Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3: 1-17
Trinity Sunday, May 27, 2018
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL
Christina Berry
On this Trinity Sunday of 2018, we encounter two texts that I’m sure were chosen to give preachers some way to talk about the trinity, the Christian belief that God is three in one – three persons, one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I’ve preached quite a few sermons trying to unpack this idea of the trinity – talked about its history and meaning, about the three persons of the Godhead – God the creator, Christ our redeemer, the Holy Spirit the sustainer. But there’s really no way to explain the mystery of the Trinity.
Today, let’s take the wayback machine all the way back to the temple in Isaiah’s time. It was a place of splendor and glory, beautiful and awe-inspiring. There was an altar for sacrificing animals in worship, and there was a special room that only one priest could enter once a year, the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant was kept, that sacred box that contained the remnants of the stone tablets, on which were written the ten commandments.
The prophet Isaiah’s vision is filled with a sense of splendor and awe, an encounter with the holy that is beyond description- an angel with a hot coal which burns the prophet’s lips cleansing him and preparing him to be sent out. As we hear this scripture, let’s enter into the mystery of the trinity, the holiness of God and the redemptive actions of Jesus and the amazing presence of the Holy Spirit, and let’s go there in the same spirit of awe that is expressed in this reading from Isaiah 6:1-8:
In the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty;
and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings:
with two they covered their faces,
and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called,
and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphs flew to me,
holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
The seraph touched my mouth with it and said:
"Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed
and your sin is blotted out."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
There’s not an explanation for this amazing, awe-filled moment; it’s a demonstration of holiness, of the mysterious presence of God. Keep that image in your thoughts – hold it lightly… Now, we move forward in time to a night in Jerusalem, when a respected religious leader comes to visit Jesus. Nicodemus wants to learn more about this amazing man, the one that people are saying is the Messiah, the promised son of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus that someone who wants to see God’s kingdom needs to experience a second birth – the first being the one we all experience, and the second being the one we have through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying that’s why he came – so that we can have a new birth into a new life - a life that is lived in the Holy Spirit and brings us nearer to God. For us, being born of water and Spirit is a reminder of our baptism – going under the water and coming back out signifies dying to our old life and being raised up into a new life. This scripture reading makes reference to all three persons of the trinity: God as the creator of the new kingdom, Jesus as redemptive in his life, death and resurrection, and the Spirit as the one who is always with us, making it all work. Let’s enter into this story and encounter, along with Nicodemus, the word of God for us today in John 3:1-17:
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
He came to Jesus by night and said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God;
for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."
Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old?
Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"
Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel,
and yet you do not understand these things?
"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know
and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven
except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
It’s probably good that we only devote one Sunday a year to the Trinity. I could preach every week for half an hour for a whole year, and the subject of the Trinity could never be exhausted. However, all of you would be thoroughly exhausted!
I think that I have probably belabored you all enough in the past trying to explain the Trinity with tongue twisting and mind-bending ideas like the perichoretic dance or the hypostatic union or the Nicaean argument over homo-ousious or homoi-ousious.
So let’s not do that today, ‘kay?
This idea of one God in three persons – God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity – is not ever explicitly stated in the Bible. Interestingly, the doctrine of the trinity was developed in the three hundreds, by three scholars. Those three scholars were known as the Cappadocian fathers; Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus. They lived in a region of Northern Turkey called Cappadocia, at the convent run by Basil and Gregory’s sister, Macrina. They reasoned together that God, Christ, and the Spirit were of the same substance, but were distinct from one another, just as any three people share the same humanity but are separate personalities and beings. They described this not as a theological idea, but as a relationship. The three persons of the Trinity were described as being in a kind of dance- a dance animated by their love for one another, a love that connects them eternally.
Any of us who’ve been in a deeply loving relationship – whether in romance or friendship or parent-child – can easily understand that feeling of being so very connected, while still being separate people. Think of two loving parents with their new baby – so intensely and powerfully attached to each other that you can see it and feel it.
It is in that intense connection that a baby begins to understand itself.
First, the infant makes no distinction between itself and its mother.
Then, as the baby grows and develops,
through the love of the nurturing parent,
it begins to understand itself as a separate being.
By about age two, a baby can recognize itself in a mirror!
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
It’s probably good that we only devote one Sunday a year to the Trinity. I could preach every week for half an hour for a whole year, and the subject of the Trinity could never be exhausted. However, all of you would be thoroughly exhausted!
I think that I have probably belabored you all enough in the past trying to explain the Trinity with tongue twisting and mind-bending ideas like the perichoretic dance or the hypostatic union or the Nicaean argument over homo-ousious or homoi-ousious.
So let’s not do that today, ‘kay?
This idea of one God in three persons – God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity – is not ever explicitly stated in the Bible. Interestingly, the doctrine of the trinity was developed in the three hundreds, by three scholars. Those three scholars were known as the Cappadocian fathers; Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus. They lived in a region of Northern Turkey called Cappadocia, at the convent run by Basil and Gregory’s sister, Macrina. They reasoned together that God, Christ, and the Spirit were of the same substance, but were distinct from one another, just as any three people share the same humanity but are separate personalities and beings. They described this not as a theological idea, but as a relationship. The three persons of the Trinity were described as being in a kind of dance- a dance animated by their love for one another, a love that connects them eternally.
Any of us who’ve been in a deeply loving relationship – whether in romance or friendship or parent-child – can easily understand that feeling of being so very connected, while still being separate people. Think of two loving parents with their new baby – so intensely and powerfully attached to each other that you can see it and feel it.
It is in that intense connection that a baby begins to understand itself.
First, the infant makes no distinction between itself and its mother.
Then, as the baby grows and develops,
through the love of the nurturing parent,
it begins to understand itself as a separate being.
By about age two, a baby can recognize itself in a mirror!
But babies, and you and I, only begin to understand ourselves
because of loving relationships with other people.
In Zimbabwe, this is called “ubuntu,”
the idea that we exist only in the context of our relationships:
"I am because we are"
It’s pretty simple, if you think about it.
How do I learn to be kind, loving, hospitable, compassionate?
I learn that with you.
I can’t be kind alone – kindness is demonstrated in action.
You can’t be a loving person without someone to love.
The only way to be hospitable is to do so with other humans.
Compassion only exists in the context of our feelings of concern for others.
We are made in the image of God, and so we are made to be in relationship with one another, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit form an eternal circle of love in an unending dance. It is mysterious, indeed, to contemplate what Basil and the two Gregorys were getting at as they developed what became the doctrine of the Trinity.
Perhaps even more mysterious and beautiful
is the effect that this unending dance of love has upon us.
Because of that love, God created the heavens and the earth, and us,
in the image of God, made for relationship,
designed for connection with one another.
Because of that love, God in Christ was born an infant in a lowly place,
lived a life of healing, teaching and compassion,
confronted injustice, died at the hands of the powerful,
and rose again to continue, fully human and fully divine, the holy dance.
Because of that love, the Holy Spirit, present with God and Christ eternally,
lives in us and among us and through us,
enabling us to continue
because of loving relationships with other people.
In Zimbabwe, this is called “ubuntu,”
the idea that we exist only in the context of our relationships:
"I am because we are"
It’s pretty simple, if you think about it.
How do I learn to be kind, loving, hospitable, compassionate?
I learn that with you.
I can’t be kind alone – kindness is demonstrated in action.
You can’t be a loving person without someone to love.
The only way to be hospitable is to do so with other humans.
Compassion only exists in the context of our feelings of concern for others.
We are made in the image of God, and so we are made to be in relationship with one another, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit form an eternal circle of love in an unending dance. It is mysterious, indeed, to contemplate what Basil and the two Gregorys were getting at as they developed what became the doctrine of the Trinity.
Perhaps even more mysterious and beautiful
is the effect that this unending dance of love has upon us.
Because of that love, God created the heavens and the earth, and us,
in the image of God, made for relationship,
designed for connection with one another.
Because of that love, God in Christ was born an infant in a lowly place,
lived a life of healing, teaching and compassion,
confronted injustice, died at the hands of the powerful,
and rose again to continue, fully human and fully divine, the holy dance.
Because of that love, the Holy Spirit, present with God and Christ eternally,
lives in us and among us and through us,
enabling us to continue
God’s creating love,
Christ’s healing justice,
and the Spirit’s inspiring, empowering work.
When we invoke the trinity, what we are speaking of is this relational, loving, creating, healing presence that is demonstrated to us in so many wonderful ways. And we are speaking of a holy mystery, beyond our comprehension, and beyond our ability to explain. But isn’t love like that? Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said it so well that I’m just going to use his words about love. He said:
“Think and imagine a world where love is the way.
Imagine our homes and families where love is the way.
Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.
Imagine governments and nations where love is the way.
Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way.
Imagine this tired old world where love is the way.
When love is the way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive.
When love is the way, then no child
will go to bed hungry in this world ever again.
When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream
and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, poverty will become history.
When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields,
down by the riverside, to study war no more.
When love is the way, there's plenty good room –
plenty good room - for all of God's children.
Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other,
well... like we are actually family.
When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all,
and we are brothers and sisters, children of God.
My brothers and sisters, that's a new heaven, a new earth,
a new world, a new human family.”[1]
This is the love that moves God, the Holy Trinity,
to create us, to redeem us, to sustain us.
The name in which we baptize, the name of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the name of love.
Christ’s healing justice,
and the Spirit’s inspiring, empowering work.
When we invoke the trinity, what we are speaking of is this relational, loving, creating, healing presence that is demonstrated to us in so many wonderful ways. And we are speaking of a holy mystery, beyond our comprehension, and beyond our ability to explain. But isn’t love like that? Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said it so well that I’m just going to use his words about love. He said:
“Think and imagine a world where love is the way.
Imagine our homes and families where love is the way.
Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.
Imagine governments and nations where love is the way.
Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way.
Imagine this tired old world where love is the way.
When love is the way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive.
When love is the way, then no child
will go to bed hungry in this world ever again.
When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream
and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, poverty will become history.
When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields,
down by the riverside, to study war no more.
When love is the way, there's plenty good room –
plenty good room - for all of God's children.
Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other,
well... like we are actually family.
When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all,
and we are brothers and sisters, children of God.
My brothers and sisters, that's a new heaven, a new earth,
a new world, a new human family.”[1]
This is the love that moves God, the Holy Trinity,
to create us, to redeem us, to sustain us.
The name in which we baptize, the name of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the name of love.
When we speak of the mystery of the Trinity,
we are entering into that eternal dance to which we are all invited.
The trinity, someone said, is not a problem to be solved,
but a reality to be lived.
When we encounter this holy mystery, we are invited to join.
we are entering into that eternal dance to which we are all invited.
The trinity, someone said, is not a problem to be solved,
but a reality to be lived.
When we encounter this holy mystery, we are invited to join.
In our baptism, in our Christian life, and in our daily acts of love, we are living this mystery. As Anne Lamott described her gradual conversion to Christianity: “I didn't need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with redwood trees.”
Friends we are not called today to plumb the depths of the trinity, or spell out the meaning of perichoresis or a fourth century argument at the council of Nicaea over homo-ousious or homoi-ousious. We do not need to understand these things to be Christians.
What we do need to understand is that we are invited
into this eternal dance of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and that when we speak of God,
we are speaking of love.
Naming God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
is naming love.
Amen.
[1] Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, from his sermon at the wedding of England’s Prince Harry to Meghan Markle. Transcript accessed online at: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/20/612798691/bishop-michael-currys-royal-wedding-sermon-full-text-of-the-power-of-love
Friends we are not called today to plumb the depths of the trinity, or spell out the meaning of perichoresis or a fourth century argument at the council of Nicaea over homo-ousious or homoi-ousious. We do not need to understand these things to be Christians.
What we do need to understand is that we are invited
into this eternal dance of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and that when we speak of God,
we are speaking of love.
Naming God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
is naming love.
Amen.
[1] Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, from his sermon at the wedding of England’s Prince Harry to Meghan Markle. Transcript accessed online at: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/20/612798691/bishop-michael-currys-royal-wedding-sermon-full-text-of-the-power-of-love
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