Holy Trinity

 

John 3:1-17
    Last week during the festival of Pentecost we talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Christ’s Holy church.  We witnessed the transformation this ragtag frightened bunch of disciples into passionate witnesses of the gospel.   This week, during the festival of the Holy Trinity, we will consider how the power of our own encounter with this divine Holy Trinity transforms our lives. 
    Holy Trinity Sunday is the day within the church year that we celebrate and remember the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  It is in fact the only festival in the church year devoted to a doctrine or idea and not an actual event or biblical character.  And it’s not like it’s a simple or straightforward idea.  As I mentioned in my newsletter article this week, the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult concepts in all of theology to understand.  There have been myriads of symbols and analogies and ways of discussing the Trinity over the centuries all of which fall short in some ways.  Probably ultimately because God is God and we are not.  So we are not even going to try today.
     We are not going to talk about the specifics of the Trinity today because I have found that understanding the Trinity is less about doctrine and more about witness.  We best come to understand who God is by looking at what God does.  What God has done for the world and what God is doing for us right now today.  For our Trinitarian God is dynamic, relational and immanently involved in the world.  More than anything, our God is a God who is at work.  Always working in the world, creating, sustaining, redeeming, loving and transforming the world and everything in it.  Our relational Trinitarian God is one who is always creating change in the world.  To encounter the living God is to be transformed.  For one cannot truly enter into relationship with any part of the Trinity and remain unchanged.
     And as our bible stories show us today, the power of this Divine Trinity is so great, one cannot encounter it without being transformed.  For today we encounter 3 stories of the transformative power of an encounter with the Trinity.  First, we have Isaiah, speaking during a time of great danger and uncertainty in Israel and we experience his terror at the sight of the grandeur of God Almighty and how he is transformed by God’s loving forgiveness unto a passionate messenger of God.  Then we hear from Paul, speaking during a time of heightened Roman persecution about how the Holy Spirit transforms frightened slaves to the flesh into beloved children of God and heirs of Christ’s glory.  And finally, we witness Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus and see how his entire worldview is turned on its head by this single conversation. 
     Now, I doubt that Nicodemus came to Jesus in search of transformation.  He was a respected teacher and leader of the Jews, he probably saw no need for personal transformation, but he had seen Jesus’s work and he thought himself in a position to demand some answers.
     Jesus however had no interest in encountering Nicodemus on his terms.  Everything about the encounter is designed to unsettle Nicodemus.  It takes place in the disorienting darkness of night.  Jesus uses intentionally confusing language when talking about being born again or from above along with abstract metaphors about wind and spirit.  He asks pointed questions designed to undermine Nicodemus’s authority.  Nothing about this encounter is what Nicodemus expects.
     For whether he wants to go there or not Jesus means to push Nicodemus out of his comfort zone.  For Jesus knows that it is there in that risky, uncomfortable space we share with the Trinity that true, life giving transformation takes place.  But he also knows that few will choose to put themselves in that position on their own.
     For there is something terrifying, risky and even dangerous about being in the presence of the great divine mystery.  Whether it is Isaiah’s cry of “Woe to me! I am lost” upon seeing the glory of the Lord or Nicodemus’s decision to come to Jesus at night rather than in the light of day, there seems to be an awareness on the part of our biblical witnesses that there is something risky about encountering the glory of the Lord.  For no one can truly encounter the majesty of the Trinity and come away unchanged. 
     Yet God continually calls us into transforming relationship with the Trinity.  And beyond the initial fear and discomfort that comes with any great change, God offers great gifts of grace along with this transformation.  For God offers forgiveness, adoption and no less than new life itself to those who are willing to take on the risks of this relationship.
     The cornerstone verse of our Gospel reading John 3:16 has become so oft quoted and common place in our culture, sprouting up in the crowd at sporting events or splashed across billboards that we often fail to contemplate the magnitude of its message.  God so loves the world, so desires to be in relationship with us, that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  As much as it may feel like we must take a risk or make sacrifices to live in relationship with God, we do so knowing that God has already taken the ultimate risk and made the ultimate sacrifice to live in relationship with us.
     While many of us might initially prefer to encounter God on our own terms, to answer God’s call in ways that feel safe and comfortable to us.  God desires so much more for us.  He is calling us forth from our own comfortable habits and perceived limitations and into a whole new way of living.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is giving us a new life in Christ, where we are cleansed and forgiven, called and loved as beloved children and heirs, and welcomed into eternal life.
     It is not easy to welcome such a total transformation, yet God is calling his church and each and every one of us into ever deeper relationship.  He is calling us forth from our own comfortable zones into the risky realm of the Trinity.  As we enter into this summer season and contemplate the way forward as a congregation, ask yourself how is God calling me into new relationship today?  Perhaps God is calling you to a deeper life in prayer or to rededicate your own spiritual practices.  Perhaps God is calling you to become involved in a new way in this congregation or a new activity to serve others in this community.  Perhaps God is calling you to reach out to someone new or to reconcile with someone who has hurt you.  It may feel a bit risky, uncomfortable or strange, but then again, the Bible tells us to expect nothing less when we encounter the true majesty of our Lord.  Amen.