I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity…
Trinity Sunday is the feast day that has launched a thousand jokes. You know the ones: Trinity Sunday, otherwise known as International Make the Curate Preach Day. Trinity Sunday: The only feast day devoted to a doctrine. Trinity Sunday: the day on which you’re most likely to hear a heresy.
I love to preach on Trinity Sunday. This day of the Church year gets right to the heart of what we’re here to do. Trinity Sunday asks us to get clear about what we mean when we say “God.” Unfortunately, far too many people think that what we celebrate today has nothing to do with their lives.
The doctrine of the Trinity – the reality of God as Trinity - is relevant to your life and mine. It tells us why Jesus’ life, example, and teachings are authoritative for us as Christians. It tells us why his death and resurrection has turned the world upside down and called us to live as witnesses to that reality. It tells us that the person of Jesus (or who Jesus is) interprets his work and his words (what Jesus does). And who Jesus is, is none other the son of God.
What do we mean when we say ‘God’? Every time we begin the Eucharist, we say what we mean: “Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” When we say “God,” we don’t refer to a God of ultimate vagueness, of “faith” in general, or “religion” in general. Instead, we are talking about a God who has acted and continues to act in particular ways. When we say “God,” we mean precisely “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” We talk about a God who acts in the world for us and for our salvation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in the sending of the Holy Spirit. We talk about a God whom we know in Jesus - and who does not change.
Wesley Hill writes that the doctrine of the Trinity ‘is meant, among other things, to offer assurance to wavering consciences. If we ever wonder whether the grace and new beginning we have experienced through Jesus’s love and the Spirit’s presence among us is merely the momentary kindness of an otherwise unpredictable God, Trinitarian theology says, “No, this is how God fundamentally is — all the way back into eternity, and all the way into the coming kingdom.”’
Join me this Sunday as we worship the Triune God together.
Yours in Christ,
Kara