I’d like for us to take a few moments and participate in the ancient creedal reading of the Apostles. Join me as we read the Apostles Creed.
We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
My sister and her family joined us for worship last week. After church we all went to lunch and at one point discussed the service. She commented how great it was to see Eileen and to hear her stories and what she’s involved with in China. She commented how great worship was, and also how the time of shaking of hands (the greeting time, or Pass the Peace) was the longest she’d ever experienced. She said it wasn’t bad… it was just long.
Have you ever wondered why we do what we do? Why do we shake hands? Why do we sing? Why do we read, listen and talk? Why do we give? Why do we take time out of the gathering to shake hands, give hugs, and in many ways – simply hang out?
Much of what we do, we do because it’s in our make-up!
Let’s look at the beginning of our Scripture. Turn to Genesis chapter 1:26. In the story of creation, we hear of God creating light and dark, the earth and sky, the water and land, plants, animals and then people. And that’s where we’ll start our reading, with verse 26.
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
The Scriptures say we were made in the image of God. And what has always been an interesting literary point in this text is that God references the plurality of his nature. He says “Let’s make human beings in our image, in our likeness.” “Our image, Our likeness.”
On a day such as this, one week after Pentecost and just a few weeks past Easter, we have the opportunity to recognize a fundamental reality of who God is! At the base of who God is we find the reality of the interconnectedness of relationships! God is Love and that love manifests itself in a relational community. The very nature of who God is – is rooted in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We see in the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit our own heartbeat and driving force to be in relational community.
Today is a day we celebrate the relationships of God – particularly found in the ancient belief of God as the Trinity. The Trinity is most importantly a belief about the love of God. God loves us enough to be the Creator who formed the whole universe and every creature. God has created you and me has given us our very breath. Through God’s relationships, he is the Redeemer who saves and restores the world from the confines of sin, sorrow, and separation – that we might join in his love here and now, and tomorrow too. What we celebrate today is the belief and experience of how God loves us so much that he is the Spirit/Guiding God at work in us – inspiring, strengthening, guiding, advocating, and illuminating.
So often we hand over the hard work of looking at and understanding the Trinity to the Academic theologians. And in many ways, we are thankful for their hard work in exploring and understanding who God is, but God is not limited to academia. Nah, he certainly is not limited to the classroom! He’s not limited at all!
I believe we all know and experience God. We all have the ability to interact with God’s story in unique ways. Teachers, poets, songwriters, artists, and storytellers all give us unique glimpses into the love of God; into the relationships of God! God’s love belongs to all of us, and is described in the relational community.
I love living here in the Beach Cities. I love being by the ocean, smelling the water, seeing the sand and the volleyball and surfers. I know I’m not the only one. For many of us, it’s why we’re here. We searched out jobs and housing to be in close proximity to the beauty of the ocean.
The ocean is such a great expression of the active relationship God invites us into. I think that might be part of why we’re drawn to it. The waves and the sounds remind us that God is not static, he’s not stagnant, and he is not disconnected. Rather God's very nature is dynamic. God’s very nature is holistically relational.
Maybe you’re asking yourself: what does that mean? It means that God is relating to us. God is in the relationships of love that we experience in our own lives. He is in the gentle hugs, the warm hand shake. Each embrace is an experience of God's relationship with us.
In the Scriptures we have heard today, Jesus himself articulates the call and mission given by God. In Matthew he tells his disciples and he tells us: "Go, teach, proclaim, baptize..." These are action oriented Trinity verbs found at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. They stem from the love of God depicted as a case for urgency. Jesus Christ, God’s Son tells us to “Go, teach, proclaim, and baptize…” He is urging us to engage in the mission of proclaiming the relational community of love found in God!
As I’ve thought about my sister’s comment about how long our greeting time was, I can’t help but think: Relationships… are why we do what we do.
Why do we dedicate time in the middle of the service to greet one another?
It’s because it’s who we are. We are relational beings. We need the relational community of Christ in us and among us! We need to be in contact with one another. We structure times to get together because it is so foundational to who we are!
Is this a biblical concept? You better believe it! It’s all throughout the texts!
Take a look at Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Here we’re reminded to spur one another on toward Love and good deeds… and to not give up meeting together. Why? Because our very nature, rooted in our likeness of God – is relational. We need the relationships found among one another. We need the relationship found in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We need the relationships.
I remember in college having friends who thought they could live their Christian life out on their own. They didn’t believe they needed to be part of the Christian community. They felt they could simply read the Bible and believe in God and be good.
What they forgot, or simply were unable to see was their very make-up which is composed within the relationship of God and others. We learn and grow from our relationships. We are energized and revitalized by our relationships. That’s true of our relationships with one another and our relationship with the Holy one!
Relationships – are why we do what we do!
This week I had the opportunity to talk with a handful of different people from our community about our building and how we’d like to use it for God’s Glory. I spoke with musicians, pastors, and artists about the vision to utilize this facility for the Kingdom.
As I talked about the building… I spoke of how important it is for us to have a viable presence in this community. I shared about how we have tools and resources and we want to be able to use them and connect and build relationships with as many people as possible.
As I talked with these members of our community, I found myself saying – Relationships are why we do what we do. It’s true. Our goal is to foster and build as many relationships as possible. The purpose of our church – must be to foster as many God shaped conversations and relationships as possible.
Relationships – they’re why we do what we do!
Our role in this crazy mixed up world is to speak of reconciliation to the hurting, broken, and disenfranchised. We are to speak of God’s restoration to the torn down and decrepit. We are to live out God’s redefining redemption to as many as possible.
On a Holiday weekend, such as Father’s Day, how poignant is it that our texts revolve around the relationship of God – and his desire for us to live in relational community!
Last year I read an interesting book titled: The Church of FaceBook, how the hyperconnected are redefining community. And the author Jesse Rice made an interesting point on pg 35: “The reality of our innate need for connection is often most clearly revealed in the experience of dis-connection. Dropped cell phone calls, the loss of a job or career opportunity, a romantic breakup, the death of a loved one – each kind of disconnection alerts us to the fact that we were meant to connect. The feelings that result from a broken connection can run the gamut from simple frustration to complete personal devastation.”
We are finding in our post-modern world an ultra-connectedness. With the technology stretching every boundary possible, friends across the country, continent and ocean are now within arms reach. Our global community now feels quite local.
With social networking resources like blogs, Facebook, and twitter – our culture has the opportunity to be connected without ever standing face to face. We live in a hyper-connected world. Yet, if we turn on the news, open up the paper, or check the web – we hear story after story of lonely people. We hear stories of people who are highly, hyper, over connected – and yet are lonely.
It’s been illustrated over the past few weeks as we have heard stories of gang members seeking approval by gunning down a random kid outside a liquor store to a New York congressman having virtual conversations with several women. We as a society are blatantly seeking relational community. But as a whole, we’re looking to the wrong places. Our society looks to technology, money, prestige, and every other quick fix running past their face. Yet, what they need – is the relational community of love God speaks of throughout the Scriptures and through each and every one of his disciples!
The last of our Scripture texts today comes from 2 Corinthians. Here the apostle Paul closes out his second letter to the Corinthians by saying:
“Brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Relationships – they’re why we do what we do!
Our role in this crazy mixed up world is to speak of reconciliation to the hurting, broken, and disenfranchised. We are to speak of God’s restoration to the torn down and decrepit. We are to live out God’s redefining redemption to as many as possible. We are to be of one mind. We are to live in peace. We are allow God’s love and peace to dwell with us.
Why do we do what we do? Why do we dedicate time in the middle of the service to greet one another? Why do we get together throughout the week? Why do we shake hands and give hugs? Why do we continually worship God?
Why? It’s because it’s who we are. We are relational beings. We need the relational community of Christ in us and among us! We need to be in contact with one another. We are relational beings who long for the interconnectedness of our God. Our very nature, rooted in our likeness of God – is relational. We need, our families need, our neighbors need, our world needs the relationships found among one another rooted in our loving God – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
May we never forget this great gift – our relational community with the Holy, Living, Loving – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!
As you go – May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Go and Love.
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