Trinity is a verb?

     As an editorial note, I can't believe the first sentence of this quotes Wikipedia. I found that my personal church history collection was sorely lacking and realize I must have relied heavily upon the library at seminary to get me through my history courses!
     According to Wikipedia, since the time of Pope John XXII (1316-1334) the Sunday after Pentecost has been celebrated in the church as Holy Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Trinity is a tricky doctrine in Christianity, even though it has been an official teaching of the Church since the Council of Nicaea (325 a.d.) because the Trinity as such is not named in scripture.
     In my study of scripture, in thinking about the gospel text from Matthew 28, and the creation story from Genesis 1, I have come to think about the Trinity less as a noun, and more as a verb. In a brief lesson in English, let me remind you about our grammar.
First a word about nouns.
Nouns are words used as subjects or objects of verbs, they are the thing acting or being acted upon; they are often described as 'people, places, or things.' Here are some examples of Trinity used as a noun:
The Holy Trinity created the cosmos, or The Holy Trinity is a mysterious part of Christian doctrine, or Faith is given to Christians as a gift from the Holy Trinity, etc. In each of these examples the Trinity is used as an identifier of God, or as an idea, or as a whole person, and none of these statements is incorrect.
Now a word about verbs.
Verbs are words used to describe action, state, or relation between a subject and an object. Here are some examples of Trinity used as a verb:
Her heart was Trinitized; or I Trinity, therefore I am; or He Trinities his life. In each of these examples the Trinity is used to describe a state of being, or a passive or active action, and none of these statements is incorrect.
Well, not incorrect strictly speaking in rules of grammar. Trinitized and Trinitied are both underlined in red squiggly lines on my screen. And the sentences don't make much sense because we don't use the word Trinity as a verb and have no frame of reference by which to make meaning.
      However, in thinking about the Trinity I have decided it is impossible to simply use descriptive words because the Trinity is never static, cannot be pinpointed, and refuses to be defined. With that being said, this is how I attempt to describe Trinity:
The Trinity is that which gives and sustains life. The Trinity is what enables us to love, to believe, to doubt, to feel. The Trinity moves in our flow of time while remaining outside the constraints of this world. He/She/It brings life from death and light to darkness. The Trinity is simultaneously spontaneous and calculated. The Trinity knows the ending of the story and continues to give creation freedom to live and play out the present...
     It is impossible to describe. So, I concede to the impossibility of the mystery and I leave you with one final thought:
Life Trinities and the Trinity lives so that all may come to know, love, and believe Trinity.

    

What is your story?

from www.readersdigest.co

     This Memorial Day weekend marks the last installment in our series based on The Story, which we have been reading through as a congregation this past year. The journey has given us a good, overall look at scripture in chronological order from Genesis through Revelation, and we will be doing a re-cap of the overall theme of scripture.
     It was difficult to choose just one passage of scripture that gets to the heart of the whole, but I settled on a lovely passage from Ephesians 2. For me, it is the perfect marriage of the whole of scripture, Old and New Testsaments, law and gospel, judgement and grace. You see, as I read and think of scripture on the whole, the common thread is all about God's love and grace for creation.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 

For now there is really little more to say - for what can you add to such wonderful news? God loves us - even in our broken lives - and sent Christ to give life, an act of grace, so that we might forever know God's riches.

     The mystery this leaves me pondering this week has everything to do with the tagline from The Story, which thanks to Max Lucado goes like this:
This is your story. This is my story. This is the greatest story ever told.

So how is this your story? How is this the greatest story for you? What part of scripture best speaks to where you are in your own journey? The beautiful news for all of us is that in Christ, the eternal Word of God, all of creation is saved. The mystery is, how then will we live?

What comes in the middle?

Beloved, by Linda Crossan*

     This Sunday marks the last in our 9-month series going through the Bible. We began in Genesis and then chronologically worked our way through until now we end with Revelation. As we think about the whole of The Story it has been a wonderful experience to see the thread of God's salvific work throughout the entirety of scripture. And now that we are ending, it seems as if we are only at the beginning again.
     As you recall, way back in Genesis, God created. The earth was chaotic, and into the dark chaos God spoke life and light. In that life and light God saw goodness and splendor. God 'walked in the garden' with those first humans. God's home was with them and they were God's people. Though it didn't take long for those people to go astray and trust in themselves rather than God and God's goodness. From then on in scripture we have the story of God's attempts to be in relationship with creation. From the Exodus story, God worked to bring salvation to the world through a chosen people, Israel. Eventually it became clear that though the people wanted salvation, they didn't want the relationship that naturally came with it. So God promised that a savior would come to restore Israel (and thus all of creation) and that the savior would be a descendant of David.
     Jesus comes into the picture as a baby - born of a young Jewish woman in the least auspicious circumstances. He lives a life of relative poverty, learning the carpentry trade from his earthly father Joseph. He grows up and performs miracles, gains popularity and following, and proclaims that God's kingdom is here - that he is himself God's Son, and that he has come to bring forgiveness of sin and new life. Yet as had been the pattern since the beginning of time, even though people wanted salvation, they wanted it on their terms; they rejected Christ as God's son and crucified him. His closest friends and followers were lost, except that when the funeral preparations began, his body was gone. Angels were there and told the women that he had been raised, just as Jesus said.
     Thus began a movement that changed history. Early participants in the movement were called followers of "The Way" and they dedicated their lives to living as Jesus taught and sharing about him to all they met. The early church suffered from persecution, from false pastors who taught messages antithetical to Christ, and from general disorganization and disunity. Yet despite all these, the church persevered and God's Spirit moved so that today, nearly 2000 years later, the church still exists and worships God, believes that Jesus is God's Son, and that through him salvation has come to all creation.
     Our reading for Sunday gives a glimpse of the end of the story. In a way the story ended Easter morning, when death and the devil were conquered through Christ's resurrection. But we have also spent the last couple of weeks talking about how that reality is in the already/not-yet paradox. Sunday's lesson from Revelation 20 and 21 is about the end. The VERY end.
     And as I said before, the end starts at the beginning. God once again sees the chaos and darkness on earth. Our reading is often described as God's hymn to us, words of hope and promise, words of life and salvation. Heaven comes to us at the end, which is how it has always been - God's movement of love toward us. At this last juncture, God will make all things new, a second creation story. In this creation, there will be no crying or death, pain or mourning. Everyone will live in right relationship with God and with each other, and salvation will finally and fully become reality.
     So it seems we end where we began: God's goodness. From God's goodness comes creation, comes relationship, comes salvation. As Easter people, we know the ending. The challenge we have, then, is living in the not-yet right now and sharing the already with those who still live in darkness. We have come full circle. All things will be made new. God is the beginning and the end. The mystery I ponder this week has everything to do with the middle. If everything starts and ends with God's salvation for all creation, how do we live in the middle?

*Crossan, Linda. Beloved, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55303 [retrieved May 13, 2014]. Original source: Linda Crossan, Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN.

Mothering God?

Madonna and Children*

     In this penultimate chapter of The Story we read about Paul's imprisonment and eventual death. It is a compilation of excerpts from the letters both written by and attributed to Paul, and for Sunday we will focus on a portion from 2 Timothy chapters 1 and 2. We celebrate the 4th Sunday of Easter this week, and again the text focuses on Jesus' resurrection and the implications thereof.
     And in (yet another) Holy Spirit moment, I chose this particular text not realizing it was Mother's Day. With so many of these wonderful Spirit moments this year, I am unsure why I am still surprised when it happens, but the reading begins with Paul greeting Timothy and remembering Timothy's faith, which was passed down through his grandmother and mother:

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived 

first in your grandmother Lois and 

your mother Eunice and now, 

I am sure, lives in you. 

In this world, there are few greater images of the new life we are given in our life of Christ than that of a mother and her child. Not only in the literal life which is given in the act of labor and birthing, but in the very act of mothering. I know that not everyone has a universally wonderful mother. I consider myself blessed in having the mom I do have, and doubly blessed that I have a wonderful mother-in-law, and even moreso with all the women who give me motherly care and who are more than grandmotherly to Frankie.

     The traits that set these women apart in my own life include forgiveness, love, mercy - all of which were given unconditionally. I acknowledge that I am not always the easiest person to love. In fact, now that I have a daughter of my own I am beginning to understand some of what my mom was thinking as she would mutter something under her breath after one of our many run-ins.

     In his letter to Timothy, Paul gives his grandmother and mother much of the credit for passing on the faith. My mom brought me to the waters of baptism as an infant. She taught me to pray. She taught me to read my Bible. She taught me how to serve others (I have been going to church meetings my whole life). But mostly my mom taught me what it means to know Jesus. Not just as God's Son who died for my sins, but as a friend, as an intimate partner who goes behind, beside, and before me in my own journey of faith.

     Now, there were those other women (and there continue to be women from whom I learn much) who also taught me the faith. Those who lived by quiet example, those who brazenly spoke about their faith in awkward places and embarrassed me to no end as a teenager, those who always had open arms and a listening ear. The point is: by and large it has been women in my life who impacted my faith the most.

      We don't often focus on the feminine traits of God, but this Sunday I look forward to spending time considering the important ways God works through women, particularly through mothers, and how through these women our faith is made more complete.

     How has your mom or other women in your life impacted your faith?

*Lippi, Filippo, ca. 1406-1469. Madonna with Children, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=47895 [retrieved May 5, 2014]. Original source: www.yorckproject.de.