Trinity Sunday 2008

A man was not feeling very well and decided to go to the doctors. While he was waiting in the doctor's reception room, a nun came out of the doctor's office. She looked very upset and drawn. The man went into the doctor's office and said to the doctor: "I just saw a nun leaving who looked absolutely terrible. I have never seen a woman look worse."
The doctor said: "I just told her that she is pregnant."
The man exclaimed: "Never ! Is she?"
"No”, said the doctor, “but it cured her hiccups."

I’m not quite sure what the relevance of that joke really is, but today is Trinity Sunday and I decided that the best thing to do, rather than risk completely boring or baffling most people with the doctrine of the Trinity, was to begin with a joke !

Trinity Sunday, the celebration of God, one in three and three in one, is a confusing day ! Seeking wisdom for this sermon I looked up the definition of the Trinity in a nice easy text book, ‘Christian theology in plain language’. It said, ‘Within his own mysterious being God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The designations are just ways in which God is God. Within the Godhead there are three "persons" who are neither three Gods nor three parts of God, but coequally and coeternally God.’… I’m a little unsure how much clearer things seem !

But however complicated the Trinity may be to understand or explain, it is a tremendously important part of how we see God. God the Father, the creator, God the Son, the Saviour and God the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the guide… In these three parts of God we see the world completed. Everything necessary has been done for our salvation, for an eternal relationship with God…

Of course, when I say the world has been completed there is one huge area where that is not true, and that is our lives, our response… The Trinity offers us choices, the Trinity offers us a challenge as we are called to respond to each of the parts, and that’s what I want to think about briefly.

God the Father is the creator. Now, as you will all know there are many different ideas on how creation took place, which are far too detailed and lengthy to consider this morning, but however it was done, God was at the very heart of that creation. This is God’s world, entrusted to us and as such we must care for it.

There is a lot of publicity now about how we look after the world – global warming and the ozone layer are things that until fairly recently had not been heard of by most people, the need for recycling and the means for doing it are relatively recent features of life. And these things remind us of our responsibility to care for the world, and we can all make a difference. Even a tiny difference is a difference !

But it was not just the world that God created. He also (for better or for worse !) created people. And there we also have a responsibility. We are taught that people are created equal, regardless of colour, nationality, background or anything else. But all of us will be aware that people do not live equally. Human nature means that often some will be winners and some will be losers, but just as Jesus constantly took up the fight on behalf of the underdog, so must we.

We have a responsibility to all of God’s people… Today marks the end of Christian Aid week. It comes at a particularly appropriate time in view of the problems that we have all been hearing about in Burma and in China. Contrary to what is being sometimes reported there is aid getting through, maybe nowhere near enough, but it is there, and Christian Aid are one of the organisations making that happen. There are still some envelopes for giving, but if you don’t want to use the envelopes, or there aren’t enough, then please just put a donation in the plate at the back of the Church.

It’s one way of helping to care for God’s people. It’s one way of supporting our brothers and sisters throughout the world, those who are in need, those who may be in desperation beyond anything we can ever imagine… And we must pray for the world, for creation to be cared for and for people in the world... God the Father gives to us the power of prayer, and the gifts to do his work on earth today.

And that leads us on to Jesus, God the Son, whose example we seek to follow in all that we do. His is an example of selfless love and sacrifice, an example of compassion, loyalty and devotion, and his is also an example of radical and determined action, even in the face of great opposition and hostility.

Today, in this country at least, we don’t face great hostility, apathy perhaps but not hostility. There is no real opposition to us practising the Christian faith, and yet there are many hindrances to the practice of our faith against which we must stand up. It may be for the rights of the disadvantaged, it may be as part of a campaign against poverty or injustice, but it may also be campaigning on a local matter which makes a difference.

Each month I get an e mail from the Evangelical Alliance with different things to think about and pray about, and it’s incredible how many things are going on which erode, maybe even only on a very small scale at a time, the basis of our Christian faith. Caring for the world and caring for people as Jesus did means following his example of working to build a better society for everyone, sharing his love and compassion, and showing to all the joyful hope that we have in him.

Gregory of Nazianzus wrote as far back as A.D. 381 about Jesus:-

He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.

That is God the Son, whom we worship, God our Saviour.

And then we have the third part of the Trinity. God the Holy Spirit. The Father created, the Son saves us, and the Holy Spirit guides us and strengthens us each day. There was a report some time back in a Glasgow news paper which read, “Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the bonnet and discovered that someone had stolen the engine !"

The Holy Spirit is our engine and without his power we can’t function properly. It’s the Holy Spirit that gives us wisdom and discernment, the Holy Spirit that gives us strength and courage, the Holy Spirit that leads us ever closer to God… if we allow God to fill us with his Spirit.

Some people like the evangelist Billy Graham, some don’t. I am a huge supporter of his, and I believe that he has been used by God to change so many lives because of his willingness to allow God to lead him, rather than trying to lead God. At the end of each address he gives there is an altar call, and in that altar call he pleads with his listeners to come forward. He says to come if you’re rich or poor, sad, lonely, happy. He says to come whether you’re black or white, educated or not, he says to come… come and allow God to work in you and through you.

Today I’m not going to make an altar call, some of you may be pleased to hear that, but whether you’ve been a Christian for years and years, or are just beginning your Christian journey, or even just thinking, as you go through this service, as you go home later, through the coming week and so on, let God call you, let God move you, let God work in you and through you to change your life, and the lives of people all around you. AMEN