Trinity (B) + The cosmic dance + 5.30.21

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(https://frtimardouin.com/2018/05/24/trinity-the-dancing)/

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(Isaiah 6:1–8; Ps. 29; Romans 8:12–17; St John 3:1–17)

 

“When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

Apparently, in the ancient Roman world, people had adoption fantasies. Instead of dreaming that they would win the lottery, the poorer classes would dream that someone from the senatorial class would adopt them.[1] They would take them out of their dreary existence and lift them up to a life of ease. As with most fantasies, this was loosely based on reality. Namely, women could not inherit and as such if a man did not have a male heir and wanted his property to be passed on to someone (one hopes someone who would care for the non-inheriting women also) he would need to adopt someone. And there were many ancient stories about the penniless orphan who is taken in and becomes an heir. One modern twist on this tale, one highlight of my nineties youth, is the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” where a street-smart young black man from Philly comes to stay with his wealthy and privileged family in Bel-Air and hilarity ensues. There are many other examples, such as “Annie,” and more.

Yes, these fantasies were about material wealth. But in some cases, they were also about something deeper, a sense of belonging.

When Nicodemus comes to visit Jesus, he is clearly searching for answers about this new teaching Jesus is sharing. I wonder if a little of their discussion wasn’t in fact about belonging. For Nicodemus it seems that the only way to belong is to be literally born to someone, and so he is thinking about how someone could be physically born again. But Jesus is talking about a different kind of rebirth. A rebirth by water and the Spirit, what each of us receives in baptism. Nicodemus is talking about birth and belonging by blood, but Jesus sees another way to belong, becoming family through spiritual adoption and spiritual rebirth.

During this time of pandemic, many of us have experienced loneliness. Sheltering at home, not able to embrace others outside of our household for a long time, not able to physically see others, at least up close, was hard.
And yet church has provided many of us a reinforcement of our belonging. Logging on to Zoom, or now to Facebook and now for some coming in person, has begun to feel like a way to belong more to something.
We belong to each other. But more than that, much more, we belong to God.

Author Charlotte Donlon has written a book called The Great Belonging, and she quotes a young writer in a beautiful description of “the opposite of loneliness,” what Donlon thinks of as belonging. Marina Keegan says:

“It’s not quite loving, and it’s not quite a community; it’s this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid, and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m., and no one goes to bed. That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went, we saw, we laughed, we felt.”[2]

Donlon then says “I like to imagine these three belongings-to self, others, and God- as points on an inverted triangle, with belonging to God at the bottom point and belonging to self and belonging to others at the two equidistant higher points.”[3] And reading that in anticipation of Trinity Sunday, I could not help but think of how like a trinitarian icon that image is. And that is no accident. Because we do belong to God and each other. And in the same way, the Trinity is the great belonging. God the Creator belongs to God the Son and Redeemer, and both belong to the Spirit that moves through creation. And they all belong to each other. And they dance in an endless cycle of belonging. And we all belong to God. In God, we all belong.
You might find you are lonely at times. But on weeks like this one, when we experienced profound sadness at the events in San Jose but also the joy of the cosmos in the wonder of lunar eclipse, when we are getting to see more friends in person bit by bit, when some of us are worshipping inside our sanctuary again, let us remember, we are never truly alone. Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

A recent graduating seminarian at a Lutheran seminary wrote: “In three persons, God stepped out of eternity and into human history to interrupt the course we had set for ourselves.”[4] What an insight! We belong to each other but we had forgot how to belong to each other. And so, in Jesus we learned again, and we reconnected with God our Creator, the one whom Jesus called Father. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us to be our Advocate and companion, a companion who was not limited by human bounds but who accompanies us always, everywhere, and does this for every one of us.

And God the Trinity invites us into a cosmic dance. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and mystic who wrote about the nonviolent movement, experienced interfaith connections, also found God in his deep connection to creation. He called us to cast off our “awful seriousness and join in the joy of the cosmic dance.”[5]

As we remember our own baptisms (and welcome those here today who have been baptized) how can we sense a deep connection with all of creation? A connection that began as the Spirit moved over the deep, and continued as Isaiah responded to God’s call with a “Here am I!” This connection brought us new joy when Jesus came into creation and renewed our relationship with God by articulating the joy of the Trinity in a way unknown before. Even now when we seek God, we find a home in God. When we reach out to others, we provide a home for them. We combat loneliness and enhance belonging.

Let us join in the joy of the cosmic dance – join in the joy of all creation- together!

Amen.


[1] Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner, “Sermon Brainwave Podcast for Holy Trinity Sunday: May 30, 2021,” https://www.workingpreacher.org/podcasts/786-holy-trinity-sunday-may-30-2021.

[2] Charlotte Donlon, The Great Belonging (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2020), 11-12.

[3] Donlon, 12.

[4] Sermon Brainwave Podcast, ibid.

[5] “Join in the Joy Teaching by Betsy Beckman” https://youtu.be/eu-dqQxbrfY.

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