The Dance of Mutual Love

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8

Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

The love of God is the love that is God, overflowing the mutual generosity of one to the other. The very essence of God is Trinity - relationship, community, unconditional love. This Trinity Sunday, we are reminded that we are called to share in the very same love - to be the beloved which were baptized to be. And, moreover, to invite others to share in the same relationship of love.

When Abram went on his grand adventure, lecaving Ur of the Chaldeans and going into an unknown future into a new land, he brought with him not only his wife Sarai and whole household but also a new faith. The world that Abram was leaving and the one to which he was going were worlds where many gods reigned, whose presence was made known by idols carved of wood and stone or cast in iron and bonze. But Abram left called froth by the Lord God whom Abram alone would worship. No longer would he bow down to the many. No longer would he sacrifice to a pantheon of gods, cast or carved. Instead, Abram chose to worship the one – the Lord God alone would Abram and his household serve. This was indeed a novelty in a world where deities abounded in great pantheons, competing and scheming amongst themselves. Abraham declared, “One God.” And Moses proclaimed, “One God.” And Isaiah announced, “One God, who is holy, holy, holy.”

And all was well until the Christians came along and proclaimed, "Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." God is one! God is three! God is a unity in a trinity of persons! What's this? To say the least, this was a confusing concept for those who had rid themselves of their pantheon, who had embraced the one God.

Throughout the centuries, the Church’s theologians, mystics, and pastors have attempted explanations to the conundrum of three-in-one. One used the analogy of the sun. It is a ball of energy that we see in the sky. It is the beams of light that stream down upon us. It is the emanating heat that warms us. St. Augustine, the great theologian of western Christendom, described the Trinity of persons in “psychological” categories: memory, understanding, and will. A sensitivity to the obviously male-dominated language of old, alternative formulations speak of the God who creates, who redeems, and who sanctifies.

Despite the attempts (successful or not) to define the essential nature of the Trinity, there is, I think, another, more practical truth to be learned today. "When the Spirit of truth comes,” Jesus says, “he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. For all that the Father has is mine." In similar language, Jesus speaks of his relationship with the Father in other places in John’s Gospel:

"Do you not know that the Father is in me and I in the Father?" (John 10:30)

“And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11)

“The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:22-23)

What is striking in these passages (as well as ones similar to it) is that they use language not of form or function or definition or modes, but, rather, of relationship. It is language that speaks eloquently of mutual devotion. Richard of St. Victor, an influential 12th century mystic-scholar, speaks of God in terms of shared love. The Trinity is a community of persons in which love in each is expansive and generous, so much so that it cannot be contained. The love thus overflows from one to another and back again. The love of God is thus the love that is God. It is, to add another image, a divine dance with graceful, dynamic, and deeply intimate movement. And so, in this movement the God that is the Lord, the Lord alone (see Deuteronomy 6:4) in not alone. The God that is the great “I Am” is never alone for the very essence of God is relationship. This, of course, is radically different from those mythological pantheons of old in which the gods were always at odds and fighting, rivals and annoyances to one another. What we see in the Trinity is a movement of persons, mutually affirming and mutually loving. The very essence of God is Trinity – relationship, community, unconditional love.

What might be even more remarkable than God’s essential nature in mutual loving affection is that God, whose dance is already perfect and needs no other, chose to create. Hear that again: God chose to create...God chose to “wonderfully create, yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature” (Collect ”of the Incarnation”, BCP 251). Even more, God chose to create, restore, and sanctify you and me and everyone we encounter that we might enter into the very same dance of mutual love ourselves. The invitations have been sent. There can be no spectators. This is no middle school dance! There are no outcasts or outsiders on this dance floor.

We are thus called by God to see ourselves just as God sees us, discovering ourselves, like the persons of the Trinity, to be truly beloved. The Rt. Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, would often begin talks or conversations with groups by reminding them of Jesus’ baptism. She would remind them of the words found in Luke’s Gospel account, “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” She then reminds listeners that these words are meant for us, as well, in our own baptism: “You are my Daughter…you are my Son, my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” The rite of Holy Baptism uses similar words spoken over the newly baptized: “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism, and marked as Christ's own forever.” The sentiment is beautifully and prophetically spoken by Isaiah, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). The invitations have been sent and they have come to you personally, by name.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to make an audience with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. My seminary classmates had all gone on other occasions but I had resisted for some reason, thinking the rock star atmosphere ill-befitting the sanctity of the woman. Eventually I was convinced by a close friend to go. Since it was the last few days of Mother Teresa’s time in Rome, my friend and I made plans to go that very afternoon. I put on my cassock and off we went to the convent where she resided in Rome. I don’t know who I was trying to fool earlier because as we drew closer I grew more and more excited. I was an eager seminarian going to meet Mother Teresa. My friend and I picked up the pace. The excitement was mounting. We turned up the walk to the convent. The front doors were open and we could see Mother Teresa right there inside. We would bound up the steps and genuflect before her holiness. But then all we could see was a wall of white habits. “Mother is tired.” “But, but…,” we stammered. “We are sorry.” Dejected, we turned to leave. Then suddenly a small voice came from the door, “Come. Let them come.” As we approached, Mother Teresa spoke, “Tell me your names.” We did. She then responded, “Tell me about yourself.” For what felt like thirty minutes but actually just five, I received Mother Teresa’s complete attention. For that time, however brief, I had value. “I will remember you, Robert from Florida.” For that time, however brief, I was God's Beloved and part of the great dance.

Paul speaks of “charity” in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13). The charity that Paul speaks of is a put-your-feelings-into-action kind of love. It is patient and kind, not jealous or self-centered. It will never keep a checklist of wrongs. No, it is a love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:17). It is "a still more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31) of relating to one another. It’s the kind of love found in the heart of God of own self

I see people every day who need to know what this is like. People who feel alone or cast out or separated. People who do not feel that are beloved. I wonder what would happen if we started to look at our world, particularly at those folks that are right there in front of us every day, with fresh eyes. I wonder what would happen if we stopped seeing rivals or annoyances or, perhaps worst of all, as invisibles but, instead, saw God's beloved ones. What if we saw everyone as God's dance partners? Trinity Sunday serves as a reminder that God has given us a gift: God’s very own love that is the essence of God’s self. But more, God has given us the gift to share the same with all those we meet, with all those who have forgotten who they are and whose they are. Can we dare to look them in the eye and quietly remind them that they are not God and that they don't need to be? Can we dare to look them in the eye and quietly remind them that there is one God, who is relationship, who is dance, who is Love? Can we dare to look them in the eye and quietly remind them that they are God's Beloved.