Our Life from Above (The Architectural History of Grahame Park), a sermon and reflection on Trinity Sunday

In brief, Trinity Sunday is about how our life is seen ‘from above’, from God’s point of view. Today, God lifts us up all. May be, we don’t see our life as satisfied. May be, we are not exactly where we should be, emotionally, health-wise, or in our relationships, or neighbourhood. However, today God lifts us up all, to his eyes. Then, the whole landscape of our life changes.

What happens when we see things from God’s perspective? It is a bit like the exhibition on the architectural history of Grahame Park was yesterday. The talk on the estate, the visual illustrations, seeing Grahame Park above made me proud. The place, which is engulfed in sad stories, in an ignored state, and negative social narratives ­­– turns out to be a remarkable design. Once upon a time an empty airfield, the last plane took off from here in 1958, Grahame Park was designed to serve the human community. Two churches, a community centre, a library, lots of playfields for children were built. A remarkable humaine vision. Today’s developers are unable to put human connectedness first. Instead of restoring its original vision and beauty, something lower quality will be built, in terms of humaineness, green-ness.

From God’s perspective, our experience is a true appreciation of our life. God does not demolishes our old life, does not throw us away. He restores us, gives us strength to amend our lives, to continue according to his vision of our ‘original happiness’.
Just like in our Gospel. The conversation with Nicodemus continues with Jesus’ own reflection on God’s saving work. Instead of ‘demolishing’ the world, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Son of man must be lifted up. For  ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but have eternal life.’ This is God’s perspective.

This is the perspective of Trinity Sunday. The ‘must’, the compulsion, lies in the wonder of God’s love and purpose. Just like the blueprint of Grahame Park design, by telling Nicodemus this in such lucid, simple language Jesus sums up the entire gospel in one lovely sentence. IT is so rich in content that if we had only these words and nothing of the rest of the Bible, by apprehending them, we could be truly saved. These words (and think of the genuine and generous amount of community space in the design of GP) flow like milk and honey, ‘words which are able to make the sad happy, the dead alive, if only the heart believes them firmly.’ (Luther)

‘What a revelation for this old Pharisee Nicodemus who all his life-long had relied on his own works! And this testimony of what is in the heart of God comes from him who came down from heaven, came down so that he still is in heaven, from the Son of man and son of God himself.’ The word, ‘thus’ loved God the world… this ‘thus’ means ‘in this way’, ‘to such an astounding degree’ did God love the world. No human mind would have thought it: God had to reveal it. The persons of the Holy Trinity, together reveal this ‘higher perspective’.

The word, which the Gospel uses, agapón, denotes the highest type and form of loving. It is different than our human love. It is a bit like the present day ‘unpleasant scenes’ of Grahame Park. ‘How could God like the sinful, foul, stinking world? How could he embrace and kiss it?...But he could and he did love it, comprehending all is sin and foulness, purposing to cleanse it and, thus cleansed to take it to his bosom.’

This is the mystery of the Trinity. That God is a community of Love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Perhaps, just as an analogy, when in the One God the Three Persons, there love is seen, is like suddenly understanding the ‘richness’ of Grahame Park’s original design. May this Trinity Sunday, and visiting the original design, how Grahame Park ‘is its first love’, help us to see our lives in God’s joy. Also, may it help us to make the necessary adjustments to return to his ‘original plan’ about us.
 
04.05.2023