Sermons
"Back to the Beginning"Pastor Russell Norris |
They say there are three things you should never talk about in public, because people never agree on them, and it always leads to an argument. The three things you should never talk about are religion … politics … and sex. But I'm going to put my head on the chopping block this morning and talk about all three.
Why would I do such a thing? Am I a glutton for punishment? Do I not like my job? Do I have suicidal tendencies? No. It's just that today is Trinity Sunday. And there is no way to talk about the Holy Trinity this morning without mentioning religion, politics, and sex. (But not the way you think!)
The first problem I have to deal with, though, is that most people don't think the Trinity has anything to do with anything! I mean, what does the Holy Trinity have to do with real life? What does it have to do with my life - some abstract doctrine that a bunch of theologians hammered out more than 1,500 years ago, that we talk about once a year on Trinity Sunday? What could that possibly have to do with my life?
Well, I happen to think it has a lot to do with life. In fact, I think it has a lot to do with religion, politics, and sex. So just to start things off with a bang, lets talk about sex. What does the Holy Trinity have to do with sex, with gender -what it means to be male and female?
Because obviously, sex or gender has a lot to do with politics - it has a lot to do with this year's presidential campaign. No one talks about it, but it's the 800 pound gorilla in the living room. This is the first time in the history of our country that a woman has seriously run for president. And whether you like her or not - whether you think she can get elected or not - a lot of people will vote for or against her simply because she's a woman.
Well, what does the Holy Trinity have to do with all that? I think a lot. We may not understand the Trinity - I certainly don't - but that doesn't mean we can't learn something from it. To be honest, no one really understands how God can be three persons and one God at the same time. As we sang in our sermon hymn, the Trinity is a dance - a dance of three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - a dance at the very heart of God, that's been going on since before the universe was created.
We may not understand it; we may not be able to explain it; but God, we confess - God is a community of persons - a unity in diversity, you might say. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But there aren't three separate gods; there is only one God in three persons. I can't explain it. And neither could the ancient church, even when they wrote the Nicene Creed. All they knew is that there is one God, whom we meet in three persons.
Now what does all that have to do with politics - and with this never-ending political campaign? For that answer we really have to go back to the beginning - to the very beginning - to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which also happens to be the first lesson this morning. What does it say? It says "God created humankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
Wow! You and I are created in the image and likeness of God. We may often show it. But in a profound and mysterious way, there is a reflection of God, a divine spark, in every single human being. What is that divine spark? What is that image? On Trinity Sunday we worship one God in three persons - you see, at the very heart of God is this unity in diversity. And that unity in diversity is stamped on our human nature, because we are made in the image of the Triune God. We reflect the image of God's unity in diversity. What does that mean?
That means that you and I are made to live in community - just as God is a community of persons. The idea of the rugged individualist - that's a myth. We are not fully human without others. Take for example what happens in marriage. Last Friday I met with a couple getting married next month, and I said to them, "Marriage is a community of two persons who become one." You're still two separate persons, but in marriage something new is created. As Jesus said, "A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh." Unity in diversity.
Now why did God do that? Why did God make us that way? Because a community of persons united in love reflects the very image of God. It is what God is - a community of persons united in love. I know in my own life that were I to lose Dixie, I would lose a part of myself - there would be a hole in my life. I would no longer be a complete person. And I believe the same is true for her.
There is something in our human nature that just isn't complete without the other. And in recent years we've come to see that women and men are equally capable. Women can be everything from fire fighters to fighter pilots. Just as men can be everything from nurses to school teachers. Both of us are created in the image and likeness of God. So there's no reason why a woman can't be a pastor or a president. We all reflect the glory of God. We are all children of God. And we need both. Unity in diversity.
Well, that's all I have to say on sex. You can breathe again. But there's another issue in this political campaign that no one is talking about - except for a couple of sermons and a couple of speeches - no one is really talking about the issue of race. And yet, race underlies almost everything - not just in this campaign, not just in America, but all over the world.
We often hear talk about racism in America; but there's just as much racism in Europe or South America or Asia. We live in a world on the move. Drought, famine and economics are driving massive migrations of people all over the planet. And as people move from place to place, they clash. Mexicans and Latinos cross the Rio Grande looking for a better life. Turks and North Africans looking for work in France, Germany, Holland. Ethnic Chinese relocated to Tibet. Not to mention the conflicts in Africa between Hutus and Tutsis, or the disaster in Darfur.
Who is talking about the problem of race today? I don't hear much from any of our political candidates; even though one of them is the first African American to run a serious campaign for president. It's almost as if they all want to avoid it, to sweep it under the rug. It's too controversial. But everywhere you look today, you see the clash of race and tribe and clan. What can the Holy Trinity teach us about race?
Let's go back to the beginning again. What does it say in Genesis? It says "God created humankind in his image; in the image of God he created them..." In the image of God. The Bible says we are all brothers and sisters, children of the same heavenly Father. The things that unite us are so much more important that the things that divide us!
So it's no surprise that modern science has come to the same conclusion. When we study our DNA - what makes us human - we find that people are more alike than they are different. In fact, genetically, there's a greater range of difference within each of the "races" than between them. Well, that's obvious, isn't it? Look at the Swedes. Then compare them to their fellow Europeans in, say, Italy or Greece! Not much resemblance there!
Look at Africa. Who are the real Africans - the ones from Morocco and Egypt, or the ones from Tanzania and the Congo? They're all Africans. Americans tend to think all Asians look alike, but don't tell that to the Japanese, or the Koreans, or the Chinese! The more you think about it, the harder it is to pin down exactly what "race" is. Some scholars have even suggested there is no such thing as race - only more or less pronounced ethnic characteristics.
We are, as the Bible says, all children of the same heavenly Father. We bear the image and likeness of God. Just as the Trinity is a unity in diversity, in the same way we reflect God's oneness in spite of all the things that separate us. In fact, come on now, isn't it the differences that make life interesting? Not just the physical differences, but differences in language, culture, philosophy, religion. Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same? God created us to be a community of persons united in love.
Now I said this was a sermon about religion, politics and sex. What I mean is this. In the heat of all the campaign rhetoric - in the midst of all the "politics as usual" - we need to move beyond the things that divide us, and look at the things that unite us. This is an historic moment in our national life. The first woman candidate for president - the first African American - the oldest person ever to run for president. No matter what happens, we're going to end up with a first!
Through it all, we need to focus on the things that unite us, not on the things that divide us. On this Feast of the Holy Trinity, it's good to remember that fusty old doctrines, like the Trinity, might actually say something important about who we are and whose we are. We can choose to focus on what divides us; or we can focus on what unites us.
You and I are made in the image of God - a God who is a community of persons united in love: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That same unity in diversity is stamped on our very nature. We are a diverse people - male and female, from many different backgrounds - but we are united as brothers and sisters, children of the same heavenly Father. We need to seek the unity we share in the midst of our diversity. Amen.