Because I said So

May 18, 2008     Trinity A

Genesis 1:1-2:4a            Psalm 8

2 Corinthians 13:11-13         St. Matthew 28:16-20

We find ourselves this morning at the Festival of the Holy Trinity. This Festival, placed on the Sunday following The Festival of Pentecost, marks a tenet of the Christian belief. God is one, but in three persons. It is a festival that marks not an individual, such as John the Baptist, an event such as the Resurrection, but a point of doctrine. It is a festival of belief. Having said that, it is also impossible to divorce this festival of belief from the person of God.

I have spoken about the way the word "person" has traditionally been used to address the nature of God. How that understanding is different from current usage that applies the word "person" to an individual and could thus be interpreted to imply that God is plural. Having addressed that bit of heresy, I would like to look at the Trinity from a different perspective. I would like to look at the Trinity from the viewpoint of time.

The Christian theology is based on an event in the middle of time. That event is the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Everything in Christianity flows from the presence of God in human form, living in a specific place at a specific time. Last Sunday we looked at the coming of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit marks a shift from the middle of time to the end of time. We are now in the final stage of physical life in terms of creation itself. It is impossible, however, to understand fully the middle or the end of time without looking at the beginning of time. We can do that today by examining our first lesson.

The first chapter of Genesis relates the beginnings of the world according to what is referred to as the "P" source. This stands for "priestly" and represents one of the various oral traditions that came together to form what we now have as the written book known as Genesis. Chapter 2, beginning with verse 4b, presents another creation story from the "J" source. Although the details of the stories differ, the purpose is the same.

We run into trouble when we attempt to make Scripture do something that it was not intended to do. This danger is especially known in the book of Genesis. When we attempt to make Genesis into a scientific textbook, we destroy the purpose of the book. Genesis is not a scientific work. It is a pre-scientific work and does not tell us "how" the world was created. It is a faith book, that tells us "why" the world was created.

One of the problems with language, and I bet you would never have thought that I would say there are problems with language! One of the problems with language is the art of translation. For those of you who can speak more than one language, you know what I mean. For others, let me explain briefly that translating from one language into another is more an art than a skill. Languages fit together like teeth in cogs. Some things line up well, others don't. Take for instance, "hour" and "clock". These two words can be translated by the German words "Uhr" and "Stunde". However, sometimes "Clock" must be translated "Stunde" and sometimes "Uhr" depending on the usage. There is no direct "plug in" and off we go. Which brings be to the point.

If we look at the opening verses of Genesis, we will find that they are often grammatically mistranslated, because they "flow" better in English with that mistranslation. The first verses of Genesis should be translated something like, "When God set about creating heaven and earth-the world being then a formless waste, with darkness over the seas and only an awesome wind sweeping over the water," We have finished two verses and have yet to hit the main verb of the sentence! In other words, we have had a lot of description but we do not yet know the action or the actor. It is only when we get to verse three that we have the main verb, "And God said, ?Let there be light.' And there was light." The first action of the book of Genesis is "And God said"

At first glance we might think that this is a bit of a wimpy start to the book that will tell us of the beginning of the world we know. On the contrary, it tells us a great deal. The first and greatest action of the world we know is God speaking! Everything else that we can know in this world, flows from the mouth of God. The repeated antiphons of this first chapter of Genesis are, "And God said," followed by "And it was so."

How many times have you heard a parent say, or as a parent yourself said to a questioning child, "Because I said so,"? It is offered as a mark of authority. In the case of these words, uttered by God, they are a mark of true authority.

On this Trinity Sunday, we encounter God at the beginning, middle and the end of time. We encounter God who forms the world by telling it to obey. We encounter God who enters into that world as a human being to remove the stain that sin brought. We encounter the God who fills us with the breath of new life and enables us to live not just in this world, but in the next.

This God whom we encounter is not three, but one. It is the same God who spoke, was born, and is implanted in our lives. It is the same God at the beginning, the middle and the end of time. It is the same God who created us, redeemed us and fills us with new life.

Here is the peace thatSt. Paul offers the Corinthians. God has always been there, acting for us. The same God who created the world, entered the world as a human being and now has entered human lives by his Spirit. When God speaks, things happen. When God speaks, we can be assured that what God says is true.

Jesus' final words to his disciples at the Ascension were, "I am with you always, to the close of the age." We are not left to our own devises. God is present with us. How can we know? God has spoken, "Because I said so."