Purpose, Path, Power

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:12-17, and John 3:1-17.

Before my granddaughter got one, I used to think “kitten” was a noun. Now I realize it's a verb. This tiny thing is always rocketing around the room, exploring every nook and cranny, climbing on the furniture, the curtains, my leg. She is always ready to attack and do battle with stuffed animals, my shoe, the dog's tail. She's never still. I envy her energy.

The architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller said, “God is a verb.” And indeed when Moses asks God's name he says, “I Am That I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exodus 3:14) God's name in Hebrew is the third-person masculine singular causative form of the verb “to be.” Richard Elliott Friedman and the Jewish Study Bible feel that a better translation of this is “I cause things to be.” Everett Fox translates the name as “I will be there.” Yet another option is “I will be what I will be,” meaning “My nature will be evident from my actions.” But what everyone seems to agree on that God's name is a form of the verb “to be.” God is a verb.

And the God of the Bible is an action verb. In the beginning he is creating things and pronouncing them good. He makes covenants. He provides a sacrifice for Abraham in place of his son. He liberates slaves. He leads a nation to the promised land. This is not some philosopher's God, who is static and above all things, passively observing the world, an object to contemplate. This is a God who does things.

God the Son is no different. The first gospel written, Mark, is a breathless account of Jesus going around Galilee and Judea, healing, feeding and teaching people. The word “immediately” appears in Mark 17 times, impelling the narrative from event to event. He also makes a covenant and liberates those enslaved to sin by providing himself, God the Son, as a sacrifice. And then, he of whom John says, “In him was life,” returns to life, walking, talking, cooking and reaching out his nail-pierced hands to be touched.

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, the Spirit is also active—in creation, in choosing and inspiring leaders, in speaking through prophets, in empowering Jesus and then in empowering and guiding us, the body of Christ, whom Jesus sends out to spread his message to the ends of the earth.

Today is Trinity Sunday and I am supposed to be explaining the Triune God so that you understand the idea. But I agree with C.S. Lewis that it is more important to experience the Trinity. So let's look at God another way.

We all have a vision of achieving what is good in life. It may be a vision of everything that is good in the sense of being right, or it may be a vision of everything that is good in the sense of being enjoyable. And most of us think that the two are very different. But in God they are the same. As we said, God made all things and pronounced them good. The problem is that we misuse them and thus often miss the pleasure found in doing things the right way, the way God intended. We are like babies, who, presented with a ball, try to put it in our mouth and see if we can eat it. Only when we realize that the purpose of a ball is in the throwing and in the rolling and in the bouncing, do we discover the true pleasure of a ball. Even a kitten or a puppy knows that. Using something the right way is also using it in the most enjoyable way. And that's how it is with God's gifts.

So our goal, seeking a good life, is really about seeking this binocular or three dimensional vision of God, the source of what is both right and pleasurable.

But we need help getting to that goal and God provides that as well.

First it helps if we have someone who not only tells us the way but shows us. And God the Son does that. He lives a life of love and service, telling people about God's goodness, forgiving, healing and feeding people. But he doesn't live a fairy tale life. It is a very human life. We see Jesus dealing with obstacles in the form of determined opponents as well as dense students and fleeing friends and even a family that at times doubts his sanity. He has followers who want him for what he can provide for them physically, not spiritually. He is so busy he can't always find time to eat and so tired he can sleep through a storm in a boat that's being swamped. He cries at a friend's grave and prays for an alternative when facing his own imminent death. During his worst hour of pain and humiliation, he feels abandoned by God. But in the end he is vindicated by the God who causes him to be once again. In Jesus love conquers hate, light conquers darkness, life conquers death. That's the kind of example we need as we encounter similar obstacles while going towards our goal. By his works and with his words Jesus helps us.

But to get to that goal we also need insight and encouragement and strength and comfort. And God the Spirit provides that. He enters our hearts and minds and starts to change them so that we grow to be in ever closer harmony with God, the source of all that is good and right and enjoyable. Because he works behind the scenes, we often forget about him. But he is the one who drops an apt word of scripture into our mind or asks a pointed question that clarifies the issues at stake, or urges us to leave our comfort zone to do what's right and to help those in need. He recasts the world around us so we see it with new eyes. He assures us of God's love when we are assailed by doubt. He is God's intimate presence, the Father and the Son making their home in us and living their life in us. (John 14:16-17, 23)

If you can't wrap your head around the Trinity, don't worry about it. You don't need to understand exactly how a car or a computer works to experience the benefits of either. Just know that God is the light at the top of the mountain we are climbing. And he is our guide showing us where to step and what to avoid. And he is the motivation, spurring us on and encouraging us to take that next step. God is the goal which gives us the purpose we long for in life as well as the path to that goal and the power to make it to that goal. Or as Jesus put it, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”