Trinity
Sunday, June 7, 2020
The
Rev. Nancy E. Gossling
Genesis:
A Rainbow Coalition
In the beginning,
everything that God created was good. That is until we humans took control and
put ourselves at the center. “You gave me free will,” we say to God, “and I
want what I want when I want it. I have my rights!” And then the winds of chaos
blew around the globe, creating formless voids of darkness, and in that
darkness, volcanoes of violence and hate erupted.
I know something
about chaos, violence, and hate. I know something about oppression and
injustice. I know about rage; and I confess to murderous thoughts. I know fear
and disrespect. I have been spit upon and followed by a man with the intention
to do me harm. I have had “the talk” with my kids about many things. But unlike
my brothers and sisters of color, I have also enjoyed untold privileges by
growing up white in America.
While my particular
experiences are not yours, and my truth may not be yours, I suspect we share
some common feelings about the viruses of COVID 19, systemic racism, and what
happened to George Floyd. We share the common ground of our genesis when God
created us and blew God’s breath into our dry and dusty beings. We were made in
God’s image and became God’s beloved children; and yet we are not treated
equally, fairly, or justly. No wonder there is no peace.
When Cedric Malcolm,
former Celtics star, praised the current black men on this team for speaking up
about their experience of systemic racial injustice, he spoke truth. He also
praised the peaceful protests around our country. “I just don’t think things
are going to happen overnight,” Maxwell said. “It’s going to take conversation.
It’s going to take work. It’s going to take opening up people’s minds. But I
think a good part about these protests was that if you looked at the crowds,
especially most of the peaceful crowds, it was decorated like a rainbow. There
were all kinds of colors.”
In twelve step
communities, we learn that we are responsible for our attitudes and actions,
and not what others are or are not doing, can or cannot do, or what others
should or should not be doing. I know that I can be critical and judgmental. I
know that I can be prejudiced. I know that I have privileges and power; and yet
I often feel powerless when I listen to the news. The serenity prayer reminds
me to ask God to help me to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to
change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It takes
courage to change!
The beauty of God’s
original creation is often marred by violence and masked by hate; but our
diversity is most beautiful when we are unified in doing good. And while the
uncontrollable winds of chaos continue to blow around our globe and within our
own hearts, in the end, I believe that God’s power will ultimately save us. In
the beginning, God said, “Let there be light. And there was light.”
The Trinity is God’s
Love: revealed to us in creation, shared
with “the other” in our relationships, and given through courageous actions of
word and deed. United in the diversity and goodness of our creation, walking in
the Way of Love, we can reveal God’s original blessing through the power of the
Holy Spirit. It’s up to you and me, for the sake of our world, to be part of
that Trinity.
“In the
beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept
over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was
light. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our
likeness. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created
them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living
thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1: 1- 28
No comments:
Post a Comment