Dylan's lectionary blog

Trinity Sunday, Year C

John 16:(5-11)12-15 - link to NRSV text

Last year, I preached on Trinity Sunday. Here's my sermon from then, which was written with a different gospel text in mind, but I think would fit for this year as well.

It opens with an acknowledgment of the incomprehensibility of the doctrine of the Trinity. Since when did three equal one? For many years, it was hard for me to appreciate something that I knew I could never compreheand. I think now, though, that the incomprehensibility -- literally, that one cannot take it in, capture it in the hand -- is not at all beside the point. Where on earth did I get the idea that anything important ought to be something my mind could contain?

A lot of us get into a trap of thinking that we could be in relationship -- that we could initiate contact or reconciliation -- with someone if we could comprehend them first. It seems safer that way, somehow. And some of us get that way with God too. We substitute trying to figure out Jesus for following Jesus. We substitute trying to figure out God for loving God.

To me, that's one important thing that the doctrine of the Trinity says. It says that "In the beginning, God made sense and followed the rules" is one of the silliest stories the human race has ever told. The doctrine of the Trinity says that God's eternal nature is as relationship -- that God was, is, and always will be Love. And love isn't about understanding; it's about trusting, and committing, to someone who is Other, different, incomprehensible. Because when we claim to love because we think we comprehend, we are only loving what's also in us. We call that "narcissism." Love requires an other.

So the doctrine of the Trinity gives me hope for our Christian community. We are made in the image of the God who is Love. We are made in the image of Love. Love is what we were born for, and the universe arcs toward it. Love is our home, to which God is calling us. We don't need to understand. We need to listen. Indeed, when we think we understand, we stop listening.

Keep listening. Keep loving. And, as Talking Heads were wont to say back when I was in high school, "Stop Making Sense."

Thanks be to God!

Trinity Sunday, Year C

John 16:(5-11)12-15 - link to NRSV text

Last year, I preached on Trinity Sunday. Here's my sermon from then, which was written with a different gospel text in mind, but I think would fit for this year as well.

It opens with an acknowledgment of the incomprehensibility of the doctrine of the Trinity. Since when did three equal one? For many years, it was hard for me to appreciate something that I knew I could never compreheand. I think now, though, that the incomprehensibility -- literally, that one cannot take it in, capture it in the hand -- is not at all beside the point. Where on earth did I get the idea that anything important ought to be something my mind could contain?

A lot of us get into a trap of thinking that we could be in relationship -- that we could initiate contact or reconciliation -- with someone if we could comprehend them first. It seems safer that way, somehow. And some of us get that way with God too. We substitute trying to figure out Jesus for following Jesus. We substitute trying to figure out God for loving God.

To me, that's one important thing that the doctrine of the Trinity says. It says that "In the beginning, God made sense and followed the rules" is one of the silliest stories the human race has ever told. The doctrine of the Trinity says that God's eternal nature is as relationship -- that God was, is, and always will be Love. And love isn't about understanding; it's about trusting, and committing, to someone who is Other, different, incomprehensible. Because when we claim to love because we think we comprehend, we are only loving what's also in us. We call that "narcissism." Love requires an other.

So the doctrine of the Trinity gives me hope for our Christian community. We are made in the image of the God who is Love. We are made in the image of Love. Love is what we were born for, and the universe arcs toward it. Love is our home, to which God is calling us. We don't need to understand. We need to listen. Indeed, when we think we understand, we stop listening.

Keep listening. Keep loving. And, as Talking Heads were wont to say back when I was in high school, "Stop Making Sense."

Thanks be to God!

Comments

Trinity Sunday, Year C

John 16:(5-11)12-15 - link to NRSV text

Last year, I preached on Trinity Sunday. Here's my sermon from then, which was written with a different gospel text in mind, but I think would fit for this year as well.

It opens with an acknowledgment of the incomprehensibility of the doctrine of the Trinity. Since when did three equal one? For many years, it was hard for me to appreciate something that I knew I could never compreheand. I think now, though, that the incomprehensibility -- literally, that one cannot take it in, capture it in the hand -- is not at all beside the point. Where on earth did I get the idea that anything important ought to be something my mind could contain?

A lot of us get into a trap of thinking that we could be in relationship -- that we could initiate contact or reconciliation -- with someone if we could comprehend them first. It seems safer that way, somehow. And some of us get that way with God too. We substitute trying to figure out Jesus for following Jesus. We substitute trying to figure out God for loving God.

To me, that's one important thing that the doctrine of the Trinity says. It says that "In the beginning, God made sense and followed the rules" is one of the silliest stories the human race has ever told. The doctrine of the Trinity says that God's eternal nature is as relationship -- that God was, is, and always will be Love. And love isn't about understanding; it's about trusting, and committing, to someone who is Other, different, incomprehensible. Because when we claim to love because we think we comprehend, we are only loving what's also in us. We call that "narcissism." Love requires an other.

So the doctrine of the Trinity gives me hope for our Christian community. We are made in the image of the God who is Love. We are made in the image of Love. Love is what we were born for, and the universe arcs toward it. Love is our home, to which God is calling us. We don't need to understand. We need to listen. Indeed, when we think we understand, we stop listening.

Keep listening. Keep loving. And, as Talking Heads were wont to say back when I was in high school, "Stop Making Sense."

Thanks be to God!

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