Who are you? Who are YOU??? WHO are you??
This moment happened at a Lifespring training back in the late 80’s. Sixty people were all gathered in a large ballroom and everyone was shouting, “Who are you?”, at the person on stage. Everyone was asked the same question repeatedly. Answers varied greatly even from the same person. No matter how many times I was asked, my answer remained the same;
“A child of God, I am a child of God.” NO other answer even came to mind. Later in that same training while paired up with a stranger -I felt the hand of God nudging me, God calling me into ministry. My life changed in that moment.
This is how I started my first Toastmasters speech as a way of introduction. I went on to talk about my family, education, and kids. I shared this to help people start to get to know me, because that helps each person know what to expect, how to interact and a means for getting closer. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes under the cover of darkness, has his first encounter with Jesus and it does not go as expected. A learned Jewish leader certainly was not ready for a second birth- being born from above. Jesus shares the power of being born of the Spirit and speaks of the relational nature of God and something changes in Nicodemus. We don’t hear about it then, but later in chapter 7 he defends Jesus to the Sanhedrin reminding them of what the law requires as they try to condemn Jesus. Then with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus cares for Jesus, providing spices for his body before burial. Nicodemus is one man appearing only in John’s gospel, but at three very important times in Jesus’ life. These three moments say a great deal as to who Nicodemus was.
Today we are welcoming four new members. So I ask, “Who are you?” Edie Abendschan, a retired elementary school teacher, is married to Jim, has a grown son James and volunteers as a CASA advocate. Cheryl Foden is a long time Presbyterian who recently moved to this area, has a grown daughter Lindsey and has jumped into adult education and lunch clusters. Nicole Meschi is married to Mike and the mother of Jacob, who we baptized last week. She also is the director of food services for Pajaro Valley school district. Justina Bryant is married to Mike, mother to Trenten and Taylor who go to youth group, and is the president of 21 Day Kindness challenge. I invite you to get to know our new members. For us to be the body of Christ – the church we are called to get to know one another- we get to ask “Who are you?” and expect an honest and open reply. For the church only works as well as its relationships.
God in God’s infinite wisdom knows this and models relationships for us. All of Scripture is really the story of God’s relationship with humanity, our humanness coming out and God seeking to renew and deepen relationship with us. Scripture helps us answer, “Who is God?” From the moment of revelation when God declared the ‘I AM, Who I Am” as the name of God, we keep struggling to know who God is.
Cooper now works at Cinelux on 41st and that means we get free movies. So he took me to see the Avengers 2 which is a team of Marvel superheroes. When Tony Stark, (Ironman), jumpstarts a peacekeeping program he creates a new supervillain but also a new superhero named Vision. Vision is a combination of two programs, Jarvis, Tony Stark’s computer, and this otherworldly program. When this new, earthly and other, all knowing computer program takes on human form and Tony asks for a name, he ultimately says his name is “I Am.” The theological parallels abound. Our need to know who God is gets expressed in art and story.
Today is Trinity Sunday a time when we ask, “Who is God?” and struggle with why God is known as three persons? Isaiah declares Holy, Holy, Holy for the Lord of Hosts; a “Holy” for each of the three persons. For Calvin the more compelling Trinitarian thought arises in the Lord saying” Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Throughout scripture there are these plural self-declarations of God, “us.” It starts in creation in Genesis with “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (1:26). James R. White, a Christian apologist, says in his book, The Forgotten Trinity, “The Trinity is a doctrine not revealed merely in words but instead in the very action of the Triune God in redemption itself! We know who God is by what (God) has done in bringing us to (God)self!” (page 167).
So let me ask you, which God are you more drawn to, the distant, all powerful, supreme God, or the human sacrificing and incarnate God we experience in Jesus? If God stopped interacting with us after Jesus ascended, how would you and I be Christians today? These questions help to see why God interacts with us in three very different ways, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity not only explains how we interact with God, it also demonstrates the very nature of God. “The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us of the communal inner life of God: God the Father is with the Son who is with the Spirit who is with the Father, self-communicating, self-giving and self- receiving….The very essence of God is to be in relationship” (Feasting on the Word, B3, pg. 47).
Who is God? God is three in One, Holy, and Creator, yet God ultimately is love. Jesus declares “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” “God’s love sent us Jesus. God’s love welcomes us into eternal life. God’s love forgives our sins. “The unknowable One has made himself known. The incomprehensible One has made himself heard” (Feasting on the Word, pg. 47). It is God’s love that welcomes us into relationship with God. Through the divine relationship of the trinity and the absolute loving nature of God we know love and we know God. So when we get to the core of our being that we are forgiven and loved then we can respond like Isaiah, “Here am I; send me!” AMEN.
