A relay of love

From Helen

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday, the day when we think of the majesty and glory of God as we think of the fact that God created us, God became one of us and God walks with us now as the Holy Spirit. 

Today is the day that most preachers fear because today we are celebrating God. That bit sounds easy what isn’t so easy is how we describe God. There is a story of a child who was drawing a picture. His teacher asked him what he was drawing and he replied, “God.” The teacher said,” no one knows what God looks like.” The little boy replied, “well they will when I finish my picture.”

It is so hard to describe God, we all know what God means to us, we all know what God has done for us but as soon as we try to describe God then it gets confusing. After all we say God is one but in three or God is three in one. 

Confused ? I certainly am, God is almighty and I think that this means that we can’t describe Him exactly. For someone who is upset they want to describe God as their comforter. Someone who is scared may want to think of God as a warrior. Some people might want to describe God as loving, as strong, as a healer, as our provider, as our friend. There are so many ways to describe God and actually the best description of all is that God is greater than us so we can never completely understand Him or be  able to describe Him.

Someone once described the Trinity as Something beyond, Something among us, and Something within us.

The something beyond is of course God the Father – the Father who created the world and all that is in it.

The something among us is Jesus – God the Son who came to live amongst us and provides us today with the most amazing example of how to live.

The something within us is God - the Holy Spirit. Last week we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was given as a gift to the early followers, and that gift today lives in the hearts and minds of all true followers of Christ.

This is a really helpful way for us to think of God as beyond us but amongst us and within us. God with us.

There are so many ways that we could use to try to understand God, to try to work out how God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and still One God.

To be honest, for me the best way is that God loves me and I know that is the best thing to ever know. God loves us and He wants to be in a relationship with Him, now things can seem a little less confusing - God created us, He died for us and He is with us day by day through the Holy Spirit.

There is a very famous icon of the trinity that has God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit all sat around a table. Around this table they are talking to one another. There is a unity in their appearance but there is something slightly different about each one of them as well. I was thinking that actually it is a painting of a relationship, of a conversation. I love the idea of God and relationship. Relationship like a conversation is something that we can understand.

In our readings today we heard more about the relationship of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the reading from Proverbs (8:1-4,22-31) we heard of wisdom, wisdom was seen as God coming into our world and giving us wise words to help us live our lives. From the beginnings of the Church, wisdom was seen as Jesus. Wisdom had been present before creation, wisdom had something to say to the world. 

In our epistle reading (Romans 5:1-5) we heard of us having a relationship with God ourselves through Jesus’ death on the cross. We heard of God as Holy Spirit pouring the love of God into our hearts, in our gospel reading (John 16:12-15) we heard of God reaching out to us and each part of God using the other part to speak to us. Almost like a relay race one part of God informs the other who in turn informs us.

Now a bit like Chinese whispers, here is where a relationship can get confusing. God existed before all time, each part of God was there and they worked as one, and before we get a headache we can think of the relationship of God and then start to wonder where we fit in. 

Each part of God talks to the other so that we can be invited into the relationship. I want you to imagine that you are in a really dark room, just think about how you will find your way to the door. In this dark room you suddenly jump as you realise that there is someone else by the side of you, and then your fear turns to joy when you realise that they have a torch and can help you find your way out. After this you notice that someone else has come into the room behind you and they are in the dark and so you pass them the torch so they can find their way out and this keeps happening until you suddenly realise that you are all outside in the light. 

When we turn to God and enter into a relationship with Him He passes us a torch, a light that is Himself so that we can walk in the world as His children. This is a relationship, a relationship of true love. God loves us all and He asks us to love Him too. If that is the only thing that we can ever remember in life – well, then we have everything. AMEN