Trinity Sunday: About Relationships and the Holy Trinity
Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17
The theme for my remarks this
morning comes from an experience at Thanksgiving in 2008. I was
working with the Episcopal Church in Micronesia, living on Guam (brief description here).
In August we learned that the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, wanted to visit Guam on her way back from an ecumenical visit
to North Korea. She desired to spend Thanksgiving on “American
soil” and ECIM is directly under her jurisdiction. She arrived late on
Tuesday evening, spent most of Wednesday with St. John’s Episcopal School,
and later that afternoon we met in the beautiful church overlooking the
Philippine Sea. I walked with her to the sanctuary platform and
showed her where I would place a chair so she could sit and confirm the
19 people being presented the next day: “Oh”, she said, “I don’t
use a chair; I stand, because Confirmation is a sacrament all about
relationships!”
The next day I watched as she walked along the altar platform, looking
each person in the face, then laying hands on them as she said the
words of confirmation. Eye contact was primary, and afterwards
many of the new confirmands talked about how they felt close to her in
a personal way.
Today is Trinity Sunday. The Holy Trinity is not merely a mystery
to be worshiped, but it is the knowledge of experience with the God who
made us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is also
all about relationships.
People in the Old Testament developed a unique understanding of God:
Jehovah was a God who dwelt in their midst. not as a god of whimsy and
vengefulness, but a god of passionate caring and personal
interest. When Isaiah beholds a vision of God in the temple he is
terrified to be sure, but he also learns that God relies on a
relationship with us to work out his plan of salvation, unclean lips
and all. It is the same God who strips the forests bare with the
whirlwind who also gives strength to his people and the blessing of
peace – as we read in the Psalm appointed for today.
( In the Epistle reading St. Paul discovers in his own journey that God
is the Father we have deeply longed for, and that through the power of
the Spirit we cry to Abba (Daddy) from the deepest part of our
souls. And the knowledge that we are God’s children: heirs in
suffering as well as glory, makes that relationship more than a mere
fairy tale.)
In the Gospel reading today Nicodemus, in what must have been a long
conversation with Jesus of which we only have a summary, tries to
understand what life in the kingdom of God might be. Jesus tells
him it is all about knowing the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit
by being born again. And that is what we need to recall
today: We were born again: each of us was baptized, not in the
name of Jesus, but in the name of the Holy Trinity, with a unique
relationship to it, and to one another.
It was this relationship which enabled Blessed Patrick, that awesome
Celtic saint, to cry out: “ I bind unto myself today, the strong name
of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in
Three”
Much of the time we pray and talk about God with little reference to
the Trinity. Jesus gets discussed (his Name gets used a lot!) and
people often pray privately to him. But if you follow the words
in the Eucharistic prayer of consecration today you will notice God’s
work of creation, the saving work of Jesus, the power of the Holy
Spirit that makes things holy are all recalled and celebrated.
If praying to the Trinity is not something you normally do, you should
remember today that all prayers are through the power of the Holy
Spirit, addressed to God, in the Name of Jesus our risen Savior.
Now, back to relationships for a moment. There are two concerns
for us today. The first is our relationships with each
other. I know that some people prefer to come to church, worship
and leave. There are others who say, I can worship God on the
golf course as well as in church. The beauty of nature, the need
for quiet in our lives, the wounds we may carry – all these things can
drive us to worship God in isolation, separated from others. But
we were baptized into a fellowship that is being saved, and I believe
our salvation depends on our involvement with one another as much as it
does on our belief in Jesus Christ. So, while I too like moments
of quiet contemplation alone with God, or Jesus, I know that I am
called to be part of God’s church, and in a relationship with others
that inform me, teach me, nurture me, and accompany me on my unique
journey. Just as the Holy Trinity is a vital, moving triad of
being, so the Church community is a vital living expression of that
Trinity, and I am part of that by my Baptism.
The second, and primary concern is our relationships with people
outside these doors. We have just finished the Easter season in
which we saw the apostles, after their encounter with the risen Lord,
boldly telling the Good News to anyone who would listen. And,
because the Spirit had prepared their hearts for the words of the Good
News, many heard the message.
Our communities of Eureka Springs, Holiday Island, Beaver and
Berryville and full of people who are struggling with all of the things
we struggle with: alienation, anger and frustration, random acts
of violence, aircraft falling out of the sky, economic upheaval, and
the question IF there is a God, let alone whether that God cares about
any of this. And in the midst of those communities is placed this
one, a group of believers who think that the answers to all those
struggles are found in knowing and worshiping a Triune God who brings
love and redemption to all our sorrows.
So, our job now is to turn together and focus on what is outside of
this building, figure out how to connect with those who are too timid
or spooked to come in and see, and build relationships with them that
are bridges to the One who Saves. Over the summer I will be
speaking more about those folks and how we might build more
relationships with them. I look forward to this work with you,
and promise that as we go forward the journey will be rich and
rewarding for us all.
The Rev. Ben Helmer
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Eureka Springs. AR
TRINITY SUNDAY
June 7, 2009
6.09