June 4: Trinity Sunday: Psalm 8

 This is the First Sunday in the Season of Pentecost, the long church season which lasts until Advent. This year Advent begins November 26, so we have six months of the Season of Pentecost. Often called “Ordinary Time,” the Season of Pentecost gives us time to catch our breath after the big church seasons of Christmas, Lent, and Easter. It is a time to let our roots sink deeper into our faith and listen for the whisper of God in our lives. During all the “High Holy Days,” we can get caught up in the drama and miss seeing God in the everyday, normal activities. It can be easy to expect God to show up with angels and earth-shattering announcements. And we may be disappointed if God doesn’t do so. We may forget God is just as much present in the daily routine.

To start off the Season of Pentecost, we return to the very beginning of the Bible and hear the Creation Story. God sings every part of creation into being when the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Light and Dark, waters and vegetation, land creatures and fishes are all formed and pronounced Good. Finally, God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. At the end of the sixth day of creation, God saw everything that [God] had made, and indeed, it was very good.

Hildegard of Bingen, one of my favorite mystics, said, “Through this world God encircles and strengthens humankind. Through and through, great power is ours, such that all creation, in all things stands by us.” We are one with creation and all creation is one with and in us. Amazing!

The First Sunday of Pentecost is also Trinity Sunday. The Gospel and Epistle mention the three Persons of the Trinity. In the Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20), Jesus reiterates humanity’s charge for creation saying, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians (2 Corinthians 13:11-13) notes that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit that we carry out our calling to be stewards of all creation—from the least atom to the most giant whale and furthest star.

The mandate to ‘make disciples’ and the stewardship of all creation are both ways humanity is a co-creator with God. Hildegard defines the Trinity beautifully. “Who is the Trinity? You are music. You are life. Source of everything, creator of everything, angelic hosts sing your praise. Wonderfully radiant, deep, mysterious. You are alive in everything, and yet you are unknown to us.” God, alive in everything, invites us to work with God to return to the goodness of the original creation.

Psalm 8 notes that although humanity is little lower than the angels; you adorn him with glory and honor; You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet. We have God-given stewardship from the earliest creation, yet it is God whose name is wonderful everywhere on earth! As new scientific discoveries take us further into deep space, like this image from the James Webb Telescope of galaxies unfathomable light years away; and into inner space of atoms, we find ourselves amazed and humbled by the diversity of God’s creation. Our lives are interlinked with all of it, which is totally amazing and ought to leave us speechless in awe. God intersects our lives on the most minute levels and on the grandest levels.

How can we respond to this revelation as we enter the long season of Pentecost? Where is God in your life at this moment?

How can we be more aware of God who, as Hildegard says, is “source and creator of everything,” and who “encircles and strengthens humankind”?  

Psalm 8 1 O Lord our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world! 2 Out of the mouths of infants and children your majesty is praised above the heavens. 3 You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger. 4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, 5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? The son of man that you should seek him out? 6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; you adorn him with glory and honor; 7 You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet: 8 All sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field, 9 The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea. 10 O Lord our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world! (Book of Common Prayer)

Our Lord and Ruler, your name is wonderful everywhere on earth! You let your glory be seen in the heavens above. With praises from children and from tiny infants, you have built a fortress. It makes your enemies silent, and all who turn against you are left speechless. I often think of the heavens your hands have made, and of the moon and stars you put in place. Then I ask, “Why do you care about us humans? Why are you concerned for us weaklings?” You made us a little lower than you yourself, and you have crowned us with glory and honor. You let us rule everything your hands have made. And you put all of it under our power— The sheep and the cattle, and every wild animal, The birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and all ocean creatures. Our Lord and Ruler, your name is wonderful everywhere on earth! (Contemporary English Version)