Crisis and the response to crisis are very much on my mind this morning.
One of our texts for Trinity Sunday comes from the prophet Isaiah. The first verse of chapter 6 is simple:
In the year that King Uzziah died...
For most of his nearly five decade reign, Uzziah had been held in high esteem. He had accomplished much that was of great value to the nation. However, things turned a bit when the King intruded upon the rights of the priesthood and the Temple elite. From this moment, he became ill and with his passing the future of the nation began to slide. Uzziah had been the greatest king since Solomon. The death of King Uzziah is a crisis for the nation and precipitates changes for everyone, especially Isaiah.
In this crisis, the Holy One reveals a dark future for the nation. There is a new understanding of the nature of God and a new response, a Voice saying,
Who will go for us?
Isaiah will go. This is the start of his work.
The second text emerges from crisis as well. Nicodemus comes to see Jesus in the night to learn more about who this Jesus is and what his teaching means. In chapter two of John's gospel, the presence of Jesus in the Temple inaugurates a new crisis for the people and for the nation. What will happen with this challenge to the existing authorities and arrangements? Jesus discloses the purpose of God. In John's words, this purpose is simple.
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3.17
The Holy purpose is the salvation and healing of all things. This purpose is restoration, reconciliation and renewal. This is the work of the Tri-unity of Holiness, the Trinity, whose self-giving, loving justice we celebrate this week.
In worship, we will celebrate in a most appropriate way as we hear the Jubilate Deo written by Handel. This musical work was written in response to a crisis that drew to a close with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. You can read more about all of this at http://www.theodora.com/encyclopedia/u/treaty_of_utrecht.html.
We use the word "God" almost casually in prayer, preaching, singing, and conversation. Trinity Sunday provides a pause for us to ponder how much is at stake in the claim of a Triune Being, that is One who is One in community. There is movement within the Divine and this moving Holiness is met, disclosed and received in our experience as Giver/Giving/Gift. When we speak in the language of the tradition of a Father, Son and Holy Spirit we are not speaking of a hierarchy of divinity. In the poetry of Isaiah, the glory of the One whose robe fills the celestial temple is the same One who will overturn money tables in the Jerusalem Temple and whose Spirit inspires the Joy of God at the peace ending decades of conflict.
The holiness of God is intra-communal from the very beginning. We are made in that image. We are made in community for community by the act of communion enfleshed. And we are summoned to go on behalf of this same Trinity for the purpose of bringing peace in conflict, reconciliation in estrangement, and hope in the midst of despair.
The image on the front of our bulletins and at both the beginning and ending of this brief reflection is by Ivey Hayes, Dance of Africa. The image is colorful movement, coordinated life, full, rich and lively even in this most simple copy. The God of the Christian faith is full, complex, diverse and yet One. There is more than enough here for a lifetime of reflection. As we listen to the Jubilate Deo, I encourage you to pray and meditate upon your role in faith. Is it possible that the Voice continues in our own time, Who will go for us? Is it possibly you...
Be well and do good.
