Trinity Sunday
Isaiah 6:1-8; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Can you remember any moments in your life when you were overwhelmed with awe and wonder?
I remember last February 5th when I held my grandson just a few minutes after he was born. His mother and the nurse were in the bathroom getting cleaned up. I was alone in the room, holding little Elijah. I couldn’t help starting to gently sing ‘Amazing Grace’ as I looked with awe at this little miracle, this new born baby in my arms.
I remember back in 1993, Rebecca and I visited Salisbury, England. As we came around the corner and saw Salisbury Cathedral for the first time, Rebecca was overwhelmed with awe at the beauty of that magnificent Cathedral and towering spire pulsating with the glory of God.
Several years ago a friend of mine told me about his experience of hiking in supplies to the first base camp of Mt. Everest. He said he was so overwhelmed by the vastness of Mt Everest that it shook him and humbled him into awareness that God was much, much greater than he had ever imagined.
What experiences have led you to overwhelming awe and wonder at the greatness of God?
In today’s first reading, Isaiah had a vision of God which was so overwhelming that the building was shaken and filled with smoke, with clouds of unknowing by the awesome presence of God. Isaiah responded with an awareness of his littleness, his inadequacy, his sinfulness. “Woe is me for I am lost, I am unworthy, all of humanity that I live with is unworthy. I’m aware of all this because I’ve seen the Lord of Hosts!”
When we Christians speak of God the Holy Trinity, at our best, we are speaking from a place of deep humility and unworthiness as we try to express the kind of profound experience of Almighty God that Isaiah describes. We try, very imperfectly, to put into words our experience of overwhelming awe at the greatness of God, the mystery of God who is beyond our capacity to fully know or understand.
In communion with our Christian ancestors, we believe that we live in a universe ruled over and permeated by one God who has revealed himself to us as the Father/Creator of all, as Jesus, the Son of God, fully God and fully human and as the Holy Spirit, God who dwells in our bodies, minds and hearts and connects us with God. We believe in and live our lives each day in communion with this Holy Trinity one God.
We never get this awesome God, the Holy Trinity figured out. There are no logical explanations just like there are no adequate explanations of a baby or Salisbury Cathedral or Mt. Everest. An awareness of God’s presence opens us into an experience of realities we can never fully explain.
And yet, when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, St Paul reminds us that we can cry out, “Abba, Father.” We come to know that this awesome Holy Trinity, one God loves us, loves all people, loves the whole creation like a loving father loves his children. In our littleness and inadequacy we become aware that we are beloved children of this awesome God, who is like a loving Father to us and to all.
We discover that as Jesus was God’s beloved son, we are also adopted in Baptism as God’s beloved sons and daughters. As Jesus lived to follow his Father’s guidance, to live the mission given to him by his heavenly Father so we were created to follow our Heavenly Father’s guidance and live the mission for which God created us and put us on this planet at this time.
For Jesus, following his Father’s guidance, doing his Father’s will involved suffering and dying and rising again. For all of us, living out our Father’s will and guidance will involve suffering, dying to a self centered life, a world-centered life and letting God birth a new quality of life in us, a Kingdom of God vision and way of living, a loving God and our neighbor way of life. As long as we live, we live in the painful gap between God’s vision and purpose for our lives, for all human life and the flat, this world only, me first, do-it-myself perspective on life.
How do we come to know this awesome God who is beyond our knowing yet who dwells within us and is the energy at the center of all life?
We follow the example of Nicodemus in today’s Gospel. We come to Jesus and ask for help. Nicodemus recognized that Jesus had an intimate relationship with God. Jesus’ life flowed out of a unique relationship with God.
So we as Christians keep coming to Jesus, asking him to deepen our intimate relationship with this God who is beyond our understanding…yet who loves us as a Father loves his beloved children.
To know this awesome God, we need more than a Harvard MBA…we need more than a theological education. A Russian Orthodox theologian said, “Theology is not knowing about God, let alone knowing what other people have said about God. Theology is knowing God.”
To truly come to know God, Jesus says we need to be born from above…so we can recognize God’s Kingdom, recognize how God is at work in the world and in our lives…and allow God to work in and through us…so we are part of helping God’s kingdom come and God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven.
We don’t understand or enter into God’s Kingdom, God’s unfolding purpose for the universe by logical explanation. Jesus says it is only as we are born of water and Spirit, the water of creation, the water of our mother’s womb, the water of Baptism, the water energized by God’s Holy Spirit and only in this water and Spirit can we see and become aware of what God is up to in the world, in the DNA of creation.
We don’t control God or control the work of God’s Spirit. The Spirit of God is like the wind it comes and goes, we feel it and see its influence but we can’t control it. All we can do is be aware of the wind and turn the sails of our boat, the sails of our lives to catch the wind of the Spirit to guide and empower our living according to the will and purposes of God.
We are not just talking about vague ideas when we talk about God the Holy Trinity. We are talking about a way of living and orienting our lives each day. What practices, what habits of the heart and mind help you live each day as a Spirit guided person who is guided from above?
When you experience struggles and confusion, suffering and grief what helps you recognize God’s loving presence with you, guiding you, teaching you how to live through the dark valleys?
All of us are tempted to race blindly through each day with a “this-world-only” perspective, controlled by “to be done” lists and the expectations of others.
What helps you live a “with God life” each day, with a sense that you are cooperating with and fulfilling God’s purpose for you?
Down through the centuries…and in our own day, Christians have found many spiritual practices or holy habits that help us live a with-God life, guided by God’s Spirit from above. One ancient spiritual practice is to stop three times a day for prayer.
I’d like to invite you this week, to find 3 to 5 minutes each morning, each mid-day and each night… to stop your rushing and be with God. Don’t begin with any words. Begin by taking three deep breaths and simply be aware that you are in the presence of God the Holy Trinity.
Let’s practice being with God, the awesome Holy Trinity, right now. I invite you to close your eyes and open your hands on your lap as a sign of your desire to be open to God the Holy Trinity.
First take three deep breaths. Be aware that you are in the awesome presence of God the Creator of the entire universe. Then be aware that this Awesome God loves you like a loving Father loves and delights in his children. Soak up the warmth of God’s love for you.
Next, be aware that Jesus, the Son of your Heavenly Father, is here with you, eager to help, heal and guide you and the whole creation. Remember the way Jesus lived, what Jesus said and did. Remember Jesus knows and loves you and is praying for you like he knew and loved and prayed for his first followers.
Then be aware of the Holy Spirit God sent to be God’s presence and wisdom guiding you in your thinking and living. Where are you sensing the wind of God’s Spirit blowing in your life now and in the world around you?
Allow yourself to be in awe that God, revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is with you, within you, and is intimately involved in your life and all of our lives today.
Now, you can make a response to this awesome God. Like Isaiah, you might say, here I am Lord, send me, may your kingdom come and your will be done in my life, in the world, as it is in heaven. You might ask God, what do you want me to do between now and the time I go to bed tonight?
You might make this a practice three times a day with God, the Holy Trinity to include the prayer Jesus taught his disciples and praying it slowly with awareness. Let’s do that together now: Our Father…