Trinity Sunday
By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Year C Trinity Sunday - 3 June 2007
Text: John 16: 12-15. Also: Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5: 1-5
Do you notice that none of our scripture readings this morning outlines the doctrine of the Trinity, whether that trio be defined as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, & Sustainer; or my favorite monikers from the '60s—Big Daddy, JC, & Spook? Those of us who have been immersed in hymns such as "Holy, Holy, Holy" & Apostles' & Nicene Creeds since childhood tend to forget that the Trinity as doctrine is not biblical but indeed developed over several centuries of controversy in the Church. No, church controversy is not a new phenomenon.
A church father named St. Athanasius gave us an incredible creed, & we have it reproduced in small print in the historical documents in our prayer book (see p. 864). How would you like to affirm aloud each Sunday: "The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, & the Holy Ghost incomprehensible;" & "And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together & co-equal"? Trinity Sunday is the only holy day all year when we celebrate a concept, an idea.
Each year, I struggle to help us understand the Trinity as it relates to our daily lives. And the word "relate" is helpful here. Our God is such a relational God that God has provided relationship within the very Godhead, creating community in the three faces God provides for us humans. No wonder God created us to be in community; God is actually communal in God's basic nature!
As our Catechism tells us (BCP 845), God first helped us when we rebelled & put ourselves in the place of God, by self-revelation through nature & history, through many seers & saints, & especially through the prophets of Israel . God called the Hebrew people to return through 40 years in the wilderness as well as through numerous prophets & sages. Finally, God sent a son, Jesus, fully God & yet fully human, an earthling, to live among us, to offer freedom & peace. Jesus lived on earth about 3 decades, only 3 years in active ministry because the principalities & powers of his world could not tolerate his radical honesty & overwhelming love. In our Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples that he would like to teach them more but they could not bear it; & they were Jesus' closest followers. Those in charge in his lifetime were so threatened by his radical gift of inclusive love that they had to destroy him.
A little crucifixion & then harassment of the small band of followers ought to take care of this annoying prophet & his movement, they thought. However, God had a Plan C, & apparently began to hatch it even while Jesus, Mr. Plan B, was trying to convey to his disciples all his last-minute instructions. Jesus explained that it was necessary for him to leave them in order for the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to come to empower them to go into all the world to preach & teach & baptize. Our passage from Proverbs today provides a foretaste of such a supernatural community as Lady Wisdom tells us that God created her, a delightful child, one translation puts it, as the first act at the beginning of God's work. God had multiple faces even in the act of creation as John the Evangelist tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word. . . ."
The Holy Trinity is our very model for community. We celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost last week, & God comes among us as Spirit to make it possible for us to have unity despite our diversity, to be sign & symbol of God's love for various & sundry people, not only those who enter our doors for worship or Bible study or a book study or even to eat BBQ at a fundraiser. In fact, the Spirit relishes our diversity, I believe, guiding us to appreciate each other's history & gifts all the more.
When Eucharistic Visitors extend our communion to those at home who cannot worship here in person, when Jackie sends pew bulletins & sermons to the homebound, when I provide prayer books for Episcopalians in prison, when teachers in the Day School or in Godly Play invite our young folks to wonder, when the Daughters of the King & the Brotherhood of St. Andrew faithfully pray for those on our prayer list, all are evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our midst.
As I admonish couples with whom I am preparing for marriage to recognize God's Spirit as the third person in their marriage trinity, I am inviting them to make God's blessing of their marriage real in the dailiness of their marriage. You as a congregation who witness their vows promise to do all in your power to support the holiness of their marriage. The 24 years of my marriage to Bill was undergirded not only by the Epiphany congregation who witnessed our wedding but each church community we've been a part of ever since. Members of each of those parishes were present here last September for his funeral. Not only those of us who were present last Sunday, but all who are parishioners here vow to help those who are baptized at that font out there, symbolically placed in the very middle of our nave.
In fact, as you & I leave worship in this place, God's Holy Spirit binds us together & empowers us to share Christ's love with others whom we meet. I'm a little more obvious when I make my way around town because I wear this backward collar most days. The day after I returned from Nashville, I presided at a memorial service for one of our friends who lived at the Hampton with us.
When I took the service sheet into Kinko's to make copies prior to the service, the young man helping me with copies engaged me in a theological discussion. He wondered if God would still bless him if he wanted to do right but found himself messing up anyway. I suggested that was dangerously close to asking permission to sin, recognizing that God is slow to anger & abundant in mercy. Instead, I offered, he might try offering the prayer which never fails, that he know & do God's will in his life. If our energies & intentions are to grow into the person God created us to be in the first place, we're much less likely to find ourselves on a slippery slope. Even with such good intentions, I told him, we are seldom able to sustain a private relationship with God—just the 2 of us walking in the garden alone. God created us to worship & break open the scriptures with a community with whom we are accountable.
As I finished my copying & paid him, he thanked me profusely, convinced I was there to bless him. But he blessed me! He gave me the chance to witness to him, to invite him to our worship, secure in being backed up by you, the Hope parishioners. You were there with me, & I encourage you to carry us with you as you share God's love with others in your daily lives. We need a small group which prays for us each day. Who have you asked to pray for you? Who have you invited to church this week?
When we walk with each other, even when we are physically apart, we are modeling God's Trinitarian Personhood & offering that unity in diversity to those whom you encounter. May we, too, learn to be one in three persons, blessed trinities.
Year C Trinity Sunday - 3 June 2007
Text: John 16: 12-15. Also: Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5: 1-5
Do you notice that none of our scripture readings this morning outlines the doctrine of the Trinity, whether that trio be defined as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, & Sustainer; or my favorite monikers from the '60s—Big Daddy, JC, & Spook? Those of us who have been immersed in hymns such as "Holy, Holy, Holy" & Apostles' & Nicene Creeds since childhood tend to forget that the Trinity as doctrine is not biblical but indeed developed over several centuries of controversy in the Church. No, church controversy is not a new phenomenon.
A church father named St. Athanasius gave us an incredible creed, & we have it reproduced in small print in the historical documents in our prayer book (see p. 864). How would you like to affirm aloud each Sunday: "The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, & the Holy Ghost incomprehensible;" & "And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together & co-equal"? Trinity Sunday is the only holy day all year when we celebrate a concept, an idea.
Each year, I struggle to help us understand the Trinity as it relates to our daily lives. And the word "relate" is helpful here. Our God is such a relational God that God has provided relationship within the very Godhead, creating community in the three faces God provides for us humans. No wonder God created us to be in community; God is actually communal in God's basic nature!
As our Catechism tells us (BCP 845), God first helped us when we rebelled & put ourselves in the place of God, by self-revelation through nature & history, through many seers & saints, & especially through the prophets of Israel . God called the Hebrew people to return through 40 years in the wilderness as well as through numerous prophets & sages. Finally, God sent a son, Jesus, fully God & yet fully human, an earthling, to live among us, to offer freedom & peace. Jesus lived on earth about 3 decades, only 3 years in active ministry because the principalities & powers of his world could not tolerate his radical honesty & overwhelming love. In our Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples that he would like to teach them more but they could not bear it; & they were Jesus' closest followers. Those in charge in his lifetime were so threatened by his radical gift of inclusive love that they had to destroy him.
A little crucifixion & then harassment of the small band of followers ought to take care of this annoying prophet & his movement, they thought. However, God had a Plan C, & apparently began to hatch it even while Jesus, Mr. Plan B, was trying to convey to his disciples all his last-minute instructions. Jesus explained that it was necessary for him to leave them in order for the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to come to empower them to go into all the world to preach & teach & baptize. Our passage from Proverbs today provides a foretaste of such a supernatural community as Lady Wisdom tells us that God created her, a delightful child, one translation puts it, as the first act at the beginning of God's work. God had multiple faces even in the act of creation as John the Evangelist tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word. . . ."
The Holy Trinity is our very model for community. We celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost last week, & God comes among us as Spirit to make it possible for us to have unity despite our diversity, to be sign & symbol of God's love for various & sundry people, not only those who enter our doors for worship or Bible study or a book study or even to eat BBQ at a fundraiser. In fact, the Spirit relishes our diversity, I believe, guiding us to appreciate each other's history & gifts all the more.
When Eucharistic Visitors extend our communion to those at home who cannot worship here in person, when Jackie sends pew bulletins & sermons to the homebound, when I provide prayer books for Episcopalians in prison, when teachers in the Day School or in Godly Play invite our young folks to wonder, when the Daughters of the King & the Brotherhood of St. Andrew faithfully pray for those on our prayer list, all are evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our midst.
As I admonish couples with whom I am preparing for marriage to recognize God's Spirit as the third person in their marriage trinity, I am inviting them to make God's blessing of their marriage real in the dailiness of their marriage. You as a congregation who witness their vows promise to do all in your power to support the holiness of their marriage. The 24 years of my marriage to Bill was undergirded not only by the Epiphany congregation who witnessed our wedding but each church community we've been a part of ever since. Members of each of those parishes were present here last September for his funeral. Not only those of us who were present last Sunday, but all who are parishioners here vow to help those who are baptized at that font out there, symbolically placed in the very middle of our nave.
In fact, as you & I leave worship in this place, God's Holy Spirit binds us together & empowers us to share Christ's love with others whom we meet. I'm a little more obvious when I make my way around town because I wear this backward collar most days. The day after I returned from Nashville, I presided at a memorial service for one of our friends who lived at the Hampton with us.
When I took the service sheet into Kinko's to make copies prior to the service, the young man helping me with copies engaged me in a theological discussion. He wondered if God would still bless him if he wanted to do right but found himself messing up anyway. I suggested that was dangerously close to asking permission to sin, recognizing that God is slow to anger & abundant in mercy. Instead, I offered, he might try offering the prayer which never fails, that he know & do God's will in his life. If our energies & intentions are to grow into the person God created us to be in the first place, we're much less likely to find ourselves on a slippery slope. Even with such good intentions, I told him, we are seldom able to sustain a private relationship with God—just the 2 of us walking in the garden alone. God created us to worship & break open the scriptures with a community with whom we are accountable.
As I finished my copying & paid him, he thanked me profusely, convinced I was there to bless him. But he blessed me! He gave me the chance to witness to him, to invite him to our worship, secure in being backed up by you, the Hope parishioners. You were there with me, & I encourage you to carry us with you as you share God's love with others in your daily lives. We need a small group which prays for us each day. Who have you asked to pray for you? Who have you invited to church this week?
When we walk with each other, even when we are physically apart, we are modeling God's Trinitarian Personhood & offering that unity in diversity to those whom you encounter. May we, too, learn to be one in three persons, blessed trinities.
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Hope Episcopal Church
at 11:14 AM
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