Worship, Sun 16 June: 'Delight!'

Trinity Sunday: a day where all sorts of examples are used to explain what really can't be fully understood, for God just won't be put into a box...
In the end, beyond all the wrestling with words,
and attempting to distil the Divine into some kind of formula, perhaps we just embrace the complexity of mystery, and the simplicity of love...
So, some thoughts on several passages from scripture.

READINGS/ Psalm 8; Proverbs 8.1-4,22-31; John 16.12-15
   
SERMON
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts,
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
when I consider your heavens, 
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you have set in place,
what are we that you are mindful of us;
that you care for us?’

The words of the psalmist, in Psalm 8,
cut to the very heart of any discussion about difficult doctrine –
especially on this Trinity Sunday.
As you hear, as you read, the words of the psalm,
what you see is someone completely gobsmacked by God:
the immensity,
the awesomeness,
the creative genius of God –
a God so amazing that,
even as the psalmist tries to fathom God’s works, God’s creation,
they’re left dumbstruck.
Even just to get a glimmer of the vast handiwork of God causes the psalmist
both to spontaneously wonder, and, to be left lost for words;
not fully able to comprehend just how incredible God is.
It’s as if the psalmist,
whose mind is just being blown away at the thought of what God has done,
can’t quite believe that this astonishing God,
so capable of flinging stars into space and arranging the planets,
should even be bothered by such a tiny, inconsequential thing...
as a human being.

The psalmist sees the God of the big –
concerned with the weighty matters of
adjusting mountain ranges,
measuring just the right depth of the seas,
ensuring the sun shines at just the right radiance,
and the moon spins properly on just the right orbit.
Harder, so much harder to see the God of the small:
the God who created forests and fjords,
lochs and leviathans playing in the sea
is the same God who created us
and, not content with just creating us
cares for us,
loves us,
and gives us a place of honour within the wonderful creation
that was spoken into being with the inspiration of the Spirit –
or, as Proverbs calls the Spirit: wisdom.
And in the act of creation we see God’s delight:
the Spirit, rejoicing in the whole world and delighting in us...
human beings.

In our gospel passage, we see God’s love in Jesus –
in the conversation he’s having with his followers:
one of the last conversations he’ll have with them.
His love is shown in the way he’s trying to prepare them for his leaving of them physically –
it’s a hard conversation,
and they’re really not in the place to hear it.
They just don’t get it,
but even so, Jesus is trying to lay the groundwork for the future:
he knows that, at this point, they’re not quite able to bear it,
to understand his teaching about this Spirit of truth who will come –
the Spirit who will come and help them understand more about God,
but still, he tries.

Unlike the disciples, as we hear, and read the passage
with our knowledge of the death and resurrection of Jesus,
we can nod and agree with him – and affirm –
that whatever Jesus says and does comes from the Father: they are one.
And so, too, with the Spirit,
who is one with both Father and the Son...
Three,
yet One.
One, yet three.
However, like so many theologians down through the ages,
we can easily get ourselves into great tangled doctrinal knots.
and, we can get so caught up in trying to untangle the knots,
that we lose sight of the wonder of God –
of the God who delights in us,
and whose care and love astonishes our psalmist.

Theology is important,
and the most important starting place for doing theology is to remember that,
for all our attempts to try to explain God,
God can’t be put into a box.
Perhaps, what we can see,
what we can understand,
is less about doctrine and more about relationship.
We’re used to the notion of Father, Son, and Spirit;
we can build on that relational aspect of God, as a helpful basis.
It was the great 5th century African theologian, Augustine of Hippo
who used love as building blocks to understand the nature of God,
for he saw that what links all Three as One is love.
God as One and then as Three seen in:
God as the one who loves,
God as the one who is beloved,
and God as love itself ...
The very core of God being love and energised by love:
a love that dwells within community,
a love that looks to the other,
a love which looks out -
generous, sharing, spreading love.
But still, it's all pretty theoretical - big ideas that are not so easy for us to grab hold of.
What's a more tangible, practical way for us to get to know the mind and nature of God?

Jesus.
For us, Jesus is love made into flesh and blood and bone -
Jesus shows us what love looks like.
As we see God through the lens of the life of Jesus,
we see relationship resembling that heavenly relationship -
not a private solitary thing but something that is lived within community, joyfully, creatively.
If we want to know what God looks like –
what God thinks,
and feels,
and wishes,
we look to Jesus who points us to love –
that is at the heart of who God is,
of why God does anything.

Recently we were talking about time: the now and not yet.
Now, we see in part:
in the fullness of God’s time, we shall see God face to face.
Now, there’s still mystery, and questions, and seeking:
then we shall know fully –
for then, we’ll be able to bear it,
having spent our lives here and now preparing,
as we learn to love and serve God,
as we follow Jesus who showed us love
and how to love...
We love God and neighbour, energised by the Spirit of love.

Beyond the great doctrinal complexity that is the Trinity –
which in the end is just a human way of beginning to try to work out God, there’s simply this:
God is love –
and lives within a divine and loving heavenly relationship – Father, Son, Spirit:
One, yet three.
Three, yet One.
God is love –
and wants to be in a loving relationship with us.
God is love –
and through the Word and by the power of the Spirit,
called the world into being.
God is love –
and in Jesus, and through the power of the Spirit,
calls us his children,
and ...
delights in us.

How astonishing that the God who made air and atoms and energy,
constellations and quasars and the entire cosmos
not only notices us,
not only loves us,
but delights in us.
Now, really, no wonder that blew the psalmist’s mind – because it certainly does mine.
As we go about our lives this week, hold on to one thing –
beyond doctrine, hold on to delight:
that God delights in you.
May that delight fill you with wonder,
may it move you to do wonderful things,
to reach out and love those who nobody wants to love;
to speak up in love for those who nobody normally sees;
may that delight cause you to stand up against injustice,
to wipe away tears from those in sorrow;
to be present when others have walked away.
May that delight give you the energy you need
to keep going,
to keep seeking,
to keep following,
to keep living and laughing, and to keep loving:
loving God, and neighbour, and yourselves,
for you do it in the name of God:
the Lover,
the Beloved,
and love...
Amen.