Trinity Sunday

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Many of us love a good mystery. 
Mystery TV Shows and books never get old.  They’re everywhere.
Sherlock Holmes has taken a million different forms and reincarnations throughout the years.

But when it comes to today, Trinity Sunday:
Preachers often note that this is our only church celebration devoted to a doctrine:
To a great mystery.
And many preachers will attempt to explain the mystery of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in less than twelve minutes.

These efforts are rarely successful.
Because the Trinity is a serious, deep and rich mystery.
There’s no summary for it:
And certainly not a twelve minute one!
To reduce this mystery to something we can rationally comprehend misses an opportunity for us to open ourselves up to the divine mystery.

Sure, 
We can talk about the history of the doctrine itself.
You can go to Wikipedia later today, and learn some pretty good stuff on the development of the doctrine.
But that’s not the point of today’s celebration.

The real point of today, is this deep, unfathomable mystery that is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:
Leading us and guiding us, not as a historical doctrine:
But as a real and true guide for us on this very modern day.
In fact, the Trinity is as true and powerful today as it was a thousand years ago.
It’s a mystery that encompasses every one of every age.

Last Sunday, on the Day of Pentecost:
We heard about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
And it continues today.
In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus saying, 
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth.”

Jesus was speaking to his disciples:
His close friends:
Just before his final meal, arrest, and crucifixion.
In addition to his promises that we would be raised to new life on the third day:
He wanted his followers to know that God would NEVER abandon them.
That the Holy Spirit would be their companion and guide forever.
He was reassuring them that although they were about to face HUGE challenges:
God would be with them.

We humans are pretty silly creatures.  
We like to take care of things ourselves.
We are trained to rationally define our reality:
To explain things away: And not seek deeper reality.
We’re told to be leaders, not followers.
Hence, the tendency to explain away the mystery of the trinity on a day like today:
As if it’s something that humanity can explain, and then just put away in the closet.

Yet Jesus says that we don’t need to do any of that!
We are freed from these human limitations:
Freed from acting like we have it all figured out.

Imagine a different way of approaching the challenges of our lives.
Imagine listening to God:
Rather than informing God of how we’d like things to work out.
Imagine that we come to see that there is a deeper meaning to our reality.
Imagine that we can turn to God for guidance when we face difficulty.

EXCEPT:
We don’t have to imagine any of this!
It IS our reality.
In the Trinity, we see a God who is with us ALWAYS:
Who shows us perfect love,
And who NEVER abandons us.

In Jesus, we see everything there is to see about God’s love:
Even if we can’t comprehend the entire mystery.
We see a person who entered our world in the humblest,
And most ordinary way possible.
We see a person who loved everyone and who challenged everyone to be transformed.
That’s a really important point:
Jesus invites EVERY person to be transformed by the power of God’s love.

In Jesus we see that God was willing to endure the pain and suffering of our humanity:
All so that we might see the wide embrace of God’s love for all people.

And in Jesus, we see the triumph of God’s love over even death itself.
We see, in the resurrection, that God’s love can make us fearless:
That we don’t need to be afraid of anything: not even death.

But the mystery of the Holy Trinity pushes us to look even further.
Last Sunday and today, as we think about the Holy Spirit:
We see yet another dimension of God’s love for us.

In the Holy Spirit, God has promised to be with us always:
To guide us into all truth.
The Holy Spirit’s guidance and love is inseparable from the love of God the father,
And from the love of God the son.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus, and Jesus and the Father are one.
There is a mutual glorification at work, 
And each person of the Holy Trinity reveals something about the other persons of the Trinity.
And that is what can draw us into the heart of God’s eternal love.

The Trinity represents how God’s very being is about relationship and love.
The Holy Trinity is itself the manifestation of God’s abiding promise to be with us at every turn, through every struggle.

This is Good News in our time.
So often our temptation is to tear others down:
But we see in the Trinity, a God who unites and glorifies:
Always in loving relationship.
So often our impulse is to separate ourselves from what challenges us:
But we see in the Trinity a God who is eternally steadfast.

So often we limit our reality or our possibilities to what fits into our own understanding:
But in the Holy Trinity, we see a God who promises to lead us into all truth, into deeper mystery- beyond anything we can ask or imagine.
So often, we forget the nearness of God.
But in the Holy Trinity, we see that God is ALWAYS with us.  
Even when we leave on new adventures, or some other new venture of the unknown:
We’re NEVER alone. 

So today, we won’t explain away the Trinity.
Instead, we’ll sing songs of praise to God the Father,
God the son,
And God the Holy Spirit.

Let’s give thanks that the Triune God loves us more than we can imagine:
Is with us always, at all times, and in all places:
Shedding love that is beyond anything we can ask or imagine.
Amen.