Holy Trinity Sunday (A) 6/7/20 youtube link: TEXTS: Genesis 1:1-2:4a 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20 * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We start out with a brief discussion about our church SEASONS.
In the CHURCH…our “seasons” are not determined by an equinox.
Instead of 4 --fall…winter…spring...and summer… --the church calendar recognizes 7 “seasons”. Advent Christmas Epiphany Lent Holy Week Easter Pentecost Kingdomtide (unique to Wesleyans and Presbyterians --though we do celebrate it on Christ the King Sunday …the last Sunday of the church year!)
OBVIOUSLY…the seasons CENTER around the LIFE of JESUS. * His coming * His birth * His manifestation…being revealed…as God’s Son * His passion and death * His resurrection * His earthly life and ministry * And his fulfillment of God’s kingdom.
And UNLIKE the 4 seasons that neatly divide the year into 4 equal parts --the church seasons are all of different lengths.
* Advent is only 4 Sundays long. * Lent is observed for 6 Sundays. * Epiphany and Eastertide both extend over 7 Sundays. * The week of Holy Week gets its own “season.”
But by far the majority of the church calendar year is designated as the “Sundays after Pentecost”.
Depending on what church calendar you are using… they are up to 27 Sundays in all.
Well…it takes a LOT of Sundays to talk about Jesus’ LIFE and MINISTRY! ☺ (pause)
This week…HOLY TRINITY Sunday… is the FIRST of those many “Pentecost Sundays”.
Now…about the Holy Trinity…MARTIN LUTHER said: “To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation. To try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.”
And he was RIGHT!
So we won’t even TRY! ☺
Attempting to FULLY comprehend the concept of an INFINTE God is an almost IMPOSSIBLE task for our FINITE human minds ANYWAY!
We DO have a BASIC understanding of the CONCEPT of the TRINITY.
GOD is 1 God…in 3 persons. * God the FATHER = CREATOR * God the SON = Jesus = SAVIOR * God the HOLY SPIRIT = Comforter, Guide, Advocate, God’s presence who is IN us and WITH us every day.
We’ve talked about that every year on this Trinity Sunday.
So we’ve sorta GOT this…right? Right.
Well...THIS year…I want to LEAD us in asking the “So What?” question.
We believe in the Holy Trinity = 1 God in 3 Persons. OK…“So what? What do we DO with that? What does GOD want us to DO with that?” (pause)
I.) The Rev. LEONARD SWEET helps us here and says: “The reason for such a lop-sided division of the seasons in the church is explained in part by this week’s gospel text.
Matthew 28:16-20 is identified as the “Commissioning of the Disciples” text.
It is a hotly contested text, to say the least.
The phrase “The Great Commission” doesn’t appear in the Bible, --and wasn’t widely used until the early 20th century, when the phrase and the text became wed-locked forever.
But in these few verses Matthew manages to encapsulate the whole of his gospel story.”
And Leonard is RIGHT!
Jesus told his disciples…in effect: “OK, ya’ll… My work is DONE. I’m headed back to my heavenly home and heavenly Father.
So..NOW it’s up to YOU! Over the past 3 years…I’ve taught you ALL you need to KNOW about GOD…God’s LOVE…FAITH…ME…and MINISTRY.
Now GO…get OUT there…GO with my AUTHORITY!” Believe it! … Have Faith in it! … Live it!... Practice it!...Share it!”
And…as we KNOW…they DID!
II.) And the SAME is true…for US!
A.] WE have NOT had the same opportunity as the first disciples.
We have NOT had Jesus walking and talking with us…not PHYSICALLY.
But MOST of us HAVE been in CHURCH for MOST of our LIVES!
Most of us HAVE been in Sunday School…Bible Study classes… …VBS…maybe Children’s Church...etc.
And MOST of us have LISTENED to SO many SERMONS …that SOMETIMES we think we’re gonna EXPLODE!
Oh, Lord…HERE we GO! NOT another SERMON!! …for SURE not another one about the TRINITY! ☺ Just KIDDING!
But…SERIOUSLY.
The question REMAINS.
We KNOW a LOT about * God the FATHER = CREATOR * God the SON = Jesus = SAVIOR * God the HOLY SPIRIT = WITH us and IN us…HELPING us every day
“So What? What do we DO with that? What does GOD want us to DO with that?”
ANSWER: The SAME thing Jesus told his DISCIPLES to do with it. “Believe it! … Have Faith in it! … Live it!... Practice it!...Share it!”
B.] A RABBI and SOAP MAKER went for a walk together.
The Soap Maker had some negative things to say about religion: "What good is religion? Just look around you. What do you see? Trouble, misery, wars - even after all these years and years of preaching and teaching about goodness, truth, peace.
What good is religion with all its prayers and sermons if all this evil still exists?"
The Rabbi kept quiet as they continued their walk.
Then they noticed a CHILD playing in the gutter. The child was just filthy with dirt and mud.
The Rabbi said to the Soap Maker: "Look at this child! Now, you say that soap makes people clean…but what good is it?
With all the soap in the world …this child is still dirty. What good is soap after all?"
The Soap Maker immediately answered him: "But rabbi, soap can't do its job if it isn't used!"
The Rabbi replied: "The same is true with religion." (pause)
THAT’s what Jesus TOLD…and COMMISSIONED… his First Disciples to do! --and WHY!
And THAT’s what Jesus TELLS…and COMMISSIONS…US to do! --and WHY!
Jesus wants US to SHOW and TELL people -- about God their heavenly FATHER who created THEM and LOVES them!
--about God the SON = Jesus their SAVIOR who ALSO loves them and DIED for them!
--and about God the HOLY SPIRIT who is WITH them and IN them…HELPING them every day!
Now…it’s TRUE…we will NEVER stop LEARNING over our lifetime. HOPEFULLY…we will never WANT to stop learning!
But we already KNOW all that we NEED to know …to DO what Jesus COMMANDS and COMMISSIONS us for.
So Jesus ENCOURAGES us: “You DON’T understand EVERYTHING about God…Me…the Holy Spirit. But you don’t HAVE to!
You have ENOUGH understanding ALREADY. “Believe it! … Have Faith in it! … Live it!... Practice it!...Share it!” (pause)
III.) Now…WHAT do we SHARE? …And does the doctrine of the Trinity HELP?
Rev. BETHANY PEERBOLTE gives us a really neat OUTLINE from today’s 2nd reading in 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
She sees it as a Trinity of LOVE…GRACE…and FELLOWSHIP.
Verse 13: “The GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ, the LOVE of God, and the COMMUNION…the FELLOWSHIP of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Rev Peerbolte SAYS: “This final verse of 2 Corinthians has served as a popular benediction in the Church. (We use it to open our worship service It provides a nice summary of blessings every week!) that honors each part of the Trinity.
It is not an easy benediction to live out though. None of these works are easy.
But Paul is clear he intends the Corinthians to be working toward perfecting love, grace, and fellowship.”
1.) The FIRST hope Paul has for the church in Corinth is that they LIVE OUT God’s work in LOVE.
Paul tells them that God IS love and he is fully PRESENT in any act they do in LOVE.
This was a relatively NEW idea for the people of his world.
Other gods were known to be particular with their love.
Those gods might show love to a few special followers, --but the rest of the population lived with the anxiety of the gods’ wrath.
But the Jewish God…known better through Jesus… is a God of unconditional love.
If God’s love is shared …they can be assured that God is in that place too.
Just so…TODAY…we ALL are CALLED --to LIVE…PRACTICE…and SHARE God’s LOVE!
2.) Paul also wants the GRACE given by JESUS to be perfected in the Corinthian churches.
They seem happy to welcome the grace --to their OWN lives --to cover their own sins.
But Paul wants them to see grace works for EVERYBODY.
Jesus’ Grace works IN us and THROUGH us.
Peerbolte NOTES: “We of course receive grace for the things we have done, …but the work of grace does not end there.
It works inside us to mend the brokenness that causes sin and correcting hurtful behaviors.
Grace should also go out from within us to others.
The pursuit of perfect grace will never let grace sit still.
It is received…it moves within…and it is given freely to others.”
Yes…we ALL are CALLED --to LIVE…PRACTICE…and SHARE Jesus’ GRACE!
3.) The THIRD task that Corinth is to perfect is FELLOWSHIP.
Pastor Peerbolt OBSERVES: “The HOLY SPIRIT works to CONNECT.
It connects the Trinity…it connects US to the Trinity… …and it connects HUMANITY to one another.
This cuts through all desires to keep a friend circle small.
It works to include more and more people --especially those who are different that those currently included.”
God is ALL about RELATIONSHIPS.
And God CREATED us to be in RELATIONSHIPS …with him and with each other.
Rev MARK ELLINGSEN warns: “To live your life in solitude without social relationships is to be out of harmony with the social creature God made you to be by creating you in his image.
Relating to other people comes naturally to folks created in the image of our social God.”
TIMES are TOUGH right now. a.] Due to this horrible COVID-19 virus we’ve been forced to physically “social distance” in our relationships with each other.
Hoping to shed light on the various ways that people are affected by the Coronavirus LOCKDOWN …columnist and author DAMIAN BARR wrote this POEM:
“We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.”
The poem…shared on various news and social media platforms… invokes a sense of SOLIDARITY.
We are all DIFFERENT …but the problems of this pandemic are UNIVERSAL.
EVEN if we are NOT all INFECTED by it…we ALL are AFFECTED by it.
And that CAN…and SHOULD…bring us TOGETHER!
Fortunately …we’ve been able to keep our relationships going in SPIRIT through non-physical communication and fellowship!
And through it all…we’ve been able to keep our relationships with God and Jesus going…also in Spirit… through non-physical communication = prayer!
The new “normal” will not be “sheltering in place”.
It will be a new understanding of COMMUNITY and FELLOWSHIP!
And in COMMUNION with the Holy Spirit …WE can HELP bring that ABOUT!
b.] Second tough thing = Current RACIAL TENSIONS.
With all that’s gone on these past several weeks …all the violence, hatred, etc… we are NOT all living at PEACE with each other.
The political and online RHETORIC and the PROTESTS and RIOTS going on… make that CLEAR.
But…BLACK lives matter! WHITE lives matter! ALL lives matter!
In the Biblical story of CREATION we are reminded that God made ALL people …so we are ALL God’s CHILDREN.
In our human FAMILIES…we are NOT all ALIKE.
But we ARE all PART of the FAMILY.
LIKEWISE…in GOD’s family…we do NOT all LOOK alike …or TALK alike… or ACT alike.
But we are ALL still PART of God’s FAMILY.
God can help BRING us TOGETHER…if we’re OPEN to it.
God can help us WORK for JUSTICE …and MAKE that justice WORK for EVERYONE.
I pray that God will --GUARD the lives of ALL people --help us VALUE each other --and help us see GOD in each other.
We ARE seeing some EVIDENCE of that happening.
Here in our community…state…nation…and in other countries people are PEACEFULLY protesting together and WORKING together to bring PEACE and HEALING.
God can help BRING us together in HIS fellowship…if we’re OPEN to it. (PAUSE)
Well… it’s HOLY TRINITY Sunday. ’Tis the SEASON…of PENTECOST.
We are NOW in the 2nd half of the CHURCH YEAR!
We believe in the Holy Trinity = 1 God in 3 Persons.
OK…“So what? What do we DO with that? What does God WANT us to DO with that?”
Like he DID for his FIRST Disciples …Jesus HAS given US a COMMAND and a COMMISSION!
* Our Heavenly Father’s LOVE… * Jesus, our Brother’s GRACE… * And the Holy Spirit’s FELLOWSHIP…
“Believe it! … Have Faith in it! … Live it!... Practice it!...Share it!”
Putting all 3 of these TOGETHER …SOUNDS like a GOOD “Christian Job Description” to ME!
Jesus CALLS us to SHOW and TELL people -- about God their heavenly FATHER who created THEM and LOVES them!
--about God the SON = Jesus their SAVIOR who ALSO loves them …DIED for them… …and gives them his GRACE!
--and about God the HOLY SPIRIT who is WITH them and IN them …HELPING them to LIVE every day …and KEEPING them in FELLOWSHIP with God and with each other!
And he wants US to encourage OTHERS to DO the SAME! (pause)
So…GO!
Go make DISCIPLES!
Go BAPTIZE them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
Go TEACH them to obey everything that Jesus commanded us.
And AS you GO…REMEMBER… --our Living Lord Jesus goes WITH you…ALWAYS… …even to the END of the AGE!
We HAVE his WORD on it! ☺
T.B.T.G. AMEN!