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Today’s text
The Love who is
Love is. Love speaks. Loves
breathes ... and draws us home.
This is the message of this Holy Trinity
Sunday. We name God as Father, the Eternal Love who is the Source of all that
is. We name God as Son, the voice of the One who is Love speaking in time and
space. We name God as Holy Spirit, the breath of Love that flows in every time
and place to draw us home to God.
In the early centuries of the
church, St. Augustine
labored 15 years to explain this doctrine in his great work, On the Holy Trinity. And he tripped over
himself badly as he tried to express his thoughts.
Now, it is my turn to trip. But I will start with something close to our experience.
When was the last time you looked
at the night sky? It is hard to do. There is too much light where many of us live. It
gets in the way of seeing the dusty white of the Milky Way sprinkled from one
horizon to the other.
Apps on our smart phones can help
us identify stars and planets we can see from our patios. But it is not as good
as leaning back, lying in the grass and drinking it all in. There were so many
summer nights as a boy when I had nothing better to do than this, also times
when I could watch the northern lights put on a shimmering show until I no
longer keep my eyes open.
It is wonderful to see and so feel
small and yet so graced to behold such a staggering universe, gorgeous and unimaginable.
When we look at the heavens or a
delicate flower, a leaf, or a single blade of grass, we might discover we are
sisters and brothers of the Psalmist, who looked at the heavens in wonder and
praised God for being a human soul who could drink it all in and give thanks.
The wonder that moved the Psalmist is
deeper for us today. We know: All
we see in the night sky is a tiny drop in a cosmic ocean. There are billions of
galaxies bigger than our Milky Way. Each of those galaxies has billions of
stars, most of them hundreds and thousands of times larger than our sun.
Our physicists tell us that the
universe is finely tuned for life to appear: 14.7 billion years ago the universe
exploded into existence. We call it the Big Bang. Had the speed of matter
racing away from that explosion been one trillionth of a second faster, it would
have been moving too fast to come together to form moons, planets and
suns … and life.
Had it been racing one trillionth
of a second slower, gravity would have drawn it back into a big crunch, and the
universe would have been an undifferentiated mass …with no living thing, no
greening of leaves, no brilliant flowers, no laughter of children, no flesh to
touch, no eyes to see, no hearts that love.
At the foundation of our Christian
faith, there is a crazy, wonderful, audacious and beautiful affirmation. It is this: Love … an unimaginable, uncreated
Love is the mysterious Source of all that is … of the immense cosmos in which
we live.
This originating Love speaks in
creation but most particularly in Jesus. We call Jesus, the Christ, because he
is the voice of the Love who is the Source of all that is.
When we see Jesus joy, making wine
at the wedding feast at Cana, we hear the
voice of God inviting us to celebrate the marriage of heaven with earth.
When we imagine Jesus sharing meals
with his friends, we hear the joy of God blessing human community.
When he read of his anger at
hypocrisy and hatred, injustice and blindness, we hear the voice of God’s anger
directing us to do justice.
When Jesus invited children near so
he could touch and bless them we hear voice of God inviting us to come close to
be touched and blessed.
When Jesus told the rich man to
sell what he had and give it to the poor, the voice of God warns us from loving
what we have—or what we want—so much … that we poison our souls.
Jesus stories about seeds growing
in the earth, about fathers waiting for wayward children to return home are
God’s voice telling us about the Love who longs to grow in us, and about God’s
arms always open, waiting for us to come home.
And when extends his arms on the cross, he
speaks with God’s voice telling us that all we are is embraced, welcomed and
transformed by the Love who reuses to let us go.
God is the Love who speaks … and
breathes in all of life … even our patios.
On recent summer days, I sat on several
patios, swapping stories, eating too much, laughing a lot and feeling the
goodness of being human. Each was a time of communion … holy communion, sharing
memories, hopes and mutual support.
Each time a river of peace flowed across
the patio, making us a little community, drawn together in mutual love and care. It happened because the Spirit of God
is the breath and energy of Love creating true community to renew and refresh
us and make us more alive and beautiful.
It happens because Love is, Love
speaks. Love breathes and draws us home even when we are not looking for it.
Pr. David L. Miller
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