Sermon - 2015-05-31 - Holy Trinity Sunday

The holy Trinity has been a topic that people have tried to understand ever since Christ was around.  People in the past have wrestled with how is it that God can be three, but one for years.  Around the year 300 AD, many of the debates of the church were settled by the means of Creeds.  Statements of faith that the Christian church could agree upon.  The Apostle's Creed, The Nicene Creed and the Athannasian Creed, were all formed to make it clear to all people exactly how it is that God is three in one and to clarify each of the roles that God took.  If you turn in your LBW to page _____ you will find two of the creeds.  You will find the Apostle's Creed which is said practically every Sunday.  The Nicene Creed, we typically say on special occasions within the church.  These two creeds sound very similar, and yet there are some slight changes. 

Today, I am going to focus on the similarities so that we can understand God's relation to the world and the three names that are given to each role.  God the Father, God is the creator of all things of heaven and earth. We turn to the book of Genesis for the creation story to understand how it was that God created the sea, the dry land, the plants, animals, and even ourselves. We are made in the image of God. God created man out of the mud, and blew into him the breath of life.  Then woman was created.  If you continue in the story of creation, we find that the man is named Adam and the woman is named Eve.  They are given a command to stay away from the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Yet they broke that command.  This is when sin entered into existence. So we are left with God the Father, creator of all things, and a sinful creation that had turned away from God. 

God had to turn the creation back to him.  God refused to let us walk away from him and did not want to be apart from him anymore.  God had to redeem and cleanse that world.  So God sent his only begotten son to Earth, so that he could tell the people, the creation, exactly what they needed to do.  Believe.  Believe in Jesus.  For if you believe in Jesus, you are believing in God the Father.  You are believing in God because they are one; they are the same.  When you read the creeds, you read precisely what Jesus had done for us.  For you and for me.  For all people who believe in him.  Look carefully at what is written.  How Jesus is of God and of humanity.  Jesus is 100% God and 100% human.  Yes that is 200%, but that's just it.  God can do whatever he wants.  There are no limits on God unless God puts them on himself.  The creed goes on to mention more about Christ.  But there is no mention of the miracles, turning water into wine, feeding 4000 or 5000.  There is no mention of Jesus walking on water, calming the wind or water.  There is no mention of Jesus healing the sick, the lame, or making the blind to see.  Those were gifts that were given to those individuals.  Gifts that would allow those witnesses to see and understand that this was a man of God.  Yet the Creeds go right into the suffering and death.  Something that all humans will face.  Something that we face on a daily basis.  Everyday, we have moments of suffering. We may be reminded of our mortality.  We may endure pain or we may witness others who are suffering.  Although that is precisely what Jesus came to over come.  Christ came and overcame death and the grave.  We no longer would face that.  Jesus then ascended back to the Father, to the glory.  That gift of overcoming death, and the ascending into glory is one that is given to all people who are one in Christ, who believe in his words, in his actions, and his promise. 

God did not want to just leave the redeemed or recreated creation. God sent himself in the role of the Holy Spirit to guide and gather us together.  That is the reason that we gather for church to be reminded of God acting in our lives; so that we may turn to God for help and to help one another turn to God.  The Holy Spirit leads and guides us.  For many people, they want more.  They want to experience God as a person, to be able to talk to Him, and touch and feel Him.  

So what evidence or reminders do we have of these three roles that God has played within creation?  For God the Father, we can look around, God is constantly creating new life with the birth of a child, the growing of the fields, and even each new day.  For Jesus Christ, the redeemer, we are reminded through our Baptism and through Communion.  We are reminded of those promises through our daily uses of water, through meals, and the forgiveness that we have with one another.  For the Holy Spirit, we see God working through the church, those who have come before us, those who are present now, and those who we prepare for.  We gather together to remind one another of God acting in the world.