Holy Trinity Sunday
Jeremiah 1:1-10
John 16:4b-15

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, a day for celebrating the triune nature of our God: Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier – Father, Son, Holy Spirit… and a day on which nobody, not your pastors, not your Sunday School teachers, not your Bible Study leaders, not your confirmation students… nobody will be able to fully describe what the Trinity is. You may have heard metaphors aimed at increasing our understanding: things like the Trinity is like the solid, liquid, and vapor states of water – they’re all water in different forms. And maybe those are helpful. They’re certainly not harmful. Our minds struggle to comprehend a God in three persons – a one-in-three, three-in-one God – and so we grasp at anything that can help us to make sense of it. Many theological treatises have been written over the centuries, and some of these discussions led to the casting out of some ideas as heresy.

Here’s what we know: Jesus has told us that he and the Father are one. He also told the disciples that if he didn’t go away he wouldn’t be able to send the Advocate, the Spirit, to them. While it certainly feels comforting to know that Jesus did not leave the disciples alone, it seems strange that the Spirit somehow had to wait in the wings, not being present with humanity till after Jesus’ ascension…

It’s hard to imagine a world before the Spirit arrived, especially since it seems likely that the Spirit was with God in the winds that swept over the formless void at creation. And hasn’t the Spirit been present ever since?

Once again, no answers here… only thoughts about the mystery that is our Triune God. Maybe Jesus was not implying that the Spirit had somehow been absent for all of the centuries since creation. Maybe he was referring to the way that we as human beings tend to cling to our teachers, our guides, and how, if he were still physically with them, the disciples would not fully give themselves into the Spirit’s care. In order to understand how deeply they needed to trust and lean into the Spirit’s guidance, maybe they needed for Jesus to no longer be physically present.

Again, we can’t be sure. I bring it up simply because it is a mystery with which I have struggled.

One thing seems clear to me: we have a relational God. Within the Godhead, there are three persons, intimately relating with one another. This relational God has created us in his image; we are quite literally made for relationship.

From the moment we are born until the day we die, relationships are crucial for our survival. Throughout our lives, we need connections with other people. When we are babies, toddlers, young children, we literally depend upon parents for our survival. And as we grow more and more into the people we are called to be in this world, we need the feedback and input and support of friends, teachers, pastors, coworkers, and on and on. We have been created for relationship with and called into service to others.

In our first lesson today, we hear about the call of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah hears the Lord say to him,
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

To which, Jeremiah replies,
Ah, Lord God! I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.

God responds by saying that he will be with Jeremiah and will give him the words to speak.

It has been said that God does not call the equipped; rather, God equips the called. Jeremiah is told that God’s words will be in his mouth. When we are called by God, we can be certain that God will equip us. We can be certain that God will go with us.

We are living two centuries after Jesus walked the earth; the Spirit of Truth has come… and continues to come… among us. Jesus said that when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide us into all truth; he will speak what he hears; he will glorify Jesus; he will take what belongs to Jesus and to the Father and declare it to us; and that he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

In these days, many scary things are happening in our world, and in our country. And good people of faith, as well as many people of other faiths, are listening for guidance, praying for peace, and craving a word of hope. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide us into all truth.

But beware of anyone who claims to have all the answers.

We pray; we listen; we hear our call; we follow; and we trust that God will be with us – that God is with us, and will give us the words to speak. God will guide us as we bind up the brokenhearted and as we build up and as we plant. God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that moved over the waters, still moves today. The Spirit speaks. We listen. What are we hearing? When people encounter us, we may be the only scripture they ever read. What do our lives say about Jesus? What do our words and actions reveal to those whom we encounter about the love, grace, and peace of our Triune God? Think on these things.
Amen