Oh, my goodness! It's Fathers' Day, Trinity Sunday AND baptisms on top of it all! No one can speak intelligently about all of those things in one sane sermon. The most we can hope to do is remind ourselves of the God before Whom we stand, and see how that relates to everything else! I've chosen, this Trinity Sunday, to do something I haven't done before--simply to translate the Hebrew text of the first reading for you...word for word...hoping you will see something of what I see hiding deep within it, revealing to us the beauty of the God we serve. The description God gives of Himself in this reading is "the" mystical understanding of God in the Bible. The Rabbis refer to this as "THE 13 ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. So let's pay attention to it for a few minutes, then go to breakfast. OK?
Adonai, Adonai, eil rachum, vchanun, erech appayim, rav chesed, v rav emet, notzer chesed laalafim, noseh avon, v'feshah, v'chatah, venakeh.
We begin with God's first two attributes: Adonai is the word for LORD. The text begins "adonai, adonai," The Lord, the Lord (why repeated twice? if we look at the rest of the text it speaks of a God who is forgiving, so repeating the name of God twice tells us that God is our God before we sin, and after we sin. Before we sin God is helping us to walk in beauty, and after we sin God is urging us to repentance and better living. So, the before and the after each have The Lord at the center. These two words then tell of us of the first two attributes of God--with us always, both before and after we fall--never giving up on us. These are the first two attributes of God--presence to us before we sin, helping us be all we can become, AND after we sin, helping us to heal and be whole. What these attributes tell you is that God knew you before you were here, and will be with you long after you've ceased to be here. He is the Alpha and Omega. He has always been with you, and will always be with you!
Next comes the phrase "Eil rachum"; the word "eil" in Hebrew can be translated two ways: "El" can mean "god" and we'd have god of mercy, (mercy is the 4th word) but "eil" can also mean "mighty," so mightly merciful is also a good translation of these two words, and they form the 3rd and 4th attributes of God--a mightily and merciful God, or a merciful God. Sometimes we need God's "might, sometimes God's mercy. Which do you need today? (Probably both, if you're like me!) For the women in the congregation, today, on this feast of fathers, YOU will be pleased to learn that the description of God's mercy, comes from the word for "womb." Rechem, is womb, and rachum is merciful, God's mercy towards us is that "womb love," that has gestated this child that is YOU, and will never give it up! It's the "mother tiger" love that is fierce and awesome. God's mercy comes from God's unclenching love that can't let us go! God's got your back, in might and in mercy!
Then we move to the 5th attribute of God, "v chanun" which means "gracious," and, to those in distress, God is always most gracious--trying not to humiliate, but to encourage. Then, comes attrbute #6, "erech appayim," Slow to anger. I think this is one of the qualities that really separates us from God....we can fly off the handle, and our mood can collapse under disappointment. God watches us with compassion as we struggle and often fail. Rarely can we affront God, for God understands us from the inside out...so knows how to deal with us graciously, and lift us out of our distress. God is SO slow to anger, that His merciful love is always visible--God's leniency. Such a love may make us uncomfortable, but it's there when we need it. Graciously merciful in his failure to be angry...such is the God of God's understanding.
Next, with attribute #7 comes the wonderful phrase "rav CHesed," GREAT or PLENTEOUS in MERCIFUL LOVE. Chesed is the love that is expansive, and gauche--the gift of diamonds on a first date kind of love--over the top...the love that doesn't give up...ever....the crucifix is an illustration of the length that Chesed will go to to show its depth. Attribute #9 is "rav emet," the adjective "great" modifies both "hesed," merciful love AND "emet," truth. God is extravagant in truth. That's why you can be completely honest in prayer...for that is what God wants. God is the soul of truth, and we approach God best when we are totally transparent--including when we state how angry we are with the way the universe is running! Shaking our fist at heaven, like St. Theresa of Avila, or questioning heaven, like Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof, "Would it disturb some divine plan IF I WERE A WEALTHY MAN?" If we can't be honest in prayer, there is no place in the universe in which we can be honest. Never feel afraid or ashamed to state your truth to God--for remember, God already knows it, and is waiting for YOU to recognize and own it!!!! But, truth is built into the universe, as well. That's why when we sin, we often have to suffer some consequences. It's a "truth-teaching" device, to help us be all that we can be! It's part of God's loving us.
Well, on to Attribute # 9 "notzer Chesd laalafim, "Keeping faithful love to thousands of generations! So much for thinking that God will give up on the world and destroy it! Long before fearful prophets threatened people with destruction, God promised to "the" prophet, Moses, "faithfulness to thousands of generations. On the one hand, it's probably hyperbole--like you use when you tell a kid, "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times to stop that!" But, remember, God is also the essence of truth. So there's truth even in the hyperbole of divine speech. God will be faithful to YOU! If nothing else, I want us all to leave here, today, trusting in God's faithfulness to each of us.
Attributes #10, 11, and 12 all go together, Noseh is the verb for all of them, it means "lifting up": Noseh avon, vafesha, vachatah, translated, "forgiving iniquity (avon), willful sin or rebellion (fesha) and carelessness or error (Chatah)," but more than forgiving, God "lifts up" the acts of human iniquity, rebellion and stupidity. God lifts us out of the mire of our own neurosis. Some of the "lifting" comes with repentance, but some of it is the initial "lifting" that brings us to the point of repentance, and some of us have to be lifted higher than others to get to the point we can see what we've done, own it, and repent. And finally, the last attribute: "v nakei," God cleanses us or purifies us. Rabbis speak of the closeness of the repentant sinner to God--how the repentant one is actually closer to God than the one who never strayed, for the one who has fallen and been helped to rise, knows something deeper about God than the one who never needed such a lift. The Church fathers speak of this, but they also speak of baptism--the sacrament we will administer in a few minutes to our newest members....this is the "purification," the "cleansing," that places the broken human vessel on the path of Grace that leads to the Mercy Seat of God. This IS the LIFTING par excellence...echoes of which we've all experienced over the years of our lives.
Now think of the qualities of a parent...and since it's Fathers' Day, let's think of fathers. Are not these qualities or attributes of God the qualities a father wants to embody? I'll bet they are. While I can't speak from the personal experience of being a father, I'll bet that every father here wants to be mighty in compassion, merciful, truthful, bountifully extravagant in love, gracious and slow to anger, lifting their children up, and helping them to heal and find wholeness.
No father, or mother here, is perfect. We can all use this reading as a guilt trip, or we can use it as a prayer. Let's use it as a prayer. O God make us faithful, and merciful, truthful and compassionate, gracious and slow to anger, lifting up our children, and helping them to heal and be whole. In fact, let's invite all the fathers here to stand--all fathers, step-fathers, male guardians, fathers to be, men trying to become fathers--teachers and mentors, too--to stand for a blessing:
O Gracious God, these small human vessels stand before You seeking Your help in being the kind of father or to do the sort of "fathering" You have challenged them to be and do. Inspire them with Your wisdom, strengthen them with Your Grace, give them words to inspire and to heal. You Who are the author of all Truth, bless them. Wrap them in the light of Your Protection and lift them to Your Heart. Hold them always in Your care. In the Name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You may be seated, and on this Trinity Sunday, as we meditate on the Nature of God as God revealed Himself to be, let us pray that each of our lives may in some small way mirror those qualities, and that our lives may be benedictions of kindness and peace in our world. And may God bless you all. +
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