A Sermon from First Church, Scarborough… 

A sermon offered by the Rev. Ian F. “Jack” Steeves in the public worship of the First Congregational Church of Scarborough, Maine on Sunday, June 3, 2007.  The principal reading was John 16:12-16. 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:12-13). 

“The Trinity: More than Just an Idea” 

The concept of the Trinity is not found in the Bible, although the roots of it are certainly there, as today’s gospel reading attests.  “Trinity” is a complex metaphor developed by the early church to name three basic ways that they experienced God’s active presence with them.  Today we celebrate and consider the nature, activity, and mystery of God. 

Today is Trinity Sunday.  It is one of the most difficult Sundays of the church year to celebrate, because it is an “idea” Sunday.  Today, we are celebrating a theological doctrine rather than an historic event.  Christmas, Easter and even Pentecost are historic events or happenings.  At the very least, on those occasions, we can tell the old, old story and in some congregational way, remember and celebrate the church’s memory. 

Trinity, or “God in three persons,” is a thought, a cerebral construct, and a human metaphor that seeks to show us God.  The emphasis is on who God is and not on what God does.  In the words of the old hymn, today’s problem is “Immortal, invisible, God only wise/In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.” 

We can say (paraphrasing the Medieval mystic Thomas á Kempis) that we would rather love the Trinity than try to explain it. (Trinity is from the Latin “trinitas” meaning “three in one”).  The distinction sums it up for many souls.  For others, it is not all that important that we explicitly believe in “the three persons” in the one God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is enough, some say, to just believe in the God.  Still, for more than fourteen hundred years (since the Athanasian Creed was written), the word, Trinity, has been in our church vocabulary to fascinate us and to frustrate us.  What is one to do? 

Long, long ago, the question was not lost on the great Christian missionary Padric (or as we call him, St. Patrick of Ireland).  Christian Celtic tradition says Bishop Padric explained the mystery of the Trinity to his pagan listeners by using the lowly shamrock with its three separate yet connected leaves.  It was a simple show and tell in a culture that revered the number 3.  It seems to have worked, judging its staying power in the collective conscious and symbolism of Christian peoples everywhere.  Shamrocks, triangles, and interconnecting circles have long been attempts at symbolizing, if not completely explaining, the Trinity.  There is, however, a problem. 

The problem is that it is one thing “to know about God,” and something else entirely “to know God.”  Our knowledge about God may be simple or very sophisticated.  And despite the fact that the church has always encouraged a constant growth in our understanding of the faith (and a greater knowledge about God), it has also recognized and even canonized many a worthy saint whose theology grades were barely passing. 

“To know God” has always been more fundamental, more important.  What really matters, today, is not how good our explanations are, but how deep our faith is. 

Today’s challenge is not to just find a better explanation of the Doctrine of the Trinity, but to relate more deeply and intimately, “to know” the God who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 

On their last night together, before his death, Jesus spoke openly and frankly to the Disciples: “I have more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.  When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth.”  And, so, it has been. 

After almost 2,000 years, the truth remains that we need to be much more concerned about our immediate experience of God in our lives than in how best to explain it all. 

One of the normal expectations of our Christian life is that we have a deeply personal relationship with our God – that we “know God,” not just “know about God.” 

This means, we must reconsider the misconception that “spiritual experiences” are reserved for only a few exceptional saints.  Remember: the Bible was written by ordinary, everyday folk and should be read today by ordinary, everyday folk, just like us. 

An everyday sort of mysticism is ours when we feel a deep communion with Christ as we read or hear read the gospel, or whisper a quiet, little prayer, or suddenly recognize Christ in a suffering brother or a joyful sister, or in the taking up of the bread and cup in Communion. 

Nothing is more immediate than the astonishing experience and the awesome spectacle of life, nothing more real than the wonder of Creation and the mystic in us “knows God” as we are struck with a developing sense of the sacred while gazing at the very ordinary.   

Today, we are invited to a more personal relationship with God in Christ.  The Holy Spirit, as promised, is here and was sent from God to be our guide.  As the Spirit mixes and mingles among us, so it also teaches and interprets and encourages us that we may be led to a deeper relationship with God and a fuller understanding of God’s will is for us. 

And the more “we know God” in a profoundly personal sense, the more we truly “know about God,” this immense mystery expressed as the “Trinity.” 

The Trinity is a truth, more than just an “idea,” that cries out for our personal involvement.  There must emerge a human passion for this God of ours, a sense of personal excitement about God’s identity, and a real desire to love God more. 

Fred Buechner, a Presbyterian minister and author, has written powerfully and extensively about God in the ordinary, daily events: 

      “Listen to your life.  Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that God speaks (and God reveals God’s self)….It’s in language that’s not always easy to decipher, but it’s there powerfully, memorably, unforgettably.” 

Here are the sources of our confident pondering: the caring of a Creator God, the saving action of Jesus Christ, and the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit.  And thanks be to our gracious God who is ever beyond our understanding and yet dwells most deeply and richly in us. 

I have come to believe that an outward evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the capacity to be constantly astonished at what God is up to in our lives.   

May the blessing of the God of life be yours, the blessing of the loving Christ be yours, the blessing of the Holy Spirit be yours, to cherish you always, to help you moment by moment, and to make you holy unto eternity.  Amen.