June 3, 2007
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The Norwegian
Lutheran Memorial Church Fellowship with The Triune Some people think that Trinity Sunday has a difficult theme. It feels as if it increases the distance to God, and makes him more unreachable. But the point is quite the opposite. That God is triune, creates an ”opening” that we can ”step into”, so that we can take part in the community of saints, together with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Every Sunday we confess: ”I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints.” This is our Christian faith. The trinity invites us to communion, fellowship with Himself, without cancelling the distinction between God and humans. I will elaborate this in the following. I have a simple copy of a Russian icon back in Norway, depicting the triune God. It is the world famous Rublew Icon, that was painted in 1425. It shows the three persons coming to visit the patriarch Abraham and his wife Sara in the Mamre grove. In Gen 18 we find this story about the strangers that are being hosted at the table by Abraham and Sara under the oak trees. The old, still childless, couple who receive the visit are quite surprised. They get a promise about a future and decendents. Abraham only afterwards understands that the visit he has had, is a divine one. In accordance with the later Biblical revelation, we sense that this is one of the first testimonies about the trinity in the old covenant. The icon depicts the three of them sitting, one on each side of the table. The Father is turning towards the Son. Or in a way he is moving towards the Son, while the Son and the Spirit are moving towards the Father. The spectator to the icon is being pulled into, and becomes part of the same movement. The three guests with Abraham are sitting at one side each, while the fourth side of the table is free, turning towards the spectator. You get a friendly invitation to be a partaker in the intimate conversation between the three persons of the Trinity, and share their fellowship at the table! This comes into a beautiful harmony with our text today. as Jesus says All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he (The Spirit) will take what is mine and declare it to you. The triune God is both a unity and also a divine fellowship that again invites us who are his creation, into the fellowship with our Creator and Master. As we heard last Sunday, we as a congregation are living stones that form a temple, being built to God’s glory. A woman was on a visit to a monastery in France where they welcomed pilgrims as guests. As she entered the dining room of the monastery, she saw this famous Russian icon, hanging there. She found it strange that they had put it up there, and not in the chapel. So wondering about this, she asked her hosts why. They answered: ”The three of them are sitting at the table. And we are invited to join them. There we are in our lives, invited to the environment of holy love!” Imagine, being invited to the table together with the Triune God! At the fourth side of the table, God wants us to find our place. He wishes to reveal his goodness and love for us. As we heard in the text for today about the divine joint ownership, All that the Father has is mine. And what happens next, is that the Spirit takes what belongs to the Father and the Son, and declares it to us! A very interesting and important detail in the famous Russian icon is that the faces of the three are identical. While clothes, placement and bodily position are not equal. By this the icon painter has wanted to depict God as one, but still he comes forth in three shapes. That the faces are equal, shall remind us who watch the icon, that God is one. We focus this Sunday on one of the mysteries in the Christian faith. One God, and still three persons. God’s face is one. So a person that believes in Jesus, has in reality seen God’s face. Jesus Christ has revealed God for us. Through the deeds that he did, the love that he showed, through the words that he taught, the life he lived and the death he died. And this is not only being declared to us, but also he wants us to convey it to others. Trinity Sunday is, at least in a Norwegian tradition, an important Mission day in the Church Year. One of the texts for the day is the Mission Declaration, Math 28,18-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. One of the many positive things that are happening in our congregation here at Mindekirken, is that we now involve ourselves more in the world mission, through China Service Venture (CSV). China, that for many years under Mao and the so called ”culture revolution” was closed for the gospel, now open its doors more and more. It is in the heavily populated Henan province that we now are getting involved to support an exciting Village Project. By this, CSV restarts an old Norwegian-American mission tradition. As this was the area where Daniel Nelson did his pioneer work a 100 years ago. The relatively newly established organization CSV (established in May 2001) had a few weeks ago a big gathering in a Lutheran church here in the Twin Cities. I had the pleasure to take part. It was inspiring! We heard that there now is an opening in China, not only for health and teaching programs, where foreigners are welcomed to contribute. But also that witnessing service and building of Christian fellowship follow naturally. The humanitarian and the spiritual go hand in hand. Every Sunday as we celebrate Holy communion, we as a congregation are invited to take part in the Seraph song, Holy, holy, holy Lord, lord God of pow’r and might: Heav’n and earth are full of your glory. Imagine what this means: No place on earth is untouched by Gods glory. As the hem of his robe filled the temple in Jerusalem, when the prophet Isaiah was called, so is his presence over the whole world like a robe that fills the complete cosmic temple covering our little planet. This again means that when Christians take the mission declaration seriously, and go out in the whole world to proclaim the gospel and to baptize, we do not bring something totally strange and new. The Holy Spirit has been there, long before we came. He has been there the whole time since the first day of creation. The whole world belongs to the triune God. It is the works of him, his glory fills the whole creation. So to bring the gospel, is therefore to bring home the good message that the whole creation is longing for: the redemption from evil, the salvation and peace with God. Glory be to the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who was, is and will always be one true God from eternity to eternity. Amen |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |