Sermon June 3, 2007

Trinity Sunday, Year C

Trinity Sunday! My own parish priest, Fr. Macrow, said once, of this day: "I have to preach on the Trinity, and you're not going to understand it, and nor will I - but I have to do it!"

Not an auspicious beginning - more about lowering expectations! But it does rather neatly make the point that today is about a philosophical idea rather than the biblical stories that we're used to hearing from week to week.

But we do have something that connects us to that philosophical idea each week: The Creed.

So let's chat about the Creed.

But first, bear with me, I want to take a little side-trip! How many members of Kiwanis are there here this morning? Kiwanians - what's the first thing we do each Thursday after the bell's rung to signal the start of the meeting?
       Recite the Pledge of Allegiance! And the second thing?
       We sing. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of Liberty, of thee I sing"
And you all know how that song goes, don't you?! It talks about "pilgrim pride" and ends with a rousing appeal that freedom will continue to ring from every mountainside.

Now in the pledge we say that we give our allegiance to a flag: a particular flag. But then immediately say - "well, not really a flag" - rather the flag stands as a metaphor for the republic, and we actually note that: we say "and the Republic for which it stands". In other words, it's not about the flag at all - we're not pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth. The flag is a 'stand-in' - a treasured stand-in, certainly, but a stand-in. It's a stand-in because we can't get the whole republic in the room! Which means that "the Republic" - as real as it is for all of us - is still an idea.

And its an idea that's still very much in the process of being born. That birth metaphor is entirely appropriate, I think - it's an emotive thing to we do when we place our hands on our hearts: We are saying: "I give my heart to the republic, to the idea that there can be justice and liberty for all"

And, likewise, with "My country, 'tis of thee" the words "proclaim" and "mountainside" are 'stand-ins', part of a metaphor saying something quite profound: that we commit ours hearts to insuring that we will actively work to insure that the principles of freedom are proclaimed from every hill and valley, from every village and town and city and are thus are evident to all people who set foot on this land between the shining seas.

But if we took the words of the song literally - if freedom were only spoken of from mountain-sides - then whole swathes of the country would not hear freedom's bell tolling out the call to work for liberty and justice for all.

Which, if you haven't already figured it out, brings us to the Creed. Like the Pledge, and "My country, 'tis of thee" the Creed is shot-through with the weave and weft of metaphors. "Father" and "Son" and "Holy Spirit" are metaphors that express relationship, humanity, community. The 318 bishops at Nicea in 325 A.D. never intended their words to be taken literally. Remember that quote I shared with you about literalism? "A literalist interpretation of Scripture tells us that God is a rock that sent a bird to cause a virgin to give birth to a loaf of bread. And this is supposed to be an improvement on obtaining a chiseled code of conduct from a flaming shrubbery in a cloud. If a literal understanding is all that is required for faith, then I'm a yellow ducky." Rabbi Ben Sylva

You can apply the same approach to the Creed. The Creed is trying to convey to us truth interpreted through metaphor.

Now, why do you think that - from the day of its adoption in 325 A.D. until sometime in the late Seventh Century - the Creed was not included in the Eucharist?

Because there were better vehicles in the Eucharist for interpreting the truth through metaphor. Any ideas where? IN THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER! As we go through that prayer this morning following the offertory I invite you to notice how each of the Creed's three distinct ideas - about God as Father-Creator, Son-Redeemer, and Spirit-Sanctifier - are described in more detail than in the Creed.

The Eucharistic Prayer is better than the Creed at saying "This is what we believe"!

So, you might ask, how did the Creed find its way into the service? For institutional political reasons, not theological ones! It was introduced as a "loyalty oath" It was to function, in other words, much as the Pledge of Allegiance and "My country 'tis of thee" function.

While I'm not saying we should do this, it would be more appropriate to begin the service - after the announcements and before the opening hymn - with the Creed: to make it the Loyalty Oath it was intended to be.

And no matter where it is - in the middle of the service or outside of it - think of it in the same way you think of the Pledge of Allegiance: as something to give your heart to. "I give my heart to a vision of God who created all, redeemed it, and continues to bless it."     Amen.