SERMON
June
5, 2023
Matthew 28:16-20
Well, here I am preaching on the one day that all clergy make every effort to shy away from, Trinity Sunday. The day when we celebrate one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, the day on which we attempt to explain the unexplainable – the Holy Trinity.
As most of you know, the Trinity is proclaimed through the statement of our faith: the Nicene Creed. The creed was first formulated at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in the year 325 and was later amplified, adopted, and authorized as the true expression of the Faith at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In its final form the creed established the church as one: holy, catholic, and apostolic. It is the same creed that we proclaim each Sunday between the sermon and the Prayers of the People, just prior to the Eucharist.
The creed professes our faith. A faith based on our belief that God is three persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three separate persons, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Three separate persons who are all one, their glory equal and their majesty co-eternal. As most theologians and scholars wisely say, “It is a mystery.” Indeed, it is a mystery. It is a mystery through which we live our daily lives. A mystery that affirms that when Jesus was with us, he was one with us, fully human, and that when he ascended, he returned to God but continued to be with us as our advocate, the Holy Spirit.
The rationale for this final version of the creed was based on the belief that Jesus was co-eternal with God. That is Jesus and God were always one. In other words, God did not create Jesus as an afterthought. Jesus and God were one at the beginning, throughout time, and are still one in present time. Remember the opening sentences of the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Jesus reminds us of this co-eternal relationship when he proclaims in today’s gospel, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
As I began to write this sermon my mind wandered to the Genesis story of creation that Chi read so beautifully just a moment ago, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the earth.” And I thought, if ever there was a mystery this is it. And then I thought, Scripture is filled with mysteries. Mysteries that require exploring if they are going to be relevant to today’s global and chaotic context.
I decided to begin my explorations with the text of the commentator Bill Moyers’ wonderful series “Genesis: A Living Conversation.” In this series Moyers and others explore 10 separate passages from the Book of Genesis. The conversations are brilliant and relevant. We have decided to schedule it as a study group to begin this coming fall.
To begin the first conversation Moyers comments “…we human beings were destined ever after [our creation] to think upon our existence, to imagine and argue about what it means to be made in God’s image.” And in reference to the opening passages of this first book of scripture he then asks, “These words are so familiar to us there are almost a cliché. What do you think they must have sounded like to the first people who heard them”?
I began to wonder, “What do we in the 21st century make of the scripture stories that we read each Sunday morning. Stories that continually remind us that we are made in God’s image. Stories that give us countless clues meant to guide our lives. Lives blessed as being one of God’s many beloved children. Are these words so familiar to us that they are almost cliché? How do we in today’s world interpret the concept that we are created in God’s image? What does it mean when Jesus proclaims that he will be with us to the end of time. What is the Holy Spirit. Is it real”?
In a circuitous way this brings us back to the Trinity and the mystery of Jesus as both fully human and fully divine. What does this mystery mean for us today? Is it relevant? If so, in what way?
Perhaps this is where we should remember that each and every Sunday, we profess our faith through reciting the Nicene Creed. We profess in faith - Faith is here capitalized, underlined, and bolded – we profess that we believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty; we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God; and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Have we spoken these words so many times that they have become almost cliché?
I would like to suggest that if we sense that this profession of faith has indeed become cliché to us, we return to exploring Scripture. That we read carefully and repeatedly not only the creation story, but also the prophets, the psalms, and finally the gospels. I encourage all of us, me included, to continually dialogue with Scripture. Why: because it forms the world in which we as Christians live. It is our creed. Our profession of faith.
In faith we believe that we are all created in God’s image. In faith we believe that God has always spoken to us through his Angelic messengers. In faith we believe that Jesus is God incarnate, God made man to be among and us and to show us the Way. In faith we believe that as Jesus was ascending to once again be with the Father he appeared to the disciples, gave them final words of direction, breathed the power of the Holy Spirit upon them, and then just prior to his ascension reminded them once again “And remember, I will be with you always, to the end of time.”
We must not allow scripture to become cliché. Rather we must understand it to be our daily bread, our assurance that we will be forgiven if we forgive, our guard against being led into temptation and thereby our deliverance from evil. We must find ways to make scripture come alive with relevance in our lives and in the lives of others in 2023 and beyond.
One way to do this is to read carefully the writings of those whose lives reflect their knowledge that true faith is not possible without a continual reading of and reflection on God’s Word expressed in so many ways over time through the words and actions of Abrahm, Moses, the Prophets, through the life of Jesus Christ with us, and through the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit.
Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann argues that “When serious people of good faith disagree, they've got to go back into the narratives and come at it again. One of the problems in the church is that people are not willing to do that. People have arrived at a place where they think they have got the answer.”
Thomas Watson, best known for
working as Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant during the development of the
telephone, said most beautifully, “Read the Scripture, not only as a history,
but as a love-letter sent to you from God.”
Scripture as a love letter to the beloved children of God. A love letter that directs us to a life of eternal peace.
Finally, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor and theologian who was executed by the Nazis in Flossenburg concentration camp in 1945, wrote “When we read Scripture, our ultimate goal is not to know more but to be different. [Our]life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.” We lovingly study the Scriptures to know Christ and be conformed into his image.
As Jesus ascends, he uses the
phrase “peace be with you” several times. Jesus is giving his disciples
reassurance that he will be with them – with us – always. He is offering
assurance of a peace derived from the knowledge that we have been created as
God’s beloved children. That the Father has given us a savior in the
incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ. And that through the Father and the Son we
have been given an advocate, a guide and protector, the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity in all its mystery is
our assurance that God is with us – always. God’s peace is available to us all
if we can resist making Scripture cliché. If we can experience Scripture anew through
listening carefully and engaging in challenging conversations, reflections, and
prayers and the power of the Holy Trinity in our lives.
And now, let us turn to page 358
in your Book of Common Prayer and together proclaim our faith by saying the
Nicene Creed.
We
believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of
the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
