GOD SAYS YOUR NAME Genesis 1.1-5; Psalm 8; Matthew 28:16-20 Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Trinity Sunday
“When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your Fingers, the moon and the stars, that You have established, what are human beings that You are mindful of them, mortals that You care for them?” What does mindful mean? My mind is a hodgepodge of thoughts about people, situations, to do lists, groceries, protests, Isaac, Jeff, WPC, plans for the day. What does God’s mindfulness of us mean? We Christians make this bold claim: God calls us each by name. Out of the almost 8 billion people on the planet, God says our name. This is nothing we deserve nor have we earned this kind of attention. Rather it is the central core of who God is - Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer - eternally in relation with one another. Scripture manifests this truth: God is One in Three - God works through Christ and through the Holy Spirit to sustain us, to provide for us, to redeem us, to love us. God says your name.
Say his name, say his name, say her name, a chant of pain and protest we shout over and over. I just realized God says their names, over and over. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Maud Arbrery. Philando Castillle. Michael Brown. Trayvon Martin. Eric Gardner. Freddie Gray. And all the others, named and un-named. God says their names over and over and over in sorrow, rage and abiding love. We lament their deaths and pray for their redemption in glory. For this is the truth: the economy of salvation is the comprehensive plan of God that reaches from creation to consummation. God and all creatures, are destined to exist together in this great mystery of love and communion first generated by The Trinity, the God-head, existing eternally before time became measured. “In the beginning when God...” The triune God whom we name Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Says your name. How do we know this? Genesis 1.26-27. “Let us make humankind in Our Image and Likeness. Let’s give them dominion over the fish, the birds, the cattle, wild animals and every living thing.” We are the only inhabitants on earth who bear God’s image. There is a special love in humankind’s very creation - thus we need no idols, we already have the image of God burned in us. We are granted the task of caring for the whole of creation, called to care for it the way God cares for us.
We are to live The Trinity out loud. We are called to show forth the Trinity in our daily lives. How do we do this? Do what God does. Create, sustain, order, preserve, protect, provide, love.
Stop for a moment and gaze at your hands. (Pause) Turn them every which way. Think about all the work your hands have done over all these years. Think about the love expressed through your hands, the healing touch. The creativity, joy and struggle of your hands. It is this very flesh and blood, your humanity, which is remembered by God, cared for by God, touched by God’s grace in redemption through Christ, and the ongoing energized power of the Holy Spirit.
Trinity Sunday. A day marked on the Liturgical Calendar to remind us of the multiple ways in which God reaches out to build relationship with all of creation. It is a good day to admit all we do not know, all we do not understand. We know we are at a tipping point in these United States. We pray and beg God to lean on the scales of justice. Scripture records a series of interlocking notions--order, light, goodness. Humans made just a wee bit below the power of the universe. Crowned with glory and honor, our own power to treat creation as servants or rapacious dominants. In the beginning, God--brooded over the chaos like a mother hen; brought light out of darkness, like the life of The Word that is the light. This light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it, even today. John's gospel, 1st chapter. God generates flesh and blood, moon and stars, sheep and oxen, beasts of the field and birds of the air, fish of the sea. Everything is made to be in collaboration--each part contributes to the whole. The first 3 days God generates the foundation for all kinds of life; the next 3 days God births Her special ones, Her image-bearers, humans. Her love for all of creation is clear, yet She places the crowns on our heads. On all humanity. Black Lives matter. We all bear the image and we take on the responsibility.
It is a rediscovery of the Trinity as relational in the 20th century. The Social Trinity is a paradigm for what it means to be human. We are made in the image of God - Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Maker, Lover, Keeper. We are social creatures. It is the work of our hands. In a brutal era, one is either violent or afraid of violence, both of which are isolating and singular. Recognizing our social creation helps mitigate our separation, even in this pandemic. And we are taught, by the Holy Spirit in our midst, that the central core of our faith is a Triune God that in its interrelationships offers a model of vulnerability and nourishment that we are called to participate in.
God is no isolated monad, removed from our reality. In Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit we see continuous mutual self-giving. It is a radical model of love and mutuality in that there is no demand for return on the dollar. Simply an ever-flowing stream of justice, peace, forgiveness, mercy and hope. God sustains Jesus’ Life, the resurrection exists, whether we see it or not. therefore we have nothing to fear about our lives, as God sustains us through the Holy Spirit. God says your name.
I caught a glimpse of this deeply held creation on Thursday’s sermon walk. I was at Woodland Park with the dog who was running around. I looked up and I saw a woman with a dog on leash, her hand held out as a crow landed to take a bite of food from her. When I got to her I said, “Did I just see the crow eat out of your hand?” She said, “Yes, you did. I’ve been coming to this park for three years now and have connected with these two particular crows.” I said, “Wow. It’s really beautiful.” She said, “Yeah, its been quite fun. My grandmother was this way too. She fed crows so they’d stay out of her vegetable garden. I learned it from her or maybe its in my DNA.” I said, “I bet both. Have a great day.” O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth! Amen