Live by Grace

Trinity Sunday

Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

When I was a kid, I had a great aunt who worked for NASA and lived on the north end of Cocoa Beach, not on the beach but a block away. Their little block house had a flat roof, and we would often go to her house and climb up on her roof to watch the Apollo launches. The whole world shook.

She was my grandfather’s sister, on my dad’s side. Their parents, my great-grandparents, lived with her and her husband in their last years. I remember my great-grandfather in his recliner with a jar of some kind of peppers, offering to give me a quarter if I would eat one. (I knew better!)

After my great-grandparents died, things took a lousy turn. When my great aunt moved them in with her, she essentially took all of their stuff. They were not at all wealthy, it was just stuff, but she refused to even talk about it. That caused a permanent rift between her and her two sisters as well as my grandfather. I don’t think the three of them ever spoke to her again.

That sort of broken relationship happens in families and between friends for all kinds of reasons, probably far more than we realize and I suspect often for very understandable reasons and for very petty reasons at times. It is terrible all around, for the causes of the break as well as the break itself. Even if that break is necessary, it’s terribly sad.

Yet, all too often people just live with it. It becomes part of their lives, part of them, and they simply move on and live with it.

Ideally, we strive to prevent those breaks through communication and consideration. When they do threaten or begin, ideally, we work very quickly to patch them up so they don’t get worse and can heal. Where they have broken, where the chasm has formed, if it’s safe, ideally, we try to build bridges. The bridges are built with forgiveness. Forgiveness is a personal issue, a personal choice.

Then reconciliation may be possible. Where reconciliation is not safe or possible due to death or some other reason, ideally, we do our best to mend our side, to mend ourselves, to forgive in our hearts so that we don’t hold the grudge. Jesus said we must forgive. It heals the wounds in us so that we can live with him.  It wouldn’t be the kingdom, otherwise. It would be quite disappointing if we get there and find out it’s just like here. It’s also vital for our own health and the health of the people around us.

These are ideals because they rest in God, above and beyond our disputes and differences. They just are.

Relationships with God and with the Church get broken, too, for all manner of reasons, far too often because of the Church and its leaders. We fail. It’s terrible. Sometimes it’s due to the pain and loss we endure, or the heartbreaking suffering we see in the world.

How can an all-loving, all-good God allow such sorrows? But that question has things backward.

The shocking thing is that we have life and things aren’t terrible all of the time. Life is the precious exception to the vast majority of the universe, which is mostly a vacuum. Where it isn’t a vacuum it’s mostly the massive nuclear furnaces we call stars. Our sun is about 99.86% of the mass in our solar system. Planets are too hot or too cold and/or balls of gas that are totally inhospitable to life, except this one. One.

This is why Jesus came, why he gave us the clearest and most relatable vision, revelation of the nature and character of God; why he gave himself as an offering for all of our sin. We are forgiven

This is what Paul means when he says we are “justified by faith.” Our sincere faith is another way of saying we’ve made a decision to focus on Jesus as our vision of God. When we get off track we turn back to him again and again. That gives us “peace with God.” That is life-giving, not just in terms of settling your celestial account with God, although you have been redeemed that way, like a coupon.

It also has daily living blessings. Look at this huge issue of forgiveness. We are forgiven, yes. And when we follow Jesus, we do what he says and we emulate his example. He commands and leads us to forgive others. (What did he say on the cross? “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,” as they were killing him. That also brings “peace with God.”

That same pattern applies to every aspect of our being and every aspect of our lives, especially when we suffer. When we suffer, we follow Jesus. We do what he says. We emulate his example.  We pray. We trust ourselves to God no matter what. As we endure, our character becomes more like his character. Becoming more like him, we see him all the more clearly and trust the salvation he holds for us will not fail. All of that is rooted in God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

This sacrificial love that God pours out for his people to bless and heal us to the very core of our being despite how maddeningly difficult we are, is the nature of Our Father who art in heaven and the fundamental model for fathers and fatherhood (as well as mother, aunties, guardians, and friends, but this is Father’s Day!)

I’ll close with a word of encouragement to the fathers. There are days when you don’t feel like a very good dad. Or you may look back and recall such shortcomings. When you are struggling in that role, follow Jesus. Do what he says and emulate his example. The better you do that, the better you will approximate your Father in heaven. That is, after all, your primary job as a father.

AMEN