Blessings to you
all in the name of God our Father, and His Son, Jesus the Christ, and our
Advocate, the Holy Spirit.
Today we're gathered
here to remember and celebrate the Trinity. Someone wrote a creed a long, long
time ago called the Athanasian Creed. In
it the writer made the best attempt they could at describing the Trinity. In it
are 44 sentences or statements each one building on the one before seeking to
explain God. The best explanation I've read lately comes from the Agnus Day
cartoon. There are two sheep talking and
the first one says, “I've got it!” The
second sheep says, “Oh no – you're not telling me that you've figured out the
Trinity – again.” He answers, “ Nope!
I've got that long Athanasian creed down to a tweet! See! The Dad, Son &
Spirit are God; God is Dad, Son & Spirit; Dad & Son, Son & Dad, Dad
& Spirit, Son & Spirit, Spirit & Son. Done.” The second sheep replies,
“You scare me.”
Don't you wish it
was that easy, explaining God, the Three-in-One? I've quit trying because for
me it's enough to know that God has it all taken care of and all I have to do
is believe in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit knowing that all
are at work in my life.
It's all a mystery.
And no matter how much our learned theologians attempt to provide us with
examples and explanations they all fall short because no one has ever seen God.
So, how is any human ever going to be able to adequately describe God? They
can't so I'm not going to try.
What I do believe
that's more important for us to focus on is Paul's message for us in his letter
to the Romans. If you go back to chapter 7 where he is talking about the law
and sin and how much trouble he experiences trying to do good and failing
miserably you will understand where he's coming from in today's passage from
chapter 8 beginning with verse 12.
Paul asks a
question in 7:24 that says, “Is there no one who do anything for me? Isn't that
the real question?” And then Paul says what I just said about the Trinity, “The
answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things
right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my
heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally
different.” “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is
resolved...The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently
cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the
hands of sin and death.”
Paul says all that
we have to do is, “...simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.” You'll find these words in the verse just
preceding our lesson today. He's telling us we have to quit trying to do
everything using our own strength and muscle. We must trust in God's action,
God's Spirit in us, living and breathing God. When we obsess about ourselves
and our lives we find ourselves in a cul-de-sac with no way out except to turn
around and go back, back to God.
So, good friends,
there you have the Trinity. God the Father loves us so much that he sent His
Son so that we might have life and His Son sent the Advocate, the Holy Spirit
to fill us with his breath and life.
That's the best I can do and I truly believe that's all I can expect you
to do. Trust, have faith that God does have this all taken care of and all we
have to do is love...love God and love our neighbors.
And you all know
what that means. We'll never be perfect at doing that but thank God we are
forgiven through Jesus' interceding for us when we stumble. Thanks be to God for his loving and forgiving
grace. Amen.
