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This past week, due to the hot weather, I
went to Home Depot and bought a couple of fans and 1 window air conditioner. I
was somewhat worried, because one of the fans required assembly. It required me
to follow instructions to put the fan together, and I was able to successfully
put the fan together.
But I often feel intimidated by these
instructions, these pieces, these assembly instructions.
I noticed that the first thing I was supposed
to do was put together the foundation of the fan. I didn't want to work on the
foundation because I thought the foundation would be easier and I could do this
later. But it turned out better to work first on the base of this fan, the
foundation, first because once I worked on the foundation, I was able to
understand how to put the other parts – the fan blade, et cetera, together.
The Trinity is the foundation of our faith,
the foundation of our understanding of who God is.
[__02_] Today is **Trinity Sunday**, and Jesus speaks this fundamental message from
John Chapter 16:
“I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will
guide you into all the truth… All that the Father has is mine. For this reason
I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Here Jesus gives us a glimpse into the very
heart of God. The Father gives everything to the Son. The Son receives all and
gives it back to the Father. And the Spirit takes all that is from the Father
and the Son and makes it known to us.
It sounds
like a really efficient corporation or coordination, but it's not just a
corporation or coordination, but it is a communion, a community. And we are
invited into this community.
We can
connect to many different communities, online communities, in person
communities, but the community of the Trinity is the most important community
we're a part of, and is the basis for all the other communities we are a part
of.
[__03_] But how do we speak of the Trinity? It’s
tempting to reach for analogies. A triangle. A shamrock. Saint Patrick if often shown holding a 3-leaf
clover. We reach for these to help understand—but each one falls short. As
Frank Sheed said, some images don’t
clarify the Trinity—they obscure it. A triangle doesn’t love. A clover
doesn’t give itself away.
And love is the key.
The
Trinity is not a math puzzle to solve. It is a mystery to enter—a mystery of **unbreakable, overflowing,
self-giving love**. The kind of love that never fails, as St. Paul says. The
kind of love that gives life.
And, is not every relationship you
have – as a sibling, as a spouse, as a child, as a friend – a mystery.
They are TRINITIARIAN – 3 person
mysteries.
[__04_] We love mysteries. We’re drawn to them in
life. For example: how do we explain that two children of the same parents and
same home grow into very different adult persons and personalites? There’s
something mysterious about the soul. We do not know everything. But we can know
**something**—and we can live in mystery.
The Trinity is a mystery. We cannot fully
understand how God is 3-in-1—but we can live in that reality, we can trust it,
we can rejoice in it.
And what is that reality?
It
is this: that at the core of everything, at the center of the universe, is a
relationship, a relationship that is self-giving not self-centered.
God is not an isolated being sitting
far above in some detached heaven. God is relationship. God is community. God
is love.
[__05_] And
the amazing thing is this: God
invites us into His family, His community, not because we are “pre-approved”
but because He proves his love for us by His sacrifice on the Cross and invites
us to love as he did, not self-centered, but self-surrendering. He
doesn’t just want us to believe in Him. He wants us to live in Him.
In the Trinity, we see that **God is not
distant**. He is not just a creator who
sets things in motion and walks away. He is a **Father who gives**, a **Son who
sacrifices**, and a **Spirit who remains**.
[__06_]
The words of John 3:16 remind
us also of the Trinity:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but
might have eternal life.”
Eternal life is not just endless time. It is
being **drawn into the life of God Himself**, into the eternal giving and
receiving of love between Father, Son, and Spirit.
So, the choice to forgive someone who has
trespassed against you is a step towards “eternal life” – recognizing there is
life beyond this moment or this momentous difficulty, a life after this
life; the choice to repent of our sins
is more than just an apology to get through today’s trouble, but a profession
of faith in God’s mercy that goes beyond our current faults and failures.
The Trinity is about both generosity and
eternity.
So today, let us not try to solve the mystery
of the Trinity as if it were a math problem. Let us receive it as a gift. A
gift of love that gives life. A gift that tells you: you matter, you
are known, you are wanted,
and you are loved.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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