Let
us pray. Holy is your name. Blessed is
your name. Lovely is your name. Let your name be praised. Amen.
Last week someone came to me after the service and
commented that they liked that I identified the Holy Spirit as “she” in my
sermon. That’s how I understand the
Spirit…as “she.”
I don’t mean that in any disrespect to the Nicene Creed,
or to the many scholars who have tried to understand the Holy Spirit or the
Trinity, for that matter. I have found
the Holy Spirit to be feminine, and there is scripture that points in that
direction. Today’s lesson from Proverbs
is a great example.
But before we get to her, let’s consider how I
understand each member of the Trinity.
To be honest, I don’t know that there is a right or a wrong way to
define what the Trinity means to an individual.
It has been most often described as a mystery, but it isn’t like a
who-dun-it mystery or a game of Clue where Miss Peabody committed the murder in
the library with the candlestick. It
also isn’t like wondering which boxes the dinner plates or the hand towels are
in. It may take time to find them, but
we will solve that mystery, eventually!
The Trinity is a mystery because there isn’t anything
tangible to cling to, there is no proof that it exists or it doesn’t. It is not easy to understand, unless you have
faith. Since faith comes in many
different packages, it does not have a universal definition or
description. And even with faith, it
isn’t easy to understand or to describe.
For some people, it is easy to identify the Trinity as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But there
are many people who cannot see God in a Father role, but instead can see God as
Creator.
When I was in seminary it was practically taboo for anyone
to identify God as “Him” or as “Father.”
So many people have had difficult relationships with their father or
with other men, so “Father” language causes more hurt than love. I got to the
point where if I referred to God as “he” or as “Father,” I would apologize,
explaining that this is how I understand God.
I would continue, saying I am not telling anyone else how to address
God. For me, this is what it means to
have a personal relationship with God—the chance to call God the name that
works best for you.
I try really hard
to call God, “God” when I am around others because I don’t want to create a
negative image of God to someone. So
though I have my own image of who God is to me, I will do my best to not push
that image on others.
That said, I want to say more about who God is to
me. Sometimes, God is like what I
remember about my Dad’s dad, who died when I was about 10. He would hold me in his lap, embracing me,
rocking me, loving me until I would fall asleep in total comfort and
safety. I was his only granddaughter at
the time, and we had a very special relationship. He smelled like pipe tobacco and brandy, and
he loved me so much. So, sometimes, God
is like that relationship for me. Safe,
secure, loving, devoted.
Other times, God is more like a mother, birthing
creation—pushing through labor and mess to bring something or someone into the
world, filled with hope for the future, and unconditional love in the new thing
or the new life. Nurturing this new
creation through night feedings, fevers, scraped elbows, first days of school
to graduations and beyond. Filled with
all emotions that can be encompassed in the word, LOVE. Emotions like fear and hope, worry and joy.
God, for me, IS.
God is what I need to get me through every moment. So God can be whomever—male, female, grandpa,
creator, mother, father—at any moment.
There is no word that easily describes God. God more than fulfills any role that I need
at any time.
Jesus, God’s son, has only been described as a man. He has a role in all of history as a man, not
a woman. A divine man, God’s son. He is referred to at the beginning of
scripture as The Word. He becomes the
Word made flesh. Jesus was with God, was
one with God, was created by God.
According to scripture, humans are a finicky lot. During different eras there can be found a
devotion to God. But then, people get
cocky and no longer feel that God is important in their life. It is during these times, where people
abandon God, that God does something really big, like flooding the earth or
destroying a city or sending His Son to remind the people that we belong to God,
that we need to trust God. God sent
Jesus to the earth, to be born of a human woman, to bring creation back into
relationship with God. This was bigger
than a flood. It was bigger than tumbling
walls or destroying populations in war.
The world needed to be turned upside down and be taught, again, how to
live in relationship with God.
Jesus did that.
Jesus taught a small band of people how to live more
fully in relationship with God. And they
spread the News.
Before Jesus died, he spoke of the Advocate, the Holy
Spirit, who would remain with us, guiding us, keeping is in right relationship
with God. Yes, in today’s Gospel, the
author used the pronoun “he” to describe the Advocate. I’ll give you that. But bear with me. You may begin to agree with me that the
Spirit is female!
Some may say the Spirit is female because She isn’t
always easily understood.
I will argue that she may be the most approachable, the
most present for many.
In today’s first lesson we got to hear about the
Spirit. How she was the first creation
of God. In Proverbs, she is identified
as Wisdom. She is also identified as
female. Whimsically female. Joyfully female. She danced and played and delighted in God’s
creation. I imagine her sitting in the
lap of God, not unlike my dream of sitting on my Grandpa’s lap again, snuggled
in, asking God, “what’s that?” “Why did
you make it look like it does?” “Can I
play with it?” “What is its name?” She is filled with wonder and imagination!
The Holy Spirit, Wisdom, gets to play in creation,
exploring all that God creates. She sneaks
into spaces, observing and learning. She
asks questions. She pokes, she prods,
she investigates. She is wisdom and
common sense. Her presence is a balm: a
comfort, that links generations to generations.
She blows understanding, she teaches joy, she holds hands in the good
and the bad moments, she dances.
She is, in my mind, a little girl in a yellow dress, dancing
in the deep grass, picking daisies and smiling with a deep, deep understanding,
an understanding well beyond her years.
She knows God intimately, so intimately that she can whisper in the
breeze and God will hear and respond.
She also knows us intimately, so intimately that she can whisper to us,
assuring us that God will hear and respond.
She protects, she advocates, she loves, because God made her to be
accessible to us, to God, to creation.
We need all three.
We need God to create. We need
Jesus to teach us how to love God. We
need the Spirit to dance.
God created and continually creates.
Jesus was always with God. He was a part of creation, he became a
teacher, he suffered and died as a human to bring humanity back in to
relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit was God’s first creation. She is the daily presence, breezing
throughout creation, fashioned to help us know God, trust Jesus and live lives,
fully embraced in the love of God.
That is how I describe the Trinity. God in three persons? Yes! A
resounding YES!
Let
us pray. Holy is your name. Blessed is
your name. Lovely is your name. Let your name be praised. Amen.