May 2010 – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Trinity Sunday
30 May 2010
Trinity C (RCL)
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John16:12-15

No preacher will admit to liking to preach on the Trinity. What sense does one make of the incomprehensible. That, of course, is part of the point. If you think you have come to understand and know God, think again. God must remain always beyond comprehension.

But, the doctrine of the Trinity provides a way for us to think about God in relationship to us. All of the expressions of the Trinity have always included a dynamic element. It is not just about three “things” or “aspects” of God, but “Persons.” Augustine suggested as analogies things like the lover, the beloved and the love between them. Or the mind, its knowledge of itself and its love of itself. In the East, the word “perichoreisis” is often used of the Trinity, meaning something like “dancing around” Continue reading “Delight”

Sixth Sunday of Easter
9 May 2010
Easter 6C (RCL)
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5
John 13:23-29

In the RCL during Easter, we are reading sort of sequentially from Acts, as a continuation of the telling of salvation history. During regular time, we read some of the great stories from the Old Testament in a narrative ark. During Easter, we read Acts. This story is a winning picture of Paul’s mode of evangelism (at least Luke’s portrayal of it): sitting by the riverside, talking to whomever shows up.

But I am most interested in the passage from Revelation. I am sure that the author of Revelation intended his vision of the Holy City as a counterpoise to the creation story, but it is fascinating to me that the people who put the canon together put Revelation at the end of the canon. The Bible opens, after creation from the chaotic waters, with the primordial humans in a garden, with a tree at the center of the garden, and a river flowing out from the garden. As it stands now, the canon closes with the Heavenly City, with a throne at the center of the city, a river flowing from the throne, and the tree of life growing along the river.

Continue reading “River of Life”