Finding Faith ... in the divine mystery of the Holy Trinity

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 1/2 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on May 30, Holy Trinity Sunday. This was the eighth in-person/livestreamed service in more than a year after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic. The first in-person/livestreamed service was on Good Friday, but there was no sermon.

This week's preaching text: John 3:1-17

Nicodemus Visits Jesus

3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Message:

As I prepared for service this week I wondered how many words pastors like myself have uttered on this day every year to try to explain the mystery of the Godhead, or in more commonly accepted terms: the Holy Trinity.

Or what we might know as God, the father; Jesus Christ, the son; and the Holy Spirit -- for some of us of a certain age, maybe the Holy Ghost -- all in one, yet unique and separate in themselves.

It is Holy Trinity Sunday, after all, and I'm sure that there is a good many preachers who have felt compelled to help their flocks understand the greatest Christian enigma. Isn't that our job, standing up here? Aren't we here to help unwrap those doctrinal mysteries for you?

Well, Faith Family, on this Holy Trinity Sunday, I will confess two things to you.

First, there are a great number of theologians and preachers who have come before me that can explain the Holy Trinity in theological and in academic ways much better than I can. So, for instance, take this example: "The Trinity is a mystery which cannot be comprehended by human reason, but understood only through faith, and is best confessed in the Athanasian Creed, which states that we worship one god in trinity, and trinity and unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the essence. For there is one person of the father; another of the son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the father, of the son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal."

Now, if that clears up the Trinity any of you, you are doing much better than I. ... But if it doesn't clean things up for you, don't feel bad. That description doesn't do much to help me either.

So here's confession No. 2: I actually wonder if it's even necessary for any of us to truly grasp what the Holy Trinity is because, after all, isn't that divine mystery part of the beauty of our faith anyway?

Truthfully, for me, rather than digging through thick, old theology books looking to solve the mystery of the Trinity, I like to believe that the answer is as simple as what our gospel text provides for us today. And that gospel text tells us about the presence of God among us. And therefore leads me to believe that the kingdom of God that john references in this text today -- and here's your nerdy Bible fact of the day: It's the only time in all of the gospel of John he uses the phrase "Kingdom of God" -- it leads me to believe that it is in the intertwining nature of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we find the answer to that divine mystery.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, who is a Pharisee, which means he was a leader of the Jews, a spiritual leader of the Jews, and maybe one of the Pharisees that wasn't exactly critical of Jesus. Because we see Nicodemus three times throughout the Gospel of John, and each time he grows closer and closer to Jesus.

But in today's text, we see Jesus tell him that no one can enter the "Kingdom of God" without being born of water in the spirit. So, in other words, born again through our Holy Spirit. ... So the Spirit dwells in us too, creating a relationship.

Additionally, Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus that no one other than himself has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. ... Or as we more commonly know him: Jesus

So in our gospel it tells us exactly how it is that we also get lifted up into the Kingdom of Heaven just like Jesus (and for those that wish you can say it along with me): "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. So that everyone who believes in him, may not perish, but may have eternal life."

There you have it! ... It might not be as eloquent as that quote that I read to you earlier from a theologian, but at least in my eyes the Holy Trinity is explained through that relationship. That relationship of God, the father, and his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, intertwined with each other. It's an explanation that shows us how God has always been present in this world.

He was active before the creation of his children. He is active now in all of our human affairs. And he will still be active long after we are all gone. So, when we begin to talk about the Triune God, or the Holy Trinity, as we refer to Him, I believe what we're really talking about is the God who is beyond, before and after the universe. ... A very eloquent description that you can read on the front of your bulletin is: God the Trinity is a God of relationship, in relationship with Christ, and in relationship with the Holy Spirit.

And then blessedly the divine mystery gets even deeper for all of us: Mysteriously, this God ... this loving God ... invites all of us into that relationship too, through Jesus, when we know him, and through the Spirit when we are baptized into it. ... One loving, intertwining, big mysterious relationship.

That, Faith Family, is how we experience the "Kingdom of God," and that, Faith Family, is how I would tell you we answer the question about what the Holy Trinity is. ... It's relationship!

I don't profess today to be a great theologian, and you won't get stunning esoteric answers to the divine mystery from me. But I can tell you that today's gospel is telling us that the "Kingdom of God," and yes the Holy Trinity is not a place or a thing, but rather it is the experience in relationship of God to the Son to the Holy Spirit ... and also, luckily for us, to include even us.

The mystery of the Holy Spirit can be found in community, the interdependence between me and you, between you and your neighbor, between your neighbor and their neighbor, and so on, Faith Family.

What I'm trying to say today is that on this Holy Trinity Sunday, maybe the point isn't to be able to grasp the Holy Trinity by solving the divine mystery of it anyway. ... Maybe, quite frankly, it's just beyond our human capabilities. But rather, maybe today, we draw attention to the Holy Trinity so we see where we experience the Holy Trinity, and to feel what it is like to be part of that divine, intimate relationship of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And, maybe just for today, we'll let those smarty pants theologians continue to fill their big, thick books with words, while we just sit here and bask in a God that loves us so much that he sent his only son to be among us.

And that is the Good News for this Holy Trinity Sunday, May 30, 2021. ... Amen.