Trinity Sunday

"You have received the Spirit of adoption as children, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom 8:15)

Here is a secret of the preaching trade. Many of my professional colleagues hate to preach on this day. There is nothing concrete to latch on to: no historical event to analyze, no biographical character to reveal, and no story where you can always begin with, "Once upon a time." There isn’t even a moral lesson to teach. What we have here is a pure abstraction. And one that makes no sense in this world of individual things. I am here. You are there. We are separated by space. We are not one being, one person, but many and separate. So how can three distinct persons be one single being? How can God be separate without being, in fact, three gods?

Our three scripture readings actually run the risk of adding to our confusion. It's clear that each reading focuses on one of the persons, which only makes them seem more separate. Yet each reading focuses on different aspects of God that we have felt in our lives.

When Isaiah stands before a power so overwhelming as to burn him out of existence, we can identify with him. Have we not known a time when all our answers to life's questions no longer made sense? Have we not known a time where we were at the end of our rope, at the limit of our power, and we had no choice but to trust in something so far beyond our powers of observation that our trust amounted to blind faith? Here in Isaiah is that unseen Father, whose authority and love we trust.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul shows us the Son, who is the human bridge between us and the unseen Father. He was the agent of God's creation, who made all things. And he is the incarnate God who entered from the unseen into the seen, from that which has no beginning to that which was begun by him.

In John's Gospel we are introduced to the Holy Spirit who, like the wind, blows where he will. And wherever that Holy Wind blows, there is Jesus, no longer bound by the limits of a body, space and time, but present to all, as close to us as our hearts.

So here is the Trinity, three distinct persons with seemingly three different functions. So where is the unity? Why aren't we praying to three gods? How can these three persons be One being?

Look again at what Paul tells the Romans. Through Jesus, we can dare to call the unseen, yet all-powerful God, "Abba," Daddy. That is what the word actually means. Through Jesus Christ, we need not fear being destroyed by that awesome God for whom the Big Bang was a snap of the fingers. But on whose authority can we presume so much? Paul's? What more did he know of this unseen God than we know?

No, it is not on Paul's authority that we call God "Daddy." Remember Gethsemane? Jesus is about to do what he and God have agreed must be done. But knowing what he would suffer, Jesus said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

I have never known a decision made by two or more people that didn't require at least some negotiation, or haggling. We can't read each others' minds. We all have to work through a period of understanding the desires of the other, and finding the best balance of those oft competing desires. Jesus and his Abba are distinct from each other. They talk to each other. But there is no hint here that they are haggling with each other. They deliberate, and reach a decision with terrible consequences for both, but not through compromise, or surrender, but with a single undivided will. And that decision is made for one reason: the unity of love that Father, Son and Holy Spirit share, with each other, and with you and me.

As the bridge between us sinners and a just God, Jesus makes it possible for us to share this life of one love and one heart of the One God in trinity of person and unity of being.

How do we know that there is such a thing as the Trinity? Because Jesus Christ reveals the love that is the Trinitarian God. Why does the Trinity matter to us? Because in Jesus Christ we share the love that defines one God in three persons. The Trinity is not an abstraction. It is the cure for our isolation and loneliness. It is the only hope for a world divided by false teaching, broken relationships and man-made ideologies.

Sometimes, in the process of negotiation, it takes a lot of talking, a lot of words, before we get to the few words that say it all. For me, the words are Bob Marley's: "One Love, One Heart. Let's get together and feel alright. One Love, One Heart. Give thanks and praise to the Lord and we will feel alright."