Homily: Most Holy Trinity: 2007

Dear brothers and sisters, "we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint." (Rom 5:2), or, in the RSV version: "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." We rejoice in our sufferings. Wow. That's profound. But our religion, our wise religion, baptizes suffering, so to speak -- elevates it to its proper place where it can have value. Most other religions seek to avoid suffering or even deny it altogether. But that doesn't work very long. That doesn't satisfy. We know we have grown through our sufferings -- whether caused by our own free will (which makes us capable of love and nobility -- and separates us from animals and robots) or caused by external forces over which we have no control. We can grow, we can empathize, we can gain profound knowledge. As my Dad used to always say: "That's how you learn." As C. S. Lewis said in "The Problem of Pain": "What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter so long as they are contented?' We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven -- a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'A good time was had by all.' " But that's not what we really need.

And, in our first reading, we know that the Spirit of God was poured forth "from of old" -- and that this Spirit is Wisdom. And what of us? An eminent scientist has two Scripture verses painted in various colors by his daughter and placed in a prominent place to remind him of these truths. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5) That should tell us something! Let us, right now, ask it of Him. And what of this wisdom? What is it like? How will we know it? Here is the doctor's second verse: "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity." (James 3:17) ("Insincerity" is also rendered as "hypocrisy.") Earthly wisdom is disorderly, unspiritual and selfish. The wisdom of God, which we already established we can ask for and we can recognize . . . will first of all be pure. It will be single-minded, in other words, oriented toward God and toward spiritual things. It will be peaceful, gentle, logical, merciful and fruitful. And speaking of fruits, we in our family this last Sunday (Pentecost), each wrote a fruit of the Holy Spirit on a cutout of a flame, turned them over, shuffled them up, said a prayer to the Holy Spirit and drew the fruit that would be ours in a special way for all this next year. My husband got joy, my oldest son faith, number-2 son modesty, my daughter peace, my youngest son charity . . . and *I* got continency! Continency! I got shafted! No, just kidding. If you knew me, you would know how perfect that gift is for me. I need self-control more than anything. Without temperance I would head off into hedonism very easily . . .

And what of the Psalm? The wonderful, the great, the hallelujah-so-magnificent Psalm 8? It's the one that goes:
"What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor."
Hey, this psalm teaches us a little theology and we would be wise to be mindful of it. There are folks out there -- mostly, but not all, of the "angels as delightful little cherubs" variety -- who dismiss the angels as little less than US! But I put to you they are greater than we: more wise, more facile, more powerful and we dismiss them at our peril. They may not have bodies (though they have been known to assume them on occasion), but they have wider and deeper spiritual gifts than we do. We do well to call on them -- the good ones, and our guardian in particular -- and we do well to heed the power though never fear the bad ones, the demons. They work their way into our lives if we let them. But good news: the good are more numerous and more powerful, thank God, than the bad. And we, we chimeras made of flesh and spirit, body and soul, have one foot in their world and one foot in ours. We who will be crowned, will be crowned with glory and honor. And who is crowned? Well, let's turn to James one last time: "Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him." (James 1:12)

Let us pray . . .