Isaiah 6:1-8
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."
6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."
6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
3:2 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."
3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
3:4 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?"
3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'
3:8 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."
3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"
3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
3:11 "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.
3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
3:16 "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.
3:17 "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.
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It’s a hard thing to explain God, to understand God. And God seems to intend for it to be that way. In the Old Testament, when Moses encounters God in the burning bush, Moses asks God for some form of identification, which is pretty funny in and of itself. And God says to Moses: “I AM who I AM.”
So God became known by the Jews as “YahWeh” – which in Hebrew means I AM.
That’s really not very descriptive at all. It wasn’t descriptive when Popeye the Sailor said it, and it’s not very descriptive for God either.
As Christians, we understand God to be Triune – Three in One. We refer to the One God as the Holy Trinity. 1 = 3 = 1. It’s unique to Christianity to understand God in this way. So why do we do it?
It’s not because the word Trinity shows up anywhere in scripture – it doesn’t. But in the early church, The Trinity became the “short form” terminology for the way Jesus referred to The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, and for the way the early Christians understood the relationship between these three.
The three persons of the Trinity are reflected all through the Old and New Testament, right from the first words of Genesis.
God created
The Spirit moved across the water
God said (spoke the Word)
We learn later that the Word of God is Jesus Christ.
Today is Trinity Sunday. It’s a good day for us to consider the three persons of the Trinity, and to think about how our scripture passages for today relate, how they explain the Good News in terms of the Trinity, and vice versa.
But we need to realize up front that no matter what we say about the Trinity, we will not be likely to discern a better understanding of who God is. It’s a mystery – one of the many ways that God’s ways are incomprehensible to us.
People have been studying and writing about the Trinity since the early days of the church.
They have addressed whether Jesus and the Holy Spirit came after the Father – and decided, no, they did not. Many of the words in our oldest creeds and confessions are a direct response to this question.
They have addressed whether the three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – were completely different, were of similar substance, or were the same substance – and decided, they are the same.
They have addressed whether the roles of each person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – can be defined separately from one another – and decided, not really, that all three participate in everything that any one of them ever does.
John Calvin explained in his writings that God is three persons, and each person is fully God, and there is One God. Let me say that again:
God is three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Each person is fully God.
God the Father is fully God.
Jesus Christ the Son is fully God.
The Holy Spirit is fully God.
There is One God.
So God – this very One God who is three persons, and each person is fully God, and there is One God – that God says to us, “I AM what I AM.” And we go on trying to come up with a better, more comprehensive explanation.
But God appears to be less concerned with whether we figure out exactly who God is, and more intent upon getting us to understand how we are called to participate in the work of the Holy Trinity, of the Triune God.
God’s name is I AM, according to God.
Jesus explains himself throughout his ministry using the words I AM –
I AM the bread of life.
I AM the living water.
I AM the true vine.
And in each of these explanations Jesus connects himself to us.
I AM the bread of life. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.
I AM the living water. The water I will give will become in you a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
I AM the vine, and you are the branches. Cut off from me you can do nothing.
Jesus is the Great I AM – Jesus is God – and always relates himself to us when he describes himself in this way.
We are the Body of Christ.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate whom Jesus sent to us to sustain us as he ascended into heaven – it’s through that power of the Holy Spirit, so that when God calls, when God says, “Whom shall I send?”, we can respond, “Here I AM, Lord! Send Me!” (see? it’s that I AM again!)
The Holy Spirit is God
The Holy Spirit abides in us
God abides in us
We have what we need to do God’s will, because God is with us.
We have been saved and not condemned, because Christ has redeemed us.
We are God’s children, from the beginning, and God continues to reveal God’s self to us.
I took a class in seminary about John Calvin, who is the primary theologian connected to the beginnings of the Presbyterian church. He lived in the 1500s, and was actually born on my birthday! which I knew you’d all want to know. Anyway, my professor for that class, the Rev. Dr. Philip Butin, wrote a book about Calvin called “Revelation, Redemption, and Response.” In it he focuses on the way Calvin structured his writings and how they reflect the three persons of the trinity, but also the way the divine interacts or connects with humanity in each way. He describes how God the Father continues to reveal Godself to humanity, and how God the Son, Jesus Christ, redeems humanity, and how God the Holy Spirit gives humanity the ability to respond to the love they receive from God. But more than that, he also describes how in each of those cases, it’s not just the one person involved, but the other two are always participating. Whether it’s revelation, or redemption, or response, all three persons of the Triune God play a part – and so do we. We are the fourth part of the Trinity, so to speak. We are the Body of Christ.
I took a break last night, even though I was struggling a bit with completing my sermon, and I went to hear Judy Collins in concert at The Ark in Ann Arbor. It was a wonderful concert. Before I left, I had mentioned on FB that I wasn’t sure if I would go or not, and Margie Hurst wrote me back to say I’d probably find some inspiration in the concert that might make its way into the sermon. And that is exactly what happened!
Judy Collins sang a song that Stephen Stills wrote and sang with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young several decades ago. It’s called “Helplessly Hoping”. And wouldn’t you know it, I heard her sing about the Trinity, and about our place in it as well. If you recognize this part, you can sing along with me.
They are one person;
We are two alone;
They are three together;
We are for each other.
God is one person.
God and humanity could be two alone; BUT
The Triune God is three together;
And with us participating, we are for each other.
We are in community with the divine – with the Triune God – and the way they always participate with one another is the way we are supposed to be with each other as well.
So when we hear the familiar words in the passage from John – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so whoever believed in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” – and the next verse, which goes along with it – “For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
When we hear those words, the Good News for us is that all three persons of the Triune God are involved – and so are we.
We are called to be participants in the work of the Triune God, who desires to save the world, not to condemn it. We abide in the Body of Christ, as the Holy Spirit abides in us, we who were and are created as children of God, heirs of God. In this way the entire Trinity is connected with us and with one another.
You may come away from this with a whole new set of questions. And if you do – thanks be to God! Because pondering what God is doing in the world and in our lives is always a good thing.
But ultimately, the important thing about the Trinity is not whether we fully understand it.
The important thing is whether we are willing to take part in it every day of our lives, if we are willing to give ourselves over to it fully, if we are willing to work with one another in relationship, just as the three persons of the trinity are in relationship with one another.
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