Dive Deeply

John 16:12-16

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

”A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”

Andrei Reblev is the “writer” of the icon on the front of your bulletin. It’s from the 15th century and it’s called The Hospitality of Abraham. It tells the story found in the Book of Genesis, of Abraham welcoming three men he saw traveling near his tent. It’s a great story, even if you only see what’s on the surface. But there’s SO much more below the surface! This story has also long been understood by Christians as a visit from one God, in three persons. Which is why this icon is also known as The Trinity.  

Some folks, when they encounter mysteries like the Trinity… mysteries with a bottomless, unknowable depth below the surface… they figure if they can’t ever know THE answer, why even ask the first question? But that was not God’s intent with this Divine Mystery. This Mystery was and is meant to be an invitation for us to dive in more deeply, not in a frustratingly futile attempt to find an unfindable bottom, but to experience more and more of the Divine, the deeper in we dive! This icon… like the Trinity itself, invites us to do just that. To dive in more and more deeply. So, let’s dive in!

The Gold figure on the left is the Father. The source of all things. Gold is the color of perfection and fullness. The blue figure in the middle is the Christ. Blue, because the sky and the sea connect with one another in that color just as the Christ connects heaven and earth, humanity and divinity… his two fingers extended further making that point. The green figure on the right is the Holy Spirit. Green because the Spirit is the One who allows all things to grow with Divine transforming light. On the table is one shared chalice and the way the figures sit, the way their eyes and hands are directed… everything in the icon is meant to flow around the table as the three eat and drink in a circle of infinite, mutual hospitality.

Now, notice how the Spirit’s hand is pointing to the open space at the table. Richard Rohr thinks (and I like his thinking) that this is the Holy Spirit pointing at that space as an invitation for you and me to take a seat at the table! The Holy Spirit is inviting, offering… has intentionally made room for... you and me to join the Holy Trinity in their Holy Communion… to be their guest! Now, dive just a little deeper. You might as well… you’re already in this far! Do you see the little rectangle in that open space, just beneath the chalice on the table? Art historians have found glue residue in that little rectangle and their theory is that when this icon was originally written, there was a piece of mirror glued to that place so that as you looked at the icon you would not just IMAGINE yourself in that space but actually SEE yourself in Communion with the Holy Trinity! 

You and I, and by extension… all of creation… are MEANT to see ourselves at this table… eternally caught up in the ever flowing relationship of hospitality, generosity and wonder, that is the Holy Trinity! Could it be that this icon… that the Holy Trinity… that God… might be better understood… might even be MORE FULLY understood, as an embodied, ever moving, ever flowing relationship of invitation and hospitality that makes room for and sweeps you and me and all of creation up into their relationship... their hospitality including you and me as intimately as friends are included around a table sharing a meal?

It begins at that table but it goes deeper still... with that sweeping flow around the table, you get the sense of that flow having a rhythm to it… a melody, even a harmony to it. It’s as if it flows around the table gaining momentum until it simply can no longer be contained at that table or even within the icon. Suddenly you become aware that this isn’t just a Divine meal we’ve been invited to but it is also a dance! Suddenly we are swept up beyond the table and into a Divine dance, plucked from the sidelines where we had been awkwardly sitting alone. First shown to our place at the table and then swept up and swirling around one another, all constantly flowing as a whole around the entirety of the space, flowing now beyond even the bounds of the icon into every place, in every time and through every molecule of creation… in, with and under all things! 

The Hospitality of Abraham, the Holy Trinity, the Table of Thanksgiving, the Divine Dance… God has made a space for each of us and for all of creation. It is a space created very much on purpose, with intentionally and without condition… a place for the person YOU see in the mirror every morning. A place to get caught up in the swirling flow of Divine love, relationship, and infinite hospitality. A place for us to then become even further swept up into the Divine Dance and to move beyond the confines of an icon… out into the world, bringing that invitation to new people in new places, around new tables and to new dances. The Mystery of the Trinity has been intentionally made, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as an unconditional invitation for all of creation to dive ever deeper into the Divine Mystery, diving, then feasting, then caught up in infinite hospitality and unconditional love, and then dancing more and more and more deeply into all of creation until the day come when all of creation has been fully swept up into the Holy Trinity for eternity and beyond. Amen.