Psalm 8 and Matthew 28:16-20
Watch Your Head
When our girls were little
One of my favorite Dad Jokes was whenever we’d pass under a sign that said, “Watch your head” –
I’d say:
“Watch my head? How do I do that?”
And then I’d roll my eyes around and twist my neck.
And I think we can all agree, it was hilarious.
But now I understand – watching your own head isn’t just funny.
Watch Your Head is the law.
God’s law.
Because God the Father made us a little lower than the angels.
Jesus the Son sends us to make disciples of all nations.
The Holy Spirit has given us great power.
But with this great power comes great responsibility.
We don’t want our heads to get so big we can’t fit through the Pearly Gates.
It’s hard to do it, but as God’s witnesses to the cosmos, as God’s missionaries to the world,
We’ve gotta watch our heads.
—
On the church’s calendar of special “holy” days, today ought to be Trinity Presbyterian Church’s #1 favorite.
Because today is — Drum roll, please – TRINITY Sunday!
[organ ta-da!]
Cue the dancing choir members!
We’re Trinity Presbyterian Church USA, and the whole world agrees – today is OUR day!
Trinity Sunday!
It’s Trinity Sunday at Trinity Church – and everywhere!
woo and hoo and woo-hoo-hoo!!
Trinity Sunday.
We’re kind of a big thing.
—
Okay, okay.
It’s hard to be humble when you’re God’s chosen in every way.
The church around the world didn’t really invent Trinity Sunday in our honor.
We’re just not that famous.
Yet.
We have this thing called The Trinity, we have Trinity Sunday because – God loves a good mystery.
God, in fact, IS a good mystery.
And we call that mystery THE Holy Trinity.
God is ONE.
And God is THREE.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And, just, God.
How can that be? Really.
The more you try to explain it, the dumber you sound.
These are some big ideas.
Puzzling. Mysterious. Humbling.
It’s a lot to wrap one’s head around.
So, when you’re talking Trinity: Watch your head.
—
A few weeks ago, I was back in Tennessee, and I had a really good late-night idea I wanted to post to our church’s Facebook page.
I typed in Trinity Presbyterian Church, and shared whatever inspiration was flitting through my brain like a drunken butterfly.
I clicked send.
And, as one does, I refreshed the page to see my sacred content and be proud of my work.
“Well, that’s odd,” says I.
I see my post, but that picture doesn’t look like our sanctuary.
There’s no pipe organ.
And the pews are missing.
And what’s with the drum set and the guitars?
I go away for ONE week.
What has Jean done?
And then it hit me:
I had posted to the Wrong Trinity Presbyterian Church.
This Trinity Presbyterian was in, like, Nebraska, or someplace.
And if anyone there saw their Facebook page, they were wondering, “What’s a Nooklet?”
Turns out we’re NOT the only Trinity Presbyterian Church in the USA.
There are dozens of us.
So, I know, I was disappointed, too.
Trinity is always more.
God is always more.
—
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
I imagine an artist, a poet, a songwriter
Lying back in the tall grass of a Judean countryside,
Staring up at the night sky,
The same sky we stare up at.
I think of them trying to take it all in.
Moved to tears,
Trying to find his place, or her place
In this infinite cosmos.
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them?”
If you listen to any of the astronauts – Neil Armstrong, William Shatner, Katy Perry –
They all talk (OK, maybe not Katy), but 99% of the astronauts talk about a profound sense of humility – humility, wonder, awakening –
Being up there changes them.
They return to earth and nothing’s the same.
The Psalmist didn’t even have to leave the earth.
Looking up at the stars, they said,
...What are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.
God the Creator, endows us with a mysterious, holy spirit, inspiring us to care for the world, and to care for each other, like Jesus did.
Father, Son, Spirit.
That’s Trinity.
And it ought to boggle the mind.
Whatever we think we know about God, about creation, about each other – about ourselves – there’s always more.
—
Bob Ross, the painter guy on PBS with the white boy afro. Bob taught so many people the Joy of Painting.
He used to talk about “happy little accidents.”
I think we find a lot, if not most of our happiness, by accident.
I know I found Trinity Presbyterian Church almost by accident.
And then I discovered another one, in Nebraska, by accident.
We are not alone.
We are stardust.
And by some happy little accident on God’s grand canvas, our minds are mindful enough to get it.
We can watch what’s happening –
Out there –
And what’s happening in here, inside our own heads.
That’s so special. So Holy.
It fills us with wonder, fills us with awe, and drives home what a great responsibility we have.
It’s a privilege to have been made little lower than the angels.
Some Bibles say, “little lower than God.”
Like if we jumped up, we’d bump our head on the angels' feet.
Wrap your mind around that.
There’s always more to inspire us, always more to humble us.
Not even the Bible has a word for it.
So, a few hundred years after the Bible, men in beards came up with the idea, the word: “Trinity.”
Trinity is shorthand for the mystery of it all.
God loves a mystery.
And God watches our heads.
And pats them, with a parent’s love.
—
In Matthew 28, Jesus takes his apostles up on a mountaintop.
I’m from West Virginia, by way of Tennessee, so I know mountains.
When the Bible says Jesus takes the apostles up a mountain, I picture them standing somewhere up high in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Dolly Parton and an angel choir echoing across the land.
Because Dolly really IS just a little lower than God.
Jesus hikes the disciples to a mountaintop.
A highest point.
But instead of pointing them up to the stars, what does he do?
He points them down to earth.
And he tells them, this is yours.
Like Mufasa telling Simba, “Everything the light touches will be yours.”
Jesus points at it all and tells them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
This is YOUR sacred responsibility now.
The Psalmist points us up to see where we come from.
Jesus points us down to show us where we’re going.
Up. Down. Us.
Another Trinity.
It makes us sound like we’re something really special.
And we are.
Just… watch your head.
—
Psalm 8 asks the rhetorical question:
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them?
“you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”
We could easily get big heads over that one.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Jesus shows the disciples the world and tells them,
Go therefore, making disciples, baptizing people,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
We’re special because of the job God gives us to do.
Belief, action, and us – we’re fused together.
We believe. We do. We are.
Kind of like a Trinity.
And each of those three parts are equally important.
If we try to live without belief, or try to believe without good works, or just go around building monuments to our own greatness, that’s not Trinity.
That’s idolatry.
That’s why Jesus’s final word is a promise, AND a warning.
He says, And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
He blesses our little heads.
And also warns us to watch them.
And commands us to watch out for other people’s heads.
Another Trinity.
The Trifecta of Faith, Works, and Love.
Love God, Love neighbor. Love ourselves.
We don’t know how it all works.
But you don’t have to know how something works – how the stars shine, why the birds sing, why the ocean breeze smells like heaven.
We may not understand it, but we are a part of it – witnessing it, sharing it, living it.
So, go, look in a mirror for a few minutes.
And watch your head.
Smile at it.
Marvel at the mystery that is you, the mystery that is God, and the mystery that is God IN you.
And the mystery that is God in those other peoples’ heads.
Watch over them.
And remember that’s how it is – until the end of the age.
[eos]
