Trinity Sunday, 2020
Homily for Trinity Sunday, 2020
Fr. Tony Melton
The wicked regimes that dominated the 20th century tried to create a utopia. In each case, billions of dollars were spent to create a capital that showed what this empire could be once utopia was realized. Flowers and trees next to impressive architecture, clean lines, clean streets, pretty people, happy children, loyal comrades. Yet now we know that high up in the towers of those utopian cities were maniacal and genocidal leaders waiting for each other to falter so that they could ascend higher.
But God’s world is opposite. The world is a bit of a mess, yet the God who is over it all is Good. As opposed to imposing an ideal on the world, an ideal which He is in Himself, He is to us “Deus Ascondus”, the Hidden God. He does announce His reign over Earth with long streaming banners and armies marching in lines. He is only found by one who seeks, who can see through the mess that He has allowed us to make and discern the glory and love underneath all things.
These last few weeks, that glory and love has been very difficult to see in the world. It would appear that the world is a cold, hard sphere, warmed only by rage. It would appear that nothing grows by hate. It would seem that Love makes no sense. We especially need to be reminded of the ultimate reality of the world, which is the Triune God.
Our text this morning is from 1 John 4:16, “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”
Our theme is dwelling in God in this world, dwelling in His love in this world. We will walk step by step through 1 John 4:16.
“God is love.” Today is Trinity Sunday. Every Sunday we come and present ourselves before Almighty God, but this Sunday we squint a little and focus in on the Great Mystery of who is the Triune God. What do we believe about God, and how does it square with St. John’s declaration “God is love”? We believe that God is one, and that His oneness resides in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons always existed, constantly giving love and receiving love in perfect harmony and joy. Out of this love came the Creation of heaven and earth. So at the least, the doctrine of the Trinity leads clearly to the conclusion that “God is love.”
We struggle to understand how love and power can go together. As I said, we now know what really went on at headquarters of the world’s empires. Power had no place for love. But our Epistle this morning from Revelation 4 places us right in the midst of the heavenly throne room. What do we see in God’s headquarters? Incredible glory, beauty, and power. The four beasts of God and the 24 elders: raw power, never vying for more power, never seeking to transfer their frustration from not being on top to those who are under them. But a constant giving away of self in love to God, and this motion joins with that eternal inertia of the deferential love of the Triune God so that they are drawn into this powerful turning, such that when the prophet peered into the glory cloud, he saw what looked like wheels within wheels spinning: the self-giving dance of love of the Triune God and the host of heaven. God is love.
John continues, “and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” George Herbert is my home-boy. He is a poet-priest from 17th century England. I’ve made a pilgrimage to his parsonage near Salisbury. When George was in his mid-30s he was a prominent official in the King’s court; highly respected, highly paid. He felt a call to serve the Lord as a pastor, but to be a pastor in that day was considered a very lowly position in society; no respect, little pay. Yet, he left the King’s court, and took a little parish in Bemerton. I’ve been there. It is so tiny. And the people would have been sheep herders and poor farmers. He had more education that all of his parish put together. Yet he served in obscurity for 4 years, loving his people. In that short time, he converted his parish into one of the most devout places in all of England. And from his poetry, we can see that he found a sweetness with God which was far better than any praise from the court. And then he died at the age of 39.
What’s my point here? We have a choice in this mixed world. There are two realities present on Earth. Two systems. We can choose to dwell with the system of Man or with God. When you give your life away, when you seek another’s good, you dwell in Love, you dwell in God, because the Triune God is love and has acted in that way for all eternity! The system of Man is all a competition. Take, or you’ll miss out. Where will you dwell? What world will be your ultimate reality? Brick and tar built the first Babel, but now it is steel, concrete, silicone, plastic, lead, and bombs. Look around you, everywhere you look you can see that there is Love. The bee and the flower. The rain and the green grass. The mother and her baby. The embrace shared between brothers. The clean house opened to the destitute. The business that serves others with integrity, excellence, and generosity. The giving of our selves to God, and the giving of Himself to us from the altar. This is the ultimate reality. Where will you dwell? “he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” In other words, by dwelling in God and God dwelling in us, we are made perfect in love.
We planted some seedlings last month. There was one big tray with about 70 pods in which we planted watermelon seeds, cucumber seeds, tomatoes, peppers, and cantaloupe. Another tray was filled with dirt, but we never got around to planting the seeds in it. Both trays were watered every day. The one tray is full of shots and buds, but the other remains bare. The seed and the soil remained separate; the love that is built into the very DNA of the universe did not burst forth. We are like the seed and the soil is Christ. His side was punctured like the earth, and out came blood and water. In baptism, we follow upstream and are planted in Him. When He ascended, we ascended, too. He dwells with the Father and the Holy Spirit—in Him, so do we. “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect.”
Drew, Ashley, Julie—you have this day been planted in Christ, inducted into the dance of the Triune God which you will enjoy for all eternity. You can’t see God, but in Him we live and move and have our being. The world you can see. It looks like it is the only reality that there. Yet if you look at the world with the eyes of Faith, reflected in the waters of your baptism, you can what God’s love in what He has made. Dwell in God. This day He dwells in you. All of you, imitate the God who made you, and look how all that He has made gives itself to something else.
You three have been bound by baptism to the Triune God. If you continue to dwell with God in this world, your love will be made perfect, and you will have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” Brothers and sisters, baptized into the Triune God, let us be in this mixed up world, as He is. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.