Happy Trinity Sunday

Happy Holy Trinity Sunday. Isn’t this great? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty pumped up. I mean it is the one Sunday out of the year that we read the Athanasian Creed. And as exciting as that is, it is more than that. Now I have heard it said that Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday named after a doctrine. But I think that is misleading. This is a time and a day to talk about and celebrate who our God is, and how he relates to us.

How do you talk about God? Who is God? How do we know him? What is he like? These questions are nothing new. And there are certainly many answers that are given to these questions. Although not all of them are correct.

You see the struggle here is that talking about God can be a very difficult thing to do. The trinity is a mystery to us. We cannot understand it. It is something that we believe on faith because this is how the scriptures talk. But what how do you describe the indescribable? What words do you use to speak about that which is beyond words? C.S. Lewis described our ability to comprehend the trinity this way. In a one dimensional world all you have are lines. Everything is a line. In a two dimensional world you get height, and length. So you are no longer bound to a line but now you can have a square. In a three dimensional world you add width. So now you can have a cube. But how does one explain a three dimensional object in a two dimension world? It is almost impossible. But that doesn’t mean it is not true.

Now I am not talking about a test here. It’s not like you are going to find yourself at the gates of heaven someday and have to take a test. Although I think we can tend to think about things that way, especially when it comes to matters of faith. It is so easy to turn the Scriptures into a book of doctrines and teachings. It is easy to make faith merely a matter of knowing the right things and being able to split the proper theological hairs. Don’t get me wrong. Doctrine is important. Teaching is important. Having good teaching and correct teaching is extremely important. But faith is a matter of life. It is not merely an intellectual pursuit. That is doctrine and teaching matter because of what they give us for living our lives, not because they are the right answers on a test.

So as we are talking about the Trinity we are not preparing for some obscure test. We are talking ultimately about life. Your life, my life, our life; we are talking about the life that is lived in relationship with this triune God and what that means for us. It is beautiful. It is exciting. It is a mystery. It encompasses all of our lives, every area and aspect.

You see when we ask the questions of who is God? How do we know him? What is he like? Though he is beyond our understanding. We do know him in relationship. He is Father. Creator. He gives us all that we need for this body and life. He is Son. Savior. He died on the cross and rose again so that our sins would be forgiven and that we would have everlasting life. He is Spirit. Sanctifier. He lives in us and with us. He gives us faith and makes us more like Jesus. These are three persons, but one God. A mystery. A mystery that we stand in awe of. A mystery that we understand more with our hearts, than we do with our minds. A mystery that we see unfold as we live our lives in relationship with this awesome God. A mystery that we believe, because this is how God has revealed himself to us. This is how the Scriptures talk about God. And so then this is how we are to talk about God, but more importantly this how we are to live in relationship with our God. This is something that you can see as you look at the lessons for today.

Our first lesson is from the first chapter of Genesis. The creation. Now for simplicity sakes we talk about the Father as the creator, but all three persons were involved here. The Spirit is hovering over the face of the waters. John tells us about the son that nothing that has been made was made apart from him. In verse 26 we hear God say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

We see this beautiful and majestic and wonderful creation that God made. It is perfect. It is undefiled. There is no death or suffering or sin or injustice. God didn’t need to create the creation. He didn’t do it because he was lonely or bored. He did it because he is a God who lives in relationship. Here we see the creation and the creator. The creator looks at his creation and declares that it is indeed good.

But you know where the story goes from here. The creation does not stay in that state. The people God placed in charge disobey God and with that sin enters into the creation. Suddenly there is now death, and corruption. There is injustice. People live life alienated and separated from each other. From that day on the creation was broken. It is a reality that we know all too well isn’t it? For in our own lives we see the same things going on today.

Our world is a broken and scary place. There are broken relationships in our own lives, families alienated from one another because of sin. Three is suffering and injustice going on all around us. People sin against us or we sin against them and it breaks apart the relationships that we have with them. We find ourselves faced and burdened with sickness or even with death. If this wasn’t bad enough on its own, sin also separates us from our God.

So we have a pretty big problem here. Our God is Holy. Sin cannot be in his presence. His creation was corrupted by sin. If you take a smooth piece of paper and crumble it up into a ball, and then try to smooth it back out again, you don’t get rid of the wrinkles. It’s kind of like that with the creation. So what is a holy and perfect God to do with a sinful and imperfect creation?

He redeems it. He saves it. He gives his very own life for it. This we see in our second lesson from the book of Acts. Peter gives a sermon where he is talking about Jesus dying and being raised from the dead. This death and resurrection, as you know, is not simply a miraculous historical event. But it is the very event that gives to you and me and all who believe, forgiveness, life and salvation. It is the very event that begins the process of restoring the creation. It is the event that guarantees that one day all the corruption in our world, all the injustice, all the suffering, sickness, sadness and death will be no more.

This hope is real and certain. It is yours. You have it because God loves you so very much. You have it because Jesus lived the perfect life you are unable to live. You have it because he died on the cross and rose again. You have it because he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.

Not only is this ours, but we have the Spirit poured out into our lives in great power. The Holy Spirit lives in us and with us. He works to make us more and more into the image of our Jesus. He uses the scriptures and baptism and communion, to work, give and strengthen our faith. With our own reason and strength it is impossible to believe in Jesus or come to him, but the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy.

So we see in these lessons how we are to talk about God. We talk about him in relationship. Our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is our creator, our redeemer, our sanctifier. Anything else or anything less is not the one true God. He loves us very, very much. He loves you very, very much. It is really an awesome, beautiful and powerful thing.

You see God is passionate about his creation. He loves his creation more than we can ever begin to understand. He is about the work of restoring his creation back into that right relationship with himself. So we can say that our God is a sending God. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Spirit. The church is sent by God to go out into the world to make known in our words and actions this love of God in Jesus.

This is the gospel lesson. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. This isn’t stay, set up camp and wait for everyone to come to you. It is go. It is make disciples. It is baptize and teach.

This is very good, although it can be overwhelming and scary. So that is why we don’t forget the last part, and I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

As we speak the words of the creed this morning. Don’t just get through it. Don’t be overwhelmed by the words of the screen. Listen to them. Allow yourself to get lost in them. Let them flood you with awe and wonder at this awesome and wonderful God who loves you so very much. In him you have forgiveness, salvation, and life; now and always. Amen.