The Sunday after Pentecost is designated as Trinity Sunday in the liturgical year. I have never gotten excited about the doctrine of the Trinity, and I have never preached a sermon defending it or trying to explain it. And I don't intend to start now.
In connection with Trinity Sunday, I sometimes think back to a time when a college friend of Nancy visited us with her husband whom we had never met. They were going to stay with us overnight, and when they arrived at our home, we met them at the curb. As we were walking toward the house, the husband, who was a Unitarian minister, said to me, "How is it you think that three equals one?" I knew the visit would be a long twenty-four hours.
I don't remember how I answered him back then. But I know if the scene were repeated today, I would say, "My faith is not mathematical; it is experiential." The Bible doesn't contain the word Trinity, and a formal doctrine of a trinitarian God didn't appear in the history of the Christian church for a couple of hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. But there are significant paragraphs in the Newer Testament that point in the direction of a trinitarian or three-way understanding of God.
For me the important thing is not to get hung up on the technicalities of a theological doctrine, but rather to hear the good news contained in a paragraph like the one I just read from Paul's Letter to the Romans. In that paragraph Paul makes the profound statement that you, I, all of us, have been given an open and positive standing before God the Creator/Father/Mother of the world (first person of the Trinity), because of the life and work of Jesus (second person of the Trinity), and we comprehend the goodness of that standing because God continues to act in our life by God's Spirit (third person of the Trinity).
To develop what Paul said, let me invite you to set up a scene in your imagination. Picture, if you will, God in whatever form works for you. Now picture yourself in the presence of God. How do you feel in the presence of God? What posture are you assuming before God in this imaginary scene?
Paul is saying God has made it possible for us to stand upright and comfortable in the presence of God. We don't have to hide, nor do we need to grovel in shame. We can lay down our defenses and resentments. We are "justified," set right in the presence of God. Our right standing is a gift, a gift freely given through Christ, and a gift we can understand by the Spirit. That, in effect, is at the heart of the Trinity we celebrate today.
Some of you may be inclined to ask if it really matters that we have this "good standing" before God. Is it really "good news" to modern people that we are "justified" before God? Many people I know would say, and do say, it doesn't matter to them. The whole concept of God is irrelevant. But I can tell you on the basis of forty-eight years of pastoral ministry that it surely does matter to lots of people. Over the years many people have let me into the deeply personal places of their minds and hearts, sharing with me their concerns, fears, and struggles. Often they have been wrestling with a strong sense of failure, guilt, or unworthiness. And often their issues are related to God, as they understand God. The reality of God is important to them; they cannot simply deny God. And so the nature of God makes a huge difference to them.
When they hear the truth of the Gospel, that they are already forgiven by God, that God already sees them as infinitely worthwhile, they are able to begin the serious work of inner healing that is such a necessary part of their spiritual journey.
The five verses I read as our second lesson suggest some of the benefits of this good standing we have before God. I point out two of them. The first is peace. Paul calls it peace with God, but it is more than that. It is the possibility of peace with ourselves and with other people. Paul speaks of our being reconciled with God, which starts us on a journey of reconciliation wherever there is brokenness or alienation. In other words, we can move in the direction of spiritual centeredness. We begin to understand what it means to live joyfully. We become free of self-obsession, and life opens up for us in wonderful ways. Paul says this kind of life is possible even in the midst of suffering.
This morning's news contained a story about a plot to destroy Kennedy Airport and lots of people with it. I thought back to an article I read some time ago [NY Times, Magazine Section, May 13, 2001] about Patrick Reeder, a happily married man at the time he lost his wife and mother-in-law in the Oklahoma City bombing in April of 1995. The article chronicled his journey from intense hatred and bleak despair, through self-destructive behavior including heavy drinking and smoking and near death by total self-neglect. I quote the interview: "Upon leaving the hospital, he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where, for the first time, he talked about his wife's death and his anger toward McVeigh. He also immersed himself in a number of grief-recovery and theological (italics mine) texts, including The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. He began to think about what justice really means and how deeply he felt about forgiveness." The article concludes this way. "Reeder talks about his desire to find meaning in what he has been through since the bombing. Reeder says he believes that grace [!] will find its way into this tragedy. After six years of looking back, he is ready to begin letting go." I suspect he found some help in his reading of theology, if he read anything about God's grace. Peace in the midst of pain!
The reason we can find peace and joy even in circumstances of pain is connected to the second thing we gain as a result of this "good standing" before God. It is hope. Hope assures us that the future is never closed. We can move on from whatever the past has been, letting go and learning to trust God. With God there is always the possibility of a new beginning, the promise of light at the end of darkness. Our hope grows out of our understanding that nothing, not even death, can separate us from God's love.
The last of the verses I read says, "Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit." Hang onto that word love. It's at the center of everything I'm talking about; it's at the center of the Christian faith. God's unconditional, extravagant, accepting, forgiving, inclusive, unending love.
How to understanding that love? It is the central theme of my preaching. A true story may help. The author is Lynn Robertson.
Being a mother of two very active boys, ages seven and one, I am sometimes worried about their making a shambles of my carefully decorated home. In their innocence and play, they occasionally knock over my favorite lamps or upset my well-designed arrangements. In those moments...I remember the lesson I learned from my wise mother-in-law Ruby.
Ruby is the mother of six and the grandmother of thirteen. She is the embodiment of gentleness, patience, and love.
One Christmas, all the children and grandchildren were gathered as usual at Ruby's home. Just the month before, Ruby had bought some beautiful new white carpeting after living with the "same old carpet" for over twenty-five years. She was overjoyed with the new look it gave her home.
My brother-in-law Arnie had just distributed his gifts for all the nieces and nephews—prized homemade honey from his beehives. They were excited. But as fate would have it, eight-year-old Sheena spilled her tub of honey on Grandma's new carpeting and trailed it throughout the entire downstairs of the house.
Crying, Sheena ran into the kitchen and into Grandma Ruby's arms. "Grandma, I've spilled my honey all over your brand new carpet."
Grandma Ruby knelt down, looked tenderly into Sheena's tearful eyes and said, "Don't worry, sweetheart. We can get you more honey."
I think Grandma Ruby had her priorities straight. And her priorities reflect what I believe to be God's defining characteristic: extravagant love. It is a love expressed by a lavish creator, a gracious reconciler, and a wise comforter—a trinity, or a trifecta of love. It is a love we can trust in life, in death, and beyond death through eternity.
Thanks be to God.