January 18, 2009
Grace Church
Rev. Robert E. Hensley

      The Trinity should be a model for all of our relationships with one another.  Just as the three Persons of the Trinity are equal, no one subservient to the other, so are all of us equal in the sight of God.  There is absolutely no room within the Trinity for inequality, subordination or domination. No room for putting another person down because of wealth, station in life, race, gender or sexual orientation.  Ultimately it does not matter that we are Christians believing in the God of Abraham.   This is the same God that our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters worship.   And as God accepts all of us, so are we to accept one another.

      Perhaps this vision of inclusion is only a dream, but I believe that all of us share that dream.  I want to take that vision a little farther this morning, and conclude with some words of Martin Luther King, Jr., when he accepted the Nobel Prize on December 10, 1964.  Dr. King said: 
 

“I refuse to accept the view that humankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. 
 

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation. 
 

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the Final word in reality.  This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. 
 

I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. 
 

I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrated on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among our children. 
 

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. 
 

I believe that what self-centered people have torn down, people other-centered can build up. 
 

I still believe that one day humankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed and nonviolent redemptive goodwill proclaimed the rule of the land.  And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every person shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid. 
 

I still believe that we shall overcome.”

      We still have the dream.  The loving mutuality of the community that is the Church ideally has as its source the unconditional loving mutuality of the Holy Trinity, ultimate architect, eternal composer. 

      In the words of St. Paul:   “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”.  Amen.