Rebecca preaches Trinity
Lathbior, the Republic of South Sudan
Jesus said to the disciples, "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." (John 16:12-15)
The Village of Lathbior sits on the banks of the White Nile, in the Republic of South Sudan. The villagers there are primarily Christian. They are part of the Episcopal Diocese of Renk. The village of Lathbior is close-knit in spite of its diversity. Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and Jewish folks live there - working, worshipping, and playing peacefully, side-by-side. The Village is part of one of the world’s newest nations, the Republic of South Sudan. They are struggling to organize and to resource the multitude of tribes that call this area home.
The land surrounding Lathbior is primarily dark dust and red clay, desolate, dead, and dry. But the village chief dreams of building an irrigation system from the White Nile so his people can grow crops, develop the land, and feed neighbors in need.
The only road to Lathbior is two miles east of the village. But the villagers have a vision to one day connect Lathbior to the main road, hoping passing strangers will stop by, have a drink of fresh water, and stay a while.
There is one school in Lathbior. The Episcopal Church of Sudan built it. There are 120 students enrolled there and one teacher. But that teacher dreams of recruiting and inspiring others to come and teach with her. The teacher’s name is Rebecca.
The day we met, she was addressing an overcrowded classroom of Lathbior’s young people. Rebecca was proclaiming in a loud, confident voice, “The spirit of God is upon me. In spite of my suffering, my faith has called me to be here, living in Lathbior today. Jesus teaches me to love and serve the people. The spirit pushes me to tell others about the love of God and how it saves lives; about how it saved my life.”
What do you know about God? How do you read, work and live into the teachings of Jesus Christ? When do you rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to move you forward during the most difficult and trying circumstances of life? The answers you and I and Rebecca and the Church come up with is what we celebrate today; a celebration of a doctrine - a doctrine of the Trinity - Trinity Sunday.
Father – Son – Holy Spirit
Creator – Redeemer – Giver of Life.
I’ve heard many Christians say the Doctrine of the Trinity is difficult to understand. As a priest, people often share with me, saying, “I just don’t buy it.” Some say they don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God, but they are followers of Christ, “he was a great teacher.” Others ask, “How can God know everything? How can God be there, creating the universe, then truly experience dying and death, without any knowledge of the resurrection? How can you hide things from yourself?”
Maybe Jesus was fully human. Maybe Christ was fully divine. Which came first? “The breath of God?” “The spirit of Christ?” “The Ghost of Wisdom?“ These are challenging questions of faith, wrapped within a cloud of mystery.
I began to get a slightly bigger window into the truth of the Trinity when I met Rebecca, as she was teaching the youth of Lathbior. I was producing a documentary on the Episcopal Diocese of Renk when Rebecca sat down and shared her faith journey with me.
Rebecca said, “I have walked barefoot on the sands of Sudan and seen from the ground all of what God has created. I have been welcomed as stranger in Christ and given a drink of water, just beyond a river clearing in the middle of a burned-down village. I have felt the power of the Spirit, sustaining my faith, when everyone around me was getting shot and killed. You can’t walk through any of this by yourself. During challenging times, God tries to make himself known. Sometimes we see God. Other times, we miss God altogether.”
Within a few sentences, Rebecca had proclaimed her own personal creed, how God had been revealed to her within the context and circumstances of her life.
Father – Son – Holy Spirit
Creator – Redeemer – Giver of Life.
The Church affirms the Doctrine of the Trinity when we, as a worshiping community, recite The Nicene Creed. What takes us less than a minute to say took nearly 300 years for the Church to figure out! During those 300 years, people argued and disagreed about the relationship of Jesus to God, the relationship of the Holy Spirit to Jesus, and the relationship of God to the Holy Spirit. Some were labeled “heretics. Others, “worshippers of Satan.” Meetings were called. Committees were formed. Special-interest groups met behind closed doors. People were killed for sharing different opinions. Others were just banished and sent away to some far-off island where they starved to death.
HOW is God?
WHO is Jesus?
WHAT is the Holy Spirit?
WHO am I in the midst of all this?
Can any of this ever possibly make sense?
Since 1955, the SPLA, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, protecting both Christians and Muslims living in Southern Sudan, had been fighting the people of the North, primarily the Sudanese government in Khartoum. During the 50 years of Civil War, power for the Northern government came by destroying the South. Villages were burned, bombed, destroyed. People were massacred. Tribes – decimated. Husbands and wives – split apart. Villages put under fire, set ablaze. Eyes burning from the smoke of war. Parents and children losing sight of each other, separated.
Rebecca’s village was attacked with gunfire and blaze tactics in the middle of the night. When the dust settled, all she could feel was the burning of the ground on the soles of her feet. She was walking alone, drifting, searching, with nowhere to go with hundreds of thousands of others walking through the dust and destruction, wondering what was next. She had lost her 5 children, snatched from her arms, recruited into death for death. The Lost Boys of Sudan, separated from their families and tribes, hid in the trenches, threatened by wild animals, scared of people with guns. Everyone walked aimlessly under the sheltering sky.
In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed and Rebecca found herself settling in the village of Lathbior. But who else would settle there? How could they forget the hurt? Would she ever be able to extinguish the pain? Nothing was like it used to be. Context was lost, then shifting. Who and what was to be trusted?
Emperor Constantine wanted a unified Roman Empire. In 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine proclaimed the Edict of Milan, granting religious freedom to all. After nearly 300 years of dying for their faith, Christians suddenly found themselves the religion of the state. As Christians moved into mainstream society, the Empire became a safe place for theological debate. Now that Christians could talk about Jesus in the public square, Bishops began to disagree over the very nature of Christ. As divergent teachings emerged, Constantine became frustrated. He wanted to use Christianity to unify the vast Roman Empire, not divide it.
In 325, he called together the Council of Nicea to settle these disagreements once and for all. But the debate would not end with the Nicene Council’s final statements. Disagreements continued. Councils met. Disagreements continued. The debates never ended. Power continually shifted and divided.
In 681 A.D., with the Third Council of Constantinople, the Trinitarian formula we declare today was finalized, at least in the eyes of the church. For many of the faithful I meet daily, the mystery of it all still exists.
In his Letter to the Romans, Paul shares this, “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
In October 2005, the President of Sudan, Oamar al-Bashir, negotiated an end to the Second Sudanese Civil War one of the longest-running and deadliest wars of the 20th century by granting limited autonomy to Southern Sudan dominated by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. As the refugees of Sudan began to rebuild their lives, the Episcopal Church of Sudan heard a call from God.
In the midst of villages being reborn, the Episcopal Church of Sudan built community centers to save a suffering people. The Church was central to this village compound. Clinics were built next to the churches. Kitchens were constructed to feed the people. Schools were attached. Teachers were needed. Rebecca heard the call. She lost five children, but gained 100 more. Lathbior started to feel like a community. Lathbior began to feel like home.
At a crude schoolhouse near the White Nile, Rebecca reflects on her life and what it means to remain in relationship with God and with God’s people. She says, “Faith has done a good thing to me, and I have found new life through my faith. I lost my five children during the war. The person of Jesus Christ kept me focused and prevented me from acting poorly because of my loss. I have suffered. God was with me in my grief. And I am in the church because God’s Holy Spirit is upon me. God’s Holy Spirit is upon me. I now bring all of my village’s children to church so that they can love their own people and their own people can love them. Together with them, they learn, I learn, we learn how to do the work of God. The work of God is knowledge of truth, respect for all people, building up community, and taking care of each other. When I love God’s people, I must tell them about the truth and teachings of Jesus Christ. When I share the world of God, I hope the Holy Spirit will rest with them and we can change the world together.”
How God reveals God’s self to us is primarily through a longing, an invitation, a gentle tug on the heartstrings, a kick in the pants during moments of cynicism and doubt. “I created you. I came to redeem you by showing you how to live. I am with you always until the end of the age. I am the alpha and the omega. I am the beginning and I am the end. May you find peace in my creation. May you discover redemption in my way of life. May you respond and reach out to each other through the power of the spirit.”
View the 2011 documentary Voices of Faith to learn more about the people of the Diocese of Renk, the Episcopal Church of Sudan.