06-12-22 Sunday Sermon

First Congregational Church
June 12, 2022
Trinity Sunday
John 16:12-15, Romans 5:1-5
“Elephants in Rooms”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: "God bless me! but the Elephant Is very like a wall!” The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, "Ho! what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: "I see,” quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a snake!” The Fourth reached out an eager hand, And felt about the knee. "What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain," quoth he; “ 'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan! The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, "I see,” quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!

John 16:12-15
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Thank you, Beth and Mike. So why are elephants bad dancers? They have two left feet. What sport will an elephant always beat you at? Squash!

Human beings, being what they are, all have inward delights of odd things. And one of those goofy things particular to me, is that when I hear a story, I tend to make up images of that story in my mind. Maybe that is much more common than I realize, but it is also, perhaps, how I really, inwardly, love the phrase, the elephant in the room.

I’m positive there are oodles of cartoons and drawings in the world about that idiom, and most people are familiar with its meaning in reference to an obvious problem that no-one wishes to talk about. And I’m also mighty sure there are some folks wondering what an elephant in the room has to do with Trinity Sunday, the day we give time to the idea of God as parent, redeemer and comforter, Mother, Child, and Breath of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Put all that together, and it’s one strange mixture of ingredients. Let me make it even a little weirder. We celebrate this Sunday that follows Pentecost in calling it Trinity Sunday. But the word trinity isn’t found in the Bible. There are numerous verses that speak about two of the three persons of God that were just mentioned. God as God, relational in nature, manifested in three distinct ways as an example of perfect communion, to get our heads around it, our scope has to be broader than one sentence.

The last two sentences of the passage from John: All that belongs to the Father is mine (Jesus). That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. Within the five verses of the Romans passage, you can also find the three names of the Godhead, which isn’t even a real head, but a divine nature or essence. While all that is that, I felt that the Spirit moving - all of us - toward that part of the Romans passage that speaks about rejoicing in sufferings, that produces perseverance, character and hope.

Incidentally, elephants display ‘right-handedness’, not in their limbs, but in their
tusks. Close examination will reveal one tusk to be thicker, with a blunter tip. The thicker, blunter tusk is the one they use to dig for water and gather food, just in case you need to know that.

Actually, the elephant in the room is that sometimes this passage from Romans is not helpful or healing, even harmful to the soul. Methodist author and preacher, William Willimon put it perfectly. “It’s a rather risky thing to state that God uses even our present suffering to cultivate virtue.” Thank you, Rev. Willimon.

He also said, “I don’t think that the statement we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope is the sort of thing you want to say to someone who is in acute pain, particularly when you are not in pain.”

Sometimes a person will empathetically say, “I know how you feel,” when they never experienced divorced parents or a family member with severe mental health issues, or had a car accident as a teenager, driving too fast during a blizzard, not that I would personally know anything about that. Granted, the suffering of such “hypothetical” trouble eventually led to the character of being a better driver, and that’s a good thing. But I digress.

For the most part, when someone is in trouble or troubled, even though the Holy Spirit is never apart from us - or them, we can feel as if we need to respond to someone’s pain. In discomfort, we can say things that are not particularly helpful, even hurtful. So sometimes we revert to saying nothing, which feels empty, too.

But Rev. Willimon offered a great insight - that Paul - in speaking to the Romans - wasn’t so much preaching “this is how you should feel or be,” but “this is what I’ve found to be true."

Instead of preaching, he’s giving testimony, like a witness in a trial - giving what he has seen or understood in his own life. Still not always helpful to those whose lives are a struggle or flat out as close to not living as a living person can get.

And in times of pain, upon reflection, most likely not immediately, Paul discovered that there were moments in his life when trouble or pain produced endurance for him, that endurance produced greater character in himself, and that character produced hope - through God, Christ and the Holy Spirit - in Paul.

Even if Paul’s testimony about himself isn’t helpful, there is an element - maybe the most important part - that this great growth of character attributes - had nothing to do with Paul pulling himself up by any bootstraps or by his own ears. It was through the Holy Spirit.

Maturing in our faith is not something we do on our own but with the Holy Spirit. We are not left to our own devices when strengthening faith, because we are never left alone. The Holy Spirit is always with us.

The peace that Paul spoke about, “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” is also not our usual understanding of peace. There is the world’s peace and there is the peace offered to us by Christ and this two are very different sorts of peace. So strangely strong is that peace, it takes a Trinity of persons, that come together under the name of  God, manifested in different ways for different purposes, to enable us to get our heads around such peace of spirit.    

In some ways, this idea of peace - amidst the dis-ease of our world - is about truth - the kind of truth that is worthy of our time and energy to understand its power. And I’m guessing that the hunger for real, meaningful truth is becoming ravenous these days.

In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair. His project was to show the influence of fear through unhelpful language by urging people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "Dihydrogen monoxide.”

His “evidence” for this restriction was 1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting. 2. It is a major component of acid rain. 3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state. 4. Accidental inhalation can kill you. 5. It contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape. 6. It decreases the effectiveness of automobile brakes. And 7. It is found in tumors of terminal cancer patients. He asked 50 people if they support a ban. 43 said yes, six were undecided and only one knew that the chemical is ... water.

It struck me that in reality, there are a lot of elephants in this room today - including those who are with us from a distance. Or maybe it is that we are all from Indostan, each with our own way of experiencing our elephants in rooms, our own unique paths in this life, and our individual ways of understanding our experiences. In terms of time and breadth around the world, that’s a whole big ‘memory’ of elephants - as a group is properly called.

In fact, there is great irony in that name, because the elephant's memory is legendary. And the special ceremony for greeting a long-lost member of the herd is also
distinguished. In that greeting ceremony, both elephants flap their ears, trumpet, and generally express joy.

When we are struggling - with pain or trouble - it may be hard to summon ear flapping, trumpeting or joy, much less all three at once. We get that we all experience pain or trouble, and we can better appreciate similar situations of pain and trouble. What’s really important, is that regardless of how we feel, how many elephants there are in the room, we 1. don’t always have to have words when a pat on the arm and a look into the other’s eyes will speak much louder and eloquently, and 2. in embracing the Holy Spirit’s presence, knowing that we are never alone, so comes the fullness of the Trinity - with Christ and God. And all that together makes for a good place to pray.

Almighty, All-Wise God in Three, thank you for enlarging our lives through your Trinitarian relationship with all your people. And even if it sounds strange, we thank you for the comfort that comes through that relationship. Forgive us when we fail to think before speaking hurtfulness, even innocently, as well as our insensitivities to your need of us in this world. When we fail to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, give us greater nudging, that we see the elephant, the room, the people there and the tender hearts that all need healing and comfort - at some time or another. As you continue our educations and maturation through your Spirit, Son and yourself, all your people say, Amen.