Homily for Trinity Sunday

By The Rev. Canon Joanne Davies, Oblate, SSJD

The theologian John Van de Laar writes… Once again, we reach the mysterious and difficult day called Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of the Trinity is often misunderstood both within the Christian Community and outside of it and has been the source of much persecution and ridicule of the Church. Part of the problem is that the Church has sometimes used the idea of God as Trinity to define God and to draw lines between “true believers” and “heretics”. While there may be some valid reasons for both actions, they have not helped us to experience the richness and invitation of this amazing truth.

He continues: “…the doctrine of the God who is three-in-one, while not defining God…does reveal some important facets of God’s nature. This God is, within God’s own nature, a community of love. But God does not seek to keep this divine community closed. Rather, God seeks to draw all people, all creatures, and the entire cosmos into this loving community. All three persons of the Trinity are constantly reaching out to heal, restore, and welcome God’s beloved creation into intimate relationship with God. If there is any statement about God that should teach us about God’s inclusive love, it is that God is triune. This is a great mystery, but it invites us to spend our lives in contemplation and experience o it. ———”

The poet and spiritual writer, Thomas Traherne has a line in one of his poems, as he begins to write of the glory of God: “With Reverence O God, and Dread mixed with Joy, I come before thee…”

This is akin to how I feel about writing or speaking about the Trinity. Something too much for me, knowing a limitation of my mind and my words and more, and yet feeling  the wholeness of God, The Trinity encircles the truest nature of my life, the place of my deepest comfort and truth and where I find my deepest joy. Once upon a time, mentor suggested it best to not talk about the Trinity in a homily, but to let it be… however it is clear I cannot help myself. The joy always seems to overcome the dread. ———

I have a memory I hold dear. Sister Sue and I were taking communion to a patient who could not leave their bed. The patient was struggling with many worries and much guilt that was magnified by their confined space. I prayed and Sister Sue offered a blessing that created a space of Love, for the patient beyond our comprehension. That is what the Trinity is. A space to let go, to surrender to God’s communion of openness. A spaciousness, of calm and freedom.

God will lie here with you, Sister Sue said. I cannot clearly remember her exact words but I do know this Celtic blessing sounds like Sue’s voice to me.

“You are lying down tonight with God, And God tonight will lie down with you, you will not lie down tonight with sin, nor shall sin or sin’s shadow lie down with you. You will lie down this night with the Three of your love, and the three of your love with lie down with you.”

An eternal memory. Encircling me. Infinity.

When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness, a darkness of warmth, covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

The breath of God, the Spirit of life attends to order with love and mercy and all is good.

So much we did to the life given … hurt and chaos and evil we brought to our lives, to God’s creation, to the earth, damaging the goodness God gave and so God chose to come to walk upon this earth, on the dirt roads, in the nature and body of Jesus.

To walk with us. To teach us, to lead us, to heal us.

To leave us knowing what we must do…

To live a baptism in the wholeness of God to draw life to the goodness of creation. And to share a visible rite of baptism in God’s wholeness. The Trinity. And to never divide one life from another life. To be merciful. Compassionate.

Paul often says we are “in Christ” as a reminder we are not alone; rather, we can find ourselves in the midst of the wholeness of God. The middle of the Trinity.

For one final commissioning of his desires for his followers, Jesus wraps himself in the middle of who he is with the heavenly Parent and Spirit.

It is this three-in-one, the Trinity…that we often get ourselves caught up in defining. But it is not for defining rather the Trinity is for living within. In the wholeness of God.

And we are to … Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Looking at John Van de Laar’s reflection on the Gospel for today I connected with these words.

“When we remember that the Christian religion did not yet exist, it is clear that Jesus did not mean that his followers should coerce others to become part of a new religion. Rather,Jesus sought to draw all people into his new way of being – the way of abundant life found in the reign of God. The sign of baptism ….was a sign of dying to our old way of living, which was rooted in the values of human systems, and being raised to new life rooted in God’s values and priorities. On this Trinity Sunday, it’s important to note that baptism is in the Trinitarian name of God. In other words, we are baptised into God’s divine community of love, and then we are sent into the world to invite others into God’s loving family.———”

Jesus teaches the disciples that community, and the work of their community, is beyond his time here on earth; that the coming of the Spirit will offer them access to what they have known in Jesus and, most importantly, a guide to continue in the life of Jesus. God is now making God’s self known in fullness. The Trinity.

God invites into the communion of Love that is God, not as an audience or bystander waiting, but into the middle to enliven our own spirit of love. To make known the living harmonic encircling, or as is of said, the dance, of the wholeness of God. The desire to have anyone and everyone know their own home and hearth. To be fed. To know Mercy and Compassion. Only seeking Peace and reconciliation. The wholeness of God. Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.