Discerning the Presence of the Spirit: Reflections for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (30 June 2019)

Discerning the Presence of the Spirit

Reflections for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

RCL Proper 13C

30 June 2019

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on the 30th.

            All of my best days, most of my good days and few of my bad days begin with morning prayer.  Morning prayer connects me with my sisters and brothers, lay and ordained, all over the world as we recite the psalms, read the scriptures and spend time in reflection and prayer for the needs and concerns of others as well as our own.

            Here in North America Anglicans share a common two-year lectionary for morning and evening prayer with a psalm or psalms for every day of the year as well as readings from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.  With a few exceptions the scriptural readings are continuous, beginning with the first chapter of a given book of the Bible and then moving on, passage by passage until the end.

            Over the past few weeks one of the readings has come from the Acts of the Apostles, the stories of the early Christian community with its home base in Jerusalem and then spreading throughout the Roman Empire.  Just recently we’ve been following the story of the arrest of Peter and John by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem after the apostles had cured a man in the name of Jesus.

            I sympathize with the Jewish authorities.  They are responsible to the Romans for the maintenance of peace and good order.  They are responsible to the Jewish people for worship in the Temple and interpretation of the Law of Moses.  They are split into several factions, each claiming to have a better understanding of the Law than the others.  And now they have to deal with the disciples of Jesus who claim that the man executed by the Romans at the request of the Jewish authorities was the Messiah, the Promised One who was to lead Israel out of its bondage to Rome.

            To make matters even worse, these disciples of Jesus are healing the sick, caring for the poor and widowed and living faithfully as Jews by worshipping in the Temple and in the prayers.  How will the authorities know if they are right and that the message of the apostles is not a faithful response to the Covenant God established with Israel through Noah, Abraham and Moses?

            Some want to imprison the apostles, while others probably want to hand them over to the Romans for punishment.  They don’t dare send them into exile because the disciples of Jesus are already showing themselves very skilled at bringing others into their community.  As they debate the matter, Gamaliel, a respected member of the Council from a faction more sympathetic to the teachings of the Jesus movement, stands up and says something that continues to be true to this day:  “^35bFellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men . . . . ³⁸[In] the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; ³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them — in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” [1]

            In some ways this is the debate that Paul enters into when he writes to the Christians in Galatia.  They were among the first non-Jews to hear the preaching of Paul and others who encouraged them to put their confidence in the reconciliation of the world to God achieved in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  They were told that they were not required to follow all the ritual requirements of the Jewish law.  But now other missionaries have come who are telling the Galatians that they cannot be disciples of Jesus unless they become Jews first.  How are these new converts to discern the presence of the Spirit?  How are they to recognize genuine teaching from false teaching?

            In words that have been quoted innumerable times throughout the history of the Christian movement, Paul tells the Christian community that we know the presence of the Spirit where we find “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” [2]  Eight hundred years after Paul wrote this, a Latin poet penned a hymn that we still sing today:

Where charity and love prevail,

there God is ever found;

brought here together by Christ’s love,

by love are we thus bound.

Let strife among us be unknown,

let all contention cease;

be his the glory that we seek,

be ours his holy peace.

Love can exclude no race or creed

if honoured be God’s name;

our common life embraces all

whose Father is the same. [3]

            All of us here today have lived through a tumultuous time in contemporary Christian history.  Since I was ordained in 1981, we have wrestled with issues that have caused congregations and denominations to split into warring camps and with the changing religious and social make-up of our communities.  Even families have been rent asunder.  In two weeks’ time our own church will gather to discuss how to respect the indigenous communities that are within the Anglican Church of Canada and how we are to respect the dignity of every human person that seeks the pastoral ministry of our church.

            Many of us may find ourselves asking the same question that the Jewish authorities and the Christian disciples in Galatia asked:  How do we know when we are in the presence of the Spirit?  How do we discern God’s wisdom from human foolishness?

            If we find ourselves experiencing love, joy and peace, whether with families, friends or other disciples of Jesus, then the odds are pretty good that we are in the presence of the Spirit.  If we find ourselves hearing or reading words and ideas that encourage us and strengthen our resolve to live with patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and gentleness, then it’s likely we are being touched by God’s wisdom rather than the world’s foolishness.  If we find ourselves in the midst of a community that chooses its words carefully, that works hard to listen to all the voices within it, that is committed to conversation rather than monologue, to loving and honest expression of hopes rather than stirring up our fears, then we’re probably among people who are guided by the self-control the Spirit offers to those who seek God.

            Just this week we opened a new door into the life of this community.  Our re-designed website went ‘live’ so that we can gather people into this beloved community to experience the transformation that the Spirit offers to every one who draws near to God and to be sent forth into the world as agents of God’s healing and reconciling purpose.  May this new door open on to a community of love, joy and peace.  May this new door reveal a patient, kind, generous, faithful and gentle community. May this new door show us to be a people of self-control for the sake of our neighbours.  For surely God is in this place and in the people gathered here in the name of Jesus and in the grace, power and wisdom of the Spirit.

---

[1]Acts 5.35b, 38-39 (New Revised Standard Version).

[2]Galatians 5.22 (New Revised Standard Version).

[3]Common Praise#487 vv. 1, 4, 6.

Proper Prayers for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (RCL Proper 13C)

Propers for RCL Proper 13C

Semi-continuous reading & psalm:  2 Kings 2.1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77.1-2, 11-20

Complementary reading & psalm:  1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-21; Psalm 16

Galatians 5.1, 13-25; Luke 9.51-62

Collect of the Day

Almighty God, you have taught us through your Son that love fulfills the law.  May we love you with all our hearts, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, and may we love our neighbour as ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  [1]

or

Sovereign God, ruler of all hearts, you call us to obey you, and you favourus with true freedom. Keep us faithful to the ways of your Son, that/so that, leaving behind all that hinders us, we may steadfastly follower your paths, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Amen. [2]

or

Sovereign God, ruler of all hearts, you call us to obey you, and you favour us with true freedom.  Keep us faithful to the ways of your Son, so that, leaving behind all that hinders us, we may steadfastly follow your paths, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.  [3]

or

God, you set us free in Jesus Christ.  Grant that we may live gracefully in this freedom without selfishness or arrogance, becoming servants through love to the freedom of the gospel for the sake of your reign.  Amen.  [3]

or

Sovereign God, ruler of our hearts, you call us to obedience and sustain us in freedom. Keep us true to the way of your Son, that/so that we may leave behind all that hinders us and, with eyes fixed on him, walk surely in the path of the kingdom.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.   Amen. [4]

or

Crossbound God, nothing protects you from open sky and beckoning grave:  teach us to leave behind the fear that kills what is different, our love for what is dead and safe; may we set our face like you to find our true home, our unexpected city of peace, your fearless life; through Jesus Christ, who will not turn back.  Amen.  [5]

Prayer over the Gifts

God of wisdom, receive all we offer you this day.  Enrich our lives with the gifts of your Spirit, that/so that we may follow the way of our Lord Jesus Christ, and serve one another in freedom.  We ask this in his name.  Amen.  [1]

or

Holy God, gracious and merciful, you bring forth food from the earth and nourish your whole creation.  Turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way, so that all may know your care; and prepare us now to feast on the bread of life, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

God of all creation, all you have made is good, and your love endures forever.  You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit from the vine.  Nourish us with these gifts, so that we might for the world signs of your gracious presence in Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things.  Through your goodness  you have blessed us with these gifts:  our selves, our time and our possessions.  Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen. [3]

or

God of mercy and grace, the eyes of all wait upon you, and you open your hand in blessing.  Fill us with good things at your table, so that we may come to the help of all in need, through Jesus Christ, our redeemer and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Merciful God, as grains of wheat scattered upon the hills were gathered together to become one bread, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours is the glory through Jesus Christ, now and for ever.  Amen.  [3]

Proper Preface

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; you are the source of light and life for all your creation, you made us in your own image, and call us to new life in Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Therefore we praise you, joining our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; we give you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on this first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.  In our unending joy we echo on earth the song of the angels in heaven as we raise our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; by water and the Holy Spirit you have made us a holy people in Jesus Christ our Lord; you renew that mystery in bread and wine and nourish us, to show forth your glory in all the world. Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the holy people who have served you in every age, we raise our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our SaviourJesus Christ; who on this day overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.  And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:  [2]

Prayer after Communion

God of power, we are nourished by the riches of your grace.  Raise us to new life in your Son Jesus Christ and fit us for his eternal kingdom, that/so that all the world may call him Lord.  We ask this in his name.  Amen.  [1]

or

We give you thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us through the healing power of this gift of life.  In your mercy, strengthen us through this gift, in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. [3]

or

O God, we give you thanks that you have set before us this feast, the body and blood of your Son.  By your Spirit strengthen us to serve all in need and to give ourselves away as bread for the hungry, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

or

God of abundance, with this bread of life and cup of salvation you have united us with Christ, making us one with all your people.  Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit, so that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Gracious God, in this meal you have drawn us to your heart, and nourished us at your table with food and drink, the body and blood of Christ.  Now send us forth to be your people in the world, and to proclaim your truth this day and evermore, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

O God, our life, our strength, our food, we give you thanks for sustaining us with the body and blood of your Son.  By your Holy Spirit, enliven us to be his body in the world, so that more and more we will give you praise and serve your earth and its many peoples, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

Sources

[1]       The Book of Alternative Services 1985

[2]       Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006

[2a]     Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  Leaders Desk Edition 2006

[3]       Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion 2016

[4]       Opening Prayers:  Collects in Contemporary Language 1997, 1999, 2001

[5]       Prayers for an Inclusive Church 2009

[6]       Revised Common Lectionary Prayers 2002

[7]       The Book of Occasional Services2018

N.B.  When a word or phrase appears is italicized in a liturgical text, it is an alteration made by the Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett to the original text.

Faith Is a Verb: Reflections for the Second Sunday after Pentecost (RCL Proper 12C)

Faith Is a Verb

Reflections for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

RCL Proper 12C

23 June 2019

Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached 
at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 23rd.

            One of the things that I miss now that our children are adults is the presence of their friends.  It seems to me that, as our children were growing up, there were always one or more of their friends in the house, whether after school or at meals or just ‘hanging out’.  I think that our children’s friends thought that Paula and I were a little exotic. Few of them were active in any religious community and a number came from single-parent homes, so our home was unusual.

            One day, as I was driving a group of my younger son’s friends to their rugby game, Owen and I got into an energetic discussion about the proper use of a word. Before I could say anything, a voice from the back seat said, ‘Look out!  He’s about to leggett.’  It turns out that our children’s friends had created a new verb, ‘to leggett’, which means ‘to have a serious conversation about the proper use or meaning of a particular word with a goal of on-going proper usage’.  

            I’m glad that my children and their friends learned that words have meaning and that words can be used to heal or to hurt, to clarify or to confuse, to further conversation or to shut it down.  So, this morning I’m going to leggett a bit with you about an important word in the Christian vocabulary.  

            When you hear the word ‘faith’, what do you hear?  Some of us may hear ‘a system of belief or beliefs that are foundational to a particular religious or philosophical tradition’.  Others of us may hear ‘an attitude towards the world and life that allows one to persevere in difficult times and circumstances’. We might also hear ‘an act of placing confidence in someone or something’.  All three of these connotations are fair and accurate renderings of the word ‘faith’. 

            But for this morning I suggest to you that it is the third connotation, ‘an act of placing confidence in someone or something’, that makes the other two understandings possible.  What I’m trying to say is this:  before faith is a noun, before faith is an adjective or an adverb, faith is a verb. It is an action that enables us to persevere in difficult times and circumstances as well as come to believe certain things that help give meaning to our lives and shape our understanding of what it means to be a human being.

            This is not a new idea.  More than thirty years ago a Christian theologian named Kenneth Stokes wrote a book entitled Faith Is a Verbabout adult Christian formation.  Almost two thousand years ago Paul was trying to help the Christians in Galatia understand the same thing.

            Here’s the problem Paul was facing.  Galatia was a Roman province in the heart of what is now modern-day Turkey. In fact, the capital city of the province, Ancyra, would eventually become Ankara, the current capital of Turkey. Most of the inhabitants were non-Jews and the early Christian community was probably made up of what were known as ‘proselytes’, literally, ‘those who have drawn near’.  Proselytes were non-Jews who found much of the moral and religious teaching of Judaism meaningful but, for various reasons, chose not to become Jews formally.

            The good news of God in Christ that Paul brought to the community was a source of great joy.  These ‘God-fearers’, to use another name for them, could share in the promises God gave to the people of Israel because of what God in Jesus had done for all of humanity. It was no longer necessary to believe a certain set of beliefs or to follow certain ritual customs in order to be considered a believer.  All that was required was to place one’s confidence in Jesus and then act accordingly. As a nineteenth-century gospel hymn puts it:

I have decided to follow Jesus;

I have decided to follow Jesus;

I have decided to follow Jesus;

no turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, I still will follow;

Though none go with me, I still will follow;

Though none go with me, I still will follow;

no turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me;

The world behind me, the cross before me;

The world behind me, the cross before me;

no turning back, no turning back.

            Whatever distinctions there might be in being a Jew or a Greek, they mean nothing in comparison to what God has done in Jesus.  Whatever privileges there might be in being male or female, they do not compare with what it means to put one’s confidence in Jesus.  Whatever the bonds are between slave and free, they are dissolved through the free self-giving of Jesus upon the cross.

            Faith is a verb.  When Jesus is tempted in the garden to turn away from the mission God entrusted to him, he puts his confidence in God, knowing full well what the consequences of saying, ‘Not my will but yours be done,’ will be.  And the world is changed.  

            Faith is a verb.  When we are tempted to turn away from the work God has given us to do, whether in our families, in our communities, in ourselves, we put our confidence in the one who calmed the waters of the lake, who healed a possessed man and who asks us to follow where he leads.  And the world is changed.

            It’s a simple word, faith.  But when it is embodied in a human being, it does infinitely more than anyone can ask or imagine.

Propers for the Second Sunday after Pentecost: RCL Proper 12C (23 June 2019)

Propers for RCL Proper 12C

Semi-continuous reading and psalm:  1 Kings 19.1-4 [5-7] 8-15a; Psalms 42  & 43

Complementary reading and psalm:  Isaiah 65.1-9; Psalm 22.19-28 [NRSV] or 22.18-27 [BAS]

Galatians 3.23-29; Luke 8.26-29

Collect of the Day

O God our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid.  Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us all from unbelief; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.  Amen. [1]

or

O Lord God, we bring before you the cries of a sorrowing world.  In your mercy set us free from the chains that bind us, and defend us from everything that is evil, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.  [2]

or

Lord, you step upon on our guarded shore and confront our chaos:  may we who are divided and overwhelmed by the forces of death learn from you to speak our own name and proclaim your works of life; through Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God.  Amen.  [3]

or

God, our refuge and hope, when race, status or gender divide us, when despair afflicts us, and community lies shattered, comfort us with the stillness of your presence, so that we may confess all you have done; through Christ, to whom we belong and in whom we are one.  Amen.  [3]

or

O God, whose Son, our Messiah and Lord, did not turn aside from the path of suffering nor spare his disciples the prospect of rejection, pour out your Spirit upon this assembly, that/so thatwe may abandon the security of the easy way and follow in Christ’s footsteps towards the cross and true life.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.   Amen.  [4]

Prayer over the Gifts

God of reconciliation and forgiveness, the saving work of Christ has made our peace with you  May that work grow toward its perfection in all we offer you this day.  We ask this in his name.  Amen.  [1]

or

Holy God, gracious and merciful, you bring forth food from the earth and nourish your whole creation.  Turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way, so that all may know your care; and prepare us now to feast on the bread of life, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

God of all creation, all you have made is good, and your love endures forever.  You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit from the vine.  Nourish us with these gifts, so that we might for the world signs of your gracious presence in Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things.  Through your goodness  you have blessed us with these gifts:  our selves, our time and our possessions.  Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen. [3]

or

God of mercy and grace, the eyes of all wait upon you, and you open your hand in blessing.  Fill us with good things at your table, so that we may come to the help of all in need, through Jesus Christ, our redeemer and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Merciful God, as grains of wheat scattered upon the hills were gathered together to become one bread, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours is the glory through Jesus Christ, now and for ever.  Amen.  [3]

Proper Preface of Easter

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; you are the source of light and life for all your creation, you made us in your own image, and call us to new life in Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Therefore we praise you, joining our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; we give you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on this first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.  In our unending joy we echo on earth the song of the angels in heaven as we raise our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; by water and the Holy Spirit you have made us a holy people in Jesus Christ our Lord; you renew that mystery in bread and wine and nourish us, to show forth your glory in all the world. Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the holy people who have served you in every age, we raise our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our SaviourJesus Christ; who on this day overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.  And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:  [2]

Prayer after Communion

Holy and blessed God, as you give us the body and blood of your Son, guide us with your Holy Spirit, that/so that we may honour you not only with our lips but also in our lives. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  [1]

or

We give you thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us through the healing power of this gift of life.  In your mercy, strengthen us through this gift, in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. [3]

or

O God, we give you thanks that you have set before us this feast, the body and blood of your Son.  By your Spirit strengthen us to serve all in need and to give ourselves away as bread for the hungry, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

or

God of abundance, with this bread of life and cup of salvation you have united us with Christ, making us one with all your people.  Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit, so that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

Gracious God, in this meal you have drawn us to your heart, and nourished us at your table with food and drink, the body and blood of Christ.  Now send us forth to be your people in the world, and to proclaim your truth this day and evermore, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

or

O God, our life, our strength, our food, we give you thanks for sustaining us with the body and blood of your Son.  By your Holy Spirit, enliven us to be his body in the world, so that more and more we will giveyou praise and serve your earth and its many peoples, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.  [3]

Sources

[1]       The Book of Alternative Services 1985

[2]       Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006

[2a]     Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  Leaders Desk Edition 2006

[3]       Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion 2016

[4]       Opening Prayers:  Collects in Contemporary Language 1997, 1999, 2001

[5]       Prayers for an Inclusive Church 2009

[6]       Revised Common Lectionary Prayers 2002

[7]       The Book of Occasional Services 2018

N.B.  When a word or phrase appears is italicized in a liturgical text, it is an alteration made by the Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett to the original text.

Sent to Dance with the World: Reflections on the Trinity (16 June 2019)

Sent to Dance with the World

Reflections on the Trinity

RCL Trinity C

16 June 2019

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the opening minute of the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.

Click here to listen to the rest of the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.

            During my first year of theological college at Nashotah House I was appointed as one of the college’s six sacristans.  The sacristans were responsible for every aspect of the worship life of the college from polishing the silver to planning the great liturgical festivals of the college’s life.  Among the responsibilities was hosting the various groups who came to tour the chapel and to learn more about the history of Nashotah House from its beginnings as a monastery in what was in the 1840’s the western frontier of the United States to its contemporary role in theological education.

            It fell to me to guide a group of primary school students from the local Wisconsin Synod school.  The Wisconsin Synod was, and perhaps still is, a fairly conservative community within Lutheranism.  In those days Anglican and Lutherans were working towards what we call ‘full communion’, but the Wisconsin Lutherans weren’t even talking to other Lutherans! 

            So I was a bit apprehensive about what to expect from the group.  We walked through the chapel and I shared little bits of history that I thought would be of interest to the children.  Just as we were to move on, one of the children pointed to a piece of carved woodwork.  ‘What’s that?’ he asked.  It happened to a familiar symbol of the Holy Trinity, an series of three interlocked circles within a triangle.  We have at least one here in the Cathedral in one of the west windows.  ‘It’s a symbol of the Holy Trinity:  one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,’ I said.  The boy turned to his friend and said, ‘See, I told you that they believed in God.’  In that moment I realized that these kids thought that they were on an inter-faith visit as if they were visiting a mosque or a temple or a synagogue.

            Our artwork says a great deal about what we believe about God.  On this Sunday when we focus our thoughts and our prayers on our confession of God as a God in community, as the One-in-Three and the Three-in-One, our artwork can help us or hinder us in understanding what we believe and why it is important in today’s world.

            When you look around our Cathedral, especially the windows of the nave, you will see a variety of Christian symbols.  Most, if not all of them, are abstract and require knowledge of the Christian story and theology.  I learned that during the recent Heritage Tour when a fair number of the people with whom I spoke asked, ‘What do these windows mean?’  One brave soul asked why we had a Star of David in the north window. ‘What does Judaism have to do with Christianity?’ she asked innocently.  

            But abstract symbols are not the only way we try to express our faith.  In the Chapel you will find a copy of a famous icon of the Holy Trinity ‘written’ as the language goes by Andrei Rublev, a Russian iconographer from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. The three Persons of the Trinity are portrayed as angelic figures, almost identical in their features, seated around a table.  They face inward and are pictured as if they are having a meal together.  

            There is a small rectangle in the table which, I have been told, originally held a mirror.  In this way whoever is viewing the icon is ‘at table’ with the Holy Trinity.  It’s a pleasing thought, sitting down with the Three Persons of the Trinity to share in a meal and listening to the conversation. It’s a contemplative vision of God.

            But I find a different image more compelling.  The indigenous painter, Amado Peña, was famous for his depictions of the life of the indigenous people of the southwestern regions of the United States.  One of his paintings is call ‘El Nacimiento’, ‘the birth’.  Three figures are shown, one seated, the two others behind.  All three are holding ‘ollas’, large clay jars used for many purposes.  All three are looking outwards, directing their eyes to something in the distance we cannot see.  The two standing figures hold their jars out as if they are offering them to some unseen persons.  Something is happening and we, the viewers, are drawn into it.

            On this feast of the Holy Trinity we celebrate this ‘happening’ that God is bringing about just beyond our sight.  In Jesus God has gathered us into this beloved community where we are helped, where we are offered hope, where we find home.  But being gathered into beloved community is only one facet of what is happening, what God is bringing about in this world.

            In the Spirit God has transformed this beloved community from an inward-looking group of disciples who were frightened to share the stories of their friend and teacher, Jesus, into beloved and missionary community.  God breathes confidence into us so that we can use the gifts we have been given to share the help, hope and home we have found. God breathes courage into us so that our fears about sharing our faith with others can be set aside as we invite them to ‘come and see’.

            And today is the day we are sent.  We are not sent to proclaim an abstract God enclosed within symbols only understood by those who are ‘insiders’.  We are sent to proclaim a God who reveals God’s very self in the person of real human beings whether apostles, prophets and martyrs, whether followers of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, whether rich or poor, male or female, young or old.

            We are sent to proclaim a God who does indeed invite us to this table to share in the divine life but not as an end but as a means.  Our time spent in contemplation of God, in the company of God, in communion with God, is intended to be viaticum, ‘food for the journey’ outward into the world God created, God has redeemed, God is renewing.

            As a gathered and transformed people we are sent out holding “this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4.7-9)  

            We hold out the treasure of teaching, worship and prayer.  We hold out the treasure of resisting evil even as we repent of our failures.  We hold out the treasure of the good news of God in Christ.  We hold out the treasure of serving each and every human being because in them we see Christ.  We hold out the treasure of striving for justice, peace and dignity even as we recognize how difficult and costly this is.  We hold out the treasure of sustaining and renewing the life ‘this fragile earth, our island home’.

            So, I say ‘yes’ to the young boy I met forty years ago.  Yes, we do believe in God.  We believe in a God who has brought us together so that we can become more fully ourselves as God intends us to be.  We believe in a God who cannot wait to let us loose on an unsuspecting world. I don’t think any of us can wait to see what’s going to happen next.

A Letter to Emily: Pentecost 2019

In keeping with my practice of writing to the baptizand, here's my letter to Emily who was baptized on Pentecost.

Click here to listen to the Letter as read at the 10.00 Eucharist.

Pentecost

9 June 2019

Dear Emily,

            Today is a special day for you, for your family and for all the friends of Jesus we call ‘the church’.  For you and your family today is special because you are being baptized.  From today on you will be one of Jesus’ friends and together with all of us who are also Jesus’ friends you will join us in working towards making our world a place filled with God’s love.

            Working towards making our world a place filled with God’s love is not easy. Even the first group of Jesus’ friends, people we call the disciples and apostles, were afraid to share the stories that had about Jesus and to share with other people the things Jesus had taught them about how to love others as God loves us.  For almost two months after God raised Jesus from the dead, the disciples and apostles tried to hide from the leaders of their own community and the officials of the Roman government who were in charge of Jerusalem and Judea.

            But God wanted the whole world to know how much God loves this world and how in Jesus God has shown us how to love one another in the same way.  God knows that we can do this, even when we don’t believe we can.  Every human being, whether they know who God is or not, whether they know anything about Jesus or not, whether they belong to the church of not, has built into them the ability to love as God loves.  It’s just how were made.

            But when we’re afraid or when we not confident about our abilities or when we don’t want people to think that we are ‘different’, we can forget that we can love as God loves.  So, two thousand years ago, when Jesus’ friends were gathered, still afraid and still unsure about what they were supposed to do, God whooshed in upon them and whispered in each one’s ears, ‘Yes, you can do this.  I know you’re afraid, but you can do this.  You know how to love as I love.  You can change the world if you’ll tell others what you have learned from Jesus.  I promise you, there’ll be a lot of people who will listen to you.’

            We use a old-fashioned word for what God did on this day two thousand years ago: inspiration.  It means ‘breathing life into someone or something’.  In the case of the disciples and apostles what God did was to blow on the glowing ember of Jesus’ love that was in each one of them.  That glowing ember burst into a fire of love that gave them all courage to tell their story. Because of that transformation we’re here today.

            Emily, today you are being gathered into the loving community of Jesus’ friends. For a very long time we have brought together all sorts of people, young and old, women and men and children, so that they can know how much God loves them and how much God loves the whole world. But there’s more to being a friend of Jesus.  To be a friend of Jesus we have need to be transformed, to be inspired, so that the love we have found here can be shared with others.

            We need God to breathe into us, to blow on the glowing ember of Jesus’ love in us, because we sometimes forget that this love is inside us.  Sometimes we are afraid because we don’t want people to think we are strange or different.  Sometimes we are afraid because we know that loving the world as God loves the world means standing up to bullies and to selfish people.  But we can do it.  It’s how God made us.  We just need God to whisper in our ears.

            Sometimes God whispers in our ears when we listen to the stories we read from the Bible.  Sometimes God whispers in our ears when we speak to God as we would speak to any friend, sharing with God all that we are thinking and feeling.  Sometimes God whispers in our ears we listen to how other people have tried to love as God loves.

            Emily, welcome to the friends of Jesus.  Welcome to the church where we try as best as we can to love each other as God loves us.  Here you are and will be loved.  Here God has and will whisper in your ear.  Here God has and will kindle the fire of love God planted in your heart and all of our hearts from the day of our birth.  Welcome.

Always your friend in Jesus,

Richard+

The Venerable Richard Geoffrey Leggett

Vicar of Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral