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The
pairing of Pentecost Sunday with Holy Trinity Sunday, is a way for us to try to
put a human understanding on just who is God, what is the Holy Trinity? The
little sermon nugget you see this morning, in our bulletin, I believe is
important for all Christians to see every Holy Trinity Sunday. Here is someone
who struggled with trying to understand just what is the role of God in their
life, and what does the Holy Spirit do? And how is it connected to Jesus? Truth
be told, when I have mentioned Athanasius, in passing on this Sunday, I recall
reading how he was actually getting into fights with other people over trying
to concretize this little writing you see here this morning.
I
highly doubt that you're going to go home today or tomorrow or any other day
and write a treatise of philosophical questioning to what is the meaning of the
Holy Trinity in your life, but it's good for us to think about what we hear
from God and what it means for us, beyond ourselves. On that same note, what
was truly “beyond the self” for Nicodemus was understanding what on earth Jesus
was talking about in regard to New Life. I've heard funny commentaries in other
sermons from friends saying, "Nick at Night." Nicodemus was too
scared to come during the day, in case his Pharisee friends would see him moved
to listen or take the time to listen to Jesus. It was a black and white world
back then, and in many ways, today we still have a black and white world. We
still have a night and day world. It's far easier for us to choose sides then
to strain our hearts understanding for the middle road.
The
middle road is where God is. The middle of our hearts, the middle of our lives
is where God is. This is where the Spirit works. Being a person of absolutes,
is caving into Human Nature. That's the one thing that should be interesting to
notice with the sermon nugget insert I have in our bulletin this morning, for
the last few lines are pretty much a condemning absolute. If you choose
not to believe in what has been said, you will not be saved. The Gospel
of Jesus Christ however begs to differ and is certainly one of inclusion, not
of exclusion. Being a person of Godly standards and inclusion however, is quite
different. The seemingly sounding bizarre scripture we have this morning from
Romans teaches us a wonderful thought about just what it takes to be children
of God. What it truly takes to believe, live into our adoption into God's
family. What it takes is to listen to the voice of the Spirit and to ascribe to
God the things that are heard in the heart; that is turning and changing to God's
“Mission Commission” for you to partake in.
Mission
commission, I love the pairing of those two words. I remember or recall I
should say, listening to a great children's sermon way at the beginning of my
journey with the pastor I would serve with for a couple years. He was talking
to these young minds, open minds about God's calling to us through the work of
the Holy Spirit. I must confess the notion of “mission commission” sort of
sounds like James Bond OO7. On that same breath, I think of the line from The
Blues Brothers: “We're on a mission from God!” But to tell you the truth, we
are! It was lovely to see in pictures and emails & so forth, all the
graduations that are taking place or have taken place this past week. One whole
part of their growth, knowledge and experience is over and a brand New one is
about to begin.
A
brand, New Life has just begun. We inaugurated it last week with our services
snuggly led in our little fellowship area or soon-to-be Fellowship room.
I have to say, I really loved the message on our cake last week. It said:
“Welcome home, we did it!” Welcome home, can you imagine what it felt like for
Paul preaching to his little Roman Church about being welcomed into the family
of God? And that it all has to do with adopting a spirit that is attuned to the
voice of God? Being tuned into the voice of God… our denomination’s logo
incorporates a wonderful message of its own: “God is still speaking.” I would
further add, God has never stopped talking to us(!) But just like Nicodemus, we
have those moments where the head is pretty hard and we're not willing to budge
for anything. We're sitting there spiritually with our arms folded, and saying:
“Okay God, go ahead keep talking… I'll think about it.” You could just see the
stress in Nicodemus eyebrow hearing the words of Jesus trying to pry open the
doors of his heart to really know the wisdom that He is preaching. It's almost
as if Nicodemus plays dumb and says what do you mean can be born again? I can't
go back into my mother's womb? I don't know if he is being tongue and
cheek here, more than perhaps he's afraid of what Jesus is really trying to get
him to own up to.
Speaking
of getting people to own up to the truth, we have the continuing conversation
in Acts, where Peter would be proclaiming to all who are there to listen. What
he really has to say in a nutshell to them is to get them to see what they did
to Jesus. What he wanted them to see is how they need to remember Jesus and
they need to realize that His resurrection was a fulfillment. Indeed, His
resurrection would be a fulfillment of all that they struggled and learned from
in their past. Peter had to reach out to them by talking about David, their
great ancestor and by doing that, he gets them to see how God's life-giving
powers indeed breaks the bonds of death and this is the Hope in which we dwell.
The
Hope in which we dwell today, is all around us. I have said last week, and I
hope you hear and remember spiritually this week, is that our mission is out
there. Our mission goes way beyond Sunday mornings and our hearts have been
commissioned to grow with this truth. Some of my outreach efforts the past few
weeks have been getting interesting responses and questions from various people
either calling or emailing the church office. The most interesting was a group
of young college students that travel around the country doing praise band
concerts. I loved their name they call themselves ‘Adam's Road Ministry.’ You
immediately begin to think of Adam and Eve, as well as what I saw in
connection with the book of Acts today, Peter talking
about David. If you knew all the stories of David's Journey… Yes, he
wrote the Psalms, but he was definitely considered a scoundrel in many of the
things he was caught doing, remember Bathsheba?
This
little college band were just contacting us to see if we would be interested in
having a free concert in the near future. On a funny note there, they asked if
we wanted a concert this coming Sunday… and I'm thinking to myself, well you
don't know congregational churches that well, do you? I began to respond, to
tell them about our church. This would be after I looked over their whole site,
and I thought it was interesting how they started their homepage. Their
homepage included each one witnessing to God's work in their life. They were
former Mormons who claim to have seen the Light or True light as they put it,
of Christ changing and shaping their lives' vision anew. It was lovely to read.
I wrote the lead singer back and told them about our church family and how
sometime down the road in the future, with our growing youth program, we may
consider something like that. I thanked him for sharing his band with us and I
loved what I saw after that conversation.
What
I saw after all those email conversations, thinking about this young band of
college students, is the Hope we have for New Life in the world. I also
saw many of the graduations I have attended and have seen of the joy
of others... I also saw in my mind's eye, Jesus enlightening Nicodemus to the
truth of what being reborn in the Spirit is truly all about. I could see
Nicodemus crinkled brow perhaps lifting the weight of stress and
misunderstanding to the hope and promise of what it truly means to be welcomed
into the family of God. We must keep in the back of our minds as well,
Nicodemus was one of the people that helped to secure Jesus tomb. The Pharisees
and the Scribes especially, did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, yet
alone, they only saw Jesus profound words as causing trouble. We must give
Nicodemus more credit here. He really wasn't that much of a chicken heart. He
really risked his life coming to listen and grow as a quiet, questioning
disciple of Jesus.
What
we must realize at the heart of Christianity is a mystery, and it's not one of
an intellectual appreciation but of redemption. This Redemption is a change of
heart and mind. You remember what that change of heart and mind is right? That
word we heard through Lent and we heard through Easter, metanoia. It is
literally having the heart turned to God in New understanding, in New Life. It
is reaping that New Nature. It is to become New through God's Living Word: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only Son, Jesus… So that everyone who believes in Him, may not perish but have
eternal life.
This
still must have been a very difficult thing to understand for poor Nicodemus
and even for us today. We live in a finite reality on this little floating rock
in space. I saw a terribly amusing picture the other day on social media of the
universe. Some scientist found a spot through a telescope of a place that
supposedly does not contain any matter at all… but for me, I'm sorry, it looked
like the belly button of the universe! 😊 A
perfect solution for a mind that's only going to understand and go so far,
welcome to Human Nature. We don't understand the infinite yet alone what
eternal means. We can write philosophies about it. We could roll on the ground
and get into a fistfight with other people like Athanasius did in trying to
talk about the nature of God and the nature of life. Or we can simply just have
faith in the mystery, the mystery of things we can't fully understand.
Having
faith in the mystery of things we can't understand... Sometimes I read the most
disturbing conversations or intellectual lectures on just who is the “historical
Jesus.” I didn't like anything that I read. It not only both challenged and
denied the truth of the Gospels, that we know is very real, but it just seemed
like it came from a people who thought they grew and have never really grown at
all. There's two kinds of wisdom here, and this is a lot of what Jesus
continues to try to teach us. After today, we're going to have a seemingly
forever number of Sundays in the season of Pentecost. What they're trying to
teach us is literally what today opens up for us in the scriptures. The life of
a Christian is a Living Hope. It is living into things that our hearts and our
lips must confess coming from the purity of conviction. What do I mean by that?
The one lesson I didn't include this morning is from Isaiah and it is a weird
scene of him literally talking to God and needing an angel or seraph to
cauterize his lips with a hot coal so that he may realize what needs to come
from his heart through his voice about the truth of God. The prelude and
postlude we have this morning, is that wonderful “campfire Jesus song,” ‘Here I
Am Lord.’ Just those four words say so much about a heart willing to take that
great leap of faith and be a living confession for God's mission in this world.
Just
think of those young graduates this past week from schools across America. One
Journey has ended, a new one is about to begin. Are we helping them to become
accountable and compassionate to one another? Are we equipping them for God's
mission in this world, and beyond? Looking upon my own graduation pictures over
the years, it's really interesting to see where I've been and how I've grown…
and it's all been a good thing. I'm sure we have piles of pictures, of
ourselves, and our children, and other family members from those moments of
change and growth. These are the things that are precious. These are the things
that give us hope. This new home here, should be giving us a precious hope for
the great and many things we can do, for the mountains we can truly move with
our faith in sync together as a team: Team Jesus!
Tomorrow
it seems, we will be having an extended Sabbath day, Memorial Day. Memorial
remembrance of those who gave their lives for others. No, it's not just the
opening for swimming pools in some areas of America or just another day to be a
sloth by the TV drooling into your popcorn. It's a call to look back but truly
look forward into a great hope for greater world to come, the kingdom of God.
John's Gospel is really the only place we hear about Nicodemus, just like the
story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Truth be told about the Pharisees,
that Nicodemus was one of the lead members of, they completely died out. Why
did they die out perhaps because they didn't want to see beyond the power of
the law that they thought ruled and commanded everything? They didn't want to
see beyond themselves to help BE the change in the world, that God needs us to
be. Yes, they were holy men, but they did not understand what living into your
faith really means and requires. We're still learning that today in “discipleship
school” here and in every Church abroad. Basically, they didn't want to
change. They thought they had all the answers and that the law gave them all
the answers.
If
Nicodemus wasn't even going to give Jesus a chance, he wouldn't have been
questioning him so much about what he was fearing to truly discover about
himself. We must be those people who question, who are bold with their faith. We
must be dissenters against things that are wrong in this world. We need to look
at the language of the Gospel through the heart and hear its truth, God's voice
leading us. For it is the love of Christ, that convicts become that mirror to
our actions and reveals our soul and our judgment. God is Not only still
speaking to you… He is perhaps now shouting at you to wake up and smell the
coffee. Hear the truth behind His Words
to say truly with confidence: “Here I Am Lord!” Lead me and guide me, give me Your
commission to start the right mission in the world.
Let
us pray,
Loving
and Gracious Lord Jesus,
We
are Your children
We
need to reap that Grace to understand that promise.
We
need to be those faith-filled disciples
We
need to question and stand up for the truth.
For
it is the Triune God who gives us strength
To
move mountains and our hearts will grow to be glad and not be shaken.
We
are all Your witnesses
Help
us become changed and enlightened beings
A
reality You need for us to embrace
Amen
Holy
Trinity Sunday; May 27th, 2018; Year B; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon
by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm
29; Isaiah 6:1-8; Acts 2:14a, 22-36; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 10am:
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