TRINITY OF LOVE

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MAY 18th, 2008

                                                  

2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith."

 

Genesis chapter 1. It always reminds me of the story of the preacher preaching about Genesis 1, and particularly anxious to remind his congregation of the sin of Adam and Eve. It comes to the part in the text where they realize they are naked, and the preacher says: "So Adam said to Eve…" He turns the page and realizes that the next page of his notes is missing. Again he says "So Adam said to Eve….." and kept on going through his notes. "And Adam said to Eve…….there seems to be a leaf missing"!

 

Last Friday I said to our bible study group that I could have great fun with Genesis 1!   For instance, if I was a feminist I could quote verse 27: "Male and female, he created them" and point out that in this story of creation men and women are created equal.  

 

If I was a tree hugger, I could refer to the next verse: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing" - and I could point out that it is exactly the reason that we have global warming. Man's dominion over creatures and over the earth is the cause of our problems, and I could then suggest that we ought not to follow this particular injunction.  

 

Or if I was a biblical fundamentalist I would say that the Scriptures are literally true - and therefore we have to believe the world was made in six days.

 

But if I was a liberal I would tell you that this can't possibly be true according to science - so how can we believe the Bible? And why should we anyway?

 

However, I'm not going to preach about Genesis 1 today……except to say one thing. What we have here in Genesis 1 is an orderly creation - and God is seen as responsible for it.   It is orderly and so fits any doctrine or philosophy about how the world was created.   And God is always responsible no matter how it happened. God created the world and everything in it. Therefore there can be no dispute between religion and science, as some suggest - because God is responsible. God brings order out of chaos. And he still does, even in our own lives.

 

So the Epistle for this Trinity Sunday, 2 Corinthians 13. Chosen because of the last line: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all".   This Trinitarian formula fits in with the celebration of Trinity Sunday.

 

Then I noticed the two lines before that: "Greet one another with a holy kiss.   All the saints greet you". What a perfect opportunity this provides me to introduce the greeting of peace into our parish - but I'm not going to!

 

What we do see in this reading is Saint Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians to hold to the faith - to keep to the truth.

 

In 1 Corinthians he admonished them for their behavior, and urged them to be more loving. Now in 2 Corinthians he is concerned for what they believe. For you see what we believe affects how we behave.

That was the problem with the Corinthians - their behavior (particularly at church on Sunday) was irregular - because what they believed was irregular. Right belief ensures right worship.  That is the official definition of the word "Orthodox".

 

The doctrine of the Trinity is at the center of right belief for Christians. On this Trinity Sunday the Church reminds us that we are called to worship the Trinity in spirit and in truth - as Jesus said to the Samaritan women at the well.

 

Today's Gospel is Saint Matthew's account of the Ascension of the Lord, finishing with his commandment to the twelve: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".   Here we not only have our Blessed Lord's explicit command for the mission of the Church, but also the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, - the undivided and glorious Trinity. Three persons experienced by his people in the world, experienced in our lives – but, of course, one God. This is the great mystery of our religion, sometimes called the incomprehensible doctrine.

 

Mysterious and incomprehensible it may be - but it cannot be dispensed with or avoided.   Some preachers will begin their sermon by saying "In the Name of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier", instead of the traditional "In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit",  Now in essence they are true, God the Father is the Creator, God the Son is the Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. But this formula describes the Trinity in terms of what they do rather than their names.   This is very dangerous.

 

I don't know about you - but I prefer to be referred to by my name, not by my function. What sort of world would it be if instead of being regarded as persons we were just valued for our function?   Nazi-Germany comes to mind.

 

So the doctrine of the Trinity must always express God as Father, Son, and Spirit, for it is a reflection of our individuality as persons to each other.

 

The doctrine of the Trinity tries to express who God is for us - but also speaks about who God is in himself.  It is about God relating to us - but also about who God is in his very self.

 

It is not an easy doctrine to understand. It is a bit like describing how you love someone, or the beauty of a San Diego sunset - words often fail us. We know how it feels, but how can we describe it in scientific human terms?

 

The Church has attempted it in the Creeds. Each Sunday we say the Nicene Creed with all its funny phrases. As we sing or say it we might assume that the Church's faith will surely carry us along when we are in doubt, or perplexed, or just confused.   And that is one of the roles of the Church - to carry us along with all the other members of the Church.

 

Ultimately the Trinity is not something we can't understand - for the Trinity is our intimate experience of God. And it is about relationship - our relationship with God and the Trinity's relationship with each other - which must always be a unity. Because although three persons, it is always the same God.

 

Because it is about relationships, the Trinity is ultimately, like all relationships, love and joy. The more incomprehensible the doctrine of the Trinity seems - the more it is like our experience of love and joy, which are sometimes beyond explaining.

 

And being some-what incomprehensible we know this Holy Trinity is therefore worthy of our worship.

 

Let me conclude with words by someone wiser than I - Saint Hilary of Poitiers (4th Century) who made these comments on the doctrine of the Trinity:

 

"We are compelled to attempt what is unattainable, to climb where we can not reach, to speak what we can not utter. Instead of the bare adoration of faith, we are compelled to entrust the deep things of religion to the perils of human expression".