Sermon: Trinity Sunday

Date Preached: Sunday 19th June 2011

Bible Reference: Matthew Chapter 28 verses 16-20

You’ll probably remember this story of the little boy who came home from Sunday School and told his mum that the vicar had said that God was everywhere. "That’s true," his mother responded. "Is he in the oven when it's hot?" "Yes," replied the mother. "How about in the cupboard?" "Yes," said the mother. "How about in the fridge when the door is closed and the light is off?" "Oh…well, yes," retorted the mother. "How about in the sugar bowl," asked the boy, as he took the lid off the bowl. "Well, I suppose he is," answered the mother. The boy slammed the bowl shut and announced triumphantly: "Got him!"

Okay, so the mother had a bit more theology to explain.

Today is Trinity Sunday. It’s a festival that’s unique in the church calendar because it’s the only one to be based on a doctrine, rather than a specific historical event. We’ve seen in our readings that the Bible refers to God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – but we don’t actually find the word Trinity mentioned. So why’s it so important?

Well ridiculous though that story about the little boy might sound there’s certainly truth in it about how people view God. People think that God can be boxed; captured in a tidy package that they think they’re able to control and understand. In a sense we all want a God of our own making, who doesn’t disturb things too much; who can be taken out and put back when we feel so disposed. So what does this ‘constructed’ God look like? Well he’s certainly quite a way removed from the God as revealed in the Bible: for a start he’s sanitized and tame – and looks suspiciously like the people who made him – this God seems to have the same likes and dislikes, the same preferences and prejudices as we do – and he doesn’t do anything very much.

This temptation to create the one, true God in our own image is the oldest and most dangerous one known to humankind. We can see it in the Genesis story of the Fall. And it has devastating consequences for both God and people simply because it distorts our relationship with God.

Now you’ll be utterly relieved that I’m not going to attempt a theological treatise on the Trinity – not that I could! If you’re so minded you can go and read Augustine’s Summa Theologica for that. But we do need to recognize that the Trinity is one of the most distinctive and important Christian teachings – despite it being one of the most difficult to gets our heads around.

What I’ve found really helpful as a starting point is this: the basic theme is that of the richness of God – and the inability of human language or imagery to fully capture the wonder and beauty of God. As Augustine himself said if you can comprehend it, it is not God.”

So the Trinity is about the bigness – the amazing richness of God. It’s a safeguard against trying to reduce God and box him in – because that always ends up robbing God of mystery, majesty beauty and glory.

Now is that a cop out? Well I would argue absolutely not – because we shall never be able to capture God; to put him in a neat package of our own making. God will always remain more than our words and doctrines, our beliefs and expressions of worship; bigger than the most majestic cathedral; far beyond our purest intentions and actions. That means there is a mystery about God, which is tremendous in the sense that it is so awesome and overwhelming, we are unable to grasp it. This mysterious Holy God – who is so other than us - is light years greater than our capacity to adequately explain or understand him.

So what’s today’s celebration all about then? What, can we learn that will change our lives? The famous theologian, Hans Kung, tells a story about a Bavarian parish priest who announced to his congregation on the Feast of the Trinity that this was so great a mystery, of which he understood nothing, that there would unfortunately be no sermon." Ha! You wish…!

 Well, I believe today teaches us this: that when we speak of God as the Holy Trinity; when we formulate doctrines of the Trinity; when we worship God as Trinity; when we greet, bless, and baptize people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – this Triune God; we can only do so with great humility, realizing our God is and has so much more than we can ever imagine.

But then you may be thinking how come the maths doesn’t work out – how does one plus one plus one equal one? Are there three gods? Or is each person a third of the whole? Those are the kinds of speculative questions and debates that have had academic theologians going through the centuries - scratching their heads trying to work it out. And yet scripture bears witness to a God who demands to be understood in this was - as Trinity. It’s an issue that was of huge concern to the early Church – precisely because it linked so closely to the question of ‘Who Jesus is’. The more emphatic the Church became that Christ was God in human form, the more it came under pressure to say how their relationship worked.

Irenaeus was one of the important spokesmen for the new Church in the 2^nd century. He was in no doubt that the whole process of bringing sinful people back into a relationship with God – from beginning to end – bore witness to the action of Father, Son and Holy Spirit – that this is the way the Godhead ordered the salvation of fallen humanity – this was God’s “economy”.

And it’s not just words. We worship God, through Christ, in the Spirit. It sets before us a vision of God who created the world and whose glory can be seen in the wonders of nature (the Celtic Christians had a great grasp of this);

a God who redeemed the world and whose love can be seen in the tender face of Jesus;

a God who is present and now lives in the lives of believers as he makes his home in us by the Holy Spirit.

And here’s the wonderful thing. In the Trinity there is a perfect community of equals, united by a bond of love – a “society of being” as Augustine put it. What that says to us is that we’re not meant – ever - to be isolated in some kind of privatized faith of our own making – & neither is Christianity merely a set of ideas or ideals – it’s all about a relationship of love and trust with God which expresses his character and passion to save and heal a lost and broken world. This is worked out in the way that Paul expresses his apostolic blessing in our reading from Second Corinthians. “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” – that which we just don’t deserve and which is a free gift to us, not based on anything we can offer

“And the love of God”  - unconditional love revealed supremely in Jesus – God’s rescuing initiative

“And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” – he who lives in us the moment we surrender control of our lives to God and ask Jesus to be with us and to make his home in us

…“be with you all”

So Trinity is best understood not in esoteric, mind-bending doctrines, but through the experience of worship and service. Although our God-language is very important, ultimately, all of the analogies we can dream up to comprehend One God in Three Persons will remain limited. And that is such good news – that we have a God worthy of everything we can give him – and whose peace surpasses all our understanding

Let me ask you. Are you satisfied with a faith that is carefully boxed? I’m not – because there’s always so much more to discover about his love in Jesus Christ. Thank God that he has revealed himself in a way that we can understand. It’s in Jesus that we learn about the love of the Father. And as we commit our lives to him we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Triune God are involved in our salvation. And yet, there is only one God and one Saviour. Ah! What a mystery, and what a joy.

So - the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

Amen.