Trinity Sunday:

Then they worshiped him

Luke 24:52

The Gospel of Luke ends with Christ’s followers worshiping him. Our Creed concludes: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified” (Nicene).

This Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is called “Trinity Sunday” when the church dares to call the Trinity “blessed”: “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity” (Holy, Holy, Holy by Re­gi­nald He­ber, 1826). Can that be true? Can we think of the Holy Trinity as blessed? Let me suggest a few blessings.

1)  Trinity is Strange. It’s so strange that a number of our revered national fathers like Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson opted for a more rational non-Trinitarian understanding of God called “Deism”—the idea that God created the universe and then left it alone to run, like clockwork, by the mechanisms provided by its Designer. But if God is God, we would expect him to be different—that’s the meaning of “holy”. Holiness, to be holy, must be inexplicable. If we could explain God by our own rational powers, he wouldn’t be holy. God reveals himself to us in Scripture and in his Son, Jesus Christ, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit because that’s just who he is. He can’t help himself. The non-Trinitarian God of Deism losses holiness—becomes a bland god of our own creation. There’s something strange, holy and blessed about our triune God.

2)  God is Love. That’s what the Bible tells us: “God is love” of and within himself. It’s just the way God is eternally—before creation, God is love. Only a triune God can love within himself. Within the vast eternal spaciousness of the Trinity there is plenty of room for vibrant, eternal love between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Authentic love gives space and honor to the beloved. Love and Glory careen eternally with in our triune God: As Jesus prays “The hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (Jn 17:1); while the Spirit brings glory to the Son (Jn 16:14). Only a triune God is big enough and spacious enough to radiate such glory and love within himself.

3) Trinity marks Us. When our triune God decided to create humankind “in our image”, the “us” of God created a “them” of humanity. God creates us with space to love and honor others. Without space, there’s no room for love, beauty and glory. Cults close out the space between us while our triune God set us free to rollick in creation’s vast wonders. The boundaries of the garden are vast. It’s just that tree in the middle of the garden hems us in and robs us of creation’s spaciousness.

Festivals or Not:

Religious festivals …are a shadow …but reality belongs to Christ.

(Colossians 2:16-17)

The Apostle will not allow us to make a big deal about who keeps what festival (Col 2:16-18): “Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or about religious festivals.” Our Puritan forbearers would have none of it—not even Christmas or Easter. For them, it was scripture alone—no need for all this church tradition. I suppose there’s the danger of enjoying the celebration—say, of Christmas, while forgetting what the festival is about: “reality belongs to Christ”.

But even if we were to erase every tradition: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holly Week, Easter, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost Sunday; we’re still left with a calendar that can’t help pointing to Christ. Every time we jot down the date, we mark the years since Christ’s birth—the incarnation.

You may have noticed, the use of BCE “Before the Common Era” to replace BC “Before Christ”; and, CE “Common Era” to replace AD “Anno Domini” Latin for “Year of our Lord”. It’s not a bad attempt to secularize and universalize our calendar. It leaves space for those of us who believe to refer to BCE as “Before the Christian Era”, and CE as “Christian Era”.

BCE and CE still counts its days and years from something that happened 2019 years ago. I wonder what happened. Something so big we count our days before and after that something that happened. I’m sure folks will figure it out.

Much more radical attempts have been waged against our calendar that counts its days from that something that happened. The French Revolution, for example, insisted on their own calendar that counted its days before and after the Revolution. And, being thoroughly secular and scientific, developed a decimal division of the day into 10 hours, each hour of 100 minutes, and each minute gets 100 second. All very scientific. Holy days were removed—even Sunday. Instead, their revolutionary calendar, in accordance with the decimal principle, divided months into three 10 day decades. Something like that.

Other challenges could be mentioned—the Soviet Union gave it a try, so too the League of Nations planed for a “World Calendar”. Somehow, our calendar with its weeks (Biblical) and years marked by that something that happened 2019 years ago, still stands. Isn’t that something?

Israel’s Festivals and the Christian Calendar:

Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be crucified.

(Matthew 26:2)

From Israel’s prescribed three annual festivals (Dt 16), we learn the importance of “times and seasons” (Ecc 3). It’s God’s idea: “Therefore, let us celebrate the festival” (1Cor 5:8).

For us, who live from this side of the Cross, the Passover lamb has become “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’ (Jn 1:29). Easter morning is God’s vindication of Calvary that liberates us from the oppression of death, sin and the devil. On Good Friday, God was having dealings with us; and, I suppose, with himself—something necessary for our redemption. Every Sunday is for us a little Easter Morning when the church gathers to recall, venerate and worship the “Author of life, whom God raised from the dead” (Ac 3:15).

On Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Passover (49 days after Easter), we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh—male and female, old and young. Jesus promised he would send the Holy Spirit to bring comfort and to hold us close to God and to one another. This Pentecost story of the birth of the church marks us to this day (Ac 2): Spirit and Text, Prayer and Fellowship, Baptism and Eucharist. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes our absent Lord present in our hearts and in his church.

After Pentecost Sunday, the rest of year is called “Ordinary Days”—about half the year. Tabernacles, the third and final annual festival, celebrates the latter harvest of grapes (fruits), and commemorates how God tabernacles with his people as they make their way towards the Promise Land. It reminds us of our daily journey through life—our “ordinary days” of work and play, discouragement and hope, misgiving and fidelity. Christ remains with us during our ordinary days. Something like this:       

Spring              -Passover/Easter rejoicing in Christ our Passover Lamb.

            Summer           -Pentecost celebrating the outpouring of the Holy.

            Autumn           -Tabernacles celebrating how our Triune God tabernacles among us

                                      during our “ordinary days”.

Other things can and have been said… like how the grain harvest (bread) celebrated at Pentecost and the grape harvest (wine) celebrated at Tabernacles reminds us of the bread and wine of our Lord’s Table. Or, that the latter harvest of Tabernacles points towards Glory when we gather at “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rv 19:9). There’s always more. I suppose we are free to imagine our own Christian Calendar “bringing out treasures old and new” (Mt 13:52). Just don’t clutter it up.

Pentecost and Israel’s Annual Festivals:

When the Day of Pentecost had come

(Acts  2:1)

Pentecost is the second of three Torah prescribed annual festivals. It goes like this (Dt 16):

            Spring              -Passover celebrating the budding of the first fruits, and

                                                Commemorates the Passover lamb slain setting Israel free.

                                                Reading of Song of Songs filled with budding fruits.

            Summer           -Pentecost celebrating wheat (grain) harvest, and

                                                Commemorates the giving the Law at Sinai.

                                                Reading of Ruth and how God provides at harvest time.

            Autumn           -Tabernacles celebrating the latter harvest of grapes (fruits), and

                                                Commemorates Israel’s 40 years of tabernacle wanderings

                                                Reading of Ecclesiastes with its “times and seasons”.

Earth (agriculture) and Heaven (God’s gifts) give the festivals their annual rhythm. You can’t celebrate God’s gifts of deliverance without rejoicing in the earth’s goodness. We are estranged from agriculture’s annual rhythms. We just go to the grocery store and buy food. I’ve heard it said that due to big agriculture and big science, only three percent of our population work the fields producing more than we can consume. I suppose that’s a blessing; but, not one we are close to. We don’t experience the anxiety of seed time, rains and harvest. We imagine bread and fruit just popup on the shelves.

It goes back to creation (“let the earth bring forth”), and that rainbow that reminds us of God’s promise (Gn 8-9):

As long as the earth endures,

   seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

   shall not cease.

Our fallen earth remains good (Ac 14:15-17): “The living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, … gives you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and fills you with food and your hearts with joy." Israel’s three anuual festivals provided the occasion for God’s people to give thanks to God for the gifts of “rains from heaven and fruitful seasons.” That’s why, at each and every meal, we pray our prayers of thankfulness for God’s earthly bounty to us.

Eastertide #7

He who Descended is the same One who Ascended

(Ephesians 4:10)

Today, Ascension Thursday, the church celebrates how the One who “descended into the lower parts of the earth”—as low as you can go; is the same one who forty days later, “ascended far above all the heavens”—as high as one can go. The New Testament church put it to a hymn (Phil 2): God the eternal Son…

            Humbled himself and became obedient to death

                        --even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

                        and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

                       in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

                        to the glory of God the Father.

This “descent” and “ascent” is preserved in our earliest creeds:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord:

        …who was crucified, died, and was buried;

        he descended to the dead.

        On the third day he rose again;

        he ascended into heaven,

                        he is seated at the right hand of the Father…

The full name of this day is “The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.” It’s a festal day—a day for eating and drinking and rejoicing. It’s gospel—good news. The feast points to that feast that awaits us at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv 19). It’s a celebration of the whole of Christ who is always and already both lion and lamb (Rv 5):

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda,

        the Root of David, hath prevailed…

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

        to receive power and wealth and wisdom

        and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

It’s not as if God the Son once humbled himself, but is now triumphant—once a lamb, but now a lion. Our triumphant Lord will always be our humble Lord. That’s just who he is.

Eastertide #6

The One Who Ascended

(Ephesians 4:10)

 This Thursday is Ascension Day when the church celebrates how our resurrected Lord “ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill the whole universe” (Eph 4:10). There “far above the heavens” Christ receives gifts for his church which anticipates the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out in ten more days at Pentecost. From Christ’s ascension we receive…

            1.  Our heavenly Advocate, Christ Jesus, who “speaks to the Father in our behalf” (1Jn 2:1). Jesus knows us—he knows what it means to be human. And, it seems he has carried his humanity back into the Godhead, so that we speak of Jesus today as “the man Christ Jesus” who mediates in our behalf (1Tm 2:5). Or, to put it another way: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. So let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hb 4:15-16).

            2.  The Holy Spirit to keep us close to Jesus even when Jesus can no longer be seen going before us (Jn 14-16).

            3.  Meanwhile, Jesus is preparing a place for us in Glory so that where he is we will soon be (Jn 14).

In the early part of the eighteenth century, Charles Wesley gave the church the following ascension hymn:

Hail the day that sees Him rise,

To His throne above the skies,

 Christ, awhile to mortals given,

 Reascends His native heaven.

Him though highest Heav’n receives,

Still He loves the earth He leaves,

Though returning to His throne,

Still He calls mankind His own.

See! He lifts His hands above,

See! He shows the prints of love,

Hark! His gracious lips bestow,

Blessings on His church below.

The Christian calendar reminds us that Christ’s saving work continues after Easter Morning—there’s still more: “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Ro 8). There’s more—there is always more.

Eastertide #5

Behold Your Mother

(John 19:27)

It was a wonderful Mother’s Day Sunday—baby dedications and all. It just bothers me some that Mother’s Day Sunday intrudes into Eastertide. Wouldn’t it be better if Mother’s Day Sunday, like most civic holidays, could be celebrated after Pentecost when the calendar celebrates our “Ordinary Days”? After we celebrate the outpouring of Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday), we’re ready for our “Ordinary Days” that take up the rest of the year all the way to Advent.

But that’s not going to happen. You can’t mess with Mother’s Day Sunday. So let’s see if we can celebrate Mother’s Day Sunday within the sphere of Eastertide and the events of Holy Week? We do find motherhood there—on Mount Calvary of all places. While Jesus suffers on that Cross; Mary, along with those other Galilean women who followed Jesus all the way to Calvary, linger at the Cross watching and grieving. From the Cross, Jesus speaks to his mother: “Woman, behold your son!” It’s not a derogatory “woman”, for in the next breath Jesus calls her “mother.” Maybe it’s an upper case “Woman” as in “The Woman"—the mother of our Lord. While still speaking to his mother, Jesus turns to “the disciple whom he loved”, and says, “‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour on the disciple took Mary into his own household” (Jn 19:25-27). From the Cross, Jesus makes sure his mother is cared for. Tradition has it that John took care of Mary while pastoring the Ephesian church. I’m told you can find Mary’s tomb there to this day.