Children's message:
What in the world is the Trinity??
Many wise and intelligent people have tried to comprehend
And to explain over the years
But one way you can imagine (not perfect but just a helpful analogy)
Is with a simple molecule called H2O
Water – Ice – Steam
Always the same molecule H2O
Always GOD
Slightly different emphasis and
Interaction with us
God is simultaneously
Beyond what we can imagine
In our hearts and all around us throughout the universe
And Christ the love and mercy of God
Present in the world
Where love and mercy are practiced
Think of it like a little family
Show the Symbol of the Trinity Knot on my stole
An ancient Celtic Symbol
Symbolized the generations of the family
The “Wise one” or elder, (grandparent)
The Parent
And the child
Strengthen and support one another
Interlocking, connected
As Christians found this symbol
They saw it fit well with the concept of the Trinity
Which also is like a family!
Like our family, the church family
One thing we do as a family every Christmas (in my family)
DANCE
Some say the Trinity is like a dance, God wants someone to dance with
Song (with slight change):
I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna move my feet with somebody
About Relationship!
Adult Message:
Dance of Trinity, Dance of relationships
Reading a book about the President Teddy Roosevelt
William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism
Not only did I finally learn why teddy bears
are called Teddy Bears
But I also learned that,
He had a vision to fight against corruption
That was creating inequity throughout the country
As the Industrial Revolution transformed the economy
And large corporations exploited
the centralization of wealth and power
He also strongly believed in keeping
In contact with people who disagreed
And not breaking off correspondence
Unless absolutely necessary
He believed in compromise when possible
Did not want to cater into the radicals on either side
Those who thought corporations
should be able to do what they want
And those who wanted complete government control
But there are some issues
that we must take a stand on,
as we are bound by conscience
and we see innocent suffering, oppression, injustice
Part of Roosevelt’s ability to keep in correspondence
With a variety of people was that he also
Was up to date on what the people were crying for
It’s about race and about class right now
It’s about police and community relations
Really the whole Judicial system is one area
that really needs to be looked at…
That society is calling out to be investigated!
Not that it is the only issue we have!
Though there are many white people that go to prison
When we account for overall population
There is a disproportionate number of Black
and Latino prisoners
If you would like an extensive review of this trend
Please read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
She thoroughly analyzes police trends
throughout the country
Accounting for population and crime statistics
We often talk of good apples versus bad apples
In these conversations
Life is not only individual
We are always in a system,
Or a variety of systems
So, we need to look at the world in both ways
There may be good apples and bad apples
But there are also good systems and bad systems
Hard to be good in a bad system
This is exactly the argument that Martin Luther
Makes in his treatise “On the Bondage of the Will”
Michelle Alexander
Describes how the War on Drugs has led to
Large percentages of black young people,
Especially men,
To go to prison for low level, nonviolent offenses
Often entering into a system that they cannot escape
The rest of their lives
This has affected whole communities
It has left so many young people without that parent figure
Without that father figure growing up
The generations represented by the Trinity Knot
That support and strengthen one another
Are not present in many households,
This is a travesty!
Thinking about having a baby again (my wife and I)
When all hell literally seems to have broken loose
in a matter of months; it is sobering
In our Men’s Bible study,
we were going through the book of Daniel
Fritz used a calendar to calculate
a certain of number of years
When it said that the world would come to an end
Many people have done this over the years of course
So, I was very skeptical of his date of 2025
As you can imagine
Thought it was just another one of those other times
someone had tried to make the numbers fit
Now I am not so sure… Coronavirus, now protest, riots
If we can’t find some way
To get passed differences, and come together…
What would you think if I told you
That a man got arrested and put in prison
for a nonviolent offense?
Maybe you think, well, they deserve it,
must have done something, need to be tough on crime
Now let us imagine that it is your sister, or your brother,
Your best friend, parent, etc. your child maybe
There might be a slightly different feeling
Than the apathy of the situation before
Now the loss would be very real
Someone you love and care about
Not 100% but most likely if your brother or sister
Was going through this
Because of that caring relationship,
you would have more empathy
You might think it was unfair and
What you might hope for from the judge, Is leniency,
Something that is based in a little idea of MERCY
Relationships (our topic of last week) comes up again
Because they can be a source of compassion and mercy
Hard to not care for someone that you love and dance with!
The KING was the one who made judgments about disputes
Often made all the laws of the land
The Prophets called the Kings
to practice JUSTICE and MERCY
MERCY for the poor and downtrodden
MERCY for the prisoner, the hungry
The orphan and widow and stranger
And JUSTICE for the oppressor, and for the wicked
There is no denying this
MERCY is the overriding theme of God in the Old Testament
MERCY carries through into Jesus of Nazareth
MERCY that is offered to ALL people
Jesus says to go and BAPTIZE,
To reach out with God’s mercy
Into the world
That in turn should lead to more MERCY
in every aspect of what we do
Right now, we must push for equal treatment
by the police and before the law
for our brothers and sisters of African American heritage
And for all people
We must push for mercy in the courts
To seek healing and wholeness and forgiveness
Seeking to help and rehabilitate
We must push for education and accountability
In our communities. It is all important!
We must seek to develop relationships of love
That move us to be a part of the dance
That has existed since beyond time in the Trinity
And continues on throughout creation
The dance of love and mercy
In Christ,
we get to be a part of the relationship of the Trinity
To the point that we realize
we are all really family in Christ
We are siblings with all people!
We must listen
God is calling us today
To receive forgiveness once again,
And to bring God’s mercy to the world!
Amen!