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"NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL"
EPISTLE SCRIPTURE TEXT: COLOSSIANS 2:6-12
DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 3, 2007
A MEDITATION FOR TRINITY SUNDAY

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

MESSAGE: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." I begin today's message to you with something of a personal testimony. As many of you already know, I've not always been a Christian minister. My original vocation was electrical engineering, a field in which I hold both bachelor's and master's degrees. One of my strongest aptitudes is in the discipline of mathematics. As an engineer and mathematician, my approach to the world around me is often analytic, scientific, and logical. My mind is a competent tool with which to examine that which confronts me. I am not easily swayed by wild emotion, empty rhetoric, or crackpot ideas. My head is firmly anchored upon my shoulders. That is part of the reality of who I am and the way I approach life.

On the other hand, what I've said thus far is not the sum total of Dave Ring's apprehension of the world. Shortly after I became a Christian, I began to discover that there were aspects of human existence that did not yield to the disciplines of logic, science, and reason. My intellect, astute though it might be, could no longer be the sole lens through which I viewed life. A reality far greater than myself, indeed greater than any human self, lay beyond the extent of my - or any - man's ability to grasp. A God who loves, a God who cares, a Savior who died upon a Cross for my redemption. I can't explain such a reality - it doesn't fit. In contemporary language, it won't compute.

Notwithstanding, I have both seen and felt - I have personally experienced God at work in the world around me - and even in me. My engineer's mind reels at the prospect of such an illogical concept as a "miracle." Yet I have actually observed a man be physically healed of a forearm tumor the size of a golf ball, in less than a minute, through the power of prayer. I knew the man personally; I was well-aware of his frustration over several years of carrying around this ugly growth. I was two feet away as I watched that growth shrink into nothingness while faithful men and women prayed for its disappearance.

How, you might ask? I don't know. Why that man and not others? I can't even guess. But it happened - I watched it occur. And over nearly three decades of ministry I have witnessed dozens of additional miracles just as great, though perhaps not as controversial as that one. I've seen a thousand affirmations of the mysterious power of "love," although love is immeasurable by any analytical tool known to humanity. I've also seen and felt the dark power of hate, although it, too, lies beyond the realm of rational analysis.

Today is Trinity Sunday in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is also known, liturgically, as "Pentecost II." It's a Sunday when we ponder the supernatural union of three distinct manifestations of God - in one mysterious, supreme Godhead. As Christians, we believe in one and only one God. But we simultaneously maintain that our God is not one-dimensional. Somehow, three distinct personalities - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- combine in a wonderful way to produce a unity that simply "boggles" our human minds.

Contemporary mainline Christianity has, for the most part, chosen the path of rationality. We say we have "faith" - but if we can't touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or see it, then we automatically question whether or not it's real. God the Father is relatively easy for us - we look around at the creation and deduce, logically, that there must have been a Creator of all the tangibility which surrounds us. Jesus is a little tougher since - like Thomas - we are uncomfortable with the fact that we can't physically touch Him today. But most of us are willing to rely on the testimony of others, humans like ourselves, who did touch this God-in-the-flesh while He walked the earth.

It is when we encounter the Holy Spirit that mainline Christians begin to have major difficulty. For the Holy Spirit doesn't follow our human "rules." When the Holy Spirit was first poured out upon men and women at Pentecost, they sang, they danced, they laughed, they prophesied, they spoke in strange languages. To those observing from an external viewpoint, employing only rational principles upon which to base their assessments, there was apparent chaos. Those affected must be drunk, weird, out of their minds.

But this same strange, unexplainable, supernatural power of God transformed those affected into new creatures - bold, unafraid, unencumbered by the standards and strictures of worldly analysis. Speaking out for their Lord, they laughed in the face of death - for they could see beyond it. Though ridiculously tiny in numbers, they tackled an empire - and in only three centuries won it to their Lord by the mysterious, miraculous power of love. The Pentecost experience was wild, unexplainable, supernatural - and its results were undeniable.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Mainline Christianity today is in decline; indeed is now increasingly referred to as "sideline" Christianity. Why? Because we have become captive to a "hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world." We accept only that which is "natural" to our thinking; we leave out, ignore, and/or reject the "supernatural." And that Pentecostal power - that Holy Spirit excitement - which fueled the early Church is gone from among us.

Just as I, Dave Ring, had to discover that my engineer's apprehension of reality was incomplete, I believe that mainline Christians today need to discover that we are likewise missing something - something important - from our viewpoint on Christianity. Please understand me carefully - I am not suggesting that we become "charismatics." I've flirted with the charismatic movement over enough years to realize that they, like us, have only half of the truth. Their lack is the mirror image of ours. Charismatics are wildly excited - over worthless beliefs and silly doctrines. Mainline Christians possess correct doctrines and solid beliefs - but we're putting everyone to sleep.

The solution is "both/and." We need to keep what we've got - good, solid, logical rationality - but also allow for the possibility that our God can transcend those boundaries. Just as our Trinitarian God is not one-dimensional, so our faith in Him needs to be more than flat, simplistic human philosophy. For a Christian who accepts and believes only that which is logical, coherent, and consistent according to human standards is experiencing only a shadowing of the glorious reality which God freely offers to His children. A Christian may be "saved" by the grace of God, but still live a life of near bondage, far short of the abundant life which the Christ promises, even on this earth, to those who fully believe in Him.

Yes, God has created the natural realm. It is a universe of laws, rules, consistency, and logic. But God also moves beyond His creation, enveloping it in a far greater reality. Our God is a supernatural being - capable of breaking into and transforming mortal life into eternal life, sinners into saints, a fallen world into the Kingdom of God. His Holy Spirit is alive, untamed, and "on the loose" in this world. That Spirit may choose to act in concert with ordinary human processes and standards. But, according to the will of God, the Holy Spirit may also move beyond those things. A Christian who opens himself or herself to all that God offers, both natural and supernatural, can know the fullness of reality without limit, of life both abundant and eternal - in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Embrace the Trinity, people of God. You'll be the better for it, and you'll do much more for the Kingdom with all that God has to offer you. Amen.

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