Trinity Sunday: Draped In Grace
Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
This is Trinity Sunday, always the Sunday right after Pentecost, when the Lectionary gives pause to the mystery that lies at the heart of our Christian faith. “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”. The traditional formula of baptism, when sin is washed away, and we are born again, into this household of love. The declarations of all of our creeds and confessions. It is baffling, in that 3 in 1 and 1 in 3 makes our heads spin, which makes it hard to explain to others that we don’t believe in 3 Gods, rather a Trinity, a household interwoven in relationship and love. It is not a hierarchy, Father over the Son who is over the Spirit, rather it is in the few drops of water sprinkled, or the deep immersion, baptism, that takes us into the whole being of God. We might not understand it, we struggle for images to use, language to express this ephemeral mystery. Its truth, or folly, is this: we are connected to the power of the universe, the Creator of all that is and ever will be; we are saved by the blood of this God who comes in human form, Jesus Christ, never to leave us; empowered for our very breath by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, as we dwell within the Trinity. This is not a God-head that lives on high, somewhere UP THERE, rather we live IN this world saturated by the Presence of the Holy - Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer - as every leaf unfurls, each fish jumps, every blade of grass nurtured by an angel saying, ‘grow, grow, grow’. Sometimes called The economic Trinity, the focal point privileges the world and the Trinity’s engagement with it, making it, saving it, keeping it. Maker, Lover, Keeper.
It is important to understand that Scripture writers were NOT trying to explain the Trinity as doctrine, but as lived experience in a milieu that was built around a very different framework, that of public honor and public shame. Which came into direct conflict with Jesus’ death on the cross, His crucifixion, His glory; a very PUBLIC shame. Why would you boast in something so denigrating? Some ancient Israelites understood suffering as God’s displeasure - look at Job’s friends, or the question: whose sin is it? The parents?
Roman philosophy understood suffering as weakness, the smaller or less powerful man. Paul uses legal language to upend this honor/shame way of thinking: we are justified or vindicated by faith, like we are on trial for our faith. What we have been given is peace with God through Jesus Christ. This positive verdict of not guilty = forgiveness. Yes that Savior that died in what is usually thought a most shameful way, we now claim has opened up the broad horizon of hope, energized by the Holy Spirit. We are made whole in God’s sight, no matter what anybody else says about us. There is no shame that can cling for we are draped in grace.
Even when oppressed for our faith we are not disgraced, Paul writes. From prison btw, another place of public shame. It is this great reversal, what the Greeks call folly, he writes in another place, the foolishness of the cross. What kind of God would act in such a way? A relational God, defined by Her interconnection of 3 persons, 1 substance, for eternity, always. A God of love, a God of redemption, a God who moves toward Her creation, rather than away from it. These ones who bear Her image: born for relationship. She deigned to be born a baby, remember? Her love is poured out, like a flood, a continuous flow, we are dripping with the presence of the Holy Spirit, graced by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was sent by God, the one titled Father.
Let me ask you: how are u this morning?
Are you broken hearted this morning? Are you afraid? Do you feel alienated, detached, alone? Are you angry? Depressed? Grieving? Hopeless? Ashamed? Worried? Wounded? Worn-out? Its okay. The Trinity’s got you. This house of love will never abandon you, no matter what. It doesn’t take the pain away, it simply surrounds the pain with deep compassion and plenty of it. It is a great big house, this Trinity house, with lots of rooms. Enough for the whole 7 billion of us.
There are these really lovely verses in Isaiah I stumbled across in my study for this sermon and want to share with you:
Is. 30:20-21: “Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes will see your teacher. And when you turn to the right or to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
I think Isaiah had an inkling of the Holy Spirit, don’t you?
What is always so hard is to listen carefully in the midst of suffering, to sit with the pain, to discover a message of life it might contain. We live in a culture that wants to manage pain, control pain, ignore pain, or cast blame on the ones who hurt. Rise above it, think positive, hold a vision of healing, pray more, don’t you have enough faith to believe? As if we were lacking some key ingredient for the recipe of the elixir of life. In a fallen world, there will be suffering, we know this. We hate it, but we recognize it.
Paul’s vision of hope is directly tied to his understanding of faith: it takes endurance to trust in God’s love over the long haul. But we must remember, he went away for 14 years before he began his missionary journeys. He says so in Galatians. We speculate he studied scripture and grew in his faith to be able to have such a deep and abiding sense of the presence of God.
From the moment of his dramatic encounter on the Damascus Road, to his long imprisonment in Rome, Paul strives to articulate his profound gratitude for Jesus saving him. He teaches us that faith is not our work to earn God’s love, rather faith is doing the spade work to discover God’s faithfulness in Her deep and abiding love for us in the midst of our daily lives. (Say twice) With all their joys and struggles! Heartbreaks and hopes! Sufferings and healings. We are awash in this love, for the Trinity surrounds, upholds, carries, embraces, holds on tight to their creation. You are not alone. If you do not take anything else away today, remember this: you are not alone. You are not alone. The love of God, the grace and redemption of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit is yours today and tomorrow, until the very last day, when in glory, you will see fully, what now is only shadowed. Draped In Grace. Amen