What's Your Name For God?

Sermon-Trinity Sunday- June 19, 2011
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How do you describe yourself? Have you ever been at one of those workshops or programs where you had to stand up and say something about yourself, or say 3 things about yourself, or something like that? In some way you had to explain who you were in a short about of time. And no matter how you did it, you sat down thinking, “man, did I sound dumb, or shallow, or weird” and you feel like everyone is slowly trying to move away from you?
Think about it, think of 3 things that you would say about yourself that would best describe who you are. Do you think of yourself by what you do-a woodworker, a teacher, a secretary-or by who you are-a wife, a dad, a person with a disability? How do you think of yourself-by what you do, or who you are?
Today is Trinity Sunday. And no, it is not a Sunday we named for our church. It has been the name for this Sunday for about 900 years. In Judaism they never ever said the word God. It was forbidden. I’ll never forget I was a resident assistant at a dorm in college and David Bamberger not only wouldn’t say the word, he wouldn’t write it. He would put G dash d. 3000 years ago Jews thought of God as distant, transcendent, powerful-and often angry. They thought of God as the power in the first reading- a God who could fashion a universe and make all creation good. This was a God of power! Over time they began to see this also as a God of justice. But it was not a God they could feel close to, a God of warmth or intimacy.
Then Jesus came along. And he was so different. He did something radical. His disciples came to him and said, “John the Baptist’s disciples know all these great long, powerful prayers-why don’t you teach us prayers like John.” And so he gave his followers a prayer. And the most important thing in the prayer he taught them was this, “Our Father”. Only the word he used wasn’t “father”, it was much more intimate, much more familiar-the closest thing we have to the Hebrew word is “Papa”. Jesus told his followers to call God “abba”. It was a radical thing to do. This was a people, this was a religion that saw God so far away they couldn’t even say God’s name-and here was this holy man, Jesus, telling them to call God. “papa”. It was scandalous, it was revolutionary. And it was very hard for Jews to think of God in this way. But this man that they followed told them to think of a God that was closer than even their skin. Finally they got their heads around the idea that perhaps God was fully in Jesus, and Jesus was fully in God-and then Jesus left. And even though he was gone, they still felt him with them. These people, these followers, these disciples wanted to somehow describe all of these new feelings, these new experiences, these new understandings. But they had never thought about God in this way. Talk about “thinking outside the box”-it was as if they were told there was no box! And they kept working and trying to explain who God was and how God was coming into their lives.
They struggled, they stumbled, they fought with each other. For the first 400 years of this new stumbling church they kept trying to understand and make sense out of their experience. In the 4th century they finally settled on the language that was used in the New Testament. God was a creator, far away, powerful, but distant, yes, -and this understanding of God they decided to call “Father”-because that’s what Jesus called God. But they were convinced that Jesus was God, also. But how to explain him? And finally the only word that could explain Jesus’ intimacy, his relationship with God was as a “Son”. And so that is what they called him. And then there was the feeling, the sensation that God was near, active, working, helping, lifting, strengthening STILL. And so to this experience they used the word “Spirit”. These were the names they used for God, these were the words they used to describe something that was more than they could describe. Words aren’t enough. Nothing is adequate, nothing is enough. Which is why the Jews would not say God’s name-they were afraid that it was trying to contain something that was beyond them. You’ve heard the old joke-the little boy is in Sunday School, very seriously drawing a picture. And the teacher asks him what he’s drawing and he said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And the teacher spluttered and stammered and finally said, “but Timmy, nobody knows what God looks like.” And he looked up and said, “they will when I’m finished.”
Rev. Rob Gieselmann writes: “The point of Christianity has never been to figure God out by reading and learning, but to experience God. The pertinent question is the same question it always was: how do we find God? Where do we find the love and acceptance and redemption?”
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the traditional way to talk about something that we cannot describe. Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer is another way. Transcendent, immanent, active is another. What word do you use for God? When you pray, how do you begin? How do you address God? Is your God or relationship, like a loving parent? A God of action, like a rescuer? A healer, a friend? How do you talk to God? Someone said to me yesterday, “How come I pray more when I’m driving than any other time?” We are constantly looking at our experience and unafraid to call God different names. As they look at their experience. Rev. Rob Gieselmann again “What is attractive about this redemptive approach is its freshness and flexibility. Like the ancients, people of this generation want to use words that more accurately describe their experience of God. People are trying desperately to understand God. People want to know God.”
Trinity Sunday is the day we devote to thinking about who God is in our lives-how we describe God, how we talk to God, what names we have for God. What is God? Jesus changed the question to “Who is God for us?”
Reverend Brother Tobias Stanislas Haller writes, “The primary difference between Trinity Sunday and the rest of the year is that on this day we focus on God's being rather than on God's doing; on who God is rather than on what God has done. On this day we turn from the "sacred story" to the sacred itself….God is Trinity: above us, and in us, and working through us.
How do you describe God? What word do you use for God when you pray? A relationship word? Or do you talk to God as one who acts? How we address God says a lot about our relationship with God. “God our helper,” “Lord” “Father God” . The New Zealand Book of Common Prayer has a Maori Lord’s Prayer that begins this way:
“Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven”…Much of the time I begin my prayers: “Jesus, our companion on the way…”
Trinity Sunday is the one Sunday every year that we stop for a moment and think to ourselves, “who is my God? What is my God like? How do I know and experience this God?” It’s good that we do this every year and that we are freed up to use a lot of other words besides Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to describe our experience with God. Take just a moment today, in the midst of busy, hectic, questioning lives and think about who God is to you. It’s Trinity Sunday. On this day we remember that God is beyond us, God is in us, and God is working through us. Amen.