God is Community
Category: Trinity Sunday
Speaker: The Rev. Shearon Sykes Wiliams
One of the biggest challenges that each of us faces in life is how to be our authentic selves and also be in relationship with others. This is the work of a lifetime. This work gets lived out in our families, in our faith community, at work, school—all of our significant connections. How can we be who we really are, just as God created us, and still have a deep sense of belonging in the world?
In today’s passage from Genesis we heard a beautiful, rhythmic reading of the first story of creation.
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good…” Genesis 1: 1-2: 4a
And God continued to create. God created the waters, the earth, and living creatures of every kind. And after every act of creation, God saw that it was good. And finally, God created humankind in God’s own image and declared all of creation very good. The pinnacle of God’s creative work was the human being, coming not just out of the imagination of God, but formed in the very likeness of God. That one thought offers us limitless opportunities for exploration. What does it mean to say that we are created in God’s very own likeness? And what difference does it make as we try to make sense of our lives and our place in the cosmos?
Ancient Trinitarian theology has a lot to offer us as we wrestle with that question—theology that has its roots in Genesis. “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” says God. When we think about being created in God’s image we do not often think about the plural in that statement. “Let US.”
We are created in the image of God who is a community of three distinct “persons” that we traditionally refer to as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A community of three individuals who live in complete harmony and deep mutuality. “Three-in-One” and “One-in-Three.” The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, and neither the Father nor the Son is the Holy Spirit. Each has their own identity and yet they are one God. That is a wild thought and is absolutely unique to Christianity. Like our Muslim and Jewish sisters and brothers, we believe in ONE God. We are a monotheistic faith, just like they are. And yet we believe in a complexity within God that is distinctive. We believe in a dynamic life within God. The Trinitarian theologians used the Greek expression, “perichoresis,” which means “active communion.” The individual identity of each member of the Holy Trinity helps us to see that diversity is an important attribute of God’s internal life. And out of that diversity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit share life and love and joy. They are a community, a family. We are meant to live as a reflection of that community. We are created in the image of, the reflection of, that PERFECT community. It is part of our DNA to live in relationship with others. In fact, we become distorted versions of ourselves if we live in isolation. We need others to help us be our best selves and our communities need us to make our unique contribution to that community. Just as the Father is enriched by loving the Son and the Son is enriched by loving the Father, it is the same for us. And it is our call as Christians to strive for that ideal community, as imperfect as we are.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could each love and delight in one another the way the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit delight in one another? Wouldn’t it be miraculous if our families, communities, and churches modeled this way of life? Appreciating rather than judging, and seeing that differences in personalities and perspectives are actually woven into the created order. A Trinitarian understanding of God and of ourselves helps us to realize that we are not meant to re-create those we love in our OWN image, but to recognize that they are created uniquely in GOD’s image. That is an important thought to keep in mind on this Father’s Day-–for parents as well as children.
We have had several glimpses of what it means to appreciate differences and find unity in the midst of them over the last few months. Last Sunday, we had our annual Pentecost celebration with San Jose and it was a very joyful occasion with over 200 people. When we do things like worshipping in both Spanish and English, we are living the life that God intends for us—rejoicing in the rich diversity of the human family as we worship God who is a diverse family. We could have chosen to stay home last Sunday because the service was going to be different and we just didn’t want to deal with it. But we didn’t. We decided to engage, to be in relationship, to dare to live the life God calls us to, the life that enriches and stretches us.
Several weeks earlier, we had our “Help the Homeless” luncheon and we had the opportunity to break bread and have conversation with folks who are different from us in circumstances but exactly the same in our identity as unique individuals created for community. Through those conversations we realize that so much more connects us than separates us. We are one. Those of you who have ministries in the Food Pantry and HOST know about this fist-hand.
The Holy Trinity is not just an abstract theological construct. The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a description of God’s vibrant, loving, justice-seeking, purposeful life. The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an invitation to be part of that life in an intentional way, realizing that each of us is GOOD and together we are VERY GOOD. The story of creation is not locked in history, but continues into the here and now, through our families, community and most especially our Christian community.
“And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness”…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them.”
Sources:
Boff, Lenoardo. Holy Trinity, Perfect Community. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988.
Lectures at Virginia Theological Seminary by the Right Rev. Mark Dyer, Trinitarian theologian extraordinaire.