Sermon 5/30/2021 “Trinity Quiz”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection, 2800 Hope Way, Alexandria, VA
Text: (All of them)
Day: Trinity Sunday, Year B
(although not all could visibly see everything that was present)
Today is Trinity Sunday, the day our Church reserves each year for thinking about the nature of God—specifically, the doctrine of the Trinity. Today is the day, therefore, when I am supposed to tell you that God is one God, but at the same time is God-the-Father and God-the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Fortunately for me, though, The Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham explained the Trinity last Sunday when he was here. Do you remember what he said? Yes, he told us about studies that scientifically prove that people who attend church regularly live two years longer, on average, than those who don’t attend worship. I KNOW that you remember that! But do you remember what Ian told us about God?
In case you’ve forgotten Dr. Ian’s explanation, here it is in summary:
- God-the-Father is the God of creation, the divine force that creates and sustains our material being, the God we pray to.
- God-the-Son is the nature of God revealed in Jesus the Christ, the “Word” of God to us. Through Christ Jesus we glimpse what God is like: complete love.
- God-the-Holy Spirit is the energy of God that does God’s work, from hovering over the water at creation to animating us in mission today to share God’s love with the world.
Having taken Ian’s systematic theology course in seminary and having read his book on the Trinity, let me just say YOU got the short form of the explanation!
There’s nothing that needs to be added to Ian’s teaching about the Trinity. So, I decided that the best use of our sermon time today is for me to give you a test on what Ian taught us. I’ll tell you a God-story and you tell me whether the interaction between God and humans in each portion of the story was Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
Ready?
I was visiting a person in an unfamiliar part of another state. We had gotten off the highway to try to avoid a five-mile backup and had gotten lost. All we had seen for miles and miles and miles was very upscale farmland—you know, a lot of white picket fences, all neatly painted, fields perfectly tended, no farm equipment in sight, and just a few structures that all looked like Tara, plantation homes.
My friend was driving and she prayed. I’m sure she prayed because, after 16 miles of being lost I heard her murmur, “O God!” My question of you is this: To whom was she praying? This isn’t a trick question, but a Trinitarian one. Do you have any ideas about who she might have been praying to?
?? Did I hear you say, “God-the-Father?” If so, excellent work. Very good. Why God-the-Father? As Dr. Ian pointed out, God-the-Father is who we Christians pray to, as God-the-Son instructed. We say this prayer every week, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” But maybe that one was too easy.
(As an aside, have you ever noticed that in this prayer Jesus taught us, God-the-Father is plural? “Our Father, who art in heaven” is an archaic way of saying, “Our Father [singular] who are [plural] in heaven…” Hmmm. This is very scriptural; there are several places throughout Hebrew scriptures that refer to God in the plural, and yet the ancient Hebrews, like those today (and like us) firmly believe there is one and only one God.)
But I digressed. Back to the main point: Here’s a harder question in my Trinity Quiz today. For the next question I will return to my story.
Less than a minute after my friend offered her “O, God!” prayer, we saw a Starbucks ahead. No markets, no town center, nothing else except Starbucks and all that oddly posh farmland. “What an odd place for a Starbucks,” I thought, even as my friend sped up, then parked in front of the coffee shop.
When we were inside, we discovered three things right away:
- The barista didn’t speak much English. And we didn’t speak anything else (being too lazy to learn).
- There were no maps. None! And
- There was only one customer inside, a fit-looking black man. He was old—he must have been about the age I am now.
As we walked by the man, I noticed my friend tightened her grip on her purse and turned her back slightly to him as she walked by. I also noticed the man noticing her reaction to him, and that she didn’t appear to be aware of what she had done.
Bowing slightly to the man, I greeted him. “Grandfather,” I said, “We’re lost. And puzzled. Can you give us directions and also tell me why this Starbucks is here?”
The man nodded solemnly and told us the farmland all around and the plantation houses all belonged to a historical estate that was a major tourist attraction. The Starbucks’ clientele were mainly the workers, who he said couldn’t afford to live anywhere nearby, and “lost tourists,” he said with a grin. Then he gave us detailed directions.
I felt a distinct nudge to get involved somehow to aid the workers. However, I was relieved to remember I lived far away, so I was off the hook to tackle the housing problem. Right?
So, here’s the question: Were we experiencing God-the-Father, God-the-Son, or God-the-Holy Spirit in this part of the encounter?
That’s right: God-the-Holy Spirit. That’s the one that does God’s work in the world. I ducked the Holy Spirit’s nudging that day, but the Holy Spirit is, above all, persistent. I think the Spirit was working on me that day so very long ago to help prepare me for this time and this work we are doing.
At this point, though, being very smart people, you undoubtedly are wondering how God-the-Son is as evident here today as he was in the man in my story. God-the-Son is God’s Word, revealing God’s nature to us, revealing who God is and how we should be in relationship with God and with each other.
- God-the-Son is the one who says, “Let the children come to me, even if you have to wear masks longer than you want to keep the children safe.”
- God-the-Son is the one who tells us timeless truths in parables, like “be the unlikely person, the Good Samaritan, who helps those who need help without judging who they are or why they need help.”
- God-the-Son is the one who shows us unconditional love, like he showed his disciple Judas Iscariot, even knowing that Judas was betraying him.
- God-the-Son is the one who teaches us today that “God so loved the world” [the world that God had made] that God sent his only Son [Christ Jesus himself] to give us eternal life,” life filled with hope and promise, life that begins now and continues without end.
You all get an A-plus on our Trinity Quiz today, by the way, no matter how many questions you got right. You showed up; that’s what counts, and (as Abraham proved to us), God counts faithfulness as righteousness.
