A Call to God in Heaven

Trinity Sunday  cycle b May 31, 2015

Isaiah 6:1-8  Psalm 29

Romans 8:12-17   John 3:1-17

3 preachers all with cell phones

Catherine:  In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.  If you will excuse me for a minute.  I have to make a phone call, a special phone call on Trinity Sunday. (begins to call)

Rylie: Catherine, who are you calling?  And in the middle of church?  Really, isn't that a bit rude.  Well, I guess at least you're not preaching and texting.  You could get a ticket for that.  But really, who is so important for you to call during the sermon?

Catherine: Rylie, I am calling God of course!  I really needs some help with some answers for Trinity Sunday.

Rylie:  What do you need help with?

Catherine:  It's the math that I don't get.

Rylie:  Math?  What do you mean?

Catherine:  Well the math of the Trinity is this: One plus one plus one equals One.

Rylie: O, I get it.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Three persons, but One God.

Andrew:(answers the phone)  Hello, you have reached Heaven Incorporated.  Press 1 if you have an emergency prayer request.  Press two, if you would like to speak to the Blessed Virgin Mary, press 3, if you would like to speak to Jesus.  Press 4, if you would like to speak to the Holy Spirit and press 5 if you would like to speak to the Father.

Catherine: I just want to speak to God.

Andrew: Please press a number so that your call can be processed in the order that it was received.

Catherine: Wow!  The phone line to heaven must be busy but I didn't expect such a long wait.  I mean, aren't you God?  Shouldn't you be able to handle all calls at once?

Andrew: Hi, Catherine, how are you today?

Catherine: How did you know me?

Andrew: Well, I am God, after all, so I know everyone.

Catherine: But I thought that I was getting a recorded message.

Andrew:  Well, I sometimes like to play a joke on human beings by pretending to act like they do.  Did you think it was funny?

Rylie:  Who are you talking too?  Did you get through?

Catherine: I'm talking to God,  shhhh.

Rylie:  You have to like someone who answers his own phone.

Catherine: Well, God, I guess it is funny for you to pretend to be human.  We can sometimes be very funny in our foolishness.  But who am I speaking to?

Andrew:  You are speaking to God, of course.

Catherine: But am I speaking to the Father, the Son or to the Holy Spirit now?

Andrew: Well, now you are speaking to the Father.

Rylie:  Which one are you talking to?

Catherine: The Father.

Rylie: Tell him hi, for me.  Okay?

Catherine: Father, I needs some help.  I am preaching today on Trinity Sunday at St. John's and I need to know how to tell my friends about the Trinity.   I went to Father Phil for help and he said to just tell them that the Trinity is a mystery.  Big help!  Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys are mysteries and they always solve their mysteries.  But what about the Mystery of the Trinity?  How do I solve it?

Andrew:  Well, the Trinity is a very big Mystery but that shouldn't be a surprise.  The universe is so big and people are so small that there will always be things which people do not understand and so there will always be mysteries for human beings.

Catherine:  So, we just have to accept that we are small and that there will always be mysteries?

Rylie:  I love mysteries; what is God saying about mysteries?

Catherine:  Hold on, Rylie, I am trying to get some answers.  So Father, you want me to accept the mystery of God?

Andrew:  You have no choice because I am bigger than you and I contain you; you do not contain me.

Catherine: What does that mean?

Andrew:  It means that you live and move and have your being within my Great Being.

Rylie:  Can I talk to God too?

Catherine: Just answer your phone.  You're on a conference call.

Rylie:  Hello, your majesty.  Am I suppose curtsy or bow?  How am I to address you?

Andrew: Well, you can respect me by just being my child and my friend.

Rylie: Well, that's really cool.  But like Catherine, I have questions about you.  Some of my friends who believe in One God, say that we Christians have three gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  So are you three or are you One?

Andrew:  Well I am three and I am One.  But let me explain.  First of all what are we using to communicate with each other?

Catherine:  We are using language.  We are talking?

Andrew: Well, as God, I am greater than language but I have to allow myself to be translated into ways that people can understand me.  But I am always more than language and more than what can be said about me.

Rylie:  So we can never understand all of God?


Andrew:  Yes that it right, but I have given you enough to understand about me so that you can progress to live the very best of your human lives.

Catherine:  But why did you choose to be translated as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Andrew: What is the best thing about being a human being?

Rylie:  I guess it is being a person.  A person is someone who has relationships with other people.

Andrew:  You are right Rylie.  Being a person is what is the greatest thing about human life.  People were made in my image and if being a person is what is best about human life, then being a person is very important to understand who I am as God.  What is important  to understand about me is that I am not just a collection of all of the atoms of the universe as some big machine.  You are not a machine, you are a person and so you are different from a machine.  I am a Person who made all people to be like me in some way so that we could have a relationship.

Catherine:  So why are you Father?  

Andrew:  As Father, you understand that I have been before everything and everything was born or created out of me.  And as Father of the universe I want you to know that I love and care for everyone and everything as a good parent would care for a child.

Rylie:  Could I speak to Jesus?

Andrew: Hello, Rylie, I am now Jesus.  How can I help you?

Rylie: Jesus, why are you the Son of God and why do we need you to be known as the Son of God?

Andrew:  Well, being God means that God is  so great that people might think that a great God does not understand them and their problems.  Do you like people to try to understand you in  everything that happens to you?

Catherine: I do.  It is called empathy.  Sometimes we say, "Don't judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes."

Andrew: Yes, that is exactly correct.  God wants all people to know that God knows what they are feeling.  And to prove it, I was sent to live as a fully human person so that you could know that God is really close to how you think and feel.  And because I lived as a human being and showed you a relationship with God as my Father, you can be my sisters and brothers and you can know God as your Father too.

Rylie: I like that Jesus.  You sure walked more than a mile in our shoes to show us how much God cares for us.  But now can I talk to the Holy Spirit?

Andrew: Here I am Rylie, the Holy Spirit.  Some call me the Comforter.  I like to comfort people.

Catherine:  How can you comfort us Holy Spirit?  

Andrew:  Well, you know when you were a baby and your parents went out of your sight and you could not see them?  You got worried that they might not be with you anymore because you felt you could only believe that your parents existed if you could see them or hear them.

Catherine: Yes, I remember that.  Sometimes it was frightening to think that my parents were gone.

Andrew:  But were they gone?  Did they still love you when you could not see them?

Catherine:  Yes, they did and it soon became like they were with me always even when I did not see them.

Andrew: Well, I, the Holy Spirit are like the invisible but real presence of God wherever you go.  I am more present to you than even your parents because I help hold the entire world together with my presence all of the time.  And even when your parents are not perfect, I still am with you to comfort you.

Rylie: Wow! God, you are great and wonderful.

Catherine: But God you also understand us and are our Friend.

Andrew: Now I am God speaking in all three voices at once.  I am great and big but I want to be understood by you and everyone and so I allow myself to come into the language and experiences of people so that they can know my greatness.  If people know the greatness of God then they will have a perfect model for improving their lives at all times.  Any other questions?


Catherine: Not a question but I just want to thank you God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for making yourself known to me and to all people.

Rylie: Yes, Thank you God, Daddy, Brother, and friendly Holy Ghost.  I am glad that you are with me always.

Catherine:  We'll hang up now. God.  Bye for now.   I think that all of these people have been on the conference call with us to understand a little more about God.    And even though we have not solved the mystery of the Trinity.  We have enjoyed the mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Roman Centurion Provides the Main Punchline

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday B  March 29, 2015

Isaiah 50:4-9a     Psalm 31: 9-19                                                                                               Philippians 2:5-11  Mark 14:1-15:47

Lectionary Link 

Will: My preacher friends, and dear members of St. John’s, I think Father Phil can be quite a sneaky priest.

Priya: Shame on you Will for even suggesting such a thing.  Only his wife would really know if that were true.

Catherine: Yes, Will, what do you mean by suggesting such a thing?

Will:  Well, I think Father Phil is trying to pad his attendance record for today?

Priya:  What do you mean by that?

Will:  Well, we’re having two services.  The Palm Sunday liturgy and the Passion Sunday liturgy and so he gets to count all of us twice for the attendance record.

Catherine: It is interesting that you think that way; perhaps you are thinking like Father Phil yourself.

Will: Well great minds do think alike.

Priya: Yes, and fools never differ.

Catherine:  But let not argue about Father Phil’s motive for padding the attendance record.  It is more important that we are doing two different liturgies today.

Will: And these liturgies are so contradictory.

Priya: Indeed they are.  In the Palm Sunday liturgy the crowd is shout “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of Lord.”  Jesus is paraded through the streets as a king.

Catherine:  But now we have turned to the Passion Sunday liturgy when we read the very sad story about the death of Jesus on the cross.

Will:  And the crowd in this story shout, “Crucify him, Crucify him.” This is quite a contrast in reactions to Jesus.  Why are there such different crowds of people who have completely different responses to Jesus?

Priya:  It could be that lots of the people from the countryside where Jesus lived in Nazareth had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations.  They wanted to make a political statement about Jesus to the people in Jerusalem.

Catherine:  Well, they did make a political statement but the leaders in Jerusalem were not happy with the Parade of Palms and they were very frightened that people were calling Jesus a king.

Will: Why were the leaders in Jerusalem frightened?

Priya: Israel was an occupied country.  The Romans controlled the city of Jerusalem.  But the Romans provided jobs for the people in Jerusalem.  The Romans were paying for the rebuilding of the temple.  They were paying for other public works projects.

Catherine: So, the Romans provided lots of jobs for the people in Jerusalem.

Will: The Jewish leaders of Jerusalem had to negotiate with Romans for their religious rights and freedoms.

Priya:  So when people started to call Jesus a king, the leaders in Jerusalem were worried that the Romans would think that someone was beginning a rebellion against the Caesar.

Catherine:  So, I suppose the Roman officials in Jerusalem probably told the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem:  “You better deal with this problem.  It is a big problem if people are trying to make another person king in Jerusalem when the Caesar is the king of the world.”

Will: So the Romans officials in Jerusalem had to defend the Caesar against any possible opponent.  And the religious leaders thought that Jesus and his followers would really anger the Roman officials and cause them to bring their soldiers to destroy Jerusalem.

Catherine: The Jewish leaders of Jerusalem did not want to “rock the boat” with the Roman officials.  And they felt that the only way to keep from angering the Roman official was to deal with problem of Jesus caused by his popularity.

Priya: Hmm….now I think I am beginning to understand the situation which led to the Cross of Christ.

Will:  I also understand something else on this day.  The crowd of people who followed Jesus and declared him to be a king must have been really disappointed.

Catherine:  Why do you say that?

Will:  They believed Jesus to be super hero who could do anything.  They believed that he would be one who could kick the Romans out of Jerusalem.  They believed that he would be a king like David who would bring independence and freedom back to Israel.

Priya: And so the person they wanted to be king ended up dying on the cross.  How could such a person be a super hero or a king?

Catherine:  Well, it could be that we have to stand back and re-define what we mean by being a king?

Will:  What do you mean?

Catherine:  Caesar Augustus and his successors were strong kings?  But where in the world today are a billion people gathering to commemorate their deaths?

Priya: No where that I know, but billions of people for years have been gathering to commemorate the death of Jesus.

Catherine:  So in the end, who has proven to be the greater king?

Priya: The kingship of the Caesar died when they died; but the kingship and the kingdom of Jesus has continued to live on and will live on forever.  Who is the greater King?

Will: Jesus, of course.  That is why the mocking sign on the cross: “The king of the Jews” is such irony.

Catherine: What do you mean by irony?

Will:  I mean the writers of the account of the death of Jesus already knew how popular he had become.  Jesus had become the king of hearts of many, many people, including many Jewish people.  So, his role as a dying king had a different meaning after Jesus had become so popular.

Priya:  There is also something very mysterious about the punchline in the Passion Gospel.

Catherine: What is the punchline in the Passion Gospel?

Priya:  The punchline is that one of Roman centurion who was torturing Jesus made the most important statement of all.  The centurion as he watched the death of Jesus said, “Truly this man was God’s Son.”

Will:  That is strange.  It wasn’t Peter, or James or John.  It wasn’t Mary the Mother of Jesus or Joseph.  It wasn’t Mary or Martha of Bethany.  It wasn’t his friend Mary Magdalene.  It was a Roman foreigner who made this confession that Jesus was God’s Son.

Catherine:  It is strange indeed because a Roman soldier would have only called the Caesar a son of a god.

Priya:  So, the writer of the Gospel of Mark wants all of the readers to be like the foreign, Gentile, Roman Centurion and come to this same confession: Jesus, truly you are God’s Son.

Will: Maybe all of us could whisper this confession now too: “Jesus, truly you are God’s Son.”

Catherine: Jesus, you are truly king of our hearts.

Priya: We cannot stop at the event of the Cross of Jesus.

Will: Why not?

Priya: We only remember the Cross of Jesus because of what comes next in the life of Jesus.

Catherine:  Please tell me now!  What is it?

Will:  We can’t tell you now.  We are going to hold you in suspense.  So, you’re just going have to come back next week for the rest of the story.

Catherine:  I can hardly wait.

Priya: For today, let us be glad to confess:  “Jesus, you are truly God’s Son.”  Amen.