Historical series, 17. Sermon prepared for and made available to the congregations of the Synod of Alberta, presented at the festival of The Holy Trinity, 6 Je 2004. Prov 8:1-4; Ps 8; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15

Kristenson, Stephen P.

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God seeks and creates community

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 33Issue 1 In Honour or Dr. Erwin Buck Article 911-1-2008God seeks and creates communityStephen P. KristensonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationKristenson, Stephen P. (2008) "God seeks and creates community ," Consensus: Vol. 33 : Iss. 1 , Article 9.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol33/iss1/9HISTORICAL SERIES, 17God Seeks and Creates CommunityStephen P. KristensonBishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church In CanadaPastor, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran ChurchMahone Bay, Nova ScotiaThe Rev. Stephen P. Kristenson was the second Bishop of the Synodof Alberta and the Territories of the Evangelical Lutheran Church InCanada. He served in that ministry from 1994 to 2006 and thenaccepted the call to St. John’s in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Thissermon, according to his custom, was prepared for and madeavailable to the congregations of the Synod to be presented there onthe festival of The Holy Trinity, 6 June 2004, the Sunday on whichthe Synod Convention met for its closing worship service.Texts: Proverbs 8:1-4; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15Dear Friends: Grace and peace to you from our Triune God, Father,Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.As your brothers and sisters gather for the closing worship thismorning at the Synod Convention in Medicine Hat [Alberta], it is myprivilege to share this word with you as you worship in yourcongregations back home. Speaking to this many members of ourSynod at the same time calls to my mind an image of the kind of unityfor which, in John’s Gospel, Jesus prayed for his disciples.This Sunday we reflect upon the nature of God, who is revealedin Scripture in three persons. The concept of the Holy Trinity is amajor stumbling block to the other monotheistic religions which arerelated to us through Abraham. Both the Jewish religion and Islamaffirm that there is one God. When they hear us talking about theFather, the Son, and the Holy Spirit it sounds as though we arespeaking of three Gods. We Christians do not believe in three Gods.We, also, affirm that there is one God, who is revealed in threepersons. We are not likely to win over converts from these other faithsby attempting to prove that our understanding of God is correct. Wesimply celebrate the incredible gift that God gives us through God’sWord which describes how God is revealed in these wonderful ways.89Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2008So today’s readings give us ample reason for praise.Proverbs sings the praise of Wisdom, one of the ways in whichGod is expressed. Wisdom is given a feminine voice, so that all ofhumanity can relate in an intimate way with the God who created allthings. Many of the Bible’s images of God are male, so this passagehelps us to understand that all of us humans are created in God’simage, male and female.Psalm 8 is a wonderful hymn to God the Creator. When I was achild, I liked to lie in the grass at night and look at the stars and try toimagine how many there were and how far away they might be. ThenI would try to imagine what was beyond the farthest star, and I wouldbegin to get a headache. Our finite human brains are simply incapableto imagining the infinite. Yet beyond everything, God still is.We have learned a lot about our universe through the Hubbletelescope that circles the earth outside of the atmosphere whichclouds earth-bound telescopes. We hear profound physicists likeStephen Hawking try to explain the universe and infinity, but Isuspect when it comes right down to it even Stephen Hawkingdoesn’t really understand how it all works. Even though we know alot more about the heavens than the Psalmist could dream about, wealso are reduced to praise when we consider what God has done.Then when we think with the Psalmist about the fact that God whomade the universe and all that is beyond it actually made and caresabout us, mere specks of dust on a tiny planet circling a medium-sized star with a few other planets in the midst of one of uncountablenumbers of galaxies, the thought makes us as giddy and amazed asthe writer of Psalm 8. It is beyond all comprehension, so all we cando is praise God.The apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans also reflects on the aweand majesty of God, who is revealed in the person of Jesus. That theGod who created the universe should come into the midst of thepeople God created in the flesh of one of those human beings,stretches the mind beyond what it can handle. Accepting this miraclerequires faith, since it is beyond the ability of any human being tounderstand fully. Not only did God come in the flesh in Jesus, Godgave God’s self completely for humankind as Jesus gave up his lifeon the cross.When that reality sinks in, we see the world and our place in itwith new eyes. Faith in Jesus justifies us, and we experience the90 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol33/iss1/9peace that can come only through Jesus. In the fifth chapter ofRomans Paul describes what happens to people who are in Christ. Weboast in our hope of sharing the glory of God, but we also boast inour sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, andendurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hopedoes not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into ourhearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.There are many things in our world that rob us of hope. Theongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Iraq, violence in many partsof the world, and domestic violence in our homes and communitiesremind us that evil is very much present in our society. Our sistersand brothers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Columbia – ourcompanion Synod – continue to share the Good News of God’s lovein Jesus Christ in the midst of an ongoing civil war which hasdisplaced three million people from their homes over the past fiftyyears. In spite of all these examples of despair, the Holy Spirit is stillactive in Christians around the world.In the Gospel of John Jesus speaks words of hope andencouragement to his disciples in the midst of circumstances that areanything but hopeful. His disciples had a hard time understandingwhat he was talking about, because they could simply not imaginehow God could work in the face of powerful forces such as theRoman Empire. No one could defeat its legions. No one could standup to its might. Many had tried and failed. Once in a while thedisciples would get the impression that Jesus might actuallyoverthrow the Roman government, and they would dream of sittingwith Jesus in the halls of power as they ruled the world.But it became clear that Jesus would not do this. In our Gospelreading Jesus states very directly that the disciples simply cannotunderstand what he is talking about. They are too focused on whatthey know of their world to imagine anything different. So Jesusreminds them time after time that the Holy Spirit will be given at theappropriate time, and the Spirit will help them to understand all hewas saying and doing.Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, when all of the things Jesustaught finally came together in the disciples’ mind as the Spirit blewthrough them with wind and fire. Frightened and weak men andwomen were sent out into a hostile world with power that nothing,not even death, could withstand. The wind of the Holy Spirit stillGod Seeks and Creates Community 91Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2008blows through those baptized into Christ in every part of the world.And now it is our turn.As we look at the world around us, what does it mean to us thatwe are called by God who has been revealed as Father, Son, and HolySpirit? As the Bible reveals God to us in this way we are given aglimpse of the community that exists within God. God refuses toremain isolated and solitary, and seeks community within God’s selfand creates community in the humans God brings into being.Once in a while we would like to have God all to ourselves!Some of us think that our race or culture is particularly blessed to theexclusion of others. Religious wars have been fought when thisthinking blinds us to the fact that God has created everyone, andwants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It tookthe early disciples a long time to realize that Jesus died for everyone,and wanted them to share this good news with the whole world. Twothousand years later we still often struggle with who is in and who isout. It is far easier to remain isolated within groups we know than toreach out to others. As we are baptized into the Triune God, we arealso called to share the gospel with everyone.The Triune God does not remain aloof in a cozy community offin some hidden place. God got dirty and became involved withmatter. God made flesh and blood, and trees and lakes and animalsand birds. Like a gardener, God seemed to enjoy digging in the dirtand making things purely for the fun of it. The diversity of creationis truly astounding – from the tiniest particle on the atomic scale tothe largest star in the universe, God’s imagination appears to have nolimit. Just the incredible number of insects or flowers or trees or fishor anything else in creation indicates just how interested God is invariety. We discover beautiful flowers in the most desolate reaches onmountain crags that no one ever sees. When we contemplate theabundant life God has made, we are reminded that we are called tocare for this incredible world.Thus when we experience the devastation that human beings caninflict upon one another through war or slavery or economic systemsthat prevent people from living full, healthy lives, we are alsoreminded that our loving God calls us to be the presence of the risenChrist to everyone who is hurting. Jesus told his disciples that lovingothers as he has loved them would be a sign that they are his disciples.He reminded them that as he was one with the Father, so they were one92 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol33/iss1/9with him. Doing the work that he did was doing the work of God, anddemonstrated the unity that God desires all to experience.When we respond to God’s love to us in Christ through the powerof the Holy Spirit, we demonstrate and experience the unity for whichChrist prayed. When we love others as Christ loved us, we show theworld what God had in mind when God became flesh in Jesus. Ourunity in Christ sets us free to cross over barriers of race, culture,economics, politics, or geography to be Christ’s presence in a worldof hopelessness and despair. We are free to bring healing to awounded world. We are free to give our lives for the sake of the otheras Jesus gave his life for us. We are free to move about this world thatGod created, caring for it as the stewards God intends us to be. AsGod is One, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so God makesus one in Christ, gathering us from every tribe and nation on earth.As we live out this unity, serving God by serving others, thepeace of God which passes all understanding will keep our hearts andminds in Christ Jesus. Amen.God Seeks and Creates Community 93Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2008

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