Trinity Sunday
John 3:1-17; Romans 8:12-17; Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29
There is a web site entitled "I used to believe" which chronicles the many curious beliefs that many of us had when we were quite young. Maybe you remember believing that your toys came alive when you fell asleep or that monsters lived in your closet or under your bed. One of my brothers firmly believed that chocolate milk came from brown cows (My grandparents had gotten out of the dairy business by the time he was born.) A common anxiety for many children derives from the belief that if you swallow a seed the plant will grow inside you which is especially unsettling when you are eating watermelon. Several of my childhood friends believed that you could die from swallowing too much chewing gum because it would plug up your insides. Then, of course, there was the belief that the world was black and white until the invention of color photography and color television.
While some beliefs have little connection to reality, other beliefs seem to have a natural logic. One contributor to the "I used to believe" website remembers believing as a child that Florida was really heaven because, as they observed, "you flew through the clouds to get there and it was filled with old people including my grandparents."
History is filled with curious beliefs that when challenged or corrected changed the way the world was understood. Today we are hard pressed to understand how humanity could have spent so many centuries believing that the world was flat or that the sun moved around the earth. We are troubled at the thought that anyone ever believed that they had the right to own another human being by possessing them as wife or child, servant or slave. What we believe informs the way we see, understand and relate to the world around us.
One of the more fascinating features on Public Radio these days is entitled "This I believe" which is based on the 1950's radio essays gathered by Edward R. Murrow. Each week a 5 minute essay is presented that articulates the foundational beliefs of one of our contemporaries. Sometimes the essayist is in some way "famous", but more often they are as "ordinary" as their beliefs will let them be. Recently there was an essay by an Arkansas professor asserting his belief in the rule of law even in times of threat and crisis and another by a Denver restaurant critic arguing his belief that barbecue unites and comforts a troubled world. There was a New York City Finance Commissioner proclaiming faith in numbers of all types from lotto tickets to school grades to municipal tax revenues. A number of essays reveal people struggling to find a center to their faith in the midst of tragedy and encounters with death. And some essayists placed their faith in the way their lives were shaped through rituals and acts that connected them with their pasts and family traditions. One of the most curiously interesting was entitled "Finding Prosperity by Feeding Monkeys" which linked a birthday tradition prescribed by a Burmese monk with the prosperity of a family. What we believe is important even when we are not able to fully and completely explain what that belief is. We live our lives and relate to each other always within the context of beliefs which is why this day has a special place on the church calendar.
Today is Trinity Sunday. The only Sunday of the entire church year that is centered on a doctrine or teaching of the church. Curiously this day is named for a confessional teaching that is essential to the definition of Christianity and yet the word itself, trinity, never occurs in the Bible. This is a day intended to call our attention to the clearest expressions we have of our faith, the creeds. It is a day intended to celebrate that which lies at the core of our faith. That which provides for the unity of the Christian faith. With all the differences in the religious world, this day is intended to celebrate that which brings Christians together. If someone were to ask, "what is a Christian?" The answer to that question is found in the naming of this day. Trinity. A Christian is someone who believes in the trinity. And when the follow up question is asked, "What is the trinity?" the answer moves us to the rest of the church year and all that we do, teach, confess and live as Christians. A Christian is someone who believes in the Trinity which is why Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Episcopalians, Assembly of God, Quakers, Church of the Brethren, Covenant and Disciples of Christ are all Christian. The lack of a Trinitarian confession is also the easiest way to identify non-Christian sects like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Christian world holds as its most basic confession the fact that we believe in one God who eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and yet each person is fully God.
In one respect the purpose of this day is to help us better understand something that no one can understand. The trinity was not a teaching of the Jewish faith that we inherited as Christians. While there are those who try to read back into the Old Testament to find witness to the trinity (such as when God says in Genesis, "Let us create man in our image" but this is a lot of meaning to be read into a plural pronoun.) The need to declare faith in a triune God comes from the New Testament. It begins where the Gospel of Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus. It is at Jesus' baptism as He comes up out of the water that scripture identifies the voice of God speaking to Jesus and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. There is in this story an active identification of Father, Son and Holy Spirit all distinct from each other yet having an active place in the event described. Three active agents yet one God. How do we explain this? The short answer is Trinity. The longer answer is that we can't explain it. The confusion we may feel is a prelude to our discerning a sense of awe and wonder at the God who reveals to us the miracle of divinity in human form and the overwhelming gifts of grace poured out by the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of a Trinity Sunday is to move us to recognize that our world consists of living in a time and place beyond the "I used to believes" of our lives. I used to believe that I could explain the triune God with images like three intersecting circles or a three sided equilateral triangle. The history of the faith provides example after example of great people of faith striving to explain the trinity. I used to believe that St. Patrick from Ireland provided a good example of the trinity when he lifted up the shamrock with its three leaves that were actually one plant. A wonderful symbol I used to believe until I realized it lacked a certain theological integrity since each leaf is only a part of the shamrock while we confess each person of the trinity to be wholly and completely God yet distinct from each other person of the trinity. I used to believe that Anselm had a good approach when he compared the trinity to the Nile River which has a source, a stream and an estuary. All the same water but in three very different looking and experienced stages. Then I believed the Early church father Tertullian who had an equally good approach comparing the trinity to a tree with roots, trunk and fruit. I believe my favorite trinity illustration was simply noting how water exists in three forms of steam, liquid and ice while being still water. Three states in one compound. Perhaps my most often used example with confirmation students is to point out how I as one human being am nevertheless a Pastor, a spouse and a parent. All very distinct identities not to be confused yet one person, one being. Three persons in one being identified by the mode of existence exhibited by the person active in the moment, pastoring or parenting or spousing. All of these are views I used to believe about the trinity. All come up short to fully explain the trinity. The flaws in these attempts to explain the trinity became known as heresies. In fact, most every illustration we can produce to try to explain the trinity has been judged by the church down through history as flawed in some way and as a result a false teaching or heresy. These heresies have great names like Modalism, Arianism, Subordinationism & Adoptionism. In the end the church turned to the creeds to explain the trinity and it did so by simply summarizing key points of our faith as set forth in scripture.
The Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed each were affirmed by the various Christian communities in so far as and because they were scriptural. The mystery and power of God transcended the power of human imagination.
The creeds that we use to confess our faith help us to see God together. Help us to discern our calling as people of God together. The creeds help us sing the same song. The creeds keep us from missing important notes that provide for the harmony of the faith. The past two days Pastor Chris, Janice Edwards, Fred Biederman and I have been attending the synod assembly of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA along with hundreds of other delegates from churches around the greater Chicago area. At various times during the gathering we would pause for worship and prayer. At one point we were invited to join in singing a great hymn together with the praise choir leading us. The words were projected on large screens for all to read only at one point the praise band did not know how many verses were being projected for us to sing and at another point the band sang one verse while the hundreds of voices in the assembly tried to sing a different verse projected on the screen. It is difficult to be church without a common voice. The orchestra has many instruments but one musical direction. The notes need not be the same but they do need to fit together in harmonies and motion that carries everyone who plays and listens in the same direction. The creeds guide our confession. Give direction to our beliefs.
Our lessons for today all serve one purpose. To reveal the one God we confess.
In the simple power of John 3:16 we hear in the Gospel the great grace of a God who so loved that world that he gave his only Son. In the second lesson we are assured that the power of God's spirit is active and present in each of our lives leading us to confess again and again the power of God's love to lead us into the world. And that is ultimately the story in our first lesson, an ancient vision of God calling forth those who will not only confess God to be their God but will proclaim that God to the world.
Over the past few weeks the majority of young people in this community have completed another academic year. They have been tested and graded, ranked and rated. Some have graduated which means they move to the next level of academic endeavors. Today is the liturgical calendar's graduation day as we move from worship centered in the life cycle of Christ's movement from Christmas birth to Lenten death and Easter resurrection to the Sundays after Pentecost often called Ordinary time when we focus on the stories and teachings that revealed Jesus to be the Christ, the son of the living God, the savior of the world. We are moving from the fact based details of history to the faith based encounters with Jesus.
The next few months are when the creeds and our confessions will be tested. What we really believe about God and Jesus will be revealed not in words but in actions. The living out of the faith in the routine moments of summer. There will be those who declare I believe in a God who shelters and protects his people. They will swing hammers at Habitat this summer and contribute to programs that feed the hungry and relieve the distressed. There will be those who declare I believe in a God of beauty and wonder whose name is praised through the singing of choirs and the care of creation. There will be those who declare I believe in a God of life, of healing and wholeness and they will give the gift of life at the blood drive and visit those who grieve and discover miracles of healing through prayer and the Spirit's presence.
Summer is a time to discover again the God we confess. To invite friends and neighbors to gather around the common confessions that guide and strengthen our lives. We believe in the gathered body of Christ who believe together that the night he was betrayed Jesus offered the bread and wine, his body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of the life to come. So we gather this day in the power and promise of this triune God we confess. Setting aside the things we used to believe to rejoice in the confessions we hold in common. I believe. In a few minutes you will be invited to join in making your confession. Listen closely to your words, to your neighbor's words.
I believe. I believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit three in one. I believe.
Amen