"Dancing In the Time Being" May 22, 2016

Romans 5:1-5 John 16: 12-15 Part of my joy living in Central New York has been researching family history, among which we discovered that I had a great great great Aunt who was buried in the Borodino Cemetery overlooking Bunt Osborne's farm. She had been a devout Methodist and life-long Sunday School Teacher. However, eighty years after her burial, a distant cousin who was Mormon, had my great great great Aunt reBaptized Mormon. As a Christian, I found it offensive that long after a person died, others could impose a faith upon them, for a religion they never accepted. Part of the beauty of this morning's passage from Proverbs about Wisdom is the idea that we do not choose, nor are we taught what to believe, but The Holy Spirit chooses us to play with, to believe. After a recent funeral, a relative of the deceased sought me out to challenge why I provided a Christian Burial for someone he judged was not a Christian. With all the guests and immediate family in earshot, I danced around the question, by stating that the deceased had been Baptized and it was their intent and the wish of the immediate family that we extend this Grace. At which, the man became indignant, that he had examined the faith of the one who had died and he judged that they could not confess his belief in Christ. Standing before the Casket, surrounded by those grieving, I chose that that was not the appropriate time to enter into an extended argument or theological debate. But this morning, this being Trinity Sunday, and within this worshipping congregation, I believe the Time Being is an appropriate time for this family discussion, which is really the purpose of any sermon, not to lecture, not to teach but a family discussion. Trinity Sunday is an odd occurrence, different from seasons like Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter or Pentecost. Trinity Sunday is recognition of the completion of everything needed to Dance with God, to explore our convictions and commitments and identity. While I empathize, we cannot impose our beliefs on family who do not believe, however one distinction for both of these who had died, each had been Baptized. In Baptism we are not expected to possess a thoroughly composed systematic theology of the Ontology of God, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Ecclesiology of the Church, and all Wisdom of the Holy Spirit; instead what we vowed as the Body of Christ in this place and time, is that as they begin we extend our faith to them, loaning our faith, covering them, until such time, in such a place, as they are able to decide for themselves what they believe. One of the Sudanese we sponsored 15 years ago came to me recently asking if I could sponsor his Mother-in-Law coming to America. The act cost me nothing, risks my lending of my identity and commitment that when she arrives, as a friend I will be here for her, as a refugee in a foreign place, no matter what she needs. I would admit that sending my identity information to unknown officials in Kenya gave me pause, but I fear we tend to judge and to fear one another and the system, especially a stranger, more often than we are willing to risk lending our identity and friendship. Part of our fear is that most often, we do not see those whom we Baptized, for many years, then like Jesus' Parable of the Sower, the seed which found a place to grow does take root and blossoms! The wonder of the Parable of the Sower is not that we are able to judge those whose faith dried up, or to condemn those whose faith was crowded out by other things, but that we celebrate that any of the seed actually did reach maturity and bear fruit, because life is not easy. That we have faith in anything, or anyone is itself an act of God! Recently one of our Confirmands inquired of our Church Session “What it means to live a Good Christian Life?” A 2nd distinction of each who received a Christian burial is that in their lives they knew they were Good! They were each surrounded by a Christian community who believe in the Trinity of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. That they had been buried in a Christian burial, would not have been a surprise or hypocrisy to either of these who died, because whether they could profess their faith or not they had surrounded themselves with people who did, and who had regularly prayed for them. You have often heard me say, I believe standing before God saying “Craig Lindsey told me what to believe” will not gain anyone entrance into Heaven. But I honestly believe confessing “I was surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who shared in acts of faith, compassion, love” is good life. Description of God being a Trinity, came from a different time and culture, where people identified themselves, confessed their commitments, and what they believed, by Creedal Formula. Today, we identify ourselves by labels as Liberal or Conservative, and think others know what we mean, but part of what each of this year's Presidential Campaigns are reacting to, is a testing of what it means to be a Republican, or a Democrat, a Socialist, and whether the presumed candidates will represent us, our commitments, if elected. In the 21st Century, when we identify ourselves, we use isolated words or phrases as labels: Male/ Female, Married/ Single, Recovering, Alcoholic, Addicted, Middle-Class, by Myers/Briggs types ENFJ or ISTP. Which for those who Text, further reduces identity to only the first characters of each characteristic, so I guess I am a M:M:CE:BB:NE:CNY:Fo2:EN:o50:P:C, identifying labels as Male, Married, College Educated, Baby-Boomer, North Eastern, Central New Yorker, Empty Nester, Father of 2, over 50, Presbyterian, Christian. In the 4th Century, during the late Empire of Rome, a Council of Church leaders were gathered together to define what we mean by claiming the identity: “I believe in God.” The Council at Nicea determined that to say you “Believe in God,” you then need to describe Which God, in Which time. If we recognize God before time as Creator yet still creating, and 2000 years ago as Redeemer yet coming again; do we also acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit with us in the here and now? How are these related, how are they different? Is this One God or three, how are these related to Wisdom and Understanding? Life might be more explicit, if we were able to work out a Creed to describe each identity of who we are and what we believe, but Creeds are also more cumbersome, attempting to explain every element of our identity: “I Believe in God.” There is a story about St. Augustine, who was Bishop of North Africa at the end of the 4th into the 5th Centuries. One day Augustine was walking along the shore, when he saw a child who had dug a hole in the sand and was busily carrying buckets of water from the ocean to pour into the hole. Asking the child what they were doing, they replied “I am pouring the whole ocean into this hole.” Augustine thought to himself, “The whole ocean can never fit into that hole.” When a voice spoke to him, “Neither can the infinite Nature of God, ever fit into your finite mind.” Do you recall the Paul Newman/Robert Redford film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?” Wanting to see Sundance shoot, someone asks him to stand in the City Square, raise and point his right hand, close one eye and stick his tongue out, before the man throws a silver dollar in the air. And of course Sundance misses terribly. At which he asks if he could be allowed to move? And moving, the Gunfighter is able to hit the same Silver dollar repeatedly in mid-air. Rather than a fixed definition or Creed of what we memorize, our beliefs are often more fluid, like dancing, that we understand God brooding over the deep, God like a Mason creating a firmament in the heavens, here and now in the sorrow and devastation of an earthquake a plane disappearing, but also present in a child taking their first steps, or a parent at their child's wedding. As much as we try to nail down exactly what we believe, faith requires that sometimes we step outside ourselves, our reality, risk everything we know. A driver was trying to get to an appointment and exceeded the Speed limit doing 80mph in a 55. They were stopped by the Police and charged with a ticket. Knowing they had done wrong, but not able to pay the fine, they appeared before the Judge. The Judge pronounced Sentence, “You have been found guilty of breaking the Law, driving 80 in a 55, the fine is $100.” But the Driver protested, “Yes, your Honor, but I do not have $100.” The Judge pronounced sentence, “If you cannot pay the Fine of $100, you must spend the weekend in Jail.” To which the Driver responded, “Yes, your Honor, I cannot spend the Weekend in Jail.” The Judge replied, “The Law states the Sentence is either $100 or time served in Jail.” The Driver pleaded, “I understand your Honor, but I do not have the $100 and I cannot spend the Weekend in Jail, is there no other way?” At which point, the Judge rose, stepped down from the Bench, unzipped his robe and put on a suit-coat. The Judge reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 Bill, placing this on the Bench. The Judge then took off his suit coat, put on his robe and resumed his place at the Bench. The Judge once again Pronounced Sentence, “You have been found Guilty as Charged of breaking the Law. You have been sentenced to pay $100 or time served in Jail. You could not pay the $100 or the time served in Jail. However, someone has paid your fine for you. You may go.” Do you recall the story of Terry Barton? In 2002 she had been a Forest Ranger patrolling for campfires in Pikes Peak Colorado, when she stopped to read a letter from her fiance who was ending the relationship. Angry, she burned the letter in what she thought was an extinguished campfire. The ensuing forest fire destroyed 140,000 acres, 133 homes, estimated at $45,000,000 in damages. She was tried and convicted and sentenced to prison. Later that fire forced a change in the way forests are maintained and wildfires are managed. Terry Barton's sentence was reduced to 7 years in Prison, Probation for 15 years, and responsibility to repay the damages. Being on Probation, she has only been able to find minimum wage jobs, but she has made the effort she has paid $75/month every month, at which she will continue paying until November 25, 9995. Homes, businesses, virgin Ponderosa Pine, Trout fishing rivers, all were destroyed, the lack of trees resulting in annual floods. But in the 14 years since, the earth has healed, Grasses, Flowers, Shrubs, Deer and Elk have returned, the Trout are back to about 75% of what they were, and seedlings of Ponderosa Pine have re-emerged. While it will take nearly 8,000 years to repay her debt to Society, the earth has forgiven and God has forgiven. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint. Instead of $100 for speeding, imagine the brokenness is your marriage that has reached an impasse; imagine a cancer on your health, or that this is your child and the sentence is death. Forgiveness, as an act of hope, is monumental; that compassion is God being with us, God behind us, God before us.