Abba! Father!

by the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow

This sermon is based on Romans 8:14-17. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon. 

Today we are celebrating the Feast of Pentecost. Today we are celebrating the remembrance of how the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles and empowered them for their mission to spread the Goods News of Jesus to all people, how the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to be the Church. And to celebrate that work of the Holy Spirit we read the story of the miracle of languages, when by the Spirit’s power the Apostles were unexpectedly able to say many words in many different languages, languages they’d never consciously learned, languages that were required to reach the hearts of people from all over the extent of the then-civilized world. Today we see the Spirit’s power in the miracle of many words.

But what I want to talk about this morning is the Spirit’s power in the miracle of one word. What strikes me about the Feast of Pentecost is how the Spirit empowers us to say one word we could never say on our own, and how that one word makes possible all the other words of praise and celebration and outreach and mission.

From our Epistle this morning: “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”

According to Paul, the one word the Spirit helps us speak, the one word that transforms us into new people with Christ, the one word that empowers all the other words of prayer and mission and life itself – that one word is “Abba,” “Father.”

What Paul is reminding us here is that calling God our Father is actually a very audacious, very bold, very over-the-top thing to do. We tend to take it for granted, we tend to say it so easily – especially because it’s in the prayer that Jesus taught us, the prayer that we as Christians are saying all the time – we tend to say “Our Father” so easily that we don’t always remember what an outrageous thing it is to say. Because when we call God “Father,” we are doing something more than simply acknowledging God as our Creator, our Origin, our Source. When we call God “Father,” we are claiming that there is a certain kind of relationship between us and God. That’s what makes it all the more important that Paul tells us to call God “Abba” when we call God “Father”: “Abba” is the Aramaic word for Father. Paul wrote all his letters in Greek, so that they could reach the widest audience possible with the most comprehension possible. Greek was the language most everyone in the Roman Empire spoke: it was the language of commerce and travel, even for those whose native languages were something else. Aramaic was not very widely understood for Paul’s audience; so for Paul to revert from Greek to Aramaic for just one word indicates that it is a very, very important word indeed. “Abba” is Aramaic for “Father” – but it’s the Aramaic intimate word for Father, it’s the Aramaic equivalent of “Papa” or “Daddy”; it’s the word for the father who is close and gentle and tender-hearted and nurturing; it’s the word for the father who watches over you and takes care of you and wants nothing more than for you to grow up into a whole person living a whole and happy life. To call God our “Abba” is to say that the Infinite, Eternal, Transcendent Creator of All is close to us and with us and loves us with a joy and delight and tenderness that surpasses everything we know.

But calling God our “Abba” says even more. Paul says that because we are children of God we are also heirs of God. Because we are children of God, we inherit from God certain traits, certain characteristics, certain bits of identity, the way children inherit traits from their parents. I have blue eyes because my father has blue eyes; I look younger than my age because my mother is young-looking. As children we inherit traits from our parents. And if God is our Abba, if we are children of God, then we inherit traits and characteristics from God. So God is loving and peaceable and just; and therefore we have the potential to be loving and peaceable and just. So God is creative and renewing and wise; and therefore we have the potential to be creative and renewing and wise. So God is generous and receptive and joyful; and therefore we have the potential to be generous and receptive and joyful. So God is creating the kingdom of love and right-relationships and well-being on earth; and therefore we can join with God, we can be co-creators of the kingdom with God, we can co-create love and right-relationships and well-being in the circumstances of our lives as well. We can be all these things because God is our Abba, and we are heirs, and we inherit from God those traits that give us the divine family resemblance. We are heirs of God, because we cry “Abba! Father!” with all our hearts.

And the reason we can do that, the reason we can cry out that one word that makes all the difference, is because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Paul says, “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit” -- the Holy Spirit bears witness, the Holy Spirit speaks truth to our spirit, the Holy Spirit empowers our human spirit to wake up to our relationship with God as Abba, and to be intentional in our relationship with God as Abba, and to enact our relationship with God as Abba by going forth into our lives and really doing those divine things we inherit from God to do.

And how will you cry out “Abba! Father!” and live that prayer in your Pentecost today? The Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to show forth their family resemblance to God by proclaiming praise and Good News in a way that broke down barriers and transcended differences and brought together in right-relationships people who had been sundered by distance and language and culture. And how will the Holy Spirit empower us – how will the Holy Spirit empower you – to show forth your family resemblance to God by proclaiming praise and good news to break down barriers and transcend differences and bring people together in right-relationships across distances and languages and cultures? Perhaps it will be through our Haiti or Honduras missions. Perhaps it will be through reaching across class and economic distinctions right here in Staunton. Perhaps it will be through becoming more informed about the Hispanic communities growing all through the Shenandoah Valley, and engaging in ministries to reach out to them. Perhaps it will be through reaching out to someone who has wronged you – or whom you have wronged – to begin the process of reconciliation and forgiveness and renewal of relationship. Perhaps it will be through rededication to living the principles of our Baptismal Covenant. Perhaps it will be through sitting very quietly, simply enjoying the beauty of a moment, and offering that joy to God for God to share in the Spirit with whoever needs it most. How will the Holy Spirit empower you to show forth your inheritance from God your Father this day?

On this day of Pentecost, when we remember how the Spirit empowered the Apostles to speak many words of praise, let us pray that the Spirit will empower us to speak one word, so that we may cry out “Abba! Father!” and live as God’s beloved children in every thought and word and deed. Amen.

Youth Sunday Sermon by Coalter Hollberg

This sermon is based on John 17:20-26. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon. 

In John chapter 17 verse 20 Jesus prays for the disciples and in a way he is praying for us. He was praying for the next generation to pass on the word of God, and the idea that God is in Christ and Christ is in everyone. The word has been passed on generation to generation until it has come to us. The disciples learned from example as the youth have learned through our years growing up in Trinity.

The Honduras Mission trip was a wonderful way for the love of Christ to go on to the next generation. We had dedicated leaders to follow; I don’t think anyone worked harder than Ted, Mike, or Oakley. Our leaders showed us how to selflessly give time helping others. Beyond spreading the good news of Christ, nothing brings people together quite like digging a trench during the rainy season.

Trinity’s sense of Community is evident in the fellowship between the youth and our youth leaders who guided us from Godly play to senior high. Only last year I had procrastinated on an application and forgotten to get a recommendation. I planned to apply for Lee’s chapter of the National Honor Society for a long time, but instead I had chosen to dance with the deadline. I called Wendy and she was enthusiastic and as helpful as always even though it was last minute and I am sure it was inconvenient to say the least. Why would Wendy write me a recommendation the day before the deadline? My best guess is because of the fellowship and selfless giving which is evident at Trinity. The recommendation was great by the way!

I am proud and honored to be part of Trinity’s family and I would not be here without the Church’s support and guidance. As Jesus said “That they all may be one; as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us.” Amen.

Youth Sunday sermon by Price Gillock

This sermon is based on John 17:20-26. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon. 

About 12 years ago, on a beautiful Palm Sunday morning, I was running around with some of the other kids my age, playing with the palms we had received earlier from the parade. After a while, however, something strange peaked my interest. The entire congregation seemed to be gathered around a central location in the churchyard, where a wrought-iron fence surrounds a grave. I jostled through the crowd to see what the commotion was about, and to my 6-year-old amusement, I saw that my little brother had somehow wedged his head between two of the iron bars in the fence. Thankfully, the struggle was resolved thanks to an ingenious application of Crisco to my brother’s head.

What may seem like a completely irrelevant story is actually very indicative of the type of community we have at Trinity and the type of community that has nurtured me my whole life. In today’s gospel, Jesus prays for his disciples and for all Christians. He says: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.” In this passage, within the scope of our history, Jesus describes a sort of chain reaction. He prays that his disciples will remain close to him and know him so that they will pass their knowledge to the next group of eager listeners, who will pass on their knowledge, and so on. The way I see it, Trinity has been a part of this reaction. Growing up in the Trinity community, I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by people who love nothing more than to spread Jesus’ love and mission everyday, through example as much as through word. 

In boys’ choir with Mrs. Taylor, I learned to use my voice to praise God and gained a love for music that has stayed with me to this day. “Going to the top of the class” is still probably the best praise I’ve ever received, and all those hours under the guidance of Mrs. Taylor and the adult choir helped me see the beauty in God’s music. Volunteering for the noon lunch program with youth group helped me gain an appreciation for the abundant life God has given me, and I learned firsthand the great feeling that helping others can give. Every year when I volunteered for the Christmas Eve dinner, as I found myself enveloped in the spirit of receiving, it was incredibly refreshing to be reminded of the true reason for the Christmas season. As middle and high school rolled by, Mike, Wendy, Muffy, Paul and Elizabeth made sure all of us in J2A and Senior High remembered to make room for God somewhere in between our hectic teenage lives. Above all, from a young age, seeing so many people joyfully giving their time for others left a huge impact on my character and how I have interpreted God’s message.

Jesus said: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” Jesus prayed for all Christians to lead by example and to pass the good news on to each successive generation. In reflection, as I teeter between youth and adulthood, I am both incredibly grateful for the support and guidance this church has given me and completely ready to begin spreading the word of God myself. Amen.

Rogation and the Liturgy of the Earth

by the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow

This sermon is based on Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon. 

Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter — or, as it is often subtitled, today is Rogation Sunday. Rogation Sunday is a kind of “Christian Earth Day”: it is a day when we give special thanks and praise to God for the gift of the Earth, for the gift of Creation. But more than that, here in this Easter season, this is a day when we are especially mindful of how the whole Creation waits — not just human beings, but the whole Creation waits — with eager longing for the revelation of Resurrection Life in Christ. Today is our day to be mindful of how the bread on the altar, and every person in the congregation, and every creature in all Creation, is called to become the Body of Christ.

There is a wonderfully powerful symbol of that in our reading from Revelation today. John the Seer has a vision of the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God and taking its place on earth. It's worth pointing out that this is the opposite of what we usually think of as the ultimate end of all things. We usually think of the end as “going up into heaven.” But John understands the ultimate Christian promise to be that heaven will come down to earth, that our earthly existence will be extended and expanded and transformed and made whole and made heavenly, because heaven and earth will be one. The city where God and people will dwell together, the city that will need no temple because everything is holy, the city that will need no sun or moon because the light of God shines from everything — that is John's symbol for the coming-together of earth and heaven, the matter that is spiritual and the spirit that is material, the ultimate condition where Creator and creature are as one.

And on this Rogation Sunday it is vital for us to recognize that in this heavenly-earthly city the human world and the natural world are also brought together and made one. The city is a place of human habitation; and yet right in the middle of the city, right down the main street of the city, John sees a river flowing. And this isn't just any river, not some tame river: this is the river of living water, water that gives life but water that is also full of life itself, water that is flowing and gurgling and splashing and renewing nature as it goes. And on either side of the river, still in the middle of the city, John sees groves of the trees of life, trees that bear twelve kinds of fruit, for every month of the year, trees whose leaves have healing properties for all peoples. This isn't just a city: it's also a garden: it's a place of habitation where humans and nature and God all live together in harmony and peace and mutual well-being that never, ever ends — where humans and nature and God all live together as the blessed embodiment of God's creating Word.

And it is the particular message of Rogation Sunday that this expansive vision of cosmic renewal is not simply for the far-flung future. It is the particular message of Rogation Sunday that the vision of cosmic renewal is a promise and a motivation for our works of natural renewal in our world here and now. It is because we look forward to the complete union of God and human and nature in the future that we work now to build up communion between God and human and nature in the places and spaces that we have at our hands.

And I believe we human beings have a very special role to play in that building up of all-embracing communion. We are that part of the earth that has become aware of itself; we are the creatures who have evolved the brains and the language and the hearts and the spirits to be able to receive the Word of God, and to hear God’s call to make the whole Creation new. We are like priests in the liturgy of the earth.

Think about it: In this Eucharistic liturgy, my job as priest is to engage you in dialogue — I say, “The Lord be with you” and you say “And also with you”; I say “Let us pray” and you say “Amen.” And it is my job as priest to pay attention — and so to help focus your attention — when the choir sings or the lector reads or the ushers bring forth the offering we all give, so that we all can see how the Spirit is moving in our midst. And it is my job as priest to give voice to the prayers we all share, but prayers we cannot hear so clearly unless one voice brings them together to speak them on behalf of all. That’s what I do as priest in this liturgy of the church.

And I believe that’s what God calls all of us to do as priests in the liturgy of the earth: We engage in dialogue, learning about and responding to the other creatures in our environment, our neighborhood. And we focus attention on what’s going on in forests and wetlands and mountains and atmosphere, so that we can all know the possibilities for new creativity God is opening in this Earth of ours. And we give voice to the needs and the dangers and the potentialities and the hopes of all the creatures around us who cannot talk. We speak on behalf of the forest and the threatened shale strata and the endangered species and the cleaned-up streams and rivers. And we speak the beauty of a rainbow or a redbud blossom or a butterfly’s wing — things that have no voice of their own, but must be appreciated and spoken for and celebrated for their gifts to the whole wide world. We human beings are like priests in the sacrament of creation, lifting up the whole world as our spiritual sacrifice, offering the entire universe to be transformed into the Body of Christ, and taking responsibility to build up communion between ourselves and God and every existing creature God has given into our care.

And I see a lot of that priesting in the liturgy of earth here in the Shenandoah Valley. I see it in conservation easements, that protect land for preservation for future generations. I see it when I'm out bicycling in the countryside, and I see how farmers have put up fences to protect streams from being overly fouled by cattle, thus preserving water quality for all the downstream watershed as well. I see it in prudent management for recreational use and preservation of national forest and national park land. There is a lot of priesting in the liturgy of earth going on in our Valley. And that gives us vision and courage and hope to do even more — and not just in the Valley, but in offshore oil drilling, and clean air regulations that affect atmosphere far beyond our borders, and in energy use that is clean and renewable and sustainable. There is much for us to do as priests in the liturgy of earth.

And that is what we’re all about on this Rogation Sunday. Today we celebrate the presence of God in the created world. Today we celebrate the promise of Resurrection that lifts up the entire world and makes the whole Creation new. Today we celebrate the calling of God that makes us priests in the sacrament of Creation. Today we pray in the words of our Collect that we may love God in all things — and we pray that in that love we may labor to be co-workers with God to care for the Earth and to foster in all things the flourishing of God’s New Creation. Amen.