This Is Our Story (Rev. Andy Whitaker Smith)
So a couple of Saturdays ago, Morgan and I got new credit cards as one does when they expire. And of course, as you know, when you get one, you have to call for it to be activated. And nowadays, there’s like two step verification to prove your identity. And then what’s extra fun is when you share an account. And then that person also has to be verified. And then, you know, there’s some snap that happens in the conversation. They transfer you to someone else. And then you have to go through that whole process over again. And then for extra fun, I can’t remember exactly the detail, but we needed some extra proof of verification. And I’m definitely all for security. But it gets to the point where I start wondering, “Yeah, who am I? Am I who I say I am?” And then there’s the thing where if you’re doing it all online, you have to tell the system that you’re not a robot.
Let me say that again. You have to tell a system that you’re not a robot. And then for extra fun, you have to try to convince the robot that you know what a motorcycle or a stop sign looks like. And so, I don’t know, for me, it’s like this huge existential crisis, which I think is just to distract from just the horror of trying to do all of this stuff. But, it brings us into a question, as we get more technologically advanced, and we’re able to do everything connectionally without being in front of close and personal. Maybe there is a philosophical question that we should be asking in this social age. “Who am I,” to say nothing of how in this age with all these things that we’re exposed to all the time. How do we keep or continue or even discover our identity? I mean, can you imagine—I know this really corny—but can you imagine God applying for a credit card? As a Triune God to say this two-step verification is like a six-step verification with the bank and say, “Now, am I talking to God the Father? Am I talking to God the Son? Am I talking to God the Holy Spirit?” Can you three, just be on a three-way call so that I can confirm that you all are who you say you are?”
It’s just nuts. And so, and I think God’s response would just be the way that God responded to Moses: “I am who I am.”
So, we look today in John’s Gospel as we look at Trinity Sunday, and we do know we acknowledge the Trinity Sunday which should maybe be called Confusing Sunday, because we may be sitting here thinking, “I’m not even really sure what that means.” What does it mean that God is in three persons? We had a really great experience in The Current last week, ’cause we were in Pentecost. And literally, as I was beginning my sermon, someone raised their hand and just said, “What is Pentecost?” And that’s a really valid question, ’cause I would imagine that person was not the only one in the congregation thinking, “What is this?” And I would imagine many of us are probably today even thinking like, “What really is Trinity Sunday?
“What does it mean that God is Triune? What does it mean that God is in three persons?” So, the reason I chose John’s Gospel, talking about the Holy Spirit coming into their midst, is because I think it’s helpful to remember that especially in John’s Gospel, John or whoever the writer of John was is not necessarily interested in the identity of God as Triune or as Trinity. It’s rather what we in pastors’ worlds have kind of called “the Economic Trinity.” Not just looking at God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but looking at God as Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer…because these are verbs. They’re not just static nouns. So for John, it’s not just who God is in terms of a static identity; it’s more importantly who God is as an active Creator and active Redeemer. An active God is constantly moving and living. This helps us realize that we have a part to play in the Trinity, as well; so if God is Creator, and Jesus calls us to do God’s work, then we have a work to do in creation. We have a work to do in redeeming the world, redeeming each other; and then of course, sustaining us, sustaining us in relationships, sustaining us in spirit.
John begins the story in this proclamation: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). We see that Jesus in John’s Gospel is God, revealing God’s self to the world, to us in humanity in the way that we are created with all of our senses and gifts and limitations and uncertainties and questions. Jesus as God calls us to be in relation with God’s work, in bringing the Kingdom of God here on Earth. Actually, Jesus is saying, it’s already here. And then in the midst of this, Jesus eventually introduces the disciples to the Holy Spirit, this Spirit of Truth, telling them that even though he is leaving— Jesus, God, as they have come to know him—here is another piece of God, who will be with them and continue the life in the work that they’ve been called to do.
This comes from John’s Gospel, 16:12-15. Jesus says, I have much more to say to you, but you are not ready for it. When the spirit of truth comes, this spirit will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but we’ll say whatever he hears and we’ll proclaim to you what is to come. The spirit will glorify me because it will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. Everything the Father has. That’s why I said, the spirit takes what is mine and we’ll proclaim it.
And as I found myself reading that, I kind of la latched on to something I never really had, before. “What God has is mine and the spirit takes what is mine.” So in verse 15, Jesus is reminding us: “All I have is God’s. All God has is mine.” So God gives everything to Jesus. The spirit takes what is Jesus’ and then declares that to the community. And again, it’s important for us to know this word: take. How it’s being written in the context and community.
The Greek word is Lambano, which also means—in addition to take—it also means receive. What it means to take is to receive. So taken in this nuance, we can see there’s a mutual giving and receiving between Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. God, the Creator, creates these relationships. And then whatever it is that God has to make these relationships real and powerful, Jesus is able to use and then give to the Spirit, which then is given to all three of them and we get to be a part in that.
And as I was thinking about this just this morning, it reminded me of a particle accelerator. A particle accelerator is this massive machine which takes electromagnetic fields and propels charged particles like electrons and neutrons. And this is all able to happen at near the speed of light. I mean, it is super cool, sci-fi, but like real sort of things. And I started to imagine it like a particle accelerator, but not that the particles are going in one motion.
They’re going back and forth and up and down and all around. And again, all of it happening at the speed of light. So this idea that the relationship is not just an identity, but also in movement, in verbs. It is ever flowing, ever participating, ever giving, ever taking. It is always in motion, always in. And I think this is important for us as 21st-Century Christians to remember that our faith is not just to be personal. It’s important that we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But we also need to remember that we are called to have a communal relationship with Jesus. We are all called to be in that particle accelerator with God, moving around, spinning together, giving. This is the truth Jesus not only professes.
So when Jesus says the Spirit of Truth will come down to you, it’s one of the ways scripture sometimes translates what the Spirit is. So sometimes it’s Holy Spirit. Sometimes it’s Advocate, sometimes it’s Paraclete.
But in this version, the Common English Bible refers to the Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, as in, all who hear the truth. That’s the really important dialogue between Jesus and Pilate, when Jesus is brought to the embodiment of the Empire, who is trying to put him down. We’re inclined to understand Truth as facts, or at least as wisdom. But in John’s Gospel, Truth is referencing Jesus as the truth, right? “I am Way, Truth, and Life.” So the Truth which guides us to Jesus, himself, is not meant for us to have a greater understanding, intellectually. It’s for us to be more connected, giving us greater clarity about all that Jesus is, all that Jesus has done. And again, all that Jesus is inviting us to. What Jesus does and who Jesus is. Which makes it really powerful when Pilate says to Jesus: “What is Truth?” Because he’s not asking a philosophical question. He’s not asking an existential question. He’s not giving an argument for Relativism.
He is saying: “Who are you?”
Jesus is looking right at Pilate and saying, “Whoever hears my voice.” do you understand what’s happening? Jesus says to Pilate, “Whoever hears my voice.” And Pilate’s response is: “Who are you?”
Truth comes from activity. Because the reality is we can get information anywhere. A lot of professionals are kind of worried about the future of their calling, of their job, of their identity, including pastors—because it used to be that we had these shelves of books, and we still do. But the reality is, all that information is now accessible to you all. You know—sorry if I’m bursting any bubbles—but the reality is a lot of what I learned in seminary, you guys can find on Google right now. And actuality, you’ve been able to do that for like the last 30 years. So it causes those of us who are in institutions realize: Oh, we can’t hide behind that.
We have to do more than just be the keepers of knowledge. We have to interact in ways that maybe we were never taught or trained, or ever considered. Maybe we as the representatives of these institutions need to ask; because even though we have access to all this information, I think the other thing that we can all agree is as a community, as a culture, maybe as a species, we are lonilier than we ever have been. So we have access to all this information—and yet, we also seem very isolated.
And maybe this is part of what Jesus is talking about when he says to the disciples, “You’re not ready, yet.” I read an article the other day that said this is actually how a teacher grades their students’ assignments. So instead of giving letter grades—definitely like D’s and F’s—the grade that’s given at the top of the page is Not Yet. So it acknowledges that there’s work to be done, but it also does it in a way that is hopefully affirming—to say: You Didn’t Fail. It’s just not yet. Because the reality is, this is the kind of grade the Jesus is giving his disciples. He’s not telling them they have failed. He’s not telling them that they’re failures.
So now the Pastor Charley is in the midst of moving, and Pastor Kim is on vacation, we obviously needed someone to preach in the traditional services. And so Patrick Hamrick, our Pastor of Church Administration, said Yes.
And if you don’t do anything else with this message, hear this: you need to listen to his sermon.
You need to listen to his sermon on Trinity Sunday, and especially the part where he talks about the Broken—the 11 disciples who continue; because the reality is in this passage, in John 16, Jesus is only talking to 11 disciples. And the thing that Patrick said that really hit home to me is he’s talking to the Broken 11. Because the reality is 11, in spiritual terms, is a broken number. If we know the religious significance of the number 12, we know their are 12 disciples.
And yet in this moment, when Judas decides to break away, he breaks that perfect number. And so Patrick had this beautiful telling about how Jesus is in the midst of brokenness. Jesus is in the midst of confusion, of uncertainty, not knowing what we’re supposed to do, now, because the system has been broken. We don’t know how to function. And Jesus continues to do what he has always done. He continues to lead them, and he continues in this moment, in the broken 11: “You may not be ready yet, but that doesn’t mean that we’re stopping. Here comes a resource for you to get you to that readiness.”
Jesus always gives us an image of the future. And again, not just to prove that he can predict the future, but to let us know there is still more for us to go. There is still more for us to experience and share. Even after nearly 150 years, this church is not done. In fact, we could even argue this church is barely scratched the surface.
There is still more to do. There is still more to learn. There is still more to discover. There is still more. Trinity Sunday can be a way to remind us every year that we are nowhere near finished. So if you feel confused about the Trinity, that’s good. Because it means that there’s a chance for us to be able to expand—to expand our minds, to expand our hearts, our spirits. And the Trinitarian relationship reminds us how we are to be a community of believers, together. Making the kingdom of God real.
Encountering the Holy Spirit can help us to ask: what individual relationship do I have with this Spirit with Jesus with God? But what is also our communal relationship to a communal God? And where do we see that Spirit? Because we do stuff. I mean, no one can argue that. We’re fairly organized, pretty well, pretty much. We produce things. But of course, there is more to it. There is more Ruach; there is more Nooma. There is more wind. There is more spirit. There is more life.
So where do we sense this Communal Spirit? Where do we see the Spirit of God? Because the reality is that Communal Spirit is something people are desperate—and I mean desperate—to experience, and to know they are a part of it.
I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I’m really dying to see the movie Saber. It’s a documentary by Matthew and Katie Wiatt. And it hits all of my buttons. It’s a documentary about an actual LED Light Saber combat. The world championship of this is in Las Vegas. And the story is not just about the fact that this happens, which is so cool; but more importantly, it’s about how people find community. It’s about how people find community and belonging. And maybe for the first time, affirmation of being who they truly. And so yes, you have folks with lightsabers, but you have this beautiful diversity of what their battle armor is, masks and elbow pads and knee pads and gear and all this stuff. And you may be training for this for years or you may show up your very first time and it doesn’t matter. You are welcome and you are celebrated just for who you are. And this is catching people by the thousands.
So when we as a church ask: “Why aren’t more people coming to church,” maybe it’s because people here at Saber feel like they can be who they are.
There’s a guy by the name of Robert Franzese. I don’t know if he does it anymore, but years ago, he was a celebrity because he looked exactly like Peter Griffin from Family Guy. I don’t know some of you don’t know what Family Guy is, but it’s a cartoon and this guy looked exactly—I mean exactly—like the cartoon character. And he started showing up at comic book conventions and then people caught wind and he did podcasts, he did TV shows. And this one time he was being interviewed by someone and talking about why he started to do this
And he said, “You know, I have a nobody job, I make a nobody salary. But here, I’m somebody.”
When we wonder why people aren’t coming to church, I think we need to ask ourselves in the Spirit of Truth that those who do choose to come here,,,,do they know that here, they are Somebody? Because the reality is if First United Methodist Church of Lakeland, Florida can be known as the place that when you are here, you are Somebody….we won’t worry about decline. Because that’s the Spirit of Truth Jesus has been trying to get us to learn and participate in for over 2,000 years. And we may be able to hear that Truth through God, the Father, or God, the Creator. We may be able to hear that truth through God, the Son and the Redeemer. We may be able to hear that truth through God, the Holy Spirit, God, the Sustainer; but what this helps us to remember is that in that Triune identity, everybody is Somebody.