My Trinity Sunday sermon included this quote from “Three Hands Clapping,” a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor: “All I know for sure is that if human beings were created in the image of God, then a) God is wonderfully diverse and b) we are more alike than we think.” Many of you made substantive comments about the sermon and some requested a little additional reflection on these words, so …
The doctrine of the Trinity claims that God is and exists in relationship. Western theology’s dominant image for the Trinity has been God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That and other images have kept the focus on relationship. If God exists in relationship and if human beings were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), “then God is wonderfully diverse.” Take a look around. Where two or three people are gathered, diversity abounds. When anyone quips, “All ___ look alike to me,” that person is astoundingly uninformed or sinfully blinded by prejudice. Even identical twins differ significantly. Creation teems with diversity.
What about Dr. Taylor’s claim that “we are more alike than we think.” Despite what makes us distinct, we come from the same cloth and share the same basic needs and desires. We all long for enough to eat and drink, for people to whom to belong, and for freedom of self-expression. Not everyone wants to become a nuclear physicist, but all have dreams. We all have the capacity for love and compassion. We also all sin. Theologians differ on how sin entered the mix, but Christian faith proclaims that God, who is and exists in relationship, does not withdraw when we sin. Rather God works in and with us to overcome sin. That challenges us to appreciate our diversity and to allow what we have in common to help us to overcome whatever drives us apart.
Our Greek heritage enlivens this discussion by using the term perichoresis to describe the Trinity. That word literally means “dancing around.” When I read this term I envision something akin to the dancing at a Greek wedding – male and female, youthful and mature, friend and stranger, agile and clumsy, on-the-beat and utterly clueless circling, laughing, and sharing life together. What a picture of God (and faith)! Yes, we face trials, disappointments, and defeats. Yes, sometimes evil gains the upper hand. Betrayal, desertion, abuse, and crucifixion find their way into Jesus’ story. Yet, the embrace of the dance and the call to relationship continue beneath, behind, and beyond it all. That does not deny trials and tribulations, but it affirms that we find true life in healthy relationship and that as our relationships broaden and deepen we more fully enter God’s embrace.
I’ll close by saying that it warmed this soon-to-be teaching elder’s heart to receive so many comments about a sermon on a theological concept. I think you meant it, but even if not, you added to my joy of our relationships. I think I’ll do it again!
Grace and Peace,
LP
LP is spot on.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite JFK quotes was something like this: "If we can't come together to end our differences, at least we can help make our world safe for diversity."
We worship a man who embraced everyone--and why wouldn't he? He was poor, disenfranchised, oppressed, a convicted criminal and perhaps conceived out of wedlock. All things which stigmatized and separated him or any other person in his culture. In my opinion, Christ embraced diversity because he represented it. He understood the pain that prejudice creates in humanity. Even at his own death, one of his last acts was reaching out to criminals dying at his side. He wasn't just persecuted for his teaching. He was persecuted for his being.
-Tim Gibson