Trinity Sunday Sermon: Alternate Expanded Version; 05.31.26; G. Miles Smith+
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Canticle 13; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
Trinity Sunday A; 05.31.26; G. Miles Smith+
I know you don’t spend your time thinking about the intricacies of the Christian liturgical calendar -- that’s my job. :) But, the first Sunday after the Day of Pentecost is always called “Trinity Sunday”…a Sunday…as reflected in the Collect of the Day…when the Church is called to meditate upon “the glory of the eternal Trinity.”
It is something of a joke within clergy circles…that on Trinity Sunday…if a rector happens to be blessed with an assistant rector…deacon…or a seminary intern…that you would give them…the “opportunity”…to preach on the Holy Trinity. :) But, actually, I have always welcomed it…because from long ago…I had a sense that the Church’s teaching of God as the Holy Trinity…is very important…and wonderful…despite how difficult it is to understand and talk about.
So I do want to try to talk about the Holy Trinity again today. And (curiously enough) I would like to talk about three questions:
Do Christians have to believe in God as the Holy Trinity?
What are the potential gifts that come with the Church’s teaching of the Holy Trinity?
And what are the potential vulnerabilities we may be exposed to?
Do Christians have to believe in God as the Holy Trinity?
The assumption of that question is that this idea of the Trinity may be asking too much of us…or that somebody is trying to make us believe in it…as if belief in the Holy Trinity is a matter of some church authority compelling us against our will…or that the whole idea is unreasonable. And I would begin by saying that…no one is trying to make you…and that the whole idea is not unreasonable.
If we look at the Bible, what we can notice is that the New Testament is already using trinitarian language about God even before there is a doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It is explicit in the Gospel of Matthew’s text today where Jesus instructs the apostles to make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And the apostle Paul used trinitarian language, such as we heard in his words of blessing to the church in Corinth: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ[1], the love of God [2], and the communion of the Holy Spirit [3] be with all of you.”
In other words, Christians were already speaking of God as Three…and praying in the language of God as Three…from the very beginning…without even having a doctrine yet. That doctrine would eventually come some three hundred years later through the deliberations of the early church…as seen in The Nicene Creed…and many more writings afterwards. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity eventually came about, because human beings do need to use their reason…and the Church had to figure out…just what they were talking about…when they were using trinitarian language. Up until then, they had been using trinitarian language to describe their experience of God. But the time came when they discovered more than they had originally thought of in their language. And they believed that in doing so, it was a fulfillment of the promise which Jesus had made to them…that the Holy Spirit would lead them into understanding more of the reality of God (John 16:13).
What are the potential gifts that come with the Church’s teaching of the Holy Trinity?
So, instead of framing the question about the Holy Trinity as some kind of imposition of authority or irrationality, it is helpful to recognize that the doctrine evolved from the language of the earliest Christians in scripture and their worship together. Then, as it has turned out, the curious fact is that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity can bestow gifts of understanding helpful to the Church.
When we talk about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we are in fact talking about One God…but it is crucial in Christian experience and tradition, that we never cease to talk about the Three. The metaphysics and theology of that are necessarily complex and mysterious. But I’m not going there today. What I want to call to your attention is the practical reality that the Holy Trinity can give people three related and yet also different…entry points…into a conscious…relationship with God.
So, maybe I’ll be describing some of you…or someone you know and care about. I know that I’m also describing my own experience.
[1] There are people who have a deep appreciation of nature…that exceeds the merely recreational aspect of being outdoors…and which is actually a spiritual sensibility…although often times it is not articulated… but nevertheless real and valued.
So it can be helpful to realize that when Christians name God the Father…they are also talking about God the Creator. And the essence of the created world can put us in touch with…the glory of the reality of God. So, people who have a deep appreciation of nature…may not realize that…the doctrine of the Trinity…affirms their spiritual sensibility of nature…when we affirm “God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth”.
[2] There are people who dearly love Jesus. The doctrine of the Trinity would never have even existed… if it was not for the impact which Jesus has made on people…and which continues to happen.
What might not occur to people who love Jesus…is to also love the earth which God has made.
What might not occur to people who love Jesus…is that they are being invited into the same relationship that Jesus had with the Father…where not only was Jesus called Beloved by the Father, but now, so are we.
And what might not occur to people who love Jesus…is to also love the Holy Spirit.
[3] Which then brings me to the Holy Spirit. Here are a few highlights from last Sunday’s homily.
To honor the Holy Spirit…also means honoring creation…where the breath of God’s life continuously creates new life.
To honor the Holy Spirit…means honoring the prophetic speech of the biblical prophets…and anyone ever since…who in their own time has called us to “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8). Prophetic speech about justice and mercy can get politicized, but fundamentally it is language inspired by the Holy Spirit.
To honor the Holy Spirit…means honoring Jesus to whom the Spirit testifies and who brings us within the circle of the Father and the Son’s love for one another.
And to honor the Holy Spirit means honoring all kinds of constructive human creativity of the heart and mind through the arts, humanities, and sciences.
Many of these works of the Holy Spirit we would not necessarily connect with God…and yet the doctrine of the Holy Trinity actually invites us to.
I hope this has given you a sense of something really remarkable that does not easily occur to us…which is just how far-ranging and welcoming…the doctrine of the Holy Trinity actually is…of so much human experience…and so many different kinds of people and their gifts and passions.
The Holy Trinity is not only a mysterious and complex descriptor of the deep reality of God…but also effectively describes wide-ranging entry points for all kinds of people to discover different forms of a conscious… relationship…with God.
And this brings me to my last point:
What are the potential vulnerabilities we may be exposed to by the doctrine of the Holy Trinity?
Of course, the question already presupposes that there are such vulnerabilities, which might seem like an odd thing to say. But I think it helps to know to expect it. Believing in God the Holy Trinity does make us vulnerable to some specific challenges that we would not necessarily have otherwise.
Plenty of people still falsely think…including many Christians…that when the Church proclaims God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…that Christianity has three gods. Well, we don’t, but it can sure sound like that. And that has long been confusing for people.
People can also be put off by the complexity of this language…of the Three in the One…and the One in the Three. The Holy Trinity makes us vulnerable to the real complexity of trying to speak about God. But, honestly, why should we ever imagine that God is simple? Talking about God should, at least on some levels, be more complex than quantum mechanics, the intricacies of cell biology, or the farthest reaches of space. Not that God has to always be that complex. After all, we do truly believe that God wants to be known and loved, as we are able…just as we are known and loved by God.
But finally, I think perhaps the greatest potential vulnerability that the teaching of God the Holy Trinity exposes Christians to…is the discovery of just how good and trustworthy God really is…that God is far better than we are…and that God is often far better than the way God may end up being represented within the Church.
The Holy Trinity of God invites us right into the center…of the divine life of God…where there is a circle of love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…where there is perfect goodness, truth, justice, and mercy. We are provided a home there…from which we are called to mirror God’s perfect goodness. And we are still provided a home within the Holy Trinity of God when we fail…if we will but return.
But…the world…is very much…not…like the divine life of the Holy Trinity. Our experience of the world…of so much sin and death…can make us intensely vulnerable…to feeling the extremely baffling disjunction…between the goodness of God…and so much that is not good in our experience of the world.
But if we take to heart “the glory of the eternal Trinity”…then we will want to believe…that God is…so much greater…than we have ever imagined.
