The nature of the mystery of the Trinity is not ours to grasp; living into the image of God we were created to be is what will heal us and the world.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Holy Trinity, year A
Texts: Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20; plus John 13-15, 21

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

There’s a strange and beautiful phrase in our first reading.

On the sixth day of creation, God says, “Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness.” Our image? Our likeness? The Hebrew people didn’t have a conception of the Trinity, but they did have a complex, plural understanding of God. The Hebrew word for God is Elohim, a plural noun, not singular as in English. So every time they said “God,” they meant One, but it sounded like more than one. Their word for Lord is Adonai, also a plural. There’s mystery here. God can’t be described in singular terms.

But this little pronoun “our” is the trap on this feast day of the Holy Trinity. We take off from there on a path of speculation as to God’s make-up, how God is Triune, how God works as One yet Three. It’s a trap that produces the Nicene Creed, a worthy credo, but one which completely omits the teachings and commands and way of Christ, the life in Christ that animates and fills the entire New Testament.

Jesus never tried to explain the true reality of God. He cared much more about the life in God to which he called people, and which shapes the whole New Testament.

Rather than focus on “our,” Jesus would prefer you focus on “image.” Because Jesus came as God-with-us to invite us to live into the image of God we were created to be.

Jesus invited this with the idea of “abiding.”

Jesus in John consistently proclaims that he somehow “abides,” lives, in the One he calls Father, and, in fact, he and the Father are one. If you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father, he says. It’s the blasphemy that got him killed. And then he speaks of the Spirit, who also abides in Jesus and in the Father, and now abides in God’s people. There is a oneness of God in Son and Father and Spirit that the Church wanted to express in a way that honored the oneness and the threeness. It’s just not the path Jesus needs us on.

The thing Jesus wants you and me to learn is what it is to abide in God. Jesus said you and I could have an intimate knowledge of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, within us. That the Trinity is found in you and in me. And in that abiding, we are transformed into God’s image.

And God’s image, Jesus says, is self-giving love.

Jesus commands us to love as he has loved, giving of himself for the creation. It is, Jesus says, the highest form of love, to give of yourself for the other. And it is the true nature of the Triune God.

So, Jesus says, when we abide in the life of God, God’s sacrificial love comes to us and flows out of us. You and I are like the stretching branches of a vine, connected to each other and into the life of God through that vine. God’s love flows like sap into our branches.

And when the love God has given you shapes your life, your words, your actions, your habits, your planning, into the self-giving love of God that now is your fruit to bear in the world, you are living as the image of God you were always meant to be.

This is what Jesus urges on those who would follow him after his resurrection.

On the beach in Galilee, the risen Jesus sends his followers out to care for his sheep. Three times he asks Peter if Peter loves him, and three times Peter says he does. Each time Jesus responds, “feed my lambs; tend my sheep; feed my sheep.”

This is your call to follow: if you love the Triune God you know in Christ Jesus, then this Good Shepherd needs you to feed the other sheep, care for the flock of God’s children. To be in this world the image of God’s love seen in Christ’s death and resurrection so all are blessed by it.

Jesus gives the same commission in our Gospel today. Jesus sends out the disciples – including you and me – to invite others to discipleship, to follow Christ. To invite others into the mystery of the Spirit of God living in them and changing them. To share the Good News that all are created in God’s image and can live in that image for the healing of all.

To do this, Jesus says to teach others to obey all that he commanded us. And what did he command? Love one another as he has loved. Love God with all you have and love your neighbor. Even love your enemy. Basically: learn to feed and care for my sheep and teach others the same.

So for today, leave the Trinity to the Trinity.

The mystery of the Triune God, how Father, Son, and Spirit are related and dance together, how God works, all that, leave to the holy mystery it is. God knows who God is. That’s enough.

But let us fervently pray that you and I and all God’s children grow ever more deeply into the image of the Triune God who created us in that image, sacrificed all to bring us back into relationship, and now lives in us to bring love and mercy and healing to this world. And as you become more and more visibly the image of God, the image of love, you will also more and more see God’s image in everyone you encounter.

You are the very image and likeness of the Triune God, the love and mercy that is God’s heart. What a difference you will make in this world!

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

The Spirit of God can’t be controlled, and that’s a huge gift and blessing.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Day of Pentecost, year A
Texts: Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

It was supposed to be a gift. A blessing.

Moses is exhausted from leading an ungrateful, complaining, angry people through the wilderness. Surrounding today’s reading from Numbers, Moses unburdens his heart to God, saying he’s about done. It’s too much of a weight to be the only one filled with God’s Spirit, proclaiming God’s voice.

The God who is called I AM agrees, and tells Moses to choose 70 elders who will also receive the Spirit of God, and they will carry some of the burden of leadership. It will be a blessing. Except, well, rules were broken. Or something. All 70 who were chosen from all the tribes were to be gathered around the tent of meeting. And all at the tent received the Holy Spirit and prophesied.

But back in the camp were two others, Eldad and Medad, who also received the Spirit and also prophesied, but in the camp. So either Eldad and Medad were in the 70 and didn’t follow the instructions to gather at the tent, or the God called I AM decided there were a couple others needed for leadership.

For Joshua, second in command, this was intolerable. He tells Moses to shut them down.

But Joshua’s problem isn’t Moses. It’s God.

Either God chose to ignore the rule that everyone of the 70 had to be at the tent, or God chose to ignore the list of 70 and added a couple extra. Either way, it wasn’t Moses’ decision.

Joshua wanted everything to be organized, controlled. That’s not possible with God’s Spirit. Moses has the wisdom to see this, and the exhaustion to rejoice in this. He wishes everyone would get the Spirit poured on them. But it isn’t hard to imagine Joshua’s horror at that thought: all these common folks, filled with the Spirit of God. How would you control them?

But that’s the point. God is out of your control.

That first day of Pentecost was out of control, too.

One hundred and twenty women and men woke up that morning, with no idea what would happen. By nine that morning they were all speaking in languages they’d never spoken before. 120 voices in dozens and dozens of languages, all at the same time, all proclaiming Christ’s resurrection. It was chaos. It was so disruptive, so out of control, that their opponents derided them and said they were drunk.

But God had a vision. Thousands of pilgrims were in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Pentecost, from all the countries of the known world. God wanted them to hear of Christ in their own language and take it back home. It would quickly spread the Good News across the world.

Since it was God’s vision, even the leaders, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the others, weren’t in charge. They didn’t know what was next even that day, let alone the years to come. They weren’t in control.

Today we celebrate the coming of the Spirit to all who follow Christ.

What happened for Moses happened again. Once it was just Jesus, Spirit-filled Son of God, doing God’s wonders, bearing God’s love. Now all who trust in Christ for life are filled with the Spirit. To spread the burden of ministry, to share the joy of God’s presence, to carry God in our bodies as moving temples wherever we go.

But if you trust what we proclaim about the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit calls God’s children, fills them, gives them gifts, empowers them for service and love, and moves throughout the world like the wind wherever she wants to go, know this: None of the work of the Spirit is in your control.

Your life in the Spirit is God’s to reveal, not yours to plan. Your gifts are God’s to give, not yours to create. Your path of service and love is God’s path to guide you on, not yours to design. And like the Spirit-filled followers on that first Pentecost, you have no idea what’s next.

Stephanie and Rose, when they affirm their baptism before you all, their family in Christ, will claim the promises others made at their baptism as their own promises: to live among God’s people, proclaim Christ in their words and actions, strive for justice and peace. We’ll ask the Spirit to stir up in them.

But what that will look like, they don’t know yet. They’re remarkable young women, convinced of God’s love for them, and God’s call to them to love others. But they don’t know what’s next. And neither do you. Because God is out of our control.

And that’s the best news about Pentecost, about the promise that you are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit: you don’t have to be in charge.

There’s a prayer beloved to us and to many. We pray it often, and a beautiful carving of it hangs in our north entrance. The prayer begins, “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.” That’s the frightening thing about the promise of the Spirit, the gift of Pentecost, the same thing that frightened Joshua. If you’re not in control, you have so many unknown paths, unknown threats, unknown challenges.

If you’re on a journey and you can’t see the ending of it, how do you know where you are? If the Spirit takes you on roads you’ve never walked, calls you to new experiences, challenges your heart to be changed, that’s frightening. And if on the Spirit’s journey there are threats, risks you can’t imagine, that’s daunting. This path God calls you to might painfully challenge your certainty, your point of view, your way of being.

But this prayer says there’s no need to fear. No worry about being confused. No problem with potential difficulties. Because if you’re not in control, God is.

This was supposed to be a gift, a blessing, this coming of the Spirit.

A gift to Moses and the people, so leadership was shared and reached more. A gift to the newborn Church so that what Jesus, God-with-us, was able to do now could be done and would be done by hundreds and then thousands and then millions more.

And it’s a gift to you, to me. Because if you are on the path the Spirit of God has called you to walk, and you’re walking with all these other Spirit-filled people, then you know all will be well. And if you know that the Spirit of God who is calling, empowering, gifting, enlightening, and leading you is the Spirit of God in Christ that is love for you and the whole creation, then you know that this whole life – unknowns and all – is a life of grace and hope and joy, no matter what happens.

And so the prayer concludes: give us faith.

“Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Christ our Lord.” That’s all you need. Whatever lies ahead, God is holding you by the hand and carrying you in love. God’s got this, so you don’t need to.

This is a gift. A blessing, not to be in control. Beloved of God, remember that you are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

We don’t look up to the skies for God to save all things; we look around at each other, filled with God’s Spirit, and see God bringing healing and hope to all through us.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Ascension of Our Lord
Texts: Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53, plus John 16:7

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away.” (John 16:7)

Much of what Jesus says in John’s Gospel on the night of his betrayal is words of encouragement to these women and men who follow him. He tells them he’s leaving them, but they’ll be alright. The Spirit will be with them, they will be one with the Father and the Son, they will not be orphaned.

But in the midst of that encouragement are these strange words, that Jesus leaving them is to their advantage. Not just “you’ll be OK when I’m gone,” but, “you need me to go.”

And that’s hard for us to understand, much less to trust. It was hard for this group of followers, too. In fact, angels feel compelled to appear and ask them just why they’re standing there, gazing up to heaven. They’re looking where Jesus disappeared because they don’t understand it yet.

We’re not that different from the disciples, or anyone expecting help from God.

Don’t we look up to the heavens – if not literally then spiritually – when things go wrong, wondering where God is, why God allowed this or that, what God intends to do to make things right? Like most humans throughout history, we tend to hope for magic more than relationship from God. Prayer is a way to get God to do what we want.

Some of the Jewish people expected a Messiah who’d restore Israel, end oppression, kick out Rome, and Jesus didn’t do any of that. But we who follow the risen Christ didn’t really learn from that.

Even after they faced the reality of Jesus’ death, once he is raised, Luke says, the disciples ask, “Now will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” It’s as if they’re saying, “OK, we missed that part where you were going to die. That’s our bad. But now that you’re alive again, we’re back to you fixing all our problems, right?

Little wonder they gaped at the sky when he left.

But we should answer the angels’ question, too.

Why would we stand idly in the world wondering why God isn’t fixing all the oppression and suffering, ending the rise of authoritarianism and fascism, bringing all peoples together as one? Wondering when God’s Son will return to fix things? Jesus says leaving us to deal with this ourselves is to our advantage.

This is the heart of Luke’s theology of today. He ends his Gospel with this story, and begins the sequel, Acts, with this story again.

Because in the Gospel, he tells of God’s Son, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, did amazing wonders, taught of God’s love and unlimited grace, sacrificed himself in love and rose to new life. The world began to be changed in this Spirit-filled Son of God.

And in Acts, Luke says we’re the same as Jesus. We’re promised the gift of the Holy Spirit and become, like Jesus, like the first believers, Spirit-filled children of God who change the world. Who do wonders in Christ’s name. Who love the world with vulnerability and so transform death into life, make God’s reign happen here. All with the power of God’s Spirit.

Jesus had to return into the life of the Trinity, or we’d just keep looking in his direction every time something needed doing.

After all, he’s the Son of God. He’s got all the power and ability.

But tonight it becomes clear: God’s transformation of the world will happen in the same way Jesus began, continued in us, through self-giving love, through re-creating relationships between the people of the world and God. As more and more of God’s children are transformed in that love, all the broken things, the oppressive things, the evil things, all that work against God, will crumble and fall. Unless we all just keep looking up at the sky.

It’s not terribly efficient, but the means are as important as the end to God. Forcing the world to love each other and God wouldn’t be worth anything. Jesus showed the power of God in his sacrificial love. And now for us in the world, the only way to show God’s power is by our sacrificial love. By the Spirit making us new from within so that we can love others, because in that love everything can be changed.

Tonight Jesus says, “tag – you’re it.” Or, “keep up the good work I started.”

Jesus promises that if we trust in him, if we abide in him and so in the life of the Triune God he’s opened up for us, we’ll do even more amazing things than he did. Because spread throughout all God’s children, the Holy Spirit can be working in every corner, every crack, every broken place in this world, bearing God’s redeeming, vulnerable love for the healing of all.

Because Christ has ascended, we don’t look up for God to fix everything. We look at each other, filled with God’s Spirit, the power of God, and say, “What can the Triune God do through us, now that we are Christ, now that we are called, now that we are sent?”

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen