On this Trinity Sunday, I want to encourage you to seek God and to follow him, with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.
First, to affirm that the doctrine is reasonable, understandable, worth thinking about. God is a trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the same person as the Son; the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as Father. They are not three gods and not three beings. They are three distinct persons; yet, they are all the one God. Each has a will, can speak, can love, etc., and these are demonstrations of personhood. They are in absolute perfect harmony consisting of one substance. They are coeternal, coequal, and copowerful. If any one of the three were removed, there would be no God. http://www.carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/trinity
Second, God is a mystery, who chooses to make himself known. We started our service by singing holy, holy, holy … the words sung by the seraphim. It seems that for Isaiah, the temple has become a ‘thin place’ where he observes the familiar things of earth but sees through them to the heavenly realities beyond.
It is sometime in the 740’s or 730’s BC. Isaiah is not a priest, so he cannot be in the temple itself. He must be in the courtyard, looking though the widely opened golden doors into the Holy Place. It is a significant time. King Uzziah had started well, and his reign had brought economic success and political stability; but he had become proud, full of hubris, and he had been struck with leprosy. For the remainder of his reign he had been in seclusion, hidden away in disgrace; his son Jotham had been regent while the king was invisible. Now the hidden king has passed away, and Isaiah has this vision of the LORD, the holy one, whose glory fills not just a temple or a kingdom but the whole earth. He sees the seraphim, angels who always pour out threefold praise to the holy God. So he SEES in an enhanced way, and he is terrified. ‘Woe is me, for I am undone’, ruined utterly, like a city put to the sword, or the twin towers that have collapsed. To see God, we are told elsewhere in scripture, is to be struck down, because God is so pure, so holy, that no mere sinful human can bear the sight. He FEELS his complete unworthiness before God, and he realises that he lives in the midst of an unholy people. He is so unworthy, that he cannot ask or hope for anything, yet God himself takes the initiative and sends an angel to touch his lips with a coal from the holy fire, to cleanse and purify him. And he HEARS in a new way. We are not told directly that he hears the angels singing, but how else would he know? We are certainly told, though, that he hears a voice from the throne asking ‘Who will go for us?’ There has been a purpose to the vision: God has been recruiting, commissioning, a prophet to carry his message to the people of Judah. If we read on, we will find out that Isaiah is told from the beginning that the people will not respond favourably to the message but that they will continue to rebel against God, and Jesus quotes this later when discussing parables.
So an essential part of our concept of God is that he is mysterious, unknowable, and yet he chooses to be known. When we come to worship, when we come to the place set apart for worship, we come as if onto holy ground, although all the earth is his, and he is equally present everywhere. We can never be prepared for what God might do or say. We may SEE something of God in a new hymn or a fresh view of a familiar favourite. We may HEAR something of God in a sermon, or an apparently casual conversation. We may FEEL God’s presence the business of the Peace or sharing coffee, or in the quiet of prayer and meditation.
We have no rights, we are not the ones in control, the world has not been created for our pleasure and convenience.
It is actually much better than that!
The one, holy God has reached out to us, just as he asked Isaiah to help him reach out to the people of his generation. In John chapter 3 we read that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ You almost get a vision of God saying ‘Who will go for us?’ and Jesus saying ‘Here I am, send me.’ It is a passage that speaks of the Holy Spirit of God giving new birth, and being like the wind, blowing wherever he wishes.
Paul carries this thought further in his letter to the Romans. Christians are identified by the presence of the Holy Spirit within them. For too long we have lived independent lives to please ourselves; often we have sought to be good, moral, holy, but we have always failed, because we carry a root principle of self-regard and independence that automatically relegates God to second place in our lives. Only those who have realised that they are ruined, undone, completely without hope can be purified, not this time by coals from an altar but by the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross. The Spirit of God reveals to us the past grandeur of God’s creating work, the redemption that Jesus brings us, and the new relationship that points forward to a blessed future.
Truly, we have no rights or expectations, but God makes us joint heirs with his Son of all creation. He also reminds and reassures us that we are truly children of God, and leads us into unity with our brothers and sisters everywhere. To be an heir of God and co-heir with Christ means to share in his mission to the whole world. Paul talks about sharing in Christ’s suffering. So often we are surprised and upset when things apparently do not go well for us. The truth, however, is more challenging and glorious than that: the whole of creation is groaning waiting for God to sort it out. We are called to live as Christ’s, to share his love, and to pray urgently and diligently for his kingdom to come. We are missionaries in our own land, sharing the joys and disappointments of those around us. For Paul, this calls forth a glorious affirmation that God is not just present in all our circumstances, but also within us by his Holy Spirit; it also leads him in chapter 9 to contemplate any sacrifice to make it possible for his own countrymen to respond to the message of God’s love. To be God’s is to be involved in Mission. To be filled with the Spirit who brings us into contact with the Father and the Son is to have an urge to reach out and help others to encounter God and grow in him. We cannot help ourselves. (It is right that we should feel humble, diffident in accepting this task. Isaiah was definitely not ‘holier than thou’. You will find the Lost for Words course that we will start soon to be a help.)
How do we encounter God, the Holy Trinity?
Expect him to meet you in worship. Be prepared to see or hear him in unfamiliar, unexpected places.
Expect to meet him in others. If everyone here is a bearer of the Holy Spirit of God within themselves, then what potential is there for us to encounter God afresh? Earlier this year we reminded ourselves that love is kind, does not envy, is humble, respectful, patient and forgiving. As we are touched afresh by God’s gracious, cleansing presence, so we can become messengers who make the mysterious God available, encounterable by all who we meet.
Here I am, send me.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think God would rather that we feel guilty or forgiven?
2. ‘Firmly I believe and truly, God is three and God is one.’ How does this apply in your daily life?
3. There is a trinity of Creation, Word and Relationships; which do yo find helps you most to encounter God?
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