The Eternal Dance

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The Eternal Dance
Trinity Sunday
Sunday, June 12, 2022
John 16:12-16

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.”

John 16:12-13 (The Message)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Craig J. Sefa

The Eternal Dance

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Why does the Trinity matter?  Who cares if God is three or one or one-hundred?  Why have we spent thousands of years of church history struggling to figure this out.  God is God! Isn't that enough?

We cannot understand the Three-One God rationally, but the Trinity shows us that for all eternity, God is a relational being and exists forever in a state of perfect love and harmony among Father, Son, and Spirit.  When John writes that "God is love," he is not speaking in the abstract.  God truly exists in a relationship of perfect love.

Here are just a few implications:

• Creation:  Humanity was created because love naturally seeks to reproduce itself, to love more persons and also to be loved by them.  This is a core reason why human parents desire to have children, despite the physical and emotional pain they know will result.

• Relationships: It explains why humans desire relationship and why as God says, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).  If we are made in the Divine Image, than our need for relationship is part of the image of God.

• Sin & Evil: It explains the existence of sin and evil.  God did not arbitrarily choose to give us free will so that we would rebel and unleash thousands upon thousands of years of destruction upon his creation.  Rather, because God is love and created us in the Divine image to be in a loving relationship with Father, Son and Spirit and with one another, God could not have created us without the freedom to choose.  Love is not truly love if it is forced.  If you knew your spouse or your parents or your children could not possibly choose to reject you, would you really believe their love was real?  Their love for you is defined by the fact that they choose to love you, and your love for them is also love freely given.

• Salvation: It explains the nature of salvation, because Jesus said that we should abide in him or be one with him as he is one with the Father (John 14:9-12, 15:1-11 ;17:21-22).  God's entire purpose in redemption is to restore us to the perfect harmonious relationship we shared with Father, Son and Spirit in the Garden of Eden.

The Trinity is not a math problem to solve.  The Three-One God is a dance to be danced, a song to be heard and sung and played, a masterpiece of beauty to be enjoyed, a life to be lived and a love to be loved. 

We may not ever fully understand it, but the Three-One God is inviting each of us to join the Eternal Dance.  Will you accept God’s invitation?

Scattered

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Scattered
Church - Part 4
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Acts 8:1-5, 26-40; Acts 1:6-11

At that time, the church in Jerusalem began to be subjected to vicious harassment. Everyone except the apostles was scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…

…Those who had been scattered moved on, preaching the good news along the way.

Acts 8:1, 4 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Craig J. Sefa

Scattered

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In Acts 8:1, following the death of Stephen, we find that most of the church, except for the apostles, began to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and even into Samaria.  This was the catalyst they needed to fulfill Jesus’ final command: “Go!”

It’s interesting that they never actually intended to do this.  They seemed comfortable in Jerusalem and so long as they were comfortable they had no reason to go elsewhere.  They never planned any mission trips to Samaria… they didn’t even send money to help the poor in starving towns around the world.  Their fulfillment of the Great Commission came not by planning and sending, but by persecution, fear, and running away. 

The Word Jesus proclaimed was finally on the move, even if it required fleeing for their lives, but to their credit these persecuted disciples did not flee by leaving their faith behind.  Instead they moved into new territories with the same boldness that led to their persecution in Jerusalem.

“The blood of the martyrs,” Tertullian wrote in the 2nd century, “is the seed of the church.”  And they scattered that seed everywhere they went, along the way, without a second thought.

Much more can be said of the apostles’ preaching in Samaria and of Phillip’s continued ministry, particularly as he meets a royal servant on the road and through him, ends up sending the gospel even to the far reaches of Ethiopia… in some ways, to the end of the earth.  But for now it is enough to understand that the struggles we face as Christians should not drive us further into our protective church shaped bubble, but rather should propel us out into the world to continue spreading the Good News of God’s grace in all the world.

We must also realize that we will not always get it right and that even when we do get it right, it may not always be interpreted or understood the right way.  Finally, we see in these early Samaritan encounters that we are not the first ones to take Christ into our world.  God is already at work and many people are already searching.  Our primary task in evangelism is to see where God is at work and help others realize God’s presence in their midst.

As Bishop Ken Carter often says:

“Go now in peace to serve God and your neighbor in all that you do.  Bear witness to the love of God in this world, so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you generous friends.”