by the Rev. Roger Wilson
Click here to watch the sermon recording on YouTube.
Our name for this day, “Trinity Sunday”, seems to fit after last week’s Pentecost celebrating the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of sending an advocate, the Holy Spirit. By our constant reference to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we assume many might have a clear understanding of Holy Trinity. A common referred to point to those preaching on Trinity Sunday is, “If you preach on the Trinity for five minutes you’re bound to slip into heresy.” Our task is set.
Bishop Loya wrote recently:
“The modern world has shaped us with a largely unexamined bias against the supernatural and the inexplicable. Ironically, we take it on unquestioned faith that anything not rational or explainable is not possible or believable.”
This insightful word from our Bishop will help us today. I was born curious and today still function in a state of curiosity. My curiosity in today’s readings leads me to wondering rather than trying to define or explore doctrine on the Trinity by rationalization. I encourage us to set aside any “largely unexamined bias against the supernatural and the inexplicable” that arise within us and use other parts of our minds. I would like to wonder with you, like our Sunday school does with its Godly Play, approaching scripture with wonder. Let us use our ability to wonder as we approach Trinity with this same mystery and wonder.
Towards the end of my sophomore year of college, I was asking many questions about Christianity as I knew it from childhood. I found jobs near my college for that summer so would not be going home. This sets the stage for my first real experience with mystery. I decided to attend a different church that summer. For the first time in my life, I heard sermons which were so alive and vibrating that I began to have hope there was a way out of the morass paralyzing me. I sought out this pastor (Bob) to meet him and introduce myself. As we sat in the nave and talked it did not take long for my introduction, and to my surprise we spent over an hour talking. Then Bob started asking questions that touched point after point of the sources of my spiritual illness. After this he prayed that Jesus would come heal me and that the Holy Spirit come and refresh me. That prayer was immediately answered. Suddenly, the truth of the Gospel, Acts, and Epistles became genuine, the bondage of my past was released. The feeling of the weight lifted from me was so great and deep that I spent the next 15 minutes lying on the chancel steps laughing in joy for the deliverance and faith I received. My introduction to mystical reality was a joyful experience.
Martin Luther’s[1] understanding of humanity rested ultimately on the personal relationship with the Creator, who spoke with Adam and Eve, and who went looking for them when they decided to avoid conversations with him.”[2] Let’s assume for today that God does want personal communication with us, he is our mover and Trinity is our way of understanding the movers’ ways of communicating and being present with us. That is what I experience, direct communication with God. So, let’s wonder about some readings.
I noticed we read in Genesis 1 that, “God said: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…So God created humankind in his image.””
I wonder, can I see myself as the complex creation God made me?
I wonder, did God create a space for him within me?
I wonder if that God space in me is how I understand mystery?
I noticed in Matthew, Jesus says about himself “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
I wonder, does it mean that Jesus was given authority by his Father?
I notice Jesus clarifying our relationship with the Father “…so that you may be children of your Father in heaven”
Wow, I wonder in baptism do you really mean we are adopted?
Saint Paul, I notice in Romans 6 you say, “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”
Father, I wonder, does this mean that baptism brings us into the Kingdom of God?
I notice you use, “we” and “our” so often in addressing us.
I wonder, are we already in community with you and with others you have called?
I notice Mark wants us to understand Transfiguration “Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!””
I wonder if the cloud, inside and outside us is calling us beloved?
Joan Chittister, in her commentary on the Rule of Benedit (a sixth century guide to living in community,) writes:
“The Hasidim tell the story of the preacher who preached over and over, “Put God into your life; Put God into your life. But the holy rabbi of the village said, “our task in not to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to realize that.”
Father, it seems to me you are saying like with Adam and Eve, you are the mover seeking relationship with us.
I wonder, is Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy, Spirit sweeping over the Cosmos to enfold us.
The Trinity invites us to dwell within the Kingdom of God. Come and dwell this week in wonder.
[1] Kolb, Robert “Martin Luther’s Definition of the Human Creature” https://verba-vitae.org/index.php/vvj/article/view/57
[2] Erik H. Herrmann, “Luther and the Importance of the Hebrew Heritage for his World of Thought,” in Simul: Inquiries into Luther’s Expression of the Christian Life, ed. Robert Kolb, Torbjörn Johansson, and Daniel Johansson (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021), 53.
