“For God so loved the world...”
(Jn. 3:16)
Trinity Sunday
Jan RobitscherSt. Mark’s Church
Berkeley, CA
June 3, 2012
Isaiah 61-6
Psalm 29 Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-
In the
Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Today is Trinity Sunday. It has come to be seen as the logical
conclusion to the celebrations of the half of the Church Year, beginning in
Advent, when we hear again the story of our salvation, through Christmas
and Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost last week.
In some parishes, there is a curious tradition on Trinity Sunday.
You see, nobody wants to preach on this day because the doctrine of the Trinity
is so complex, indeed, such a great mystery that it is impossible to preach on
it without falling into one or other heresy!
So this impossible task is usually given to the youngest or most
recently ordained person on the parish staff. Well, I am none of those,
but I’ll be brave, trusting that God: Father, Son and Spirit, will keep
me on the right path.
This day has been called an “idea feast” because it celebrates a
doctrine rather than a person or historical event. I remember seeing a stained
glass window once which was the ancient symbol of the Trinity. In
the middle was a circle “God”. Then there was a triangle: at the top, “Father”;
at the bottom left, “Son”; at the bottom right “Holy Spirit”.
On the connecting bars of the triangle were the words (all in
Latin) “IS NOT” On the bars connecting Each part of the Trinity to God,
the word “IS”. So, while the Father is not the Son and the Son is
not the Spirit, they are all God. Confused?
The window is essentially correct in it’s theology. But I would
say that this is NOT an “idea feast”. The reasons why we are confused are at
least two. First, that wherever we are on the religious spectrum, we are all
products of good old rugged American individualism. We can’t help but think of
the Trinity as three individual beings.
This is where, if we kept going, we would fall into one or other heresy, and, if we struggled at it long enough, it would surely end in an argument. But let’s not go there. The second reason we are confused is that we think that “mystery” is something we don’t understand, or a riddle to be solved. In Christian theology, “mystery” means “a divinely revealed reality that words can never fully express.”1 Perhaps a little history might help.
Though the Bible [teaches] the truth of
the Trinity of God implicitly
in both Old and New Testaments, the
development and delineation of this doctrine was brought about by the
rise of heretical groups or teachers who either denied the deity of Christ or that of
the Holy Spirit.
[They actually had “hymn wars”--the Christians won!]
This caused the early church to formally
crystallize the doctrine of the [Trinity]. Actually, Tertullian in
215 A.D. was the first one to state this doctrine
using the term, Trinity.2
But we owe it to no less than St.Thomas Becket for obtaining permission to celebrate a Feast for the Trinity, his first act after his consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost, and this practice spread quickly through England and beyond so that by Pope John XXII in 1334 Trinity Sunday became a universal feast. OK.
So if the history, though interesting, does not provide us a way
into this Feast, what about today’s lessons?
Isaiah and Nicodemus each had encounters with God. Isaiah’s call
was in the course of a vision of the heavenly court: angels calling out
so that their sound shook the air, incense, and the very hem of God’s robe.
Rightly, Isaiah feels himself unworthy to be there.
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Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. He is a Pharisee, of some
learning, and he came to “sound out” Jesus as far as his questioning faith
would take him. With more questions, Jesus begins to teach him of “being born
of water and Spirit”. This makes little sense to Nicodemus. Although
Jesus seems a bit exasperated, he does not send Nicodemus away, but, in love,
the passage culminates in perhaps the best known verse in all the Scripture:
“For God so loved the world that he sent
his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may
not perish,
but may have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:16)
I like to think that Nicodemus eventually got, by faith, what
Jesus was trying so hard to tell him...
Each of these encounters with God shows a part of God’s love for,
“God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16). Love is that force that differentiates and
unifies.4 That’s how God can be three persons while being one.
The persons of the Trinity give themselves to each other in
love, and God shows us that love in different ways. We are invited to
enter into that love through the Incarnation. It is Jesus who showed us the
full extent of love, giving himself in death and resurrection.
This is not the mushy, fickle love we know, but it is a reflection
of the self-giving love that dwells between the persons of the Trinity: Father,
Son and Holy Spirit;
So where does that leave us, right here in the community of St.
Mark’s? Whether we know it or not, we are surrounded by the Trinity and we see
many reflections of this expression of God’s love. And this love affects us in
both an “inward” and an “outward” way.
Although we do not have a Trinity window here, we have only to
look around and count three’s to remind ourselves that God the Trinity is here.
Or we can listen to the choir or as we sing the hymns to hear the Trinity
expressed in poetry (perhaps the only way possible), and the notes of chords
blend to form beautiful music that is a reflection of God’s love for us.
Perhaps the poet George Herbert said it best:
My music shall find Thee,
and ev'ry string Shall have his
attribute to sing;
That all together may accord in Thee,
And prove one God, one harmony.
Although we need the Scripture, history, charts, music and poetry,
ultimately all of these fall short of naming the mystery that is God the Holy
Trinity. However we try, from the traditional Father, Son and Holy spirit to
Dame Julian of Norwich, who (as we will hear in today’s anthem) attributes
feminine qualities to the Trinity5, in the end we are left in that silence
which is our “wonder, love and praise”.
But this silence is the beginning of our deepest relationship with
God. For the way into this mystery is in the Christian life, itself. From
birth--and rebirth in the waters of baptism--to death--we are signed with the
cross--that very ancient representation of Jesus’ sacrifice for us and reminder
of the Trinity.
And this liturgy, from beginning to end bears the Sign of the
Cross. We speak the Trinity in the Nicene Creed and we will hear it when the
choir sings the Te Deum: “We praise thee, O God...” Bread
and wine are blessed to become for us the Body and Blood of Christ, using a
prayer that is addressed to God, includes Jesus’ own words and invokes the Holy
Spirit.
And we sign ourselves at various times as a way of saying “Yes, I
receive this blessing and gift and remind myself of the Trinity”. All these are
the “inward “ reflections of the Trinity. But every act of love we do here,
whether in worship or with and for each other or at Hot Meals or the Prayer
Shawl group or any other ministry we do--all of these are outward reflections
of the love of the God the Holy Trinity. As a fellow preacher put it,
The loving mutuality of the Church has its
source in the loving
mutuality of the eternal Trinity.6
So I invite you: Look around and see God’s creative acts!
Hear the music! Receive God’s redemptive acts: the Life of Jesus in bread and
wine-become the Body and Blood of Christ! Feel the power of the Holy spirit’s
sanctifying acts to console us, guide us, gifts us and lead us into all truth
as we are sent out to “love and serve the Lord”! Feel the baptismal water as
you go by the font! Know that, while we can never exhaust the reality of the
Trinity, this Love of God, that we live.
All of these are the reflection of God’s love in and with and for
us, here in the community of St. Mark’s. And in this creating, redeeming and
sanctifying love of the Holy, Triune God we are sent out to the wider Church
and to the world, and this is Good News, Indeed!
To God:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit be glory for ever and ever.
AMEN.
