Today is the Sunday when we in the church try to explore the
idea of the Holy Trinity.
God has been revealed to us through as Father, Son and the
Holy Spirit. God exists in community.
And it is of community I want to speak today. God models for
us how we should be in community.
Jesus did and still does point to the Father in everything
he does, his entire life and ministry was involved in pointing people towards
the father. His actions were never to draw attention to himself but to point
towards God. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
God the father points to Jesus at his birth, baptism, death
and resurrection and says “This is my only Son. And I am so pleased with him”
Father and Son then send the Holy Spirit on the Church at
Pentecost who in turn points the Church back to the Father and Son. It is the Trinitarian
dance where no one person of the Trinity seeks to lead but instead moves aside
to make way for the other, to lift the other up.
To the shame of every Christian, the Bible has been used to
justify people being oppressed and ill treated for centuries and even this last
week we have seen someone waving a Bible to give legitimacy to his hate filled
and bigoted views. The message of Christ has been to imitate the community seen
in the God head, to constantly lift up and give greater importance to the other.
Christ made people look at the institutionalised assumptions
and systems of his day and challenged them. He used foreigners as examples
showing greater faith than the people of God, he spoke to women of other races
and offered them the same message of love and acceptance offered his own
people, he used the hated and reviled Samaritan people as an example of true
neighbourly love and care, he lifted up the poor, disabled and outcasts and
made sure people saw and heard them.
As the host of the meal he says to those we look down upon
or oppress by our actions or our silence and says to them, friend, come further
up the table and take the best seat, and says to us, shuffle down a bit and
make room.
There is an African philosophy of humanity and community known
as UBUNTU. Ubuntu is a Zulu word which, is often translated as “I am because we
are.” It is a term which has been around since the mid 19th Century at
least and has become more widely known around the world thanks to Nelson
Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Put simply our identity and worth as people is deeply tied
to the identity and worth of others. I can only understand and value me if I
understand and value you.
It is an idea with close parallels to the golden rule of
Christ that we should treat others as we ourselves would want to be treated. If
one part of the Body of Christ Suffers then every part of the body suffers. And
this is what we must remember in this community, we are one together and if one
part of our community is suffering then we too are suffering. If one person is
being treated in a way which we would not want to be treated then we have a duty
as a member of the community of faith and the community of humanity to speak up
and speak out.
The Body of Christ is Black, the body of Christ is Asian,
the body of Christ is foreign, the body of Christ is gay, the Body of Christ is
Trans, the Body of Christ is disabled, the Body of Christ is homeless, the Body
of Christ is poor, the Body of Christ has Corona virus. The Body of Christ
cannot breathe
I am only because we are.
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