he affirmed that two can be one, “As you Father are in me and I am in you...” Then he stretched the tent to be all inclusive, “so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one...”

The many are one and the one is many. This is a fundamental principle of the Christian faith. No wonder so many people have a hard time with us. Our bottom-line or cardinal rule demands we stretch beyond tolerance (and reason)! “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Ro 12.5) 

Jesus gives us a singular and unifying perspective. It transcends dualistic thought and dichotomies. It presumes alliance and accord, solidarity and peace. And there it is. The peace that Jesus leaves with us, the peace which passes all understanding, is not about tolerance. Jesus’ peace is the natural manifestation of our fundamental unity. Peace will prevail when we all “become completely one...”