June 11, 2017 -Genesis 1:1-2:4a; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
You Have it in You!
The Holy Trinity – June 11, 2017
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
This week I had an interesting experience.
It was at the Spirituality Workshop we hosted with Pastor Jack Finney.
Now this was a great event and much of what we talked about was listening to
those voices inside us that inform us of our deepest desires –
and perhaps discerning that these voices are from God.
At one point, Pastor Jack asked us to write down what we really, really desire.
Like: what do we really really want?
At first it sort of seems like an intimidating question –
and like all such things you’re afraid of writing down the wrong answer!
But of course there is no wrong answer –
you’re just trying to listen to what is going on inside yourself.
Well, once I put one thing down then a whole bunch came flooding out.
Without thinking too much about it, I just started listing the things I really desired.
Peace, contentment, quality time with my son, stronger connections with my family members, more time with the people I love, excellent relationships with my co-workers, to feel the warm sun on my face, to ride my bike, to swim in my pool, to enjoy each and every day, to play the piano more, to own my own bar – or even just have a perfectly made cocktail.
Among other things, this is what I wrote down.
Well, we were invited to share one thing we really really really wanted,
so I chose to share this: I just want to enjoy each and every day,
to see and feel the blessing in it.
So then, after everyone shared, we were invited to pray about what we desired.
And we were invited to imagine taking our desire to God, to the Holy Trinity –
we were specifically invited to imagine take our deepest desire to the Three Persons of
the Triune God.
Now, this is not normally the way I pray – I don’t normally use visualization,
but, on the other hand: I like trying new things.
So I give it a go.
I imagine the Trinity, and in my mind I think of the Trinity as three persons,
sort of androgynous, gathered in a circle.
Then I let the prayer take over.
They are talking together, and . . . they are really nice! I don’t know why this surprises me.
They are talking about me – turns out, they already know my deepest desire.
And they are saying, “He has it in him!”
Then they realize I am standing there, watching.
So Jesus turns to me and invites me into the circle to join them –
they are eating and sharing food and he invites me to eat with them.
So I do.
And it’s lovely, but I don’t really think about the food because they turn to me and say,
“Michael: you have it in you. You have it in you to enjoy each day and
see the blessing in the people and things around you. We’re right with you!”
And that’s it.
Well: they are lovely. The triune God is very nice, super encouraging! Ha!
There is a lot I could say about that prayer, I guess – and about my list! Hahaha!
But I won’t.
What I will say is, though: is that this is how scripture, tradition, and Jesus really encourage us to
think about God.
That God is – as we learn in confirmation class – most like a loving community of three persons.
God is inherently and irreducibly communal: God is in God’s inmost self, relationship.
And God is inherently and irreducibly love.
God exists in a circle of love where the three share gifts, like conversation, and food:
they speak to one another, and they listen to one another,
they give to one another and they receive from one another.
And we are beloved and precious to this God.
The members of the triune God want to share their love with us,
and they want us to share that love with others.
That is what we believe about God.
And we believe that this God is very close – just a prayer away, or not even that far.
This God is encouraging, and invites us to listen to our deepest desires –
because, as we heard in Genesis, we are made in the image of this God.
We are a likeness of this God.
If God is inherently loving and communal, then so are we.
If this God is made for loving relationship, then so are we.
It’s about that simple.
Our deepest desires will reflect God’s deepest desires, for love and relationship and for sharing.
This Triune God is on a mission to love, bless, heal and feed this world and every person in it –
the great love between the three is so great that it spills out and overflows into the world.
And in our baptisms into the life of this God, that mission becomes our mission –
for the love and grace and communion we experience to spill out into the world.
Everyone is invited into the beautiful life of this loving Triune God which,
as Paul writes this morning, has great gifts to give us:
gifts of grace, love, and communion.
Jesus does say today that everyone is invited into this life-giving relationship with
the Triune God: we are to share as widely as possibly through word and deed
what we know and experience of this Triune God:
as much grace as we can share, as much love as we can share,
as much communion as we can share – that is our mission, too.
As I thought about what I had written down on my list of things I really really want,
I was honestly really surprised that nowhere on my list was wanting more money or
a higher wage! Hahaha! Or more things! Or more stuff!
As I went over my list, I realized that mostly what it reflected was a desire for more communion,
more relationship: more relationship with the people around me,
more relationship with creation,
and through those things more relationship with God.
I think that when we building up relationship and build up community
we echo God’s character most closely –
because, as Genesis tell us this morning,
we are made in the exact image of this God.
I think maybe that is why I feel closest to God when I feel closest to those around me.
When I feel closest to creation and this world God made, I feel very close to the Triune God.
When I feel closest to those I love, I feel very close to the Triune God.
When I am with my friends, when I am with my son, when I am at a party,
when I am working with those I love,
when I am in prayer speaking to the Triune God and listening to the Triune God –
that is when I feel closest to God.
This week, ask yourself: what is it I really really want?
How is God calling you through those desires?
Take this desire to the Triune God just like I did and see what happens –
Tell me about it if you like, or share it with a friend.
Last week on the Day of Pentecost we heard again about how we are given the gift of the Spirit:
Jesus’ Spirit is right inside us, so really it should not surprise that
Jesus’ desires are right inside us, if we are given a chance to listen to them.
Yes: there are lots of desires inside of us, and not all of them are from Jesus and
not all of them build up community and relationships.
But – and here’s the thing – a lot of them do. You have it in you!
The good news is that these are the things the Triune God encourages us in.
These are things the Triune God continues to give you gifts of love and grace for.
These are the things the Triune God strengthens and feeds you for.
These are things about which the Triune God tells you, “You have it in you! I am with you!”
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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