Sermon: How conflict leads to life (Trinity Sunday, May 22, 2016)

Holy Trinity Sunday

May 22, 2016

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

            As you know if you’ve been around here for a few years, I am no stranger to suffering. Who is? We all have dealt with our share of burdens and struggles in life. But one of my favorite prayers someone offered to me happened as I was enduring treatments for my third cancer diagnosis. A friend of mine from seminary wrote to me and said, “I’ve been praying for you, and telling God, ‘God, Johanna has enough character already.’”

            It was a reference to today’s wonderful text from Romans. It is such a powerful text; let me just read a part of it for you again: “We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has

been given to us.” In just a few lines, the Apostle Paul has put meaning to the suffering we all endure – and though I admit it is not always very helpful language in the moment (like my friend’s prayer, I thought many times, “Don’t I have enough character? Give me a break!”), in hindsight it offers much consolation. Christians and non-Christians alike have used a similar image to get through times of trial: it is the hope and belief that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” because we have exercised our emotional muscles and, as Paul suggests, gained endurance to weather what may come in the future.

            Yes, this possibility has brought hope to Christians and non-Christians alike in the face of struggles… but for Christians – for those who believe in the grace of God, the love of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit – all the more so. Especially on this Holy Trinity Sunday, this day we celebrate the name and triune nature of God, our texts offer much to shepherd us through whatever conflict or challenge life may throw our way. And in the spirit of Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate a God who chooses to be revealed in a way that is in itself a community – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – let’s look at the texts in a way that speaks particularly to the conflicts we have with one another in our various communities – whether that is in our political discourse, or responding to social issues, or with our own friends and families.

            First, we look to the Gospel. Once again, we have a piece of Jesus’ farewell discourse, the speech he gave to his disciples on the night before his death. Here he tells the disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” I find this both frustrating and encouraging. It’s frustrating because it first requires us to admit: we don’t know everything. Jesus names it, straight out, saying we simply can’t bear knowing everything at once. Isn’t that frustrating to admit? I hate not knowing everything. We have a joke in my family, because my dad is such a know-it-all. Whenever someone challenges him, he looks all smug and says, “Look it up!” And he is usually right. One time, just one time, I want to “look it up” and prove him wrong! But the battle to be right or wrong doesn’t really help in arguments with people we love, does it? If it is always a matter of right and wrong, someone has to end up wrong, and someone else makes them so, and no one likes to be wrong. Plus, usually the most important arguments don’t have answers that are right and wrong; they are just different. One person’s truth might be different from another person’s truth, but that doesn’t mean one has to be right, and one wrong.

            And so a much harder, but more faithful way to approach disagreements is to listen to Jesus’ words, and take to heart the reality that we don’t know everything, and we never will – we cannot ever fully know the experience and feelings of another person. What we can do is put aside our

insistence that we are right, and simply listen to one another, with open hearts and minds, and try to hear and understand as much of the other person’s truth as possible. That’s when that second, more encouraging part of Jesus’ statement can enter in: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” The Spirit will guide us into truth. But this can’t happen unless we first admit that we need guidance, and then let down our shield and sword and make room for the Spirit to do that important work. It requires humility, and self-awareness, and it may hurt a little, or a lot, but as Jesus promises, this listening – to each other and to the Spirit – is what makes truth be known, and from there, healing and growth can follow.

            The next place to turn is our reading from Proverbs. We don’t hear from Proverbs very often in our lectionary, but this text is really quite lovely. Part of the reason I love it is that it describes the Holy Spirit’s role in creation, as God’s sort of assistant creator – but here the Holy Spirit does not possess the masculine identity that characterizes how many of us grew up knowing God. No, here the Spirit is described as “Lady Wisdom.” This is actually a fairly common way to describe the Spirit, as Wisdom, which is, in Hebrew, a feminine image. Here we see God as both male and female, creating both male and female, creating a world that has differences and different ways of understanding, and that very difference is what brings about life. We also see a God who, even in the very act of creating, works together in community. Bringing life is not an act that can be accomplished by one alone; it is a task to be done as a community, working together, delighting and rejoicing in one another’s work. When we are able to work together, we can be one, even in our differences, just as God the Creator is one with Christ and with the Holy Spirit. Genuine community is challenging, but it is also creative, enriching, and productive.

            Finally, we turn once again to where we started, to this text from Romans, because while all of this other stuff is good to work toward, none of it is possible without what Paul expresses here in Romans. Paul begins this chapter saying, “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” In other words, the reason we are able to do all this hard work that is required in a fruitful, productive, loving community, is that we already have the gift and promise of God’s peace. It’s not a gift we have to earn. We have that peace already, not because of something we have said or not said, done or not done, succeeded or failed at, or even what we might still do, but rather, because God is who God is, and God does what God does. God loves us and accepts us despite our various shortcomings (and let’s admit it, there are plenty of those – if there is one thing we all have in common, besides God’s love for us, it is that we all make mistakes!).

But here’s the really stunning news: because of who God is – one who justifies and loves and embraces even the ungodly, even those who make mistakes – we come to truly know the peace of God, and are empowered and encouraged to turn in love to extend the same grace, mercy, acceptance, and forgiveness to those around us, those with whom we are in community, those with whom we need to work and live each day.

Accepting God’s unconditional love for us can be difficult; extending that love, mercy and forgiveness to others can be even more difficult. But as Paul also tells us, we don’t need to know how just yet – the Spirit, Lady Wisdom, will show us how if we listen to her and leave space in our hearts and between our words and before our reactions for that same Spirit to move and breathe and do her thing to guide us toward the truth. With the help of the holy communion, the Holy Trinity, we, too, can grow in love for one another, becoming a holy community who loves, cares for, listens to, accepts, and embraces one another, even as we continually hold each other accountable to this holy call. May it be so.

Let us pray… Holy Three-in-One, we face divisions in so many facets of our lives, and in our passion for justice and righteousness, we don’t always remember to listen to the pains and experiences of others. Pour your Holy Spirit of truth into our hearts, so that even as we are assured of your peace and love, we are also empowered to hear what is true for our brothers and sisters, and move forward together as a community guided by and basking in the glow of your wisdom and grace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.