Trinity Sunday 2005

Genesis 1:1-2:4A

Psalm 8

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Matthew 28:16-20

This past Wednesday our confirmation year ended with pizza and a movie. We were joined by two of our mentors, Lucy and Bill. This time the movie was The Breakfast Club. Some of you may have seen it, it is 20 years old! I saw it when it first came out.

It is the story of 5 teenagers that have to spend and entire Saturday in detention. There are the stereotypical high school kids: the princess, the rebel, the brain, the jock, and the crazy girl. Through the course of the day these kids come to know each other. The emotions range from anger, to pain to tears with a lot of obscenities thrown it. Giving it a pretty realistic feel but don’t show it to younger kids.

Anyway, these 5 kids learn that they all come from messed up homes. My favorite line about that is, Of course you parents are messed up, if they weren’t you’d live with them forever!

And these 5 kids all struggle with being accepted, with fitting in, with living up to the expectations other people place upon them.

By the end of the day, they are being honest and working together. And wondering what Monday will be like, will they still be friends when they are back with their peers?

Or will they treat each other with the same disrespect or lack of attention they did before?

The last scene shows the inept principle reading the essay that the kids were required to write during the course of the day., explaining who they are. The “brain” wrote it on behalf of the group. “Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that in each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.”

Pretty profound. But true. We are complex people, us human beings. We are not simply stereotypes, the farm girl, the urban boy, the professor, the artist, the athlete.

We are a complex mix of it all. Take the time to get to know someone and you will see more than a mother, or a singer, or a secretary. You will see a mix of many things. A different mix in each of us, but it is all there.

So what does this have to do with the Trinity? Hey Pastor, aren’t you going to explain the one in three and the three in one? Help us wrap our minds around the mystery?

I just did. God could have been self-contained. You know, here is God up on a cloud with a golden crown and sparkling white gown. Just sitting there contemplating being.

But God chooses to step outside God self, to reach out and create a world. And it is good. Plant and animals, land and seas….in all of its diverse beauty and wonder.

God could have said, Kangaroos. That’s it. I’m only going to create kangaroos. And bamboo. Kangaroos, bamboo. One lake, one tiny bit of land. Enough I’m done.

But it doesn’t work that way. God created an incredibly diverse universe with millions of species of plants and animals that continue to change and evolve even now.

Ongoing creation, we call it.

And then God steps out even more and creates humankind. Humankind created in the image of God. Look how diverse we are!!! Each one of us different, each on the same.

In the image of God. So then what does God look like? God must be a huge mix or so many things. Intelligent, creative, able to change and grow and love.

But that’s not all.

After setting people free to take care of the earth, free to think and create and dream and imagine and destroy, people start to forget God, to become more caught up in themselves then in their creator.

So God steps out even more and becomes one of us. Flesh and blood, incarnate Jesus the Christ. And God in Jesus speaks and heals and loves and hurts and is happy and angry and sad. The whole gamut of human emotion, centered in compassion for a messed up world. God in Jesus speaks and reminds us that we are all created in the image of God, all equal in the eyes of God, all valuable and in need of the basics of life, but also in need of forgiveness and acceptance and love.

Well, they killed the messenger. But God loves us too much to let death be the end of creation.

And then, thrown into the mix of God is the Spirit, we talked about the Spirit last week on Pentecost. The Spirit as fire, as breath, as wind, as advocate and comforter and guide.

The ongoing presence of God in our midst. God, present and active. Always, always reaching out. Active and alive. Part of you and part of me and part of our neighbor down the street and around the world. A mix of creator, savior, spirit…

Not a one dimensional God, painted on canvas and hung on the wall. But a mix of it all.

Like us. Like Celia, like Jonathan.

For today, soon, Celia and Jonathan will be confessing their faith, affirming their baptisms. Both of them were baptized in your midst, many of you have watched them grow into the fine young man and woman they are today. You have watched as they were washed in the water. You have supported them, taught them, nourished them at the table and prayed for them.

That doesn’t end today. Teenagers need all the love and support we can give them. For these next few years are times of growing and learning and exploring. What is it like to live among other people? How can I have my group of friends without excluding people labeled the princess or the criminal or the brain or the athlete or the basketcase?

What does God have to do with my life? So many questions yet unanswered, so many choices yet to make.

Today, just as on the days Celia and Jonathan were baptized, the church pledges their support. We promise to continue to care for these young people, to take the time to listen to them and learn from them and respect them. We promise to continue our work together, stepping out into the world together with the life-giving Word of God.

From this congregation Celia and Jonathan have already learned about accepting differences, about taking a stand for what is right, about welcoming all kinds of people into the community.

And, hopefully, they have learned that God has created in each of us a colorful mix of hopes and dreams and talents and gifts and emotions. We are more amazing than appearances first let on. We are more complex and wonderful and related.

So Trinity Sunday is not so much about defining an ancient church doctrine. It is about living relationship. It is about a God who does not stay self-contained but steps out the box and into our lives through the waters of creation, the bread and wine of Jesus, the spirit of our very existence.

And then God pushes us out of the box. Opens us up to one another and to the people around us, until we value our sameness and respect our diversity and learn to live together peacefully in this world.

Jonathan, Celia, are you ready? We’re going to sing the hymn and then we will all be standing with you as you affirm your faith. We will be promising to continue to support you as you continue to grow and learn and challenge us.

But just remember, God’s work is not done here. It is just beginning.