St. Charles' Episcopal Church – St. Charles, IL
Trinity Sunday ~ Year A ~ May 18, 2008
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
The Rev. Elizabeth G. Meade


"And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt 28:20)

Today is Trinity Sunday, one of few days on which the Episcopal Church commemorates a doctrine. One of my preaching professors told us to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday at all costs. "Take the day off," he said. His seminary professor had told him that Trinity Sunday was good day to ask a bishop to come preach! Up until now, I had taken his advice, but this year, I discovered the truth in his warning. The Trinity is so…… unexplainable. I consulted my Book of Common Prayer to see what our catechism says about he Trinity – hoping for some help.

"What is the Trinity?" Answer: "The Trinity is ONE GOD: Father, Son and Holy Spirit." Well, THAT wasn't helpful! I quickly determined that the mystery of the Trinity is not something anyone could hope to uncover, much less explain in the 10-12 minutes I have here today. The Trinity, when all is said and done, is elusive.

In a pre-confirmation class I used to teach, I tried to explain the Trinity to the children as being like a triangle – saying that all three sides have to be there in order for the triangle to be a triangle. But that analogy always fell short. One child said his father explained that the Trinity was like an apple: if you take the seeds out of the apple, and the skin off the apple, the apple isn't complete anymore. The child sitting next to him, a budding theologian, I d fear, said, "Yeah, but you don't need the peels and the seeds to make applesauce."

So, there are two reasons why I'm not going to deliver a sermon on the nature of the Trinity today. First, we'll avoid the minefield of heresies associated with it – the heresies of antinomianism, arianism, and subordinationism to name a couple. And, secondly, people with greater minds than mine have spent lifetimes trying to grasp it's Truth, and come up with only this: – that the Trinity is a mystery that's beyond human understanding. Does that mean we should give up thinking about it? Cancel Trinity Sunday? Not sing "Holy, Holy, Holy"? Of course not! But perhaps we need to put on a different pair of glasses.

What if, for example, we try to understand the Trinity not intellectually, but experientially? Perhaps we could understand it better if we looked at what we already know about the nature of God from our own experiences of God. In other words, perhaps we can describe Trinity as a belief born out of our experiences of God as we've tried to answer the question: "Who is God for us now?" What are our images of God? How is God, this Father Son and Holy Spirit, being revealed to us today?

We know what we're supposed to believe.
We believe that God created the world, and made us in His own Image. We know that Jesus came, as God, to teach us one simple truth: that God is Love. We know that Jesus died a horrible death to somehow atone for all the sins we will ever commit. And we know that Jesus promised us this thing called the Holy Spirit, to accompany us on the way and to pour God's love into our hearts so that we can feel and respond to God's Love.

The recurring theme here, is LOVE. From God, the Three in One, comes Love, and inspires us to love in response. Sunday School teachers and preachers down through the ages have taught us all that God loves us. Many of us probably sit in pews week after week, just needing to hear it one more time – that God loves us. And what a mystery that is! Our need to be told.

If you've ever fallen in love, you know something of that mystery. Suddenly a very ordinary person, a person filled with human frailties, is the center of our universe. We can think of nothing else. We look past his or her faults and see only good, and feel only love. Pheromones are released and chemistry happens, and suddenly we are "knee-knocked, head over heels" in love. It may not make sense, but we know it when we feel it.

That's how it is with God. We are precious to God. God looks past all our faults and is swept up in love with us. And the really Good news is that God so loved – and does STILL now love – the world, that He sent – and continues to send that Love into this world – even when we are stiff-necked, and stiff-upper-lipped and don't feel all that loveable ourselves. God's love for you and for me is eternal.
The last line of the Gospel today says: "I am with you always, to the end of the age." That's Trinity.

God calls us from Love and into Love as we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, as we strive for justice and peace among all people, and as we try to respect the dignity of every human being. "I am with you always, to the end of the age."
That's Trinity.

In the tsunami that hit Indonesia two and an half years ago, a Buddhist temple in British Columbia sold itself – it's entire building – and sent the proceeds to Banda Ache, Indonesia. In that action – there was God, our Christian Trinitarian God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, inspiring the hearts of Buddhist people in British Columbia to take radical action.
That's Trinity.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, gassing up my car and driving to Mississippi without a plan was an act of faith. But being there – in the devastation, in the faces of those whose lives had been irrevocably changed – God was there, begging people to cook one more meal, to hammer one more nail, to start over one more time. God was there – both merciful AND mighty.
That's Trinity.

In the frustration and outrage we feel this week because the military junta in Myanmar is refusing to accept our AID – there is God. The words from the 3rd verse of our processional hymn ("Holy, Holy, Holy") seem particularly poignant today. The refusal of that government to accept any of our help: "though the eyes of sinful man, thy glory may not see." They don't see, but God is there. " I am with you always, to the end of the age." That's a promise.
That's Trinity.

In the eyes of the 3000 children that will die today from malaria – and in the 3000 more who will die tomorrow – and in the hearts of the parents and siblings who will mourn them, there is God. " I am with you always, to the end of the age."

And God is with us, in our response. God is there as we vow, in our Baptismal Covenants, to respect the dignity of every human being. As we strive for justice and peace. As we persevere in resisting evil. God is there as determination wells up in us to make a difference in the world. Jesus never said, "Sit there in My church and bask in My glory." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. Take care of my lambs." "Go out into the world, making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."God sends us out. Maybe not to Mississippi or to Myanmar, but God sends us out. Calls us out of our comfort zones and out of our selfishness to love and serve the world. Calls us out to testify to the Good News of God's love.

Trinity Sunday reminds us that this God who set the planets on their courses and is found in living rooms and disaster sites around the world, is far beyond our human understanding. But it also serves to remind us that we do know God when we are attuned to God's Presence. We know God as we look for the first time into the eyes of a brand new baby, or when we pound the earth in frustration and weep over those we mourn. And a still small voice whispers into our ears, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
That's Trinity.