Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Trinity Sunday, it is the Sunday of the great mystery, that is what the Trinity is. One God, three persons, not the same but still one. There have been many analogies over the years and they all fall short. They do not serve well because the Trinity is a mystery and beyond the grasp of the human mind. We can talk about God the creator, referring to the first person, God the Father, but we also know “by whom and through were all things made” refers to the second person, Jesus. We can talk about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the one who accompanies, but Paul also says “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Jesus said I am with you always even to the end of the age. The psalmist talks about leading, often in the Old Testament there is the sense of God who leads. 

Jesus is born into our world. This is most certainly true. He is the one who comes to make the Father known, who dies for us on the cross, who rose again from the dead. The ongoing work of God is to create faith in us, to relate to us, to draw us deeper and deeper into relationship with God. When we start talking too strictly about any one person of the Trinity playing any one role, that is uncertain ground. God loves us. God wants to be in relationship with us so the Trinity. All three persons work to accomplish this great desire of God's heart, to draw you deeper and deeper into the reality of God who creates and deeply loves all of God's creation. God is even in relationship with God's self which is the Trinity. How, yeah that is the question which is beyond me and I think beyond human minds. So we confess the mystery and we enjoy the blessings given to us by our God who relates to us in three different ways, as three different persons. 

I asked a lot of questions in my sermon last week. They came as a result of the killing of George Floyd and the unrest which has happened since then. The unrest has continued, part of it is the anger and frustration of years which has been bottled up and now come to a head. Part of it also is those who want to cause trouble, those who want to make things worse, even to create anarchy. There are also those who want things to be better for our fellow citizens. There are those who want our nation to mean what we say about liberty and justice for all. 

Those questions I asked last week, they are still here. They hang in the air before us, around us as we struggle during this time of upheaval and unrest, during this time of wrestling. I saw one of those marvelous quotes by Martin Luther, the reformer not Civil Rights activist. He said, “I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide.” What will be at the end of these protests? Will there be less systemic racism in our nation, less prejudice, less bias against those who do not look like me, white? I hope so. I hope there are changes which happen as a result of all that has happened in our nation. May the day come when people of color do not have to have special instructions about surviving encounters with law enforcement. May the day come when the truth of our relatedness is lived well and concern for our neighbor is the common attitude and extends to all of our neighbors. 

Racism, it is a difficult topic because I would rather deny the reality of any of the ways that I might behave like a racist. As I was thinking about this topic an incident from growing up came to mind. Small town central Illinois is my home, where I was born and raised. The big city we would go to most often was Peoria, sometimes Chicago. I remember on several occasions either mom or dad, most often mom I think would say, “Kids, lock your doors.” This would be said when we were driving through a neighborhood where it looked like mostly black people lived or there would be a group of black people on the corner we were driving by. Were we in danger? I doubt it. Were they going to come rushing up to our car to do some sort of evil? I don't think so. Still the fear of the different was very much there and so “Kids lock your doors.” was the command. My parents would not have been considered racist by themselves or anyone who knew them. They did not hate people of color, but still this feels like a racist attitude. 

I'm not sure what this has to do with the readings for today. I know it has a lot to do with the events around us. Who am I? What are my attitudes? What has shaped them over the years? Those are good questions to be asking these days. That act of self examination is always a good thing to be doing. 

Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 13 that faith, hope, love these three abide, good thing. It is a very good thing. These are hard days. We will need faith hope and love. We cannot come together physically and yet there is so much to talk about. We may not be able to come together physically, but if there is need for conversation that can still happen. I hope I raised tough questions last week and I know I am talking about tough things this week. I am certain of the need for faith and hope and love as we move forward and indeed move forward we must. 

We will certainly need all three persons of the Trinity to strengthen and accompany and guide and lead us as we face hard things. I would rather put distance between myself and those who truly hate because of skin color. That is certainly not me, but that is not the question to be asked. It is not how far from that sort of person I am but rather how far from fulling that command to love my neighbor, my fellow creature, to work for justice that is the real question. How far am I from serving my neighbor by working to do what I can to make our society better, to make our society just for all? How far am I from dealing with injustice and prejudice and racism in myself and in the society around me? 

It is a difficult journey to make as we travel that road of self examination, as we wrestle with hard things. I do not know the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide. When I doubt, when I fear, when I balk at the way I am being led, God will still love and God will still lead. That is the promise. That is the sure and certain word of the Lord. The one who creates is the one who gives breath. May that mighty breath of God fill our lives, fill our bodies so that we are the people of God God intends for us to be. 

The one who died for us hangs out with doubters and gives doubters instructions after his resurrection. Jesus gives a mission and promises to be with those doubters and us until the end of the age. Jesus, son of God is with us until the end of the age. God's very breath which formed chaos into a well ordered creation fills us. That breath, Spirit of God fills us. What shall we do then? How shall we serve then? For our lives are about serving others. That is our calling. We are to serve Jesus by serving the neighbor around us and before us. We serve by loving, by working, by examining our own hearts and thoughts and attitudes. It is hard work. I will never say otherwise. Still it is the work of the Spirit, the work of Jesus, the work of God the Father. It is the work of the Trinity to show us that there is room at the table for all. We need to make room and lovingly defy those who would say otherwise. It is time for the church to arise, to answer the call. Shield of faith, check, belt of truth, check, sword that makes the wounded whole, check. There are far too many wounded who need to be made whole. Church, we have work to do. Come Spirit put strength in every stride. There is work for us to do. We need to make some room at the table. Amen.