Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
Trinity Sunday
May 26, 2024
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We’ll start this morning with a pop quiz. This is one I like to give and which I have given before at various times here. There are few words that feel more warm and cuddly than “dogma.” It means core principles or ideas. Our church has just two dogmas. What are they? They are the Trinity, and that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Those are actually very warm and even cuddly when we think of the ways we are invited and encouraged to build our relationship with the Lord.
The dogma of the Trinity was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD because the Church was and is resolutely monotheistic, and needed to reconcile that with the Apostles’ bore witness to Jesus as “One with the Father” and had the distinct experience of the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity is a paradoxical truth – seemingly contradictory truths for us, but not for God. We are bound by time and space which limit our perspective.
For example, for hundreds of years classic Newtonian physics knew light functioned as particles which could be measured on a photometer. Light also functions as waves of energy on a spectrum that includes radio waves and x-rays. How could it be both? Then along came Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which gave rise to quantum mechanics.
So, a photon appears as particle or wave to us, but is both at once at that quantum level. Likewise, we experience God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet we know there is just One God. There is a unity to God beyond us, beyond time and space, where that Trinity of Persons and Unity of Being do not conflict. That’s weighty stuff, but as C.S. Lewis wrote, we should not expect God to be simple. If we could figure God out, he wouldn’t be God.
But if that’s all very confusing, if you’re asking, “How can this be?” Don’t worry! You’re right there with Nicodemus. He was classically educated, trained and experienced in his faith. But now he’s got two very difficult observations to reconcile with his education, training and experience.
One is Jesus. Jesus is saying and doing things that indicate he must be with God. But, he’s completely outside the structures that educate and regulate their religious life. How can this be? Nicodemus comes by night, perhaps in secret and perhaps with his perceptions obscured and seeking clarification.
And Jesus describes being “born from above,” and “born of water and spirit.” The Spirit, like the wind, blows where it blows. It isn’t something that can be figured out.
I think we are all right there with Nicodemus to some degree. But our faith is not a set of theological concepts or constructs. While it’s good to think on these things, The Lord doesn’t ask us to understand him. He calls us to love him. He calls us to follow him.
Our faith is a relationship to be embraced. It is a relationship built upon grace. In our tradition, our faith is formed and enacted in prayer, as expressed in our Book of Common Prayer. We routinely pray the Nicene Creed in our Sunday and Wednesday services to remind us of the ways the One God has manifested himself to his people as a Trinity of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And most of our prayers are Trinitarian, ending with that familiar formula we see in this morning’s collect of the day, “…O Father, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, One God, For Ever and ever. Amen. (Which means “so be it,” and literally “truly.”)
One prayer in particular brings the importance of our relationship with God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit into sharp focus. It’s one that is deeply moving, which you’ll know if you ever have prayed it. It’s in a brief service called Ministration at the Time of Death. (BCP 464)
Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world;
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created you;
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace,
and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.
Science has sketched out a great deal about the ways our universe, solar system and planet came to be. While I find that fascinating, I don’t understand it all. I don’t need to understand it. Neither do I need to know God’s purposes in creating everything. But when it comes down to it, I know that he did create it all and that he created us.
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created you;
Theologians have been plumbing the depths of how Jesus’ death on the cross redeemed us. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and studying those theories of salvation. But we really just need to know that he did.
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
And being saved is one thing. The work that the Holy Spirit does to perfect us over time is quite another. We pray for God to correct our sinful nature, to heal our brokenness and strengthen our weaknesses. I cannot fix it, and I don’t know how he can. But it’s enough to know he does.
In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
We don’t hear much more about Nicodemus. He’ll show up again in chapter seven, urging his colleagues to give Jesus a fair hearing. Then, after the crucifixion, he helps Joseph of Arimathea and the women prepare Jesus’ body for burial. We don’t know whether or not he ever understood what Jesus told him. Clearly, he came to know Jesus.
When it comes down to it, even with loved ones gathered around us, it comes down to Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For we are ever in his hand.
Amen.