Pastor Jeff’s Sermon
June 11, 2006
Trinity Sermon - Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, One God
Is your idea of God too small?
Don’t presume too much or reach for too little.
Today is the festival of the Holy Trinity. But Trinity Sunday has never made it into the popular culture in the way other church festivals like Christmas and Easter have. I kept looking for the signs, but I never saw one that said “only seven more shopping days until Trinity Sunday.” And there are no “day after Trinity Sunday sales” tomorrow.
Personally I think “Trinity Trees” would be a great idea. You could decorate them with symbols of the Trinity – like triangles in different colors and sizes – and three leaf clovers – and three inter locking circles. Maybe the last wouldn’t be a good idea, since some of us remember the three circles meant “purity, body and flavor”.
At Easter there are colored eggs and Easter bunnies – maybe for Trinity we could have impalas – the mysterious animal – part antelope, part cat.
+
The only secular use of the word trinity that I could think of was the use of “trinity” as the code name for the first nuclear test site. I have no idea why they picked that name for the site where they would test the first A-bomb. But splitting the atom did produce tremendous power, brilliant light and a howling wind. So maybe trinity was an appropriate code word – the tremendous power of God the Father and creator; the brilliant light of Christ who reveals God and his way; the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus says:
The wind blows
where it chooses, and you hear
the sound of it, but you do not know where it
comes from or where it goes. So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8
Unlike the A-bomb, God’s power and light and Spirit is a constructive, not destructive force. God’s light and power can transform lives – change them to such a degree that it is like being born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus.
No one can see the
without being born
from above. John 3:3
Born of the Spirit – born from above – Jesus’ words describe the new life that he would lead us to. A life that is not lived as if human possibilities were the only ones available – but is open to the transformation that God would work within us.
The doctrine of the Trinity is meant to describe what our personal experience of God can be like.
God is a mystery beyond our understanding. God is beyond us – yet also beside us – and even dwells in us.
We know that God is the almighty, all-powerful, creator of heaven and earth.
Yet we also know that Jesus Christ – a man who walked this earth – is the son of God – and has promised to be with us.
Then there is the promise that the Spirit of God dwells within us – the Spirit who empowers and guides us.
The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that these are all the same God – the one God whom we experience in different ways. It may be beyond my full comprehension – but the God who is beyond me is also with me and even dwells in me.
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis describes a believer at prayer as an illustration of the Trinity at work.
A man kneels down to pray – to get in touch with God the Father. But as a Christian he knows that what prompted him to pray is the Holy Spirit, silently working within him. But he also realizes that his knowledge of the heavenly Father to whom he prays – and of the Spirit who moves him to pray – comes from Jesus, the man who was God – and that Christ stands beside him and even prays for him.
When we cry,
"Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our
spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. Romans 8:16
The Trinity is at work in our prayers. God is the One to whom you pray – the goal. The Son of God provides the road – the way – along which you are being pushed. God the Spirit is a force inside you pushing you on in prayer – the motivation power. This three-fold dimension of prayer is an example of the three ways in which we know God.
+
The mystery of God is more than I can completely understand.
The problem is that I tend to limit God to what I can
comprehend. Thus, my image of God is too
small. Trinity Sunday is an
opportunity to broaden and expand my personal understanding of God.
For example, I may only think about the Jesus who walks with me – and forget about the God who is above and beyond me – the Almighty and All Powerful transcendent One. Then, I presume too much and reach for too little.
In the first lesson, Isaiah has a vision of Almighty God –
the transcendent God beyond us - Isaiah hears the angels sing Holy, Holy,
Holy Lord and in awe says Woe is me. I am lost. For he is aware of
his own sin in the presence of the Holy God. Isaiah
6:1f
Isaiah’s attitude is summarized in a hymn verse:
God himself is
present; let us now adore him
And with awe
appear before him.
God is in His
temple, all within keep silence
Prostrate lie with
deepest reverence.
Isaiah would warn me not to presume too much -- to think of God only as that divine friend at my side, and thus One who does not challenge me. For the Lord would lead me out of bondage to sin. He would not leave me unchanged.
The Lord is close to us and cares about us - thus, he doesn’t want us to keep messing up. He challenges us to acknowledge our sin and to turn to the better life that he has planned for His children.
We must not live
to satisfy our desires. If you
do, you will
die. But you will live if, by the help
of God’s Spirit,
you say ‘no’ to
your desires.
Only those people who are led by the Spirit
are His children. Romans 8:12,13
Paul contrasts two approached to life.
Living just to satisfy your desires – the self oriented life – thinking only of yourself –
verses
Living by the Spirit – focusing on the God orientated –
self-giving life. If our minds are
ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. Romans 8:6
+
If my image of God is too limited, I may not only presume too much - that God does not challenge me - want something from me - but I may also reach for too little. If I ignore the fact that he is master of the universe, I end up settling for the way things are, as if all God could do for me is to help me muddle on through.
For you did not
receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a
spirit of adoption… . For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of
God. Romans 8:15,14
The problem is that I may live as if human possibilities were the only ones available to me. That limited view of God was even a problem for folks in the bible.
The people of the Hebrews found themselves on the edge of
the
On that first Easter morn, while the male disciples hid in fear, the faithful women went to the tomb. They brought with them spices to anoint a dead Jesus. Their despair was so complete that at first the empty tomb only puzzled them. They momentarily forgot Jesus’ promise – forgot that they served a mighty God for whom all things were possible – the God who is master of everything, even death.
We don’t have to live by what we can grasp – what we can get for ourselves. We can be open to the guidance of the holy Spirit who would show us new ways – and would guide us to a better life.
We are not at the mercy of the powers that be, but we can live in the mercy of God who chooses to be one with us in Jesus Christ.
The Almighty Creator gave us life - and like a Father has loved us from the beginning - loves us whether we know it or not.
Jesus His Son shows us the way and journeys with us to new and abundant life.
Jesus keeps calling us to turn away from sin and turn back
to his way - for our sin strains our relationship with him and is a denial of
who we really are - a child of God, born from above.
The Holy Spirit is God near us - a non-material reality outside us and within us that both gets to us and moves us. The Spirit would draw us close and bind us to the mystical body of Christ.
Father Son and Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever. Amen.