In the name of the Holy Trinity- Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Amen.
This sermon is a bit of a
milestone for me. About a year ago, I stood nervously in this pulpit for the
first time as I preached a sermon on the texts of Trinity Sunday in front of
the search committee when I was here for an interview. I’m not sure if they
liked it, or if they chose to call me in spite of it, but either way, I am so
very happy and thankful that I still have the privilege of speaking from this
pulpit. Trinity Sunday is a tough day on which to preach. Most Sundays we have
a narrative to explore, but today we have before us an unexplainable mystery.
God is three, but also one. In school, I got as far as calculus, but never
quite figured out the math behind the Trinity. As seminary professors are fond
of saying, “to say anything definitively about the Trinity is to commit heresy.”
Up front, we must acknowledge that the concept of the Triune God is a mystery,
and mysteries are not intended to be solved, but rather appreciated.
Preaching on Trinity
Sunday is also a difficult task because, on the surface, the Trinity seems to
not make much of a difference in our daily lives. Sure, it’s a nice concept,
but when you’re out of work, out of luck, or out of health, what difference
does a dense theological doctrine make? What is important to understand about
the Trinity is not the human history of its development, but the way in which
it tells us something about God. Yes, the idea dates back to documents from the
2nd century, and if you enjoy church history, there is a lot of good
reading about heresies such as Docetism, Arianism, and Modalism, and maybe I’ll
talk about that next year. For today though, my focus is on the idea that the
Trinity is important to us because it shows us how God has chosen to be known.
I’m fairly confident that
if God was not a Trinity of persons in a unity of being that we wouldn’t be
celebrating Trinity Sunday. Many Christians proclaim that God is love, and that
deeply influences their understanding of God and of human nature. You’ll recall
that Genesis notes that humanity is made in the image of God. And so that means
that we are made in the image of the Trinity. If we are to more fully understand
ourselves and our faith, we have to take seriously God’s self-revelation of the
Trinity as the very nature of God.
Using the text from the
first reading from Isaiah, we’ll focus on two aspects of God’s being: transcendence
and immanence. This narrative, which describes the call of Isaiah to prophetic
ministry, is quite literally, other worldly. Isaiah finds himself in the
heavenly throne room surrounded by these majestic beings known as seraphim who
are singing the song of heaven: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full
of his glory.” It’s a passage that we, as Episcopalians, are quite familiar
with, as these are the words of the sanctus
which we sing each Sunday during Eucharist. Some Christian mystics speaks of “thin
places,” places and encounters where the veil between heaven and earth is most
permeable, and the Eucharist is one of those thin places. What is so profound
about the mystery of the Eucharist is that we sing the same song that is being
sung in heaven as we partake of the same heavenly meal.
Now, why do we read this
text, or any of the others that we did today, on Trinity Sunday? The Trinity is
a concept that is, at best, pointed towards in Scripture, but never explicitly
mentioned. You’ll remember from
statistics that when you plot a bunch of points on a graph and want to find the
correlation, you draw a line of best fit. Well, these Scripture passages are a
line of best fit through the Trinity- they don’t quite connect the dots, but
they do their best to give us something to think about. The lectionary authors
chose this Isaiah text because it says “holy, holy, holy.” And I know this
really isn’t rocket science, but because the word “holy” is used three times,
it seems like it is a good fit for the Trinity. But in this heavenly song, we
do see something important about the nature of the Triune God.
The first aspects is that
God is transcendent. The seraphim say that God is “holy,” which is a word that
means “distinct” or “set apart.” Later in Isaiah, the prophet records that God
says “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Put another way, one theologian
reminds us that “God is very, very big, and we are very, very small.” The
Trinity is a mystery. You can read all you want on the doctrine or meditate on
it all day and all night, and yet we’re left with the same conclusion- we
simply don’t know how the math works out to 1=3 and 3=1.
So the first thing to
take away from this day is that God is bigger and more complex than we can
fathom. We, therefore, ought to be skeptical when someone or some group claims
to have the full and definitive picture of God figured out. One of the things
that really scares me is when I hear people say “this makes God feel angry” or “God
wants us to…” Central to the very nature of God is the idea of Trinity, an idea
that we can’t grasp. The Trinity gives us a healthy dose of respect and
reverence for God.
And in a mysterious way,
the second line of the song counters the first- “the whole earth is full of his
glory.” If “holy, holy, holy,” says that God is transcendent, then this line
shows that God is immanent, that God is present with us. Though God may seem
far away, God is also very nearby. What the idea of the Trinity shows us is
that, as God’s very core, is relationship. God exists in relation to Godself because
God is Three. And being that God is a God of relationship by definition, God is
always with all of the Creation.
There’s a wonderful image
that Orthodox theologians have used in describing the Trinity- perichoresis, which means something like
“to dance around.” So they describe the Trinity as dancing with each other in a
divine dance of love; and there is so much love between them, that it overflows
and that is the origin of Creation, the outpouring of love from God’s very
nature. So then, the whole earth is full of God’s glory because everything that
exists flows from this dance. If God is a relationship, then that tells us
something about our lives- namely that we are created to be in relationship.
We’re not particularly good
at relationships though. Ours is an overly-litigious society, full of violence
and broken relationships. In his classic work I and Thou, Martin Buber wrote about this issue. He notes that in
our world, we default to “I-It” relationships; treating others as an “it”
instead of a “thou” or “you.” In “I-It” relationships, we have experiences, collect
data, and develop theories. But there is no connection, as we treat each other
in a very utilitarian way: What will you do for me? What can I get out of our
relationship? How can you be a tool to advance my cause? We can see this
happening everywhere we look, from our families, all the way up to our
Congress. The saying is that we are supposed to use things and love people, but
instead we love things and use people. You can even see it in our language, the
way that we frame so many of our issues as “us vs them.” In our public debates,
we talk about budgets and job numbers, but we rarely talk about people. It’s a
problem of “I-It” relationships. And so we use language that allows us to hide
their humanity and forget that they are “yous” and not “its.” We have gotten so
far off track, that our Supreme Court has gotten so confused that they have
declared that corporations are people. We have taken “its” and made them
“yous.”
What Buber suggests
stands in opposition to these deficient relationships are those interactions
which he calls “I-Thou.” This is about encounter, about meeting the whole
essence of the other, about being transformed by relationship. The basis for
these relationships is in the relationship of God in the Trinity. And though
they are rarer, these sorts of relationships do still happen, but they take
work. They take having more vulnerability and less judgment. Instead of quickly
labeling people, we instead get to know their name and story. This takes time,
something which our face-paced culture places a premium on. But as Buber
suggest, it is only through this deep knowing that we can be transformed. And
this is something that that Trinity shows us- that being in a relationship of
“I-Thou” is foundational to being a person of faith.
Since this kind of relationship
is central to the Triune God, then it only stands to reason that we, who bear
this divine imprint, are also created to be in relationships. Consider the
image of Hell which Dante describes in The
Divine Comedy; it is a place of isolation from God. Dante’s vision of the
worst punishment possible isn’t so much in the flames and tortures of hell, but
is in the isolation from relationships that truly matter. Whether it is solitary
confinement or time-out, we punish people by separating them from others, as we
innately know that relationships are essential to who we are. In light of the
Trinity, spend some time reflecting on your relationships, give thanks for the
people in your life, and go deeper into the relationships, because it is there
that you will encounter a glimpse of God.
Trinity Sunday is also an
invitation to enter more fully into your relationship with God. On the front of
your bulletin today, we’ve put a copy of a very well-known icon known as Trinity written by Andrei Rublev around the
year 1425. It shows three figures, often seen as the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. What I want to point out to you is that the table is set and the fourth
side of table, the side closest to you, is open. You’ll notice that the figure
on the right is extending a hand towards you, as if you say, “please join us.”
You were created out of
the love of the Holy Trinity. You were created out of a love that is deeper
than you will ever fully comprehend. You are created to be in relationship with
others and with God. God has prepared for you a place at this table of love,
you are invited to join in this divine dance. Ponder the question- where are
you closest to God? When are you most aware of God’s presence? What reminds you
that you are the beloved of God? Spend some time contemplating and praying with
those questions this week, and then do your best to engage in some of those
activities or visit those places. If you’d like to talk through some of this, I’d
be honored to meet with you for a bit of spiritual direction, just let me know.
In light of this dialogue
about relationships, I do also want to recognize a special relationship today.
As you know, today is Phillip Burgess’ last Sunday with us as Organist and
Choir Director. For 19 years, he has helped this community in joining our
voices with those around the heavenly throne in praise of God. He and Daryl
have grafted themselves into this community as beloved members and companions
on life’s journey. I’ve only been at St. Luke’s for 9 months, but I can clearly
see Phillip’s impact on our music program; his expertise and laughter will
always be remembered and appreciated. Though you will be enjoying some much
deserved rest and time away this summer, and will need to give your successor
the space to establish themselves in the position, know that you are always at
home and welcome at St. Luke’s.
Trinity Sunday is a day
to appreciate the mystery of God, and to free ourselves from having to find all
the answers. As Isaiah records the song of heaven, we see that God is
transcendent and awe-inspiring, but at the same time is also immanent, present
with us in a relationship of love. We are invited to consider our
relationships, transforming them from “I-It” to “I-Thou.” We are invited to
have a seat at the table that God has set for us. And we are invited to
proclaim with gratitude, wonder, and devotion the words of that great hymn- Holy,
Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty! God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
