Sam Magill is a member of St. Hilda St. Patrick and a coach. He has served on the Bishop’s Committee, Audit Committee, and Stewardship Committee. He is an avid Seattle Sounders fan. Notes from this sermon are below, and this sermon was preached in response to the proper texts for Trinity Sunday.
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
Hot coals burning out sin
God on a high throne
Psalm 29
Voice of the Lord
Power above
Romans 8:12-17
By the Spirit, inclusion as children of God.
Did not receive a spirit of slavery, but a spirit of adoption.
We cry Abba.
John 3:1-17
Born again
Sprit blows where it will
Born of the flesh; born of the spirit
You do not believe my words about earthly things; how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things.
God so loved the world….eternal life.
Delmore Schwartaz – The kingdom of poetry.
For Poetry magnifies and heightens reality:
Poetry says of reality that if it is magnificent, it is also stupid:
Or poetry is, in a way, omnipotent.
For reality is various and rich, powerful and vivid, but it is not enough
Because it is disorderly and stupid or only at time, and erratically, intelligent:
For without poetry, reality is speechless or incoherent….
Trinity:
Does it make sense?
Not logical
Perhaps so assumed by Jesus – from dwelling in it from the beginning – that it “didn’t need to be explained” Or “you didn’t get my earthly references….how could you get subatomic physics?”
Markum: Love and I …
One chair, Two chairs, Three chairs – only this has space in it for us! Adoptive.
Markam: He drew a circle…..Love and I …..drew him in
Trinity is fundamentally inclusive….
Physics: Muon. Tauon. Electron
Structure: triangle is stable….
Isaiah – God’s voice. High throne. Psalm 29 voice – power above. In charge.
Romans – something has happened by the time Paul wrote….
John – sprit. Not just God on throne…. Spirit, wind……
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
Why my kilt? Celtic….
I wonder if the synod of Whitby didn’t bring the inclusive God of three persons – an inclusive God with many dimensions, into conflict with a singular and judging God. The choice of the Roman church – and the date of Easter – lead to a far more hierarchical church than the Celtic rule, ethos and sentiments – including our own St. Hilda.
Like the electron and the muon, the tau has its associated neutrino. The tau can decay into a muon, plus a tau-neutrino and a muon-antineutrino; or it can decay directly into an electron, plus a tau-neutrino and an electron-antineutrino. Because the tau is heavy, it can also decay into particles containing quarks.
Subatomic particle – Charged leptons (electron, muon, tau) | Britannica
A couple of week ago: in John 17:6-19: They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I leap to the idea that the Trinity is not of this world, it cannot be understood in earthly terms because it is bigger than our direct experiential existence. But particle physics…..maybe clergy and biblical scholars have been looking in the wrong place:
The fiddler of Dooley….book of prayer; book of songs…..
Saint Patrick: Process-Relational Theology
Patrick’s prayer affirms an ever-present, dynamic God, similar to the dynamic relational God of process theology. God is everywhere, sustaining everything, guiding our steps, and giving us wisdom to face the challenges of each day. God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. God is above us, below us, around us, within us. Wherever we are, God is with us. We are always centered in God, and God centers us. And, also wherever we go, God’s circle of love surrounds us. Bruce Epperly is a Cape Cod pastor, professor, and author of over sixty books, including the Pandemic Trilogy published by Energion (“Faith in a Time of Pandemic”)