Year B, Holy Trinity, Monday

Inspired by Revelation 4:1-8

“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside.  Day and night without ceasing they sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’”  Revelation 4:8

Who is this God we worship?  Whenever mortals have tried to describe their visions of him, their attempts are somewhat nonsensical or incoherent, describing creatures with multiple wings and covered with eyes, even (somehow) on their insides, standing in attendance of this mighty, majestic, holy BEING that is God.  Yet even those descriptions do not adequately convey what any of these visionaries have seen.

These few who have tried to describe standing in the presence of God have all had one thing in common: they were all human.  They were all limited by human experience; their senses had only sensed what exists in creation.  But God is not part of creation; God is the creator of creation.  Everything these morals have ever seen, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled had come from the imagination of the one they were trying to describe, but their senses had never perceived anything that came close to the one who had willed their very lives into existence.

The God we worship is beyond our comprehension, but he is not beyond our reach.  In fact, in order to bridge the gap between him and us, he became human himself, and lived as one of us in this world he’d created.  While he was here he told us about himself, and then he gave his very life for us, conquered death for us, and sent his Spirit to dwell with and in us for all the days of our lives.  That Spirit is with us now, reminding us of a truth and a love that exist beyond our senses, and encouraging us to share that truth and that love with everyone we encounter.

The God we worship is the God who was, who is, and who is to come.  The God we worship defies definition and description.  The God we worship is, simply, God.

Let us pray.  God Almighty, you willed us into existence.  Grant us the wisdom to accept that which we cannot understand, that we may experience your transcendent love.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.