Hebrew Testament text for Trinity Sunday 30 May 2021

 Isaiah 6:1-8      In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; 

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

Reflection        There is something about Trinity Sunday that confounds our intellect. One God, Three Persons, undivided and distinct, trinity and unity. What are we to think?

Where intellect fails experience prevails. As we rise to witness the broad sweep of the history of God’s people, we are dazzled with a multiplicity of visions, visions of Divine and human encounters punctuate our story.  One of those visions appears in the Hebrew Testament account of the prophet First Isaiah’s experience.Trinity 

Isaiah avers, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings…” Great drama. Then with the earth shaking and the Temple filled with smoke Isaiah hears, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Quite an experience.

The religious life of the ancient Jewish nation is centered in the Temple in Jerusalem. When the future of his country looks especially bleak, it is the Temple to which Isaiah turns seeking wisdom to guide him.  Isaiah was born during the immoral reign of King Uzziah. Even though Isaiah has a keen knowledge of political affairs and mastery of poetic language, he turns to God in his time of trouble. Putting his faith in God rather than himself, Isaiah has a vision, a vision that assures him that despite his nation’s dismal state, God remains present and active in history.

Face to face with the vision of God’s glory, Isaiah is quite shaken.  His stomach must have leapt to his throat and he protests, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…” Whereupon a seraph, a Spirit of God,”holds a live coal that had been taken from the altar” to Isaiah’s lips, a ritual act to illustrate the inner cleansing of Isaiah’s protesting heart and mind. 

Isaiah realizes that in spite of being less than holy and living in a nation erupting with corruption, he is redeemed so when he hears God’s invitation, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” he responds, “Here am I; send me!” As it is said, the rest is history. The course of Isaiah’s life is set as he dares to preach and counsel three kings before dying a martyr.

I believe Jesus’ story parallels that of Isaiah. At his baptism the vision of the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling upon him sets the course of his life and ministry, compels him to preach, teach and heal the lives of many, putting himself crosswise with religious and political officials before dying a martyr.

Isaiah and Jesus put their faith in the experience of Divine Presence that invites their incarnate response, “Here am I.” “Not my will, your will be done.”  Benevolent Father calls to faithful Son through the effectual action of the Spirit.  The fullness of God is made known in the interdependent relationship of the transcendent, incarnate and demonstrative. One God in Trinity. 

With clouds of smoke and quaking ground, not to mention a global pandemic, Transcendent God confirms the interconnected interdependence of all creation.

With care for the least, the lost and the lonely, Immanent God reveals Divine Presence and Action in flesh and bones every day.

With blooming breath the Spirit of God breathes life and liberty through all of humanity. Everyone and everything is included in Trinity.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Creator, Redeemer, Source of All Being.

One, Holy and Living God. 

As it was for Isaiah and Jesus, so too is the state of our nation, shamefully corrupt. The elite are built up and protected while the poor are oppressed and rejected.  If we keep doing the same thing, nothing is going to change. And so it is time for us to pray that God’s seraphs touch our lips with the live coal from the altar, redeeming our lives and  compelling us to claim our place with the Trinity praying, “Here am I. Send me” to care for all your people and creation. 

If you found this message to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.

Gospel text for Sunday 19 January 2014

John 1:29-42        John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Behold, here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter). 

Reflection          In his novel, Stranger in a Strange Land, the writer Robert Heinlein coined the term “grok” which in common parlance means to intuitively grasp or understand, to be in rapport with the object of perception. But in his science fiction tale Heinlein’s usage of the word “grok” meant something more. Grok was the word used by Heinlein’s martians to describe the transcending experience of the ‘gorker’ and the ‘groked.’ The martians explain, as water becomes part of the drinker so does the drinker become part of the water. The sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

John the Baptizer admits that even though he had been baptizing in anticipation of the one, the Messiah, who would come after him, “he did not know” who Jesus really was until he saw Jesus’ post baptism experience as an affirmation of his own conversation with God in which God told him, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” John “saw” something more, he groked the deeper meaning and recognized Jesus as “the Son of God.” Following his insight John’s preconceived notions of what a proper Messiah or Annointed One would look like fell away. Once the impediments to his vision were removed it was time for John to pass on his wisdom (and his followers) and so he instructs the two disciples, “Behold, here is the Lamb of God.” Pay attention. Things are not as they seem, the Messiah does not look like a regally clad king. There is more than meets the eye here. 

The two disciples must have groked something more as well because when they “heard” Jesus they followed him. We will never know what Jesus said to attract their attention, but Jesus’ subsequent invitation to “come and see” resounds throughout the generations.

What does it mean to come and see? I believe “coming” means showing up, allowing ourselves to be present to the people or situation in which we are standing. “Seeing” is more than visual perception of persons or objects. It is penetrating to the meaning of or recognizing the identity of that which we perceive. In a sense, true seeing is not unlike Heinlein’s martians’ usage of the word “grok.” When we really “see” someone we experience rapport with them, an affinity that bespeaks our fundamental bond. When we grok someone we recognize there is something more than meets the eye and we experience a taste of the interconnected web of being.

From one person to another, the identity of Jesus, the revelation of God with us, is passed on until the interconnected web of humanity is fully illumined, which is to say, until every human being groks their union and unity in something more. Returning to the martians’ understanding of reality, the sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

If you found this post meaningful please share it with friends by clicking on the icons below. Thank you.