…there was a woman who set out to discover the meaning of life. First, she read everything she could get her hands on–history, philosophy, psychology, religion. While she became a very smart person, nothing she read gave her the answer she was looking for. She found other smart people and asked them about the meaning of life, but while their discussions were long and lively, no two of them agreed on the same thing and still she had no answer.
Finally, she put all her belongings in storage and set off in search of the meaning of life. She went to South America. She went to India. Everywhere she went, people told her they did not know the meaning of life, but they had heard of a man who did, only they were not sure where he lived. She asked about him in every country on earth until finally, deep in the Himalayas, someone told her how to reach his house–a tiny little hut perched on the side of a mountain just below the tree line.
She climbed and climbed to reach his front door. When she finally got there, with knuckles so cold they hardly worked, she knocked.
“Yes?” said the kind-looking old man who opened it. She thought she would die of happiness.
“I have come halfway around the world to ask you one question,” she said, gasping for breath. “What is the meaning of life?”
“Please come in and have some tea,” the old man said.
“No,” she said. “I mean, no thank you. I didn’t come all this way for tea. I came for an answer. Won’t you tell me, please, what is the meaning of life?”
“We shall have tea,” the old man said, so she gave up and came inside. While he was brewing the tea she caught her breath and began telling him about all the books she had read, all the people she had met, all the places she had been. The old man listened (which was just as well, since his visitor did not leave any room for him to reply), and as she talked he placed a fragile tea cup in her hand. Then he began to pour the tea.
She was so busy talking that she did not notice when the teacup was full, so the old man just kept pouring until the tea ran over the sides of the cup and spilled to the floor in a steaming waterfall.
“What are you doing?!” she yelled when the tea burned her hand. “It’s full, can’t you see that? Stop! There’s no more room!”
“Just so,” the old man said to her. “You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty and then we will talk.”*
Sometimes, we come to church thinking we have read everything, done everything, and experience ever thing: there is nothing new to learn. However, there is always something more we can learn
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. On the Christian Calendar, Trinity Sunday celebrates the unity of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Often, we Christians tend to focus on one member of the Trinity. However, all are one, and all are God. This day reminds us to be faithful to God who is revealed in scripture.
Our Gospel lesson recalls Jesus speaking about the “Spirit of Truth” and the “Father.” What wisdom could these disciples come to understand if God is One, (told in the Shema from the Old Testament: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one) then how can God also be three in one? How can we articulate that God is One, but Triune?
I hope you will join me on this Trinity Sunday with an open mind as we journey together to come to grips with the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I hope you will come with an open mind as we seek to understand this mystery of God together.
I promise, it will be fun.
*This story came from Barbara Brown Taylor’s Sermon, “Staying for Tea, Nicodemus.” Christian Century February, 21 1996.
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