Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: God so loved the world

 

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son

This is not the piece I set out to pen.  That one shelved.  Sidelined in light of present reality.

8 minutes, 46 seconds.  A knee crushing the neck of a handcuffed black man.  Pressed to the ground, restrained by multiple officers.  Between life and death?  An eternity.

2 minutes and 53 seconds.  That same knee still pressed against the neck of a black man who had grown unresponsive.  Found to have no pulse.  Limp.  Between life and death?  An eternity.

The initial report from the medical examiner’s office suggested no findings supporting a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation, the legal complaint reports.  Instead, it observed that George Floyd had coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease and “the combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.” 

Potential intoxicants in his system?

And then the video.  

And then rippling explosions in cities around the country.  Fire and fury.  Smoke and savagery.

America’s singular original sin – poisonous race relations, the inexorable inheritance of the brutal practice of chattel slavery.  A gaping, open wound with countless manifestations in our country’s history.  George Floyd’s eerie cry: “I can’t breathe” sickly summoning the memory of Eric Gardner moaning that same tragic trope on July 14, 2014 in Staten Island, NY.  More recently, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT worker in Louisville, KY, shot in her bed after midnight on March 13, 2020 by three police officers serving a “no-knock” warrant.  Ahmaud Arbery, 25, shot dead in February 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia, after two white men chased him, believing he was a burglar.

Amidst this agonizing horror, add the dreadful current pandemic.  The pressures, pains and politics of our present vulnerability expose further disquieting fault lines of massive proportions among us.  Think of it: even the simple act of donning a face mask as a means of protecting others and self somehow has become the locus of volatile conflict, unspeakable rage, outright hatred.  The United States of America?

Such ferocious, raw enmity.  How did we ever come to such a place? 

How to speak about the feast of the Most Holy Trinity in light of all this? 
Perhaps the better question is how can we NOT speak of the Most Holy Trinity in light of all this?

The Mystery of the Triune G-D.

The revelation of the Trinity unfolds in the life and ministry of the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth.  In faith, we believe the person of Jesus Christ to be the visible icon of the invisible G-D.¹  He is what G-D’s own life looks like under the conditions of enfleshed human existence:

The reign of God preached by Jesus is where God’s life rules.  This rule is the opposite of tyranny and arbitrariness.  God’s rule is accomplished by saving and healing love, by conversion of the heart, through the forgiveness of sin.  God’s household is administered (economized) by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, who rules through justice, peace, charity, love, joy, moderation, kindness, generosity, freedom, compassion, reconciliation, holiness, humility, wisdom, truthfulness; and the gifts of prophecy, healing, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues.  The Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ leads the sinner to atone and rejoice, moves the hardened heart to compassion for the enemy, enlightens the heart and mind to see the glory of God in the “little ones” of this world, welcomes and accommodates all into its bounty, and even changes our idea of who belongs as a family member in God’s household.  The reign of God is governance for the sake of communion.  It entails a radical reordering of existence: our attachments, our familial relationships, our worship, our fears and anxieties, our way of relating to others.²

I urge you to linger over that passage.  Its richness illustrates what it is like to live in the power of G-D’s own life.  The astonishing breadth exemplifies what it means to confess and witness to G-D.  To dwell in the house of the Lord.3  To be a member of the household of G-D.4  To live in the name of G-D.  In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of G-D reveals the heart of G-D’s own life.  The revelation of the living G-D as perfect and profound love without beginning or end.  A loving communion without rivalry or conflict, without division, domination or subordination.  A boundless, deathless love so penetrating and fecund that it brings creation into being.  An incessant “dance”5 among the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity poured out into time and space to rescue humanity from slavery to death and to bring creation to fruition and perfection.  Father.  Son.  Holy Spirit.  Revealed in Jesus Christ.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.

This feast affirms the ineffable love that is the G-D revealed in Jesus Christ.  The unutterable love that is the G-D of creation bringing forth the world through the Holy Spirit.  The profound love that is the G-D who so loves the world that the Son is sent to heal it and rescue it from extinction.  Such is the G-D we worship in doxology and confess by living into the vision of the reign of G-D—the realm in which G-D’s own life becomes ours, for the sake of communion.

In this time of rage, grievance, accusation and melancholy, disciples of Jesus Christ more than ever must live into our faith in the triune G-D.  Human beings are made in the image of the living G-D.  Imago Dei.  As such we come from eternal communion and are made for communion in history.  And that demands very practical efforts to forge a common life in the grace, peace and justice of our G-D.  Demands every effort to bring forth calm and rectitude amid these furies.

In this triune faith, we witness to G-D’s justice.  And we witness to G-D’s peace.  Justice for George Floyd and his family, as well as every single victim whose plight is made known.  Peace in every community in this land, and throughout the world.  G-D’s own peace. Not simply the absence of inequity, but the fulsome presence of justice.  The eternal communion of the Trinity lived out here and now as communion in history.  Lived out by us.  Here and now.  Immediately. Beginning with all those who lay claim to the gospel of Christ as wisdom and Jesus as Lord.

8 minutes, 46 seconds.  Between life and death?  An eternity.

2 minutes and 53 seconds.  Between life and death?  An eternity.

All our days.  Between life and death.

The Most Holy Trinity – an eternity of living communion poured out into history.  Our history.  In that history, continuously we find ourselves stretched between life and death.  Let us choose life in the name of the living G-D.  Let us pray for the accompaniment of the G-D revealed in Jesus Christ as we seek to dry the tears, mend the tears, quell the fires, console the mournful and fashion a new and sturdy life in concert with one another.  

G-D help us.

May almighty G-D bless us and walk beside us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN.
 

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