Today is Trinity Sunday in the liturgical year, when the work of the trinity is emphasized. We acknowledge through the trinity that God was revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--three persons of one substance.
As we acknowledge that God and Christ are one substance, what was done to Jesus when he walked this earth was also done to God. This represents a profound indictment of our political, social, and religious systems, and reveals the depth of our individual and collective sin. Rome's judicial process, which it took so much pride in, resulted in the conviction and execution of the God that Rome endorsed when it endorsed the Nicene Creed, from which our orthodox understanding of the trinity ultimately derives. The Jewish religious establishment concluded that God was a blasphemer, was irreligious, and would not have permitted God from entering locations in the temple in Jerusalem reserved for the priestly class.
God, in Christ, would have received the same reception in every culture and in every age, including ours. And here we arrive at the foundation of discipleship; a recognition of our depravity and need for redemption. In order to live under the Lordship of Christ, we must first acknowledge the depth of our need for God's Kingdom and that we enter into God's Kingdom solely through God's grace
Supporting the work and mission of Caney Spring United Methodist Church and Berlin United Methodist Church, two churches partnered in the ministry of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world, located in Marshall County, Tennessee.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Sunday, June 4, 2017
What the Church Knows and What the Church Doesn't Know
Pentecost Sunday celebrates the birth of the Church. On Pentecost, the disciples started speaking in other languages. The was bewildering to the crowd.
What neither the disciples nor the crowd knew was why God's Spirit was manifest by the disciples speaking other languages. The Church identifies it as a manifestation of God's Spirit, but the Church does not know any more than the world why God would choose to be manifest in this manner rather than another
What the Church does know, and what Peter proclaimed to the crowd, is the identity of the God that was manifest. And the fact that this God was the same God who created all things, redeemed us in Christ, and who sustains us with his Spirit.
The world is bewildering, mysterious, and full of wonder. It is also a place where both the believer and non-believer experience beauty and joy. What the Church is called to proclaim is the God who underlies it. The buildings where the Church gathers are not themselves holy. They are built to remind the gathered faithful of the holiness of God and to reveal to the non-believer the holy God who is the source of all the beauty and joy they experience in the world.
What neither the disciples nor the crowd knew was why God's Spirit was manifest by the disciples speaking other languages. The Church identifies it as a manifestation of God's Spirit, but the Church does not know any more than the world why God would choose to be manifest in this manner rather than another
What the Church does know, and what Peter proclaimed to the crowd, is the identity of the God that was manifest. And the fact that this God was the same God who created all things, redeemed us in Christ, and who sustains us with his Spirit.
The world is bewildering, mysterious, and full of wonder. It is also a place where both the believer and non-believer experience beauty and joy. What the Church is called to proclaim is the God who underlies it. The buildings where the Church gathers are not themselves holy. They are built to remind the gathered faithful of the holiness of God and to reveal to the non-believer the holy God who is the source of all the beauty and joy they experience in the world.
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