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Whom Do You Worship? by Rev. Tina Blair 10 June 2007 Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Hebrews 1:1-4 © 2007 Tina Blair

Have you ever been in a situation where someone asked you why Christians believe in three Gods? Or asks why we pray to “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?” And today, as we baptized our three children, we all repeated the Apostles Creed, which grew out of the ancient baptismal ritual, and which affirms the existence of God as Three in One, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In our new member classes, I stress that we are a church which affirms the Trinitarian nature of God and salvation in Christ Jesus. What does this mean? Whom is it we worship?

I started wondering seriously wondering about the Trinity when I was just out of college and again when I first went to seminary. At that time I realized that in my life different kinds of churches and different denominations had taught me about different members of the Trinity and different aspects of God. I was raised Episcopalian and was confirmed in the Anglican church of Old Delhi, India. From these churches I came most closely to know God, Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Jesus was very present, but sometimes more remotely holy. Later on, among American Baptists and other American Protestant groups, I learned to worship Jesus more directly, informally and familiarly. Here I found Jesus as friend and helper. And then, just as I was asking God to explain the “Holy Ghost,” that is the Holy Spirit, I was invited to worship with Catholic charismatics or Pentecostals. In these groups, I learned to feel the immediate presence and power of the Spirit of God, shaping our worship and our lives. Three aspects of God – each denomination remembered all three persons of the Trinity, but at the same time, each one emphasized the aspect of one of these persons.

So who is it that we worship? Father? Son? Holy Spirit? Who do you worship? Does it make any difference? Aren’t these are all simply different aspects of one unified God? That’s what I want to explore with you today, because I think that this will help you understand better both your unity and what makes for differences here at the American Church in Paris. I have observed that one of the ways that groups differ from each other within the Christian community is that we focus our attention most on different aspects of the Trinity. And this difference in focus leads us to different languages of faith – more accurately, different dialects of one faith language -- even though we maintain our unity in one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. So as we look at how we think of God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity, let’s remember that each understanding of our God that I will mention is correct – no one “language” or “dialect” of faith is superior to another. Most of us maintain all of these understandings and we understand that God is one. Still it may be instructive to think about how and who in the Trinity you focus your worship on and what your dominant language or dialect of faith may be.

Last week I led the June retreat at St. Benoit-sur-Loire. The theme was from Isaiah 30: “In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” It was, as usual, a deeply moving and renewing experience. The basilica, dating from around 1000 A.D., is made of white stone laced with pink, and it soars into the heights down from which stream shafts of light hitting carved pillars and the simple stone altar. Birds chirp in the upper reaches, bringing in the beauty of God’s creation. The 39 monks meet in worship 6 times a day, during which they sing through the psalms, listening to other scriptures, and pray. We met with them, letting ourselves be enveloped and washed by the calm of this special place, the beauty to sight and ear, the hope brought by the words of Holy Scripture. We felt reassured, in a way, about our smallness and God’s greatness, about our mortality and God’s eternal and steadfast love, love that will carry us through this life into the next. Through the silence we felt the strong peaceful presence of the Eternal One, of God the Holy One. Our souls were quieted and we were filled with awe.

The transcendence, unearthly, totally Other, nature of God is at the heart of many expressions of the Christian faith. The legend is told about how Russia became a Christian country: Prince Vladimir of Kiev sent envoys out to several religions so that he could decide which religion his country should adopt. The first two envoys did not convince the prince to convert to the religion they had each visited. Then the envoy who had gone to the Christian city of Byzantium, described Christian worship in that city, the beauty of the chanting, the prayers, the icons, the worship of the almighty God and his powerful Son. “I felt that I was transported into heaven,” he concluded. “I was overwhelmed with awe.” The Prince converted to Christianity in 989, convinced by this report and later his experience of Christian worship of the holy and omnipotent, transcendent, awe-inspiring God.

For some people, for some of us, and in some denominations, this awe is what connects us to the holy God whom we worship. And this shapes the way we talk about God; it shapes how we read the Bible. It gives us a language of faith. People who have this focus, a focus on God the Father and God the almighty, all-knowing, will have a language filled with words like “blessings, power, mystery” -- the blessings of creation, of the power of God, of the mystery of God. With this focus on who God is, the Bible texts that speak about this awesome mystery will jump out at them and they will find in them their source of renewal and joy. Hymns like this morning’s hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!” or “Immortal, Invisible God only Wise” stir them to the depth of their soul. Is this you? Is this your preferred language of faith? Is this whom you worship?

And with this awe and reverence in mind, when some people talk about the second person of the Trinity, of Jesus Christ the Son of God, they emphasize his divinity and his holiness. They speak with great awareness of their own sin and their distance from the perfection of God. They read the scriptures with an acute awareness of the amazing grace of God that God sent the Son as a sacrifice for our sins and has redeemed us through Christ’s death and resurrection. People who have this focus have a language filled with words like “sacrifice, sin, redemption, and salvation.” In speaking of their faith, they share their great awareness of the great divide between humans and holy, between creatures and creator, and emphasize the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Hymns like “Amazing Grace,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Alas and did my Savior Bleed,” stir them to the depth of their soul. Is this more you? Is this closer to your preferred language of faith? Is this your focus of worship?

For others, however, Jesus is Friend, Companion, Brother. Yes, he died for us, yes he is the sacrifice, but for these persons their prayer life is centered on the closeness they have with the Son of God, who is Son of Man, who said to his disciples, “I do not call you servants, I call you my friends.” Many contemporary churches in the United States today focus almost exclusively on Jesus and sing praise songs about and to Jesus. Bible readings that lift up Jesus are the most read and most beloved. People who have this focus have a language of relationship: “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?” they ask. Or, “How is your walk with Jesus, our Lord?” Their faith is filled with stories of how Jesus spoke to them and guided them, or how Jesus was present with them in certain extraordinary moments. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there is something in that name,” they sing. Is this you, more of the time, some of the time? Is this your preferred aspect of the Godhead whom you worship?

There are several different kinds of Christian groups that emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit, from Pentecostals to Congregationalists. Some celebrate the gifts of healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues. Others emphasize the way the Holy Spirit is at work transforming individuals and society. All groups (and they are represented here in this church!) are aware of the amazing work of God in the Spirit in today’s world – whether it be with individuals through healings and conversion, or whether it be within social systems where the poor are fed and stranger welcomed and the atheist converted. Their language is filled with words like “transformation,” “the work of the Spirit.” They root themselves in Jesus’ teachings about the Holy Spirit in John 14-17. They are stirred by hymns like “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me,” and “Breathe on me, breath of God.” Is this you, at least most of the time? Is this person of the Trinity the one you worship most often?

So -- whom do you worship? Father, Son or Holy Spirit? Or all three? The Holy Father, all-powerful and all-knowing, the Savior and Friend who is the Son, or the empowering Advocate and Comforter, the Holy Spirit? Did you see yourself as leaning more toward one way of worship than another? Probably in the course of your life you have worshipped all these aspects of God. You have loved all of these hymns. You have searched all of these scriptures. But you may have certain preferences that you emphasize in your prayer and worship.

How wonderful that we are given a Trinitarian God – a God known in spirit and in flesh through the incarnation of Jesus Christ! The Trinity forces us to broaden our understanding of who God is and how God works. God is creator, redeemer, and sustainer. God speaks and creates and calls and cajoles and saves and judges and loves and forgives and renews. We see these actions in all persons of the Trinity – after all the Three are simply One God, but we notice them and name them more clearly as we tell of the work of each part of the Godhead, of each Person in the Trinity.

Do you see, however, how one person may prefer one type of language of faith, and another person a slightly different language of faith – and yet worship the same God? Do you see how language changes somewhat, and different scriptures get emphasized, when we focus on one Person of the Trinity rather than another? That is why, as a congregation with members from 35 different Christian denominations, and 50 different nations, we may see other members as being different. We may judge that the other person is not “as Christian” as we are. So I say to you, “STOP! Do not judge your sister and brother in Christ.” I say to you instead, “Open your ears and learn from your sister or brother who speaks a different dialect of faith about that aspect of God!” I say to you, “Embrace new insights and search the Scriptures to grow in faith!” I say to you, “Stretch your understanding and deepen your understanding of the mystery of God!”

This challenge to hear and understand and learn from each other is a gift from God, a Pentecost gift, given by God to this church here in Paris. This diversity of Christian understanding, this large number of Christian language dialects found under one church roof, is very rare. Yet this is what the church of Jesus Christ looks like when Jesus views it as a whole! It is God’s gift to each one of us to be a member of this church body. It is a gift that the persons joining in membership today are accepting. It is a gift you accepted when you joined. It is part of the joy that I have had in being here with you. For each dialect, each language of faith deepens our understanding of who God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And this gift is our challenge from God, that we listen to each others’ stories and words and stretch our vision of who God is. This gift is our challenge from God, that we take God out of our personal boxes and embrace the whole Trinity. For this is the God we worship, the awesome Creator and the tender intimate Redeemer. This is the God we worship, the enfleshed Emmanuel, God-with-Us, and the Judge and Ruler of the universe. This is the God we worship, the Lamb at the right hand of God and the Advocate who fills the church with power. This is the God we worship – Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen.