My friends, last week I shared Sister Sandra Schneiders’ quote that, “God is more than two men and a bird,” and the general reaction to this statement is that it makes us laugh, or at least smile, but, the thing is, this is basically what we have been taught all our lives, perhaps though in a more reverent way. But as thinking, feeling adults striving for a more mature faith, we realize that this so-called “truth” can’t really be so.
Looking to another truth in Genesis 1: 27, that speaks of God creating humans in the image of God, male and female, we have to wonder why the image of God that we all learned along the way, had no female images. And true theologians, most of them women, such as Sister Sandra Schneiders have called the lie of presenting our loving, inclusive God simply in male terms when both female and male humans have been “made in the image of God.”
Within this space then, we will always image our God in both female, “Sophia God,” imaged in wood behind me, as the Spirit, and in male images, “Jesus our brother, our Revealer” of more of who God truly is, and the Creator, whom I would guess is a combination of both female and male, along with nature images of beauty, strength, resilience, and love in their very creation.
The whole concept of a “trinity” – three persons in one God is truly a mystery – one that we can’t fully understand through our minds, thus it is necessary to come at through our hearts. Our minds can at times be “very small boxes,” whereas our hearts are more able to expand. It has been said of our God that this entity can’t be contained in one person, therefore it was necessary for our God to “spill over” into three persons, and their communication and unity becomes one God.
I believe the chosen Scriptures for this day spell out wonderfully and well who our God is. I will begin with the beautiful Psalm 8, “When I behold the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars that you have set in place – who are we that you should be mindful of us!” We say that verse with awe and finish it with an exclamation point! Really, who are we? Our response—“We are creatures loved by God!” The psalm continues, “You have made us little less than the gods…you have given us rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under our feet.” Another way to say this is that we live and exist on a continuum that includes humanity at one end and divinity at the other, and when we strive to be our best selves, we are closest to being divine: “a little less than the gods…”
This is probably my most favorite psalm because it expounds on the down-right goodness of our God—to not only create—give birth to all the beauty in our world, but to share that beauty through giving us life and the awesome task of looking after that life. We were blessed throughout the pontificate of Pope Francis who consistently called us to this very reflection—the beauty of the earth—its fragility and the need that we care for it. And there is every reason to believe that Pope Leo will tread this same path of love for all of creation. We are conscious of both the fragility and the strength of our earth as we witness more and more changing weather patterns, the extensive melting of the glaciers, and more violent storms and we have to ask how well we have cared for our beautiful earth, the gift of the planet that we live on.
Moving on then to the 1st reading from Proverbs, Wisdom, which you may know is code for the Spirit, speaks wonderfully of the “playfulness” of our God. Now, when we “mature adults” hear, “playfulness,” we probably think of children, and this trait belonging to childhood. And if we consider playfulness in this way alone, we would be wrong.
This reading clearly says that this “child-like” quality is expected from children, but is not reserved for children alone. Wisdom, the Spirit, speaks of “playing like a child” before God as She/He created the world. Wisdom Spirit also says that “the earth…was my playground.” [I was watching while you created everything].
This reminds me of my daughter Eryn who when away at college, and we would talk on the phone, and if I was upset about something going on in my life, she would say to me, “Mom, have you played today?” What that lifted up for me was to realize that maybe I was living too much in my head and needed to care for myself a bit – to play! This question became one that we were able to ask of each other over the years.
And before leaving the Proverbs reading, I would further suggest that our God through the Spirit wants to encourage us in the human, child-like tendencies of “wonder and amazement” too in order to see the “best” in others, rather than the worst. Earlier I stated that when we strive to be our best in our humanity, we become closest to being divine, “a little less than the gods,” as the psalmist said.
It has been said of God, in an attempt to explain the “mystery” that God is, that it all begins with love. God loved us and all of creation so much that this love couldn’t be contained in just one person, but had to spill over into a second person, who we have come to understand and know as the “Word” – Jesus, our brother in human form. And then the love shared by the Creator and the Word being equally great, once again had to spill over into a 3rd person – that of the Spirit. Again, this is a simple way for our human minds to understand a mystery which we can’t fully grasp, but I have found it to be meaningful over the years. And of course, the idea is, that we should keep “spilling over” the love to all those in our world!
The 2nd reading today from Romans continues the theme of being our “best selves” in Paul’s words, “we await the day when we will become all that God has intended for us.” Paul makes it clear that our “journey of love” throughout our lives won’t always be easy – that there will be “afflictions” along the way.
These afflictions though, have the power to be turned into good as Paul realizes in his own journey of love. Afflictions that we deal with can produce within us, perseverance, character and hope. And in the end, he says, “we [should not] be disappointed because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Spirit” – Jesus’ promise to us, that he would not leave us alone! I have placed an exclamation point after this statement too, because this is a great thing to keep in mind, especially when life’s “afflictions” come our way.
A final thought that I would like to lift up for us to remember today comes from John’s gospel wherein he says, “The Spirit will reveal all to us,” [the Creator, Savior/Revealer, and the Spirit — how they indeed work hand-in-hand to one day bring us all home. This wonderful “trinity” that we call God will always be at work within willing hearts to enable that which is good, rather than bad to come to fruition within us. Amen? Amen!
All Are One Church 