Immediate Word

For June 16, 2019:

• Lover. Beloved. Love. by Tom Willadsen — The concept of the Trinity is imperfect, incomplete and mysterious. Words can never fully express what it means that God is in “three persons,” as the song goes. Still, there is benefit for Christians to imagine God in this way. (Aren’t you glad Trinity Sunday is only once a year?)
• Second Thoughts: Queer Trinity by Bethany Peerbolte — Here is my confession. After years of seminary training, countless books read, and personal conviction…I still slip up and use male pronouns for God. I don’t want to!...
• Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Ron Love and Chris Keating.
• Worship resources by George Reed — Trinity; Wisdom and Sophia.
• Children’s sermon: Therefore Get Wisdom by Dean Feldmeyer — The “Wisdom Literature” in the Bible has much to teach us.

Lover. Beloved. Love.
by Tom Willadsen
John 16:12-15; Romans 5:1-5; Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8

Today is the only day in the liturgical year given to a point of theology. It can be a challenge to make the Trinity relevant to modern, 21st century Americans. There’s a reason we call the doctrine of the Trinity a mystery. It is something that sets Christians apart from Judaism and Islam, though often misunderstood by them. While all three identify as monotheistic, the Trinity sets Christians apart because it shows that Godself is in a dynamic relationship. The Trinity can be reclaimed, even celebrated — the challenge, preacher, is to make it clear, perhaps showing how it makes Christians distinct is a good approach. Yes, it’s common in this age of pluralism and shallow commitment to opine, “All religions say the same thing.” Today, try to challenge that notion and help your congregation claim one thing that makes Christians distinct.

In the News
Last week we marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a critical turning point in the World War II. Survivors are all past 90 years old, in a few years there will be no veteran alive who survived that battle. How will our commemorations and national memorials of D-Day change when all we have are written and recorded memories?

Coinciding with D-Day memorials, President Trump is visiting Great Britain. Both nations are seeking to change their foreign and trade policies to focus more narrowly on what is in their immediate best interest. As Britain wrestles with Brexit, the United States is unilaterally pulling out of international agreements. Iran appears to have resumed its efforts to enrich uranium since the United States withdrew from The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (aka. The Iran Deal).

In spite of resistance from the national Chamber of Commerce, the auto industry and agricultural interests, President Trump threatened a 5% tariff on imports from Mexico to go into effect Monday, June 10. He threatened to increase the tariff by 5% each month until Mexico stemmed the flow of migrants entering Mexico en route to the United States. The President’s tariff is a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been in effect since 1994. (Trump ultimately called the tariffs off after an agreement (of which the details were agreed to months ago) with Mexico was reached.)

In a world that is spinning away from cooperation and toward isolation, what can the doctrine of the Trinity say to Christians — and nations — today?

In the Bible

The Great Commission Matthew 28:19-20
The Great Commission is not a lectionary reading for June 16, but it is worth referencing on Trinity Sunday. Scholars dispute whether Jesus actually uttered these words, but it is clear that very early in the Christian church people were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism is the most universal Christian practice, so giving one Sunday a year to the Trinity is a good reminder of our roots, our heritage in the Christian church from its very beginning.

John 16:12-15
Today’s reading from John is the fifth and last statement Jesus makes about the Holy Spirit in his farewell to the disciples discourse from chapters 14 through 17. Jesus promises that a spirit of truth will come. The disciples are not ready to receive everything Christ needs to tell them, which recalls Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —

It is not that Jesus plans to slant the truth in speaking with his disciples, rather the truth is so bright they would be blinded by it if it came all at once.

This word is not intended only for the disciples, however. This message is also intended for all Christians on this side of the resurrection.

It may also be that the disciples simply had to experience life in Christ, life in the Spirit, for themselves before they could bear more of Christ’s teaching. Of all the explanations for the Messianic Secret I’ve ever heard, the need for one to experience the grace or love of Christ for oneself is the most persuasive.

Faith would be completely different if it had gone like this in the first chapter of John’s gospel: “I have seen the Lord!”

“Excellent, I believe that you know the Living God, and your experience is good enough for me, I’m in!”

Perhaps Jesus told so many people not to reveal his true identity so that one could only know Christ through personal experience.

Since words cannot fully express the reality of the living God it may make sense to get at the concept of the Trinity indirectly, as Emily Dickinson suggests. What if we conceived of God as a verb rather than a noun? What words would we use?

Finally, on Trinity Sunday it’s worth noting that the Holy Spirit that Christ promises to send to his disciples, is in no way independent from God and Christ, rather the Spirit will glorify Christ and reveal what will come from God and Christ.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
The first three verses of this reading are a kind of prologue. Starting at v. 4, Wisdom herself is speaking. Humanity is not mentioned until v.31, so stay humble, preacher. There is a playfulness to Wisdom’s presence with the creator. Note that Wisdom herself reports that she was created by God. Orthodox Christianity affirms that all three persons in the Trinity have always existed, none having been created by another. So do not equate Wisdom with the Holy Spirit. 
 
Psalm 8
Psalm 8 is filled with wonder. It is unusual because it is in the second person, that is, the psalmist addresses God. This psalm acknowledges God as majestic and sovereign — and puts humanity almost on the same level with the creator. The creator made everything and then put little ol’ humanity in charge of it. These words should convey a holy and humble sense of wonder in their hearers.

Romans 5:1-5
The doctrine of the Trinity is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Today’s reading from Romans, however, comes pretty close to establishing the Trinity. All three persons in the Trinity are mentioned, but not as a unit. Peace comes to humanity through Christ and is sustained by Christ who is the mediator of grace. One could argue that Christ is the road grace uses, or is grace’s conduit. Grace is the on-going presence of the Holy Spirit through which one feels the presence of God.

In the Sermon
The doctrine of the Trinity is a metaphor and a mystery. It describes a relationship within Godself that is dynamic. Just as all human relationships are in flux, because to be alive is to change, any way we conceive of, or experience, God is also dynamic and in flux.

The elusive nature of God as expressed in the Trinity recalls “Love is a Rose” written by Neil Young, though Linda Ronstadt had a hit with it.

Love is a rose
but you better not pick it
It only grows when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns and
you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love
when you say the word "mine".

As soon as you grasp it, you lose it, because God is dynamic and alive and sovereign and free. If all you convey in today’s sermon is that your congregation will benefit from what you have to say.

Most of the people in worship today will know about the Trinity, because “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.” The impact that that particular belief has on everyday life is probably not something that keeps 21st century American Protestants up at night.

When I was serving a church I used to tell the congregation that we would have a much bigger argument over the color of the carpet in the sanctuary than over the nature of our triune God. (For my first 15 years the carpet was a deep pile, almost shag and orange. It could have been in Mike Brady’s den back in 1972. The carpet had the hidden advantage of giving the whole church a common enemy. I presided at one wedding that used the autumn hues to advantage. One wedding in 19 years.)

I could have espoused modalism — that is that God is like the three forms of water: ice, water and steam — and no one would have cared. I could have espoused Arianism — that Christ and the Holy Spirit were created by God, and God, the creator — is above Christ and the Holy Spirit. No one would have noticed or even cared. Arianism may have even been most of the congregation’s default setting. I tried to get the members on several occasions and in different contexts to address God in prayer with a variety of names — Creator, Lord of All, Mother, Protector, Shield — but none of these ever felt natural to those who tried them.

I am drawing heavily from an article called “God is Triune — so what?” by William Placher, which appeared in The Cresset, Easter 2004. Placher observed that lots of preachers may be tempted to preach about something like Father’s Day or Flag Day on Trinity Sunday.  Karl Rahner said that if the Doctrine of the Trinity were dropped as false, most Christians’ lives would be unaffected. The Trinity may be in the printed catechism, but it is not in the catechism of the heart.

Placher points out that when Jesus cried out on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in Mark’s gospel, it was the first time Jesus did not address God as “Father.” So what can it mean that Jesus—who we acknowledge is God—is praying to God? Or in Gethsemane when Jesus poured out his heart in prayer, when he was so stressed he sweat blood, was Jesus talking to himself?

“So Jesus is God, and the one he called his Father is God. But it gets even more complicated than that. In John’s Gospel, Jesus promises his disciples that when he leaves them he will send them another advocate, counselor, comforter, someone else to be on their side.” [Placher, p. 13]
Placher contends that most people will never encounter something as dramatic as the Holy Spirit coming into the disciples at Pentecost, but we can and do respond to the stories we hear about Jesus in the gospels. John Calvin called that experience “the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit.” This is not something we do or accomplish; it’s more of a gift that is revealed to be within us.

Placher gives three answers to the “So what?” in his title, each of which is worth exploring and conveying to those who will hear your sermon.

First, “the Doctrine of the Trinity…reminds us that persons are essentially in relation.” [Placher, p. 17] To be human is to be in relationship with other people. John Donne wrote “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were…” We’re all in this together. The D-Day invasion is just another example of how essential other people are to one another. How would our current trade disputes and stressed relations with other nations be different if we recognized our mutuality? Exceptionalism is costly to maintain and exposes those at the top of the hierarchy to threats from all other nations. The most pressing problem we face on earth is global warming caused by human economic activity. The solution, if one exists, can only come through all people in all nations working together.

Placher’s second use for the Trinity is that monarchs dislike it. There are a few dots to connect on this one, the rejection of the idea by one group does not prove its value. But as Jurgen Moltmann wrote, “It is only when the Doctrine of the Trinity vanquishes the monotheistic notion of the great, universal monarch in heaven and his divine patriarchs in the world, that earthly rulers, dictators, and tyrants cease to find any justifying religious archetypes anymore.”

Christians believe that there is not one entity at the top of a divine hierarchy, it’s rather a dynamic, related, mysterious, fluid, creative force behind the universe. A society based on a hierarchy of nobility is not a model one finds in Christianity. If the Trinity is used as a defense of hierarchy, it’s probably Arianism.

Placher’s third use for the Trinity is that it bridges a gap that allows humanity into relation with the eternal. We believe — and experience — God as both transcendent and imminent. Psalm 8 captures both of these nicely. We marvel both at the beauty of the stars and the firmament into which the Creator placed them, but also that that same creator is mindful of us, and given us dominion over the earth. The Creator is both amazing, enormous, terrifying and powerful, but also profoundly concerned about life on earth. Jesus says the Creator even knows the number of hairs on our heads!

This immanent and transcendent one took the form of a slave, was born in human likeness, humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death. (Philippians 2:7-8) All this action can be expressed in the single word “love.” And love, the verb, can be imagined as the third “person” in the Trinity. Augustine gets at this when he writes: “For I do not love love, except I love a lover; for there is no love where nothing is loved. Therefore there are three things — he who loves, and that which is loved” and love itself.
Lover. Beloved. Love. Is one way to point to the mystery of the Trinity.



SECOND THOUGHTS
Queer Trinity
by Bethany Peerbolte
Proverbs 8:1-31

Here is my confession. After years of seminary training, countless books read, and personal conviction…I still slip up and use male pronouns for God. I don’t want to! The struggle against the years of only hearing male pronouns used for God is real. I can remember the first Trinity Sunday at a new church while I was in college when the pastor used female pronouns when referencing God. I was floored! I felt like I could physically feel a cornerstone of my faith set into place. God is not a boy’s name. 

For some churches, the Spirit is the only part of the Trinity where “she” feels even slightly appropriate. The Spirit is the wisdom bearer and since Proverbs allows that responsibility to held by a female, the Spirit can be female too. Many of these churches do not let women bear wisdom in their pulpits, but that’s a different article altogether. For some churches, saying “she” in reference to God will not feel so awkward. A diligent pastor can retrain a congregation’s ear over years of preaching and teaching. For these churches I lay down a challenge, take it further. 

Trinity Sunday falls in the middle of Pride Month this year. The colorful and exuberant images have flooded social media and news networks for two weeks already. Articles for and against Pride celebrations have been shared and argued over. Now is a great time to talk about Queer Theology. 

If that notion just gave you anxiety sweats, go watch Pamela Lightsey’s interview about her new book Our Lives Matter. Pamela is the Associate Dean for Community Life and Lifelong Learning, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology and Practice at Boston University School of Theology. She is also a self-identified queer lesbian ordained elder in full connection in the United Methodist Church. Her new book explores the emergent intellectual movement known as queer theology.

In her interview, Lightsey begins by explaining her identity as “queer.” This term has fallen out and back into use over the years. Used as a derogatory term for so long, many are beginning to identify as queer because of it’s all-encompassing ability. Queer is a word that pushes back on both ends. It reclaims itself from derogatory use and challenges hearers to stop and ask what it means. It allows those who identify as queer to define themselves how they wish to be defined. 

As a way to help understand the queer identity, queer theory has been developed. While still very young this theory looks at normativism in the world and society and deconstructs what it claims to know. Normativity puts people into boxes, male/female, gay/straight. Queer theory deconstructs those boxes to show that the world does not easily settle into these definitions. There are nonbinary ways to exist. Queer theory examines gender identity, gender presentation, and sexual orientation and how these things help or hurt a person as they interact with the world. 

If queer theory is new, queer theology is even more so. Queer Theology looks at how non-cis straight people have faith, practice their faith, and how doctrine impacts their lives and their relationship with God. Pamela Lightsey’s book is the first to be written about Queer Theology. It looks at the struggle of saying all people are people of sacred worth but the rules, policies, and practices of the church today do not enact that belief.  

Lightsey seeks wholeness for all people. She wants them to feel their sacred worth apart from the suffering society enacts on them. The struggles in our world cause people to feel worthless. Hatred is born from low self-worth, but God sees everyone as whole. We are not people secluded from God until we get our lives in order. Instead, as the trinity represents, we are all in this together. We are not only worth something when we rise up and meet the standards of this world, God says we are wholly worthy now and forever. And not just us, but everyone. We must address the forces that make people feel less than whole because when one of us feels less than whole we all suffer. 

Lightsey used the Black Lives Matter movement to show how we can stand together against worth-depleting forces. The movement is often criticized for not having defined leadership. The role is played by a rotating group of people, whose faces change with every event. Lightsey says this is because the Black Lives Matter movement is “leader-full.” She defines this term by saying there are many people who lead well in the movement. One person’s skills may be useful today, another’s tomorrow. They never know who might be called on to fill a need, but the needs are always met. The free flow of power and representation is a strength, not a weakness. 

This Trinity Sunday (during Pride month) may be the perfect time to introduce our congregations to a Queer theology. Depending on a congregation’s context, I could see a sermon heading in one of three directions. 

I could see a sermon about a leader-full trinity, where power is shared and gifts are used as the need arises. Using the Black Lives Matter movement as a modern example. The preacher could present that God, the creator, was more than willing to let Jesus have his time on earth and has been happy to let the Spirit take the spotlight after that. 

For those comfortable with “he” or “she” gender pronouns for God, the sermon could challenge listeners to hear differently again. The Trinity offers a unique chance to use all pronouns appropriately, she, he and they. Stopping at a binary he/she option is selling the Trinity short. Trinity is in its nature non-binary. While it would take more work to use all three pronoun structures, it would be worth it for the “they’s” in the pew to hear God be “they” as well. 

When I heard Pamela Lightsey describe what being queer meant to her I could not help but hear her describing the Spirit. That it was all-encompassing. That it challenged both the status-quo and the progressive view. That is was not well understood and may never be but that is what makes it powerful.



ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Mary Austin:

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Lady Wisdom
One personification in our world of the figure of Lady Wisdom is Mollie Pier, who promptly asked for a computer when she was hospitalized at the age of 85. Pier and her co-conspirators are part of the Elder Wisdom Circle, and they give advice on a range of topics to anyone who asks for it. The group of elders, who range in age from 60 to 103, give advice via the internet to seekers around the world. “After applying to the group and going through a screening process, the seniors are free to scan submissions to see which ones they can best answer. "I've been asked everything from how to deal with the death of a loved one to how to start a worm farm from home," says Jim Kowalczyk, 64, one of the younger members of the circle.” Explains founder Doug Meckelson, "A lot of people don't have standard family structure or elders to help them in tough situations, people are coming to us with complex problems." Meckelson, “who calls himself a "refugee from the corporate world," is not an elder himself but says he always had a strong affinity for seniors stemming from a close relationship with his maternal grandmother. "She always said we don't treat seniors well here, and told me I would do something about that one day," he said.”

The site showcases past gifts of wisdom, including: [about a neighbor’s unruly child] “The problem with a neighbor confronting them about their lack of parenting skills is you risk alienating them altogether. Most people don’t appreciate being told they are missing the mark as parents. This is their child and ultimately their problem to fix. I’m not sure there is a gentle way to tell someone their child is being a brat and needs disciplining. Even though they may recognize this to be true, they won’t necessarily appreciate a neighbor calling them on it. I imagine they will continue to make excuses for his behavior rather than face what needs to be done.

“If I were you, I would continue to be friends with these people until such time as their child calls you another inappropriate name or physically attacks you. At that point, I would politely get up and tell them it’s time for you to leave. They will subtly get the hint that you no longer wish to subject yourself to his ongoing antics. Unfortunately, this means the friendship may suffer as a result, but to me, I see only two options: Continue to visit at your own peril, or don’t go at all to avoid an unpleasant situation. Perhaps if they lose someone’s friendship they will get the hint that their son needs to be brought under control. Sadly, it is up to them to do so. Children need healthy boundaries in order to feel safe and properly cared for. Unfortunately not every parent gets that. Some parents would rather turn a blind eye than risk a confrontation. This leaves the child on shaky ground wondering who’s in control, if not his parents.

I appreciate your dilemma, but at the end of the day, this is their problem — not yours.”

Wisdom is alive in our world, through our own lady (and gentleman) Wisdom figures.

* * *

Psalm 8
The Handiwork of God
The psalmist speaks in awe of God’s handiwork, saying, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” This question becomes all the more poignant when we consider that NASA has found an earth-like planet, where life forms like ours could exist. “The planet, Kepler-452b, is described as a larger, older Earth and is located around a star 1,400 light years from Earth. It is the first terrestrial planet found in the habitable zone in a star just like our sun. NASA said it is about 60 percent larger than Earth and lies in the constellation Cygnus. The exact nature of the planet is not known specifically, but NASA's modelling suggests it is a rocky planet, about five times as massive as Earth, orbiting its star once every 385 days. The planet's star is 1.5 billion years older than our own, and is now growing hotter and brighter — as our star will do in about a billion years.”

Scientists are listening to the planet for signs of other created life. “The planet is so similar to Earth the SETI Institute is now listening out for signals from the star Kepler 452 — though so far it has had no luck…NASA also announced that 521 new exoplanet candidates had been discovered, 12 of which have diameters between one and two times Earths, and orbit in their star's habitable zone. Nine orbit stars similar to ours in size and temperature.”

We live in awe of the work of God’s hands, and scientists may discover yet more places and forms of life to inspire our grateful sense of wonder.

* * *

Psalm 8
A New Pronoun for the Earth
As scientists discover the intelligence in birds, animals and insects, it has been argued that we need a new pronoun for the earth. “Singing whales, talking trees, dancing bees, birds who make art, fish who navigate, plants who learn and remember. We are surrounded by intelligences other than our own, by feathered people and people with leaves. But we’ve forgotten. There are many forces arrayed to help us forget — even the language we speak.” The word “it” doesn’t do justice to the wonder of God’s creation, says Robin Wall Kimmerer, who is, she says, “a beginning student of my native Anishinaabe language…So I’m paying a lot of attention to grammar lately. Grammar is how we chart relationships through language, including our relationship with the Earth.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer says, “But in Anishinaabe and many other indigenous languages, it’s impossible to speak of Sugar Maple as “it.” We use the same words to address all living beings as we do our family. Because they are our family. What would it feel like to be part of a family that includes birches and beavers and butterflies? We’d be less lonely. We’d feel like we belonged. We’d be smarter.”

The psalmist speaks with reverence about the creation, the gift we have from God’s hands. Robin Wall Kimmerer has a similar awe, and suggests, “We don’t need a worldview of Earth beings as objects anymore. That thinking has led us to the precipice of climate chaos and mass extinction. We need a new language that reflects the life-affirming world we want. A new language, with its roots in an ancient way of thinking.” We can learn that from the psalmist, too, to see the world around us as the direct handiwork of our creator God.

* * *

The Dancing Trinity
The Trinity is often described with the word perichoresis to convey the mysterious in-dwelling of the three members of the trio with one another. One writer says, “The theologians in the early church tried to describe this wonderful reality that we call Trinity. If any of you have ever been to a Greek wedding, you may have seen their distinctive way of dancing ... It’s called perichoresis. There are not two dancers, but at least three. They start to go in circles, weaving in and out in this very beautiful pattern of motion. They start to go faster and faster and faster, all the while staying in perfect rhythm and in sync with each other. Eventually, they are dancing so quickly (yet so effortlessly) that as you look at them, it just becomes a blur. Their individual identities are part of a larger dance. The early church fathers and mothers looked at that dance (perichoresis) and said, “That’s what the Trinity is like.” It’s a harmonious set of relationship in which there is mutual giving and receiving. This relationship is called love, and it’s what the Trinity is all about. The perichoresis is the dance of love.”

A man named Peter Sharp aims to bring this idea to life, one dance at a time. He often startles people by standing up on a train and saying something like, “A train roars through the night, its passengers staring vacantly out the window or into their smart phones. A young man approaches the front of the carriage and announces: “Ladies and gentlemen, is it just me or is this train sometimes like this emotionless tunnel where people stop communicating with one another?” The passengers glance around nervously, embarrassed, eyes downcast. “I actually believe life can be much more interesting than this and the only person preventing us from making it a little more interesting is ourselves,” he continues. Bemused expressions, shock. “So what I’m going to do is, I’m going to start dancing and if any of you would like to join you’re more than welcome. This is funky Friday, let’s get funky.” The sounds of a dance tunes blast through the carriage and the man erupts into dance. Half smiles, awkward glances. But then one lady gets up and joins him. A man joins them. Others stand up, hesitantly at first but then exploding into uninhibited dance. Soon virtually everyone is up dancing. Smiles shine out as strangers dance through the train. Barriers drop, fears evaporate and joy emanates.”

Peter Sharp invites people to dance by creating “impromptu dance parties in the Perth CBD, he’s shocked shoppers by dancing through aisles at the supermarket and, most recently, he challenged notions of racism by staging an act in which a blindfolded Aboriginal girl stood on the beach with a sign asking for free hugs — and received them.” He believes people are willing to dance when they’re invited, and he extends the invitation wherever he goes. On Trinity Sunday, we might find God inviting us into the same kind of joyful dance.


* * * * * *

From team member Ron Love:

Psalm 8:3
“the work of your fingers”
The Crystal Cathedral, the former worship center for Robert Schuller in Garden Grove, Orange County, California, is an architectural marvel. Beyond the support beams, it is encased in 10,000 panes of tempered glass. There were two reason for the design. The first is to reenact Schuller’s ministry which started in 1955 as he perched in a drive-in theater. The glass would not separate him from those who wish not to worship in the sanctuary, but would still remain in their automobiles. In his words, the original “car-church where there were no walls or ceiling and where I fell from the sky!” The second reason is that Schuller believed that every living creature created by God had a natural living habitat. Birds had the air and fish had the water. Humans, according to Schuller, had the Garden of Eden. The Crystal Cathedral, with flowing water and plants on the interior, and a glass structure that allowed, in his words, the “transparent walls and roof and clear glass allows the sun and sky sparks come through our wonderful sanctuary” presented a worship setting that resembled the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, the all glass structure made the cathedral look like and acted like a greenhouse for growing crops indoors. As the cathedral had the same structural properties of a greenhouse, until the circulation system could be corrected the heat and humidity within the Crystal Cathedral was unbearable.

Robert Schuller erred in trying to create something that only God can create.

* * *

Psalm 8:3
“the work of your fingers”
Rick Warren is the founding and senior pastor of Saddleback Church. Warren began his career as a youth pastor, but had always set his ambitions on being the pastor of a megachurch. In order to accomplish this goal, he studied the demographics of California to locate the fastest growing community in the fastest growing county in the state. He determined it was the Lake Forest community in Orange County. In January 1980 he began a home church with seven individuals and his wife. During the immediate years of establishing his home church, Warren convinced his followers to either sell their homes or take a second mortgage to raise enough money to build his own church. From there the church grew in proportion to the increasing population of Orange County, the same county that Robert Schuller decided to establish his Crystal Cathedral and for the same demographic reasons. Saddleback Church is presently the sixth-largest megachurch in the country with a weekly average attendance of 20,000. Warren speaks of the miraculous success of his church, attributing its growth to following what he calls the “crowd core,” or the five purposes of ministry – worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. Warren contributes the growth of Saddleback to adhering to his five purposes; but, he fails to inform the public that he set out to build a megachurch and did so as much by demographics as to adhering to the “crowd core.”

* * *

Psalm 8:3
“the work of your fingers”
In 2002, Rick Warren, the founder of Saddleback Church, a megachurch in Orange County, California, published his now well-known book The Purpose Driven Life. The book has 40 chapters that are divided into six major sections, with the following titles: What on Earth Am I Here For?; Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure; Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God's Family; Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ; Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God; Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission. The first sentence of the book is often quoted, “It's not about you.” The Purpose Driven Life was on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 90 weeks. In 2019, 32 million copies have been sold in more than 85 languages. When discussing the book Warren always acts surprised at its success. What Rick Warren has never told the public is months prior to its publication a major marketing firm was employed to assure its success. Yet Rick, wanting people to know he is still humble despite being the pastor of a megachurch with a blockbuster book, tells people that he still drives his same old pickup truck.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, whose net worth is over $700 million, has been criticized for a comment he made on why he uses one of his three private jets instead of flying commercial. He said, in a 2015 interview, that commercial airlines cause an “agitating of the spirit.” He went on to say, “You can’t manage that today, in this dope-filled world, get in a long tube with a bunch of demons. And it’s deadly.” It was considered by many that he thought the passengers on the planes were demons. In defense Copeland said, “It’s a biblical thing, it’s a spiritual thing, it doesn’t have anything to do with people. People? I love people. Jesus loves people. But people get pushed into alcohol. Do you think that’s a good place for a preacher to be and prepare to preach?” According to Copeland the demons are the principalities and powers that inhabit people that creates the demonic environment on commercial airlines.

People often don’t understand the truth of the Holy Spirit as being for self-serving justification of their actions.
 
* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, whose net worth is over $700 million, has been criticized for a comment he made on why he uses one of his three private jets instead of flying commercial. He said, in a 2015 interview that you can’t “talk to God” while flying commercial. In 2018, televangelist Jesse Duplantis, whose net worth is estimated at $40 million, faced similar backlash for asking his followers to bankroll a $54 million Falcon 7X jet, which would be his fourth jet, responded in kind that you can’t talk to God on a commercial airplane. In a dialogue with Copeland, sitting at a round breakfast table, he told the story that once when flying on his private jet God spoke to him and told him he was stagnating. He then related how he stood up at his seat, raised his arms to the heavens, and engaged God in a dialogue. Both evangelists then joked how passengers on a commercial flight would ridicule them for such an expression of faith. Copeland followed this by imitating a commercial airline passenger by pointing to seat that would be next to him, and then mockingly saying, “And the guy in the next seat over would say, ‘What the hell does he think he’s doing!’”  Both evangelists laughed and agreed that a private jet is needed because it provided a “sanctuary” that will “protect anointing” that God has placed upon them.

People often don’t understand the truth of the Holy Spirit being used for self-serving justification of their actions.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, whose net worth is over $700 million, was interviewed in 2015 by Lisa Guerrero for Inside Edition. In the interview Copeland said he was a “very wealthy man.” He justified his wealth by saying the covenant God made was not a Jewish covenant but a “Abrahamic Blessing.” As God said to Abram, “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.” The Abrahamic Blessing, interpreted by those who preach the Prosperity Gospel, is the abundance of wealth that God will give the faithful cannot be measured. Copeland said, “But when you go back to the Bible, it’s full of wealth.”

People often don’t understand the truth of the Holy Spirit being used for self-serving justification of their actions.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
In an HBO special on televangelists that was shown in 2015, a clip of Mike Murdock shows him bragging to his congregation about paying for two Cessna Citation jets with cash. He went on to say, “And since there’s so much jealousy in this room tonight that I can feel over this, a few weeks later I bought myself another one worth three times what that one was.” He paused before appealing to the crowd: “Act happy over my blessing, folks.”

People often don’t understand the truth of the Holy Spirit being used for self-serving justification of their actions.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen’s financial worth is measured at $40 million. As the pastor of Lakewood Church, a megachurch in Houston, where there is a spinning globe in lieu of a cross, he makes no apology for his personal financial gain from his 52,000 weekly attendees and other endeavors. In front of that globe he preaches that an overwhelming abundance of wealth can be theirs by following the scriptural mandates of the of the Prosperity Gospel. Osteen, aware that most of the members of his congregation are not millionaires, offered this reassurance when they view his personal wealth, “I think people in my congregation would say, ‘Wow! God has blessed Joel and Victoria!’ I think the people I'm talking to would say that if God did it for me, He can do it for them.” Joel Osteen, who by his own admission is theologically uneducated, and confesses that his only theological education came from editing his father’s sermons for television.

People often don’t understand the truth of the Holy Spirit being used for self-serving justification of their actions.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
It is our responsibility to become educated and informed Christians. Education has always been an important mandate of the church. The importance ascribed to being a Christian teacher is outlined in the Constitutions of the Holy Fathers, Book VII, written in the fourth century, which states, “That it is our duty to esteem our Christian teachers above our parents — the former being the means of our well-being, the other only of our being.” Not only are we to take on the responsibility of learning, we are to take on the responsibility of teaching others.

* * *

John 16:13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”
The first century church took seriously the need to educate new converts into the meaning of Jesus and Christianity. The earliest formal educational tool was called “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” also known as the Didache, which in Greek means “teaching.” It was compiled at the first Apostolic Council convened in Jerusalem in the year 51. The proceedings of the council are recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Acts in the New Testament. The gathering was called to give direction to the church, less than twenty years after the death of Jesus. The Didache was the first book written for the formal instruction for new converts. It is most prominently known for establishing the theological doctrine of “The Two Ways.” Divided into three sections, the Didache contained Christian lessons, rituals for baptism and the Eucharist, and church organization.

A partial reading of Didache will provide us with an understanding of what and how the Didache taught. The book begins by discussing “The Two Ways,” the way of life and the way of death.

The opening verse reads: “Two ways there are, one of life and one of death, but there is a great difference between the two ways. The way of life is indeed this: First, you will love the God who made you; secondly, ‘you will love your neighbor as yourself.’ Now all the things that you do not want to have happen to you, you too do not do these to one another.” The way of life is further discussed, and then the book moves on to discuss the way of death.

This section, the way of death, begins with these words, “Now the way of death is this: First of all, it is evil and full of curses: murders, adulteries, strong desires, unlawful sex acts, thefts, idolatries, magic acts, sorceries, robberies, false testimonies, hypocrisies, two-heartedness, deceit, arrogance, badness, assumptions, greed, shameful speech, jealousy, an overbearing nature, loftiness, pride; persecutors of good; hating truth, loving falsehood; not knowing the reward of what is right, not clinging to good, nor to just judgment, watching not for good but for evil. Far from these people are meekness and endurance. They love worthless things, perusing revenge…” The book continues to describe a pagan lifestyle.

The purpose of the Didache was to instruct converts on how to forsake their former lifestyles and now live as a Christian. Many of the self-centered actions of debauchery listed in the ways of death were condoned in the Greek society. It was a major social and educational effort for the early church leaders to convince converts to surrender these evil ways that only lead to spiritual death and accept the Christian attributes that puts one on the path that leads to spiritual life.

Immediately after the resurrection of Jesus the only scripture that Christians possessed was the Hebrew Bible. Gathering together they would read from this book and then preach a sermon in which Christ became the central message from the verses read from the Jewish scriptures. This sufficed until the church expanded into Gentile communities whose residents had no knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. This necessitated the writing of additional Christian material to supplement the Didache for learning purposes. It was also at this time that the letters of Paul, James, John, Peter, and many other authors whose epistles were never canonized circulated among the churches. The foremost purpose of these letters was instructional. The Didache, preaching from the Hebrew Bible, and the letters of church leaders conveyed the lessons of Christianity to the parishioners of the first century church.

* * * * * *

From team member Chris Keating:


Some Theological illustrations of the Trinity:

From Catherine Mowry LaCugna’s God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life:
A reconceived doctrine of the Trinity affirms what Jesus Christ reveals: that love and communion among persons is the truth of existence, the meaning of our salvation, the overcoming of sin, and the means by which God is praised. Therefore any theological justification for a hierarchy among persons also vitiates the truth of our salvation through Christ (p. 400).

From The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing (Presbyterian Church, USA, 2010):
The mystery of the Trinity is an open and radiant mystery. It is the mystery of the truth that God is holy, abundant, overflowing love both in relationship to us and in all eternity. We meet God’s threefold love in the astonishing faithfulness of the Holy One of Israel, in the costly grace given to us in Jesus Christ our Savior, and in the new life in communion with God and others that has come to us in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

From Nadia Bolz-Weber:
Preachers dread (Trinity Sunday) because we see it as kind of a dry dusty theological topic after such the exciting and earthy part of the liturgical year that came before it. It’s like there’s this raucous party of Easter and Pentecost that comes to a screeching halt while an old crotchety man shuffles up to the pulpit, blows the dust off an enormous leather bound book, clears his throat saying “And now a celebration of church doctrine causing the music to fade, the last of the Pentecost streamers still floating to the ground. Church doctrine Sunday…

In the Trinitarian nature of God, individuality and communality are related in a beautiful life-giving dance of creation. Whatever names we choose to use Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Holy Parent, Holy Child and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer and Advocate, the three aspects remain distinct while the identity remains one through mutual relatedness of giving and receiving. Back and forth together throughout time. Maybe this is not some dusty doctrine, but the holy fecundity of a God who pours out God’s own communal self into the creation.

* * *

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Does not wisdom raise her voice?
Last month, Smith College president Kathleen McCartney hosted a panel discussion of women who were receiving honorary degrees from the college. As the honorees shared stories of their lives and experiences, they frequently returned to the theme of finding one’s voice in order to bring change to the world.

Poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander, who is president of the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, recalled the change she experienced when one of her undergraduate professors took notice of her.

“That feeling of being recognized is all that it took,” she said. “Once I started talking — once my friends and I started coming to voice — we would not stop. It was a galvanizing moment: coming to voice in community.”

Activist Ai-jen Poo shared her experience in exploring the unifying power of stories. Poo, a McArthur “genius” award winner, noted she frequently begins meetings by asking participants to share a story of receiving care. “When we find the place where we can drop into shared experience, shared humanity — those moments are so powerful. They’re places you can lead from, and places you can follow from.”

* * *

Future is female
A new book from the National Geographic will celebrate the efforts of women in creating change, showcasing their experiences and groundbreaking achievements. The book — WOMEN, The National Geographic Image Collection — will be released in October to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

“The future IS female — in large part because of the bold, inspiring women who have blazed trails for future generations,” a press release noted. “They’re women whose efforts, past and present, are reshaping leadership and what it means to be female.”

* * *

The voice of Woman Wisdom
Chapter 8 of Proverbs is constructed around the image of “lady wisdom,” whose words offer instruction about what is right and reproof to the wicked. It’s a stirring poem worth considering, especially in a time when so many women believe their voices are ignored. In a recent column in Medium, writer Rachel Hope described why she believes in the meaning of feminism in 2019, and the wisdom it offers to her. “Being a feminist is important to me because I have felt the bizarre mixture of disbelief, shame, anger and self-doubt that comes with being seen as less-than because of what lies between my legs. I have been diminished because I am a woman.”

She continues:
I am a feminist because women are expected to do all of the emotional labor, because if a dad watches his kids or does his daughter’s hair or day care drop-off he gets praised, but if I do it it’s just a given. In 2019, it is still ridiculously common for dads to refer to watching their own kids as “having to babysit” but you would never hear a mother say that.

I am amazed and impressed at the amount of labor I watch my mom’s friends manage: the pickups, the drop-offs, the activities, the appointments, the dinners, the housework, the social events, and working a full time job, while their husbands work and expect to come home and relax. I visit my sister on the rural homestead where she lives and watch her start in the wee hours of the morning, driving a tractor to feed hay to the cows, then coming back to get her daughters ready for school while her husband is in another city selling potatoes at the farmer’s market. She goes to work at the small USDA and custom meat slaughtering, processing, and packaging business they own, and at the end of the day we immediately head to a preschool auction. She never stops, and her labor is a given. I am a feminist because I want to teach my sons how to be better men, men who care about everyone equally.

* * *

Romans 5:1-5
The power of mutuality
Paul’s description of God’s love “poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” upholds the power of mutuality many theologians see in the inner being of God. As the three persons of God, Christ, and Spirit relate to each other in self-giving love, their experience is one of deep commitment and mutuality of being. What we see in the Trinity can become a framework for mutuality and partnership in the world.

An article in this month’s Harvard Business Review notes how the lack of this sense of shared partnership among healthcare providers has added to the nation’s healthcare crisis. The authors, one of whom is a critical care physician and the other a health care researcher, note that “Our experiences…affirm that healthcare is becoming less focused on the intrinsic goal of healing and more on external forces that impede it.” They note that “Increasing regulatory oversight, metrics that favor margin over mission, and delivery models that are not in full partnership with communities all divert attention and energy away from driving real change. Clinicians and their institutions can reclaim healing as a core aim, however, by recognizing the threats to it and prioritizing four key intersecting principles: proximity, mutuality, resilience, and kindness.”

For example, when clinicians adopt practices which foster mutuality with patients, the outcomes improve — even if a “cure” is not possible. “When clinicians share power with patients, the challenging work of healing can become more joyful and rewarding.”


WORSHIP
by George Reed

Call to Worship:
Leader: O God, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
People: You have set your glory above the heavens.
Leader: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers;
People: what are human beings that you are mindful of them?
Leader: Yet you have made us a little lower than God
People: You have crowned us with glory and honor.

OR

Leader: Come and let us worship our God, the Three in One.
People: We are ready to worship but we are slow to understand.
Leader: God desires us to experience the Trinity, not unravel it.
People: We want to enter into relationship with God.
Leader: That is all God desires, as well.
People: We will open ourselves to God and all God’s children.

Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
CCB: 15
Renew: 204

O Love, How Deep
UMH: 267
H82: 448/449
PH: 83
NCH: 209
LBW: 88
ELW: 322
W&P: 244

Come, Thou Almighty King
UMH: 61
H82: 365
PH: 139
AAHH: 327
NNBH: 38
NCH: 275
CH: 27
LBW: 522
ELW: 408
W&P: 148
AMEC: 7

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46

Tú Has Venido a la Orilla (Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore)
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347

The Gift of Love
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155

Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192

Let There Be Light
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589
STLT: 142

From the Rising of the Sun
CCB: 4

Holy, Holy
CCB: 10
Renew: 206

Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship

Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is always and never the same:
Grant us the grace to be fluid in our relationships
so that we may truly mirror your love for all creation;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

OR

We praise you, O God, because you change while never changing. So fill us with your Spirit that we may also be fluid in our relationships and share your love with all of creation. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to embrace wisdom and the dynamics of relationships.

People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us wisdom which leads to eternal life and yet we choose the worldly way that leads to death. You have shown us the way live in harmony with flexibility and yet we find ourselves in conflict and locked in rigidity. Draw us once more into the dynamic relationship you share within yourself and desire to share with us. Help us to then share that loving relationship with others. Amen.

Leader: God is always ready to embrace us lead us into life eternal. Receive the loving gifts of God and share them with all.

Prayers of the People
Praise and glory are yours, O God, because you dwell in perfection unity while celebrating your diversity.

(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)

We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us wisdom which leads to eternal life and yet we choose the worldly way that leads to death. You have shown us the way live in harmony with flexibility and yet we find ourselves in conflict and locked in rigidity. Draw us once more into the dynamic relationship you share within yourself and desire to share with us. Help us to then share that loving relationship with others.

We thank you for your love that is constant and yet ever changing. You come to us where we are in our lives and meet our deepest needs.

(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)

We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who struggle to find relationships that are wholesome and healthy. We pray for those who are so pressed by physical needs or violence that they find it difficult to think of deeper things.

(Other intercessions may be offered.)

All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:

Our Father....Amen.

(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)

All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.

Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk about someone you knew in one capacity and then got to know in another. Maybe a school teacher you had that you then got to know as in an adult to adult relationship. We know our teachers have lives outside of school but we don’t experience them as being something besides teachers.

God is Trinity, three persons in one, and that is not the same as a regular person having different parts of their lives but we get to experience God the same way we do other people, by experiencing them. It is not about trying to understand the concept of the Trinity. It is getting to know God, our Creator; God, our Christ; God, the Spirit of Truth.


CHILDREN'S SERMON
Therefore Get Wisdom
by Dean Feldmeyer
Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31

Theme: The “Wisdom Literature” in the Bible has much to teach us.

You will need: A Bible, five pieces of paper with the name of a biblical book of wisdom printed on each one.

Say:
Today’s scripture lesson is taken from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is one of what is called the “Wisdom Books” of the Bible.

The Bible has lots of books in it, yes, but it also tends to group these books together. So, we have the books of the prophets, the history books, the gospels, the epistles (letters) and the book that interest us, today: The Wisdom books.

But what is wisdom? Well, most scholars tell us that wisdom is a combination of knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge for good. So, a wise person is a person who uses his or her knowledge for good, that is, to help other people.

The Wisdom literature in the Bible gives us knowledge that we can use in living our lives, or at least that’s what it is meant to do.

There are five books in the Bible that we call Wisdom literature (hold up sign as you announce each book). They are:

Job
Which talks about when bad things happen to good people. Some people believe that Job is a play.

Psalms
150 songs that the people in the Bible sang when they went to church. The psalms are the words to their songs. We don’t know the melodies.

Proverbs
are short sayings about the world and how it works.

Ecclesiastes
It is the thinking of someone who has lost hope in everything but God.

Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs)
Love poems and songs.

Each of these books has wisdom that we can use in our lives if we study them and learn from them. That’s one of the reasons we read and study the Bible, isn’t it? So we can get wisdom.

One of the Proverbs says this: “Wisdom is the most important thing; so, get wisdom. In fact, try to find the wisdom in everything you do.” (Proverbs 4:7) But where do we get this wisdom? Where is it?

This morning’s reading from Proverbs helps us with that. In this reading, the author of Proverbs treats the subject of wisdom as though wisdom is a person and her name is Sophia, which mean’s wisdom. And in this story, Sophia tells us that she is everywhere because she was present when God made everything. So there is a little bit of wisdom to be found in everything in the world if we will only look for it and use it.

That’s a pretty important thing to know, isn’t it?

So, for today, let’s make that a memory, okay? “Wisdom is the most important thing, so…what?”

Get wisdom! That’s right. Get knowledge and use that knowledge to help others. That is wisdom.

End the Children’s Message with a brief prayer asking God to anoint all of us with wisdom.

Amen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Immediate Word, June 16, 2019 issue.

Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.

All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.