Trinity???

A slightly different service today, in that I am looking briefly at Isaiah early in the service, followed by the Prayer of Confession, and we will read the Psalm together, as well as hearing the Gospel.

The Sermon is preceded by a litany from Spill the Beans which ends with the question how would explain what no one yet has been able to …? - see  http://spillbeans.org.uk/

Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8
Notes: Guess What Happened in Worship

Here we read of Isaiah’s experience of worship; Isaiah had a significant encounter with God. Which tells us something about worship.

Firstly, Isaiah was aware of God ‘he saw the Lord’ Genuine worship starts with God, and recognising the holiness of God.

Then when Isaiah is awed by God’s presence, he sees himself realistically, and he becomes aware of his sin;  "Woe is me! I am lost” .

God wants us to recognise our frailties and failings, but God also has  a way of dealing with those things. God’s forgiveness not only removes our sin, but also the guilt that so often accompanies our awareness of our sin.

Isaiah’s encounter with God does not end with recognising God and being overawed by the scene; nor does it end with his guilt and sins being removed. The encounter win the temple finishes with Isaiah going to serve in God’s world. To meet human needs, God uses people.[i]

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[i] Ideas from http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/2823/sermon-options-june-3-2012

Gospel : John 3:1-17 Proclamation

 The question got me: how would explain what no one yet has been able to …? That question could refer to a range of things, like how will you know when you are in love; how can I have faith; why do cows eat grass; but here the question refers to the Trinity. I am told that this is one day of the year when ministers will try and find a lay preacher. Trinity is one of those ideas that we have in the church, one of those ways that we have of expressing something about God, when really trying to describe God is so difficult within the constraints of human language.

 In the reading from Isaiah, we have Isaiah attempting to put into words his experience of worship. Isaiah describes the hem of God's garments as filling the whole of the temple, and the six winged creatures flying around singing holy, holy, holy. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've been in any worship experience where I've encountered six winged creatures flying around. When asked to explain what worship is like for many of us we think about prayers and music and readings and the functional things that happen in worship. Other times we might try and explain the experience, the sensation, the mystery of encountering God when we meet together and worship together as a community of faith. The functional stuff is much easier to put into words than the sense of awe and mystery.

Turning now to the gospel reading, Nicodemus comes and speaks to Jesus. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, which means he was well versed in the Jewish religion. It also means he was one of the guardians of the Jewish faith. We hear of him coming to Jesus, and discussing the kingdom of God. It seems that in many encounters with people who think they know the truth, or the set answers, Jesus doesn't make it easy for Nicodemus.

Reading of Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus, reminds me of how hard it is sometimes to understand faith, to be articulate and put into clear words what our faith means, or even what faith is. Nicodemus is correct, in a functional sense, you can't be born a second time, so what else might this mean.

Back to the Trinity for a few moments, something I read this week[i] talked about Trinity by starting with the creation story, in the first chapter of Genesis verse 26 it says :

‘then God said ‘let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness’ ”. The Genesis story begins with a sense of God who is plural, while the Jewish faith is monotheistic, the creation story has a sense of God being part of community. If God was a single creator God, we could worship, we could pray, we could bow down, but it would be about paying homage to, not being in relationship with, or being transformed by. Because God is God in community, because creation is an action of voice of God, word and Sprit, God calls us into community.

The doctrine of the Trinity does not give us a way to explain the details of God, or of faith. What Trinity does is allow a framework, a tool, for seeing God in a new way.

The challenge for Nicodemus in his encounter with Jesus is to let go of what he knows of the physical world, to let go of the certainty of the religion that he knows so well, and to risk being in relationship with God, to allow himself to be swept up into the community of God.

That is our challenge as well. It is easy for us to focus on the physical in life, that which we can touch and see; it is easy for us to be comfortable with what we know; but as we worship we open ourselves up to God; as we come together around the Lord's table we are allowing ourselves to be part of something more, that can be wonderful and joyous and challenging and frightening. Because when we open ourselves to God, when we allow ourselves to be swept up into the community of God and God's people, we don't know what will happen. God being Trinity, God in relationship with God and with us, is part of the wonderful mystery of faith.

Let us take some time to sit in the mystery.

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[i] Nadia Bolz-Weber  http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/06/01/some-thoughts-holy-trinity/