Sermon: Trinity Sunday, 12 June

Looking out of our bedroom window we can see a field covered in scarlet – a blanket of wild poppies with clusters of white daisies intermingled. It’s stunning. No one planted them, but I know the seeds were scattered and sown because they are there. A secret wild gardener perhaps? It must have been the wind. In fact some of these beautiful wild poppies are blossoming in my garden too. You cannot see the wind, or the poppy seeds as they are being scattered, but you can feel it and see and witness the gloriously beautiful results. So, too, with the Holy Spirit: he blows where he will. We feel him and we see the gloriously beautiful results of his work in people’s lives, in the church and in the community.

The Holy Spirit could be described as the poetry and music of God or the breath of God. Today we consider not only the Holy Spirit, but the Trinity; it’s Trinity Sunday.

First and foremost, the Trinity speaks about God’s relational activity- his self-communication- a constant movement and dialogue between God the Father, Son and Spirit. That’s important for us because we are relational beings who belong to the community of the Church family and the wider community.

When I was ordained I was given a copy of the famous Icon of the Holy Trinity painted by Andrei Rublev. It’s beautiful. Almost 600 years after it was painted Rublev’s icon continues to speak of the mysterious and wonderful presence of the Trinity.

However, the understanding of the Trinity is also the source of much disagreement between the church worldwide, East and West, but also Catholic and Protestant. I don’t intend to dwell on the intricacies of such disagreements today. Instead, I’d like to focus on Who God is, what he does and what difference that makes in our lives.

Who is God? He is God the Father. He is God the Son and he is God the Holy Spirit. He is three persons, but one God in nature or essence and being. This is our faith.

What does he do? Without God the Father, there would be chaos in the universe. With God there is order. Without God there would be darkness; with God there is light. Without God the Father there would be no life, no vegetation, no animals, no fish no birds, no humans. Nothing would be in existence. With God the Father there is creation and creativity, justice and love.  Without the Father, there would be no Son. But God the Father so loved the world, that he gave, generously and freely, his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus is God’s son. Without God the son, we would not know what God the Father is like; Jesus is the human face of God. Without God the Son we would have no salvation. Without God the Son we would have no peace with God. Without God the Son, we would have no assurance of eternal life. With the Son we see what it is to live in harmony with God and with one another. Because of Jesus, his death, resurrection and his ascension into heaven, we have the assurance of eternal life. When Jesus returned home, he sent his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.

With the Holy Spirit, we have a comforter; with the Holy Spirit, we have the presence of God with us at all times; With the Holy Spirit we have an advocate and a counsellor. In today’s gospel reading, John tells us that ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth’. With the Holy Spirit we have life – the breath of God. With the Holy Spirit we have power from on high to proclaim the Good news of Jesus, the Son. It is through the Spirit that we become aware of God’s presence in our lives.

If you like diagrams, one of the easiest to understand and which attempts to express the concept of the Triune God is a triangle, which has a circle in the middle within which is the word ‘God’.  Each of the corners of the triangle have the persons of God named: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is the Father. God is the Son and God is the Holy Spirit. But around the outer edge of the triangle we have another circle connecting Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this circle are written the words ‘is not’: the Father is not the son who is not the Holy Spirit. They are distinct persons with different roles but the same nature or essence. But even with this diagram or any definition we cannot master the concept of who God is. The Trinity - God in three persons - is a mystery. As one philosopher put it, ‘If we could understand God like we understand 2+2=4, he would not be worthy of worship.’

One of the early Christian Fathers, Gregory of Nazianzus, writes of the triune God: ‘No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the One’.

Just in case your brain isn’t already hurting, I’d like to introduce to you a Greek word which is used to describe the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity: "Perichoresis".  It is derived from two Greek words: peri, "around" and chōreō, "to go, or come". As a compound word, it refers to "going around" or "encompassing". Chōreō forms the root of the English word choreography, the steps and movements of a dance. I believe the dance between the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit is one of the most beautiful and compelling pictures of the Tri-unity of God. And what is even more beautiful is that all of them – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – invite us to be part of this dance or the ‘great sharing’ of the love between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is what gives us hope: ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.’ Romans 5:5.   Not just trickled in or drizzled in or dropped in, but the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit – abundant love.

So what difference does the Trinity make to us today? He reminds us that we are loved and chosen: ‘For the love of God is shed abroad in our hears by the Holy Spirit which is given to us’. Jesus the son intercedes or pleads with the Father on our behalf. We have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ; the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Today you may have come into Church or be listening online, weighed down by anxiety or troubles. It may be a physical illness or a mental burden or a struggle with addiction or the constant feeling of loneliness. God the Son invites you to bring this burden before the Father through the Holy Spirit. Open your heart and mind to his love, his peace and his joy. Allow yourself to join in with the ‘great sharing’ in the dance of life.  

Holy God, faithful and unchanging:

enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,

and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,

that we may truly worship you,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.