RonBlog

Sunday 19th June 2011 Trinity Sunday

Sentence
Proclaim the Name: The Lord, the Lord a God Who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6

Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, You have given Your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the unity; keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities, for You live and reign, One God, for ever and ever Amen

Old Testament Lesson Exodus 34: 1 – 8

The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me, on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain."
So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, "The LORD." The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation. And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

For the Psalm Song of the Three Young Men 29 - 34

Blessed are you, the God of our forebears: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.
Blessed is Your holy and glorious Name: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever
Blessed are You, glorious in Your holy Temple: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever
Blessed are You Who behold the depths: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever
Blessed are You on the throne of Your Kingdom: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever
Blessed are You in the heights of heaven: worthy to be praised and exalted for ever

Epistle 2 Corinthians 13: 11 – 13

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

GOSPEL Matthew 28: 16 – 20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved

NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
Sad to relate, there is often a lack of reference to the Old Testament, so the old and important stories and issues tend to get lost to memory. Just as it is important to realize who you are by looking back to from whence and from whom you have come, so the same remains true in these issues Biblical.
It may well be that moderns might express things quite differently, but for people of the day and age back then, the telling of the story, however embellished or not, could not have been better. What early culture that you know of did not express their sense of identity and purpose other than stories of their ancients, dreamtime style or not. Sacred places have always been a major factor, as Sinai (Horeb) has been for Jews – and Christians.

And here is a story, related in serious and significant terms about the giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue. A question often asked about that ‘third and fourth generation’ thing is worth pondering. One suspects that this canon emerged simply from watching families and people. Notice first that this is a reduction of the problem, not a magnifying of it. So this may well have been the answer of those ancient to the question ‘why does the dysfunction in a family seem to go on for some time?’ Without genes and so on available in such days, it became obvious that disintegration became a cumulative thing. It certainly seems to show up in spades these days. On the other hand, that same constant observation seemed to indicate that while it may take a generation or two, the dysfunction faded and soundness reappeared. This is not dissimilar to John’s observation in his Revelation, that evil contains in itself the seeds of its own destruction. No generation however weak or ill-equipped, can or will support a Hitler for long.

For the Psalm
Once again, such songs seemed to appeal to people in the distant past, and is returning in the present. Whilst I find much modern music repetitive and boring, young people see things otherwise. Perhaps it is the visceral beat that really appeals. Or am I getting old?(Don’t answer that, thank you!!!!!)

Epistle
The rather beautiful appendage to the Corinthian Epistle has made its home for people over recent centuries. That ‘grace’ as we call it is more than just a sort of thanksgiving. It is a statement of Gospel experience and belief, the former preceding the second I suspect.

GOSPEL

For many people, this conclusion to Matthew’s Gospel is very well known, clear and decisive, with the challenge offered to all who would be disciples of Christ wherever and whenever that might be. Most of those people aforementioned – oddly to my mind – are less aware that this same extraversion for the Faith is not new (in New Testament terms) but has always been embedded in the Biblical Faiths. From Abraham on, this outward look and emphasis has been there, spelt out in clear terms. Abraham was to be the blessing to all nations, as Jesus is, of course, the example par excellence pointing in the same direction.

Oddly enough it is not so much about being religious (which is an adjective that I really do not like) but about being serious. The Biblical faith from its outset has made it clear that the role of this perception in life is to answer the deepest of human needs and aspirations: what does it mean to be human and alive on planet earth and in this cosmos? Our role is not to make people religious; our role is to make people aware that this Faith has answers that are very well worth exploring, embracing and living by. I am amazed that so few people in our own day and age refuse to look at it. The alternatives in this affluent age appear far more attractive, but all history screams at us that it is all a bubble waiting to burst.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

I imagine that we could tackle Trinity Sunday a couple of ways.
The first might be to provide an answer to Christadelphians who like to challenge it all with the comment that ‘trinity’ is not a word found in Scripture. With all due respect I can find more useful things to do today. The second may be to look at something rather more immediate, significant and useful, and that is to start with this thing called life. Are you game?

In the absence of a visible tangible Divinity with Whom to question and get answers, one has to start at the other end do we not? And the only area to question is in the ordinary, common or garden aspects of life. Watch and observe, ponder the results of those observations, and come out with some sort of answers that may well need variation, alteration or adjustment as time goes by. If you are wondering, then surely this is what we now call the scientific method, though the ancient Israelites would not have even known that as a process. They were far more down to earth - and thank heaven for that. So they were inquisitive, explorative, asking the hard questions and not being satisfied with pat answers or easy put-offs. And thank heaven for that. Many of the Jews I have known over the years are very much like that still.

Now over a short period of time, answers could well be shallow. Over a millennium or two, they are more likely to be very much more reliable and valuable, having been tested by the passage of time and the widening of the questions.. And when we must realize that while people back in Abraham’s time had more in the way of superstition than perhaps we do, there still would have been a lot of baggage along the way that needed to be discarded. And it is not easy to do that.

From where I sit and think, one of the most remarkable and valuable things to come out of the Jewish Old Testament records was the emergence of the school of the prophets. I know of nothing similar in any other religion no matter how ancient, though all sought answers to the same sorts of questions. Never take a superior view to other faiths. They are all searchers after truth, and that is to be encouraged.

Perhaps the most stunning contribution of that school of prophets – which I think I have mentioned before – was to take what we may call religion out of esoteric areas and into the arena of real life. I know of no other contemporary religion in the ‘Fertile Crescent’ that made justice, truth and compassion a factor of their faiths. Amos and later prophets were profoundly concerned at the way the affluent ones in Israel stopped caring about their compatriots, and ‘sold the needy for a pair of shoes.’ In fact most of the outcry of the prophets had to do with all manner of injustice perpetrated on their fellow people. If you ask the question which came first, social justice or the Shema Israel, the answer may be difficult to find. The mere fact of their emergence at all is a stunning fact of Jewish prophetic genius. A genius of caring, not of dissociated brilliance.

As that ancient faith unfolded, the clear and vivid relevance to real life shone brightly, and even though all manner of attempts to put out the light was a feature of Jewish life, the light shone on. Even though the history of this tiny, fragile nation was one of huge ups and downs, the slow evolution of the faith continued. From where I sit, all the seeds visible and tangible in the Old Testament came to fruition in the New.

It strikes me that – as the process continued - the perception of the Divinity grew and strengthened, along with a parallel view of the value of each human being, and life itself. From the early beginnings in Abraham’s time and for long after, JHWH was seen really and merely as first a tribal divinity whose capacity was limited to the tribal regions. Outside of that, you were on your own. Yet gradually, perceptions were widened, and God was seen as more than tribal chaplain, and increasingly – as they experienced life in the light of this God – as the One over all any other. Finally, as experience widened and thought progressed, JHWH was seen as the One and Only. A person no longer needed to tug the forelock to myriads of gods, just in case one of them had residual power to bite you from behind. JHWH was the One and Only, the Holy One Who Himself acted with justice, compassion. And love. Love that surpassed human love, loving even the unlovely. God is a God Whom no one could remove from position and authority. And yet this God did not stop people being people, but longed for them to operate at the same or similar level to Himself.