Text: Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Introduction
The sermon on bread pudding I gave here about seven years
ago has clearly left an impression. Even if you don’t recall anything about the
content of the sermon, most of you appreciate the bread pudding.
Eight years ago, Elise and I spent a week or so in New
Orleans. About a month later, I preached a sermon at the Lutheran Church which
prominently featured the topic of mirepoix.
Some of you may have heard the term before and might know
what it means. The rest of you are going, “Now what is that?”
During our week in NOLA, we spent half of one of the days at
the New Orleans School of Cooking, where Chef Kevin Belton demonstrated several
recipes, including the bread pudding that many of you have enjoyed quite
regularly over the past several years. Going over to the side of main dishes,
he explained that the flavoring for Creole dishes comes from a combination of
three key ingredients: two parts onion, one part green bell peppers, and one
part celery.
At the end of the cooking demonstration, we were all given a
lunch based on what he had cooked up. We were also given copies of all the
recipes. In addition, at the market adjoining, there was a cookbook which he
had recently authored and I purchased a copy which I had signed.
The “Holy Trinity”
During the class Kevin explained the history and
significance of the three ingredients. The front part of his cookbook also
dedicates a number of paragraphs to the topic. (You didn’t realize when you
came to church this morning that you would be listening to an extended talk on
Creole cuisine this morning, did you!? If I could deliver this sermon in any
way I wanted, I would have chosen a demonstration kitchen so someone could cook
while you listen so you could get all the sensory stimulations.)
Here I quote some relevant portions from that section:
When you are looking for the main
flavor in New Orleans cooking, you won’t find it in a shaker, a container, a
bottle or a box. The flavor is actually from the moisture that comes from
cooking with onions, celery, and green bell pepper.
Classical French cooking relies on
the use of a mire poix which is two parts onion, one part celery, and
one part carrot. The problem was there were no carrots in south Louisiana 300
years ago. What we had here in New Orleans were plenty of bell peppers.
So the onions, celery, and bell
peppers became the New World mire poix ingredient combination that is the
foundation of most of New Orleans signature dishes… The industrious settlers
and cooks in Louisiana incorporated the bell pepper out of necessity and
created a unique flavor profile that is recognized as the only non-native
American indigenous cuisine in the United States—Creole cooking…
Being a predominantly Catholic
settlement, whether under French rule or Spanish, it is interesting to note
that the same religion, Catholicism, guided the city for so many years under
the concept of the Holy Trinity, the big three of the Catholics. The name stuck
for the big three of New Orleans cuisine. It would be sacrilege to not cook
with the traditional three: onions, celery, and bell pepper…
When you are going for true Creole
flavor, be sure to invite the trinity into the pot. Onions, celery, and bell
pepper, because you can’t cook New Orleans food without them.[1]
And there you now have the connection with Creole cuisine to
Trinity Sunday. (And if you’re looking for a great New Orleans cookbook, I
highly recommend Kevin Belton’s Big Flavors of New Orleans. The cooking
school is also a great experience.)
Metaphors and Limitations
But back to the topic of the Trinity. If you search the web
for “bad analogies for the Trinity”, you will find many examples, including
probably the most common ones you’ve heard, including water, an egg, the sun,
and more. And if I went ahead and used the onion, celery, and bell pepper as
analogies for God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, this analogy would also
quickly end up in that bucket of bad analogies. The reason for is that they all
fall into some kind of theological heresy that was condemned during the early
centuries of Christianity.
With the caveat that all metaphors and analogies have
limitations and shouldn’t be stretched too far, I offer the following.
God might be compared to mirepoix of Creole cooking. Mirepoix
is the crucial combination of ingredients that define Creole cuisine. In a
similar manner, there are crucial characteristics of God, that when any are
missing, God ceases to be God. In the gospel account of John, some of these
properties include life, light, and love. God is life; God is light; God is
love. But life is not God; light is not God; and love is not God. Nor can we
say that God the Father is Light, Jesus is Love, and the Holy Spirit is Life. Each
one is all of the properties.
Returning to cooking, we observe that onions alone do not
make Creole cuisine; nor does celery alone; and nor does bell pepper alone. All
three must exist simultaneously for Creole cuisine to be Creole cuisine. There
is a certain substance that defines Creole cuisine.
The traditional wording of the Nicene Creed includes the
following:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God,
Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten not made, being of one substance
[italics mine] with the Father…[2]
From this we can interpolate that in orthodox Christian
theology, God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are of one substance.
However, each Being of this singular substance we call God, has chosen to
manifest to humanity in different ways.
A single Creole mirepoix is the foundation for
jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee, bisque, and more. The mirepoix is
incorporated into various dishes to satisfy various needs. And perhaps we might
see how God’s characteristics manifest through God’s three different Beings in
a somewhat analogous manner to cooking to fulfill God’s needs and desires in
God’s relationship with humanity and with all of creation.
At this point some might object that my analogy and
illustration has reduced God to mere material substance. To that I might say
that I could have just started and ended with, “The Trinity is an
incomprehensible mystery. Three Beings. One God. The End.” But that would not
have been very helpful. I would also observe that the Bible itself is God
limiting God’s self and revelation to the limits of human language and
cultures. And finally, I would add that Jesus himself is God limiting God’s
self to the confines of human experience at a particular point in time and
space.
Lest someone find my use of food and cooking analogy of God
sacrilegious, I might point out that throughout the Bible, God uses imagery of
food to portray the sacred. Among them, Communion or the Eucharist should be
foremost in our Christian experience. We might not typically associate the
adjective delicious with God, but should Jesus’ description of himself
as the Bread of Life, or the communion bread as “this is my body” to remain purely
utilitarian? Could we associate delicious with these metaphors? Sure, we
eat to gain nutrients to allow us to survive, but wouldn’t we rather enjoy the
food? Psalm 34:8 includes a phrase, “Taste and see how good the LORD is!” (CEB)
Conclusion
When we imagine what the Holy Spirit is about, I think that
in many cases the Holy Spirit is reduced to quiet whispers that prod our
conscience. We often think of the Holy Spirit as a still, small voice that offers
us wisdom and points us in a direction.
But the doctrine of the Trinity tells us that the entire substance
of God is within us. All of God’s creative power, all of God’s redemptive
power, all of God’s care and concern for creation, all of God’s love for all of
God’s children.
The God of storms that we heard from Psalm 29 – that God is
within us through the Holy Spirit.
The God who sacrificed himself in the being of Jesus Christ
– that God is within us to enable us to follow Christ’s example.
The passage from Romans chapter 8 continues and includes the
following well-known texts:
31 If God is for us, who
is against us? 32 He didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us
all. Won’t he also freely give us all things with him? 33 Who will
bring a charge against God’s elect people? It is God who acquits them. 34
Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was
raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads
our case for us… 38 I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from
God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers,
not present things or future things, not powers 39 or height or
depth, or any other thing that is created.[3]
The doctrine of the Trinity tells us that the entirety of
God is not only for us, but within us, empowering us to be God’s hands, feet,
and voice in the world around us.
In the name of God who Creates,
In the name of God who Redeems,
And in the name of God who Empowers, Amen.
References
Belton, K. (2016). Kevin Belton's Big Flavors of
New Orleans. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith.
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