Lectionary Readings (1 John 4:7-21 substituted as epistle reading)
In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“All
you need is love; love is all you need.” Those words that come from John really
are a decent first draft of the essentials of Christian doctrine, they just
happened to be written by John Lennon, not the author of today’s epistle from 1
John. There, the text proclaims that “God is love… if we love one another, God
lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” I know that it seems overly
simplistic, but love really is all we need.
Today
is Trinity Sunday, a day on which we celebrate and confess our faith that God
is a mystery: the one in three and three in one. Many theologians have said
that by understanding God’s very nature to be Triune, we understand that God is
fundamentally a relationship of love. There are a lot of other things that we
could claim as the central identity of God. The author of 1 John could have
chosen other words to go after the words “God is.” We could read that God is
light, or power, or justice, or order, or goodness. But that’s not what we
read. And while those words may partially describe our understanding of God, they
do not describe God’s very nature. There are books upon books to read about how we
can understand the Trinity, and I commend those books to you. But at the
simplest level, by calling God a Trinity, we are claiming that God is
fundamentally a relationship of love.
The
epistles of John strive to build and strengthen an early Christian community,
and for that community to thrive, it will have to be rooted in love. To be
clear though, when we speak of the sort of love which God is, we’re not talking
about loving sushi, loving your job, or even the romantic love that you have
for your spouse. While those sorts of love may be windows into Divine love, they
pale in comparison. When we say that God is love, we’re talking about a subversive
love – subversive in that is a fuller sort of love than the world generally
gives. It is a vulnerable sort of love that embraces pain instead of avoiding
it. It is powerful sort of love that can tear down walls of division, warm cold
hearts, and restore broken situations. When we read that God is love, the image
that comes to mind isn’t as much the sentimental vision of the baby Jesus in a
manger, it is the gut-wrenching image of Jesus hanging on the Cross. Jesus’
Crucifixion was an act of love, and as history and the lives of billions of
people are witnesses to, it was the most powerful act in the history of the
world. The love of God is deep, broad, unceasing, and unwavering. And the
author of 1 John knows that if that sort of love becomes a hallmark of the
community, that the community will be alright, perhaps not perfect, but it will
thrive.
1
John notes that “We love because God first loved us.” This is important to
remember when we think about Divine Love and the Holy Trinity. God does not
love us in response to anything that we’ve done. God does not love us because
we remember to pray, God does not love us because we get good grades in school,
God does not love us because we are nice people. God loves us because God is
love, and God created us out of that love. Some theologians speculate that the
love of the Trinity is so immense and vast and boundless that Creation came
into being because the love of the Trinity could not even be contained within
the Trinity, and as it overflowed, that love became Creation. The fact that God
loves first is a reminder to us that we are always, always loved by God, and
nothing can change that. As St. Paul writes in his letter to Rome – “For I am
convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This
really is the most important thing in our faith, and everything flows out of
this concept that “God is love.” If we say there is a God, then it follows that
God is what ultimately matters. And if God is love, then we might also say that
love is what ultimately matters. It really is that simple – that love is all
that matters. In a recent interview, Presiding Bishop Curry said “Imagine what
the world would look like if Christians were really Christians.” In other
words: imagine what our community would look like of Christians pursued love at
all costs, above all other things. What if we were more loving than we were
judgmental? More interested in pursuing love than pursuing career advancement
or wealth? More focused on love than division? Can you imagine what our
government would look like if we all prioritized love? Can you imagine what
your workplace, your home, our church, our community might be like if love was
the thing we focused on? What would happen if we modeled the vulnerable,
transformative, expansive, no questions asked, powerful, redeeming love of God
that Jesus showed on the Cross? Well, we’d call it a miracle and we’d find out
what it looks like to truly pray “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in
heaven.”
This
sort of love is hard though. And it’s not so much that when we are not at our
most loving that we are bad people who are filled with hatred. No, as 1 John
says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” The opposite
of love is not hatred or apathy, but fear. Fear is what stops us from loving
more fully. It doesn’t take an expert to diagnose our culture as one that is
plagued by fear. For goodness’ sake, we’re fighting about being afraid of who’s
using the stall next to us in the bathroom. When people around the world flee
from a warzone and look for a new home, we respond with fear before respond
with love. 1 John tells us that the love of God is incompatible with fear.
I
know that on Easter Sunday I preached about the fact that our faith is founded
on a really big “but,” that Jesus died but
he was Resurrected. However, there are no “buts” when it comes to love.
Just imagine what would happen if the love of Jesus on the Cross was something
that was visible in the lives of all who call themselves Christians. Or even,
just image what Salisbury would look like if every one of us here today
committed ourselves to sharing the love of God.
If
we are going to share this love of God, we must first experience it – so
however you find the love of God, do more of that. If prayer gets you there,
spend more time in prayer. If walking in nature does it, then do that. If
playing with your children helps you to know the love of God, then focus on
that. And if you have trouble knowing the love of God and want to talk about it
with me, please call on me.
This
is what we’re recognizing today as we celebrate the youth of this parish, and
what Robbie so eloquently testified to in his remarks. Our youth are helping to
lead our worship, and we’ll honor those who are graduating. And we do so
because we love them, and we want them to know it. It’s why we’re going to have
a parish picnic, because we love each other, and we want to celebrate that.
It’s why we have a day to focus on God as Trinity – as a relationship of love.
Let
us pray: Almighty God, we give you thanks for revealing yourself as Trinity:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May the love the Trinity flow through us, that we
may embrace the mystery and power of love. Help us to always know of your love
for us; strengthen us to love instead of fearing; and guide us to be your love
in the world. Amen.
