19 June 2011 Trinity Sunday “He is With Us”

19 June 2011 Trinity Sunday “He is With Us”

It happens every year about this time. There is a frenzy of activity associated with it. Everyone closely associated with it feels its pressures. The community holds its collective breath until it is finally done. Families, I suspect, are affected by it most.
It may have all the high drama of a crime scene investigation show on television. There are elements of frenzied and panic filled climactic activities followed by finality, a sudden abrupt end to it all, and it may take the experts some time to sort out what really happened there.

It is that time honored, much anticipated end of the school year. Teachers and administrators and students long for it with every breath left in their worn out bodies. Parents, on the other hand, are panic stricken. What will we do now that the kids will not be in school? Summer is here, it’s going to get mighty hot. How long till school starts again? What about their grandparents? They will be around to help keep the kids, won’t they???

While school has ended, we here in the church are marking a transitional time too. It began with the extended Easter season where we walked with Jesus following his death and resurrection, next was the Day of Pentecost with our celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Today is Trinity Sunday and then we move into Ordinary time.

The Church, you see, follows a rhythm of seasons which orders life and influences our worship. Pentecost is typically seen as the end of the liturgical year. The first Sunday of Advent being the beginning.

We find a fair amount of calendar time between Pentecost and Advent. During that time we take summer vacations, find a cool place to go in Colorado, or enjoy the beach or our favorite swimming or tubing place in our own river region. Summer can become a perfect time for rest and renewal.

It is in this spirit, this time of rest and renewal, that the church brings us Trinity Sunday. It seems strange we would begin to slow things down with a story about the Trinity. The Trinity is a complex, thick doctrine. Can we imagine such a difficult concept as Trinity, God in three persons. Our rich experience of the diversity of the one true God is a hard concept to communicate.

In Matthew’s words to us this morning Jesus helps our understanding in a very practical way. Previously in the gospel, an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone covering the tomb where Jesus was buried and sat on it. The angel said to Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, who were at the tomb, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place were he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, He has been raised from the dead.”

There is nothing in literature to compare to the dramatic meaning of this story. Jesus, the Messiah, has risen from the dead. Jesus, the savior of humankind, has appeared to his disciples. Jesus, God’s own son, has brought them and us to a great commission. A commission to go into the entire world and preach the gospel making disciples of all nations.

We hear in this passage the echo of the Genesis reading for this morning. In the creation story God said, ‘let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” This is not a command to make us into the physical image of God. It is rather that we are created in God’s image to live together in love and freedom – with God, with one another, and with the world. We are created to be loving companions of others so that something of God’s goodness may be reflected in our lives.

We are reminded in this morning’s scripture that we have been given this specific command from Jesus. We have been charged with a particular function, to go and make disciples, to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, there’s the Trinity again, and to teach obedience to everything Jesus has commanded.

I must confess, when I hear this expectation from God I find myself on the side of all who cry out, why me Lord? I am weak, without knowledge, and prone to human temptations. Surely, you don’t mean us? We cannot agree on so many things, how in the world are we to go and make disciples, baptize them, and teach them obedience when we don’t always obey? Do you see the folly in this Lord? We just cannot cut it as disciple makers.

Are we so bold to think we can refuse God on this? Have we forgotten the story of Jonah? Jonah was a prophet, one of God’s special messengers. One day he heard God speaking to him. “I want you to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire,” “I have seen the wicked things that go on there. I know how disobedient the people are. I want you to go there and preach my message. But Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Instead, he ran in the opposite direction. He found a ship that was sailing away from Nineveh, paid his fare, went aboard and hid himself. That’s what we all too often do. We hide ourselves.
It did Jonah no good. A storm came up, the boat was sinking, he was found and it was discovered he had run from God. So the crew of the ship threw him into the sea. As soon as Jonah hit the water, a huge fish rose up and swallowed him whole. He was frightened and cried out to God. Help me Lord; I know that you are able to save me.” Suddenly Jonah felt himself being thrown forward out of the fish’s mouth. As you might imagine, Jonah couldn’t wait to be in Nineveh!

You see, Jonah was commissioned by God to go and make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them about obedience to everything God had commanded. Who better to teach about obeying everything God has commanded than one who has refused to follow what God commanded and with such dramatic results!
Despite his disobedience, Jonah discovered that God never left him. God did not leave him alone in the belly of the fish, and God did not leave him alone in Nineveh. Jesus does not leave us alone either.

I see in this ending of the seasons a time to reconnect to our roots. Our Christian roots, grounded in the Holy Trinity and our call to go, to baptize, and to teach. This is not just a call to pastors, or elders, or the most faithful believers. It is a call to each of us.

When my brother, Jim, was about to have life threatening surgery he made his confession to a priest. He prayed, “Bless me Father for I have sinned, it has been 30 years since my last confession.” Jim didn’t surprise God. God already knows about us. God knows that we have sinned and not lived God’s commandments; we have not lived by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God knows that we have not lived for the love of God and that we have not lived in union with the Holy Spirit.
We don’t surprise God. God is infinitely patient with us but God doesn’t have different expectations of us if we worship daily or 30 years go by without a word.
The Holy Spirit may lay dormant in our soul but we are never alone. Remember, Jesus said, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Jesus did not add a warning, I am with you always... if… These promises God makes with us are unconditionally binding for all times and places.

David Livingston, when asked what had sustained him in all of the perils of his pilgrimage in Africa, answered by quoting this same verse. It is said that when his wife died in Africa he helped with each step of her burial, he opened his New Testament and read this text, turned to his African associates and said, “Jesus Christ is too much of a Gentleman not to keep His word; let us get on with the task.”

Let us go on with the task, Dr. Livingston said, making disciples, for that is what we are called to do. We may wonder if that includes us all. Must we not have special energy, special skills, something special. Being so ordinary, how, pray tell, might we make disciples?

The same way Jesus did with those he came into contact with. He loved them, he blessed them, and he helped them, all of them, even though some of them did not care. He loved them none the less. That’s how we have been treated by God. We are loved even when we ignore God, even when we forget about or become disinterested in God and the grace God has for us. We are blessed abundantly and helped by God in ways we do not often recognize.

It is no accident that God loves us. God created each of us. God is still providing for each of us. God’s goodness, God’s grace you see is not a one time gift.
We will proclaim again this Sunday our faith in the Trinity. We proclaim it in our profession of faith when we recite the Apostles Creed. We believe all that is promised in the gospel and a summary of our belief is found in that Creed.
God promised us, remember, he is with us always, to the end of the age! God promised us his son Jesus is the Savior of the world and we are to entrust ourselves completely to his care, giving thanks each day for his wonderful goodness.
God promised us we are enabled to faithfulness and holy obedience by God’s presence within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to love, know, and serve Jesus Christ.
It is the Holy Spirit who nurtures, corrects, and strengthens us with the truth of everything God has commanded of us.
He is, praise God, with us, until the end of the age.

May the grace of God, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen

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