Power of a Story - Genesis 1 - Trinity Sunday Year A

The Power of a Story

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 28: 16-20; Genesis 1:1-2:4a, Psalm 8, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Happy Trinity Sunday! 

“Be restored, listen to appeal, agree with one another; live in peace; and the love of God and peace be with you… The grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

The Trinity is a foundational doctrine of the Church: the sign of the cross or Apostles Creed. God, Christ and the Spirit are present in us and with us.

Jesus sends the disciples into world to baptize in the sign of the cross; as worshippers and doubters. Wonder what that feels like? 

When we doubt, we are reminded that Jesus will be with us always until the end of ages.

In Genesis, “in the beginning…”  We have this story of creation. We know it is a story because no one was around to record it except our Creator.

Yet it is a powerful story.

“Earth was chaos and darkness…A wind from God swept over the face of the waters…” 

God breathes light, water, day and life into that chaos and here we are.  

God was in the chaos and the breath of calm. Chaos is a part of that creation. 

Formless turns into something. 

For each that was, now becomes. 

For all that ever was, chaos has a chance to be calm today. 

God was there in the chaos. 

God brought peace, 

God is here to bring you peace. 

God is with you and in you. 

“Let us make humans in our image according to our likeness…” God made us, “in the image of God.” 

I have said this regarding the “I am” statements of John’s Gospel. That Jesus gives us permission to find and discover the divine living in each of us.  

That is a recognition for us to discover; for us to commune and to understand. When we do, we discover peace in ways that are uniquely intimate to us with personal ways to leverage that relationship. 

Church can help you (also synagogues, temples, mosques and quiet places): These many facets and images of the living and breathing God.

As abstract as the wide heavens and the universe, we can wonder where God is and what God is doing. Yet here and now, we have a distinct capability to make that phone call to God - to commune with God: that Spirit, that lives near and within us.

In the story of Genesis - once humans were created alongside all the other living creatures of the Earth, we were tasked with something. That something is a more than just a job but an embodiment. 

We are reminded that this whole creation and everything in it - is a part of God as part of that creation. 

With that in mind, God tasks people to manage this creation. We are given the skills and stewardship of this beautiful creation. 

Our relationship to the creation is uniquely divine, and there is still plenty chaos. My relationship is perhaps bit different than yours, but relationships exist nonetheless. 

In the chaos that still pervades throughout, we can find peace. 

There in the midsts of chaos, 

there is the divine. 

There is hope; 

there is love; 

there is peace.

With the Genesis story, we are reminded also to take hold, stop and breathe. 

Look around. 

See the wonderful and amazing work. 

That rest is just as important as the work. For if we only work, we never truly recognize what has been accomplished, and we forget that rest is holy and blessed. 

Rest is holy and blessed, perhaps especially, for the single parent with multiple jobs and kids to feed or the workaholic that “cannot” stop. 

One of the reasons why I enjoy bicycling is in that ride (hot or cold), I witness truth in creation: creatures, trees, sky and even rain or storms.

Put away the chats, tweets, and scrolling. Help those around us also rest. 

You are here in this creation: a part of this creation. You can live with peace and love of God within you. Share that. 

Blissful.

The divine is with us always and will be through the ages. 

Let us remember our solemn and holy duty is to take care of this creation and our relationship with the divine creation using the divine love that has been given to us. Let us remember that rest is holy for everyone - not just me and my family.

When we do this, we see and witness the power of a story. That power is far more than AI, bullets and armies. This supersedes disagreements or faiths - although it is faith in of itself. It is more than parliaments or human governments because this power, that faith, is rooted in love and creation. 

It is the divine way. 

When we do and teach as Jesus commands, to love God and to love one another as God has loved us, we find no fault and no reason to quarrel, but we do find friends and family in the whole world and everything that is around us. 

When we understand that all are created in the image of God, we worship and may still have doubts. 

When we understand that all are created in the divine, then our understanding of the world takes on a different image - a potentially scary image and at the same time, a very peaceful image. Much like any of us who become parents: the realization of a child in your care. 

Like those who become parents to pets, (farmers know this well): the realization of God’s creature(s) in your midsts - in your care. 

Our task becomes apparent and real. 

…Like anyone who cares because Someone cared for us first and that Someone always has. That Someone will always care. 

“And God saw everything… and indeed, it was very good” and so should we. 

In the name of the Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit.

"live in peace" and go forth. Amen.