Trinity Sunday

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable to thee, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, and Lord, give us here today, eyes to see and ears to hear so we can learn your word together as a family. We offer you all the praise, honor, and Glory for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, my fellow encouragers!

Today is Trinity Sunday, a day unique among the Sundays of the Church year. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost mark events in salvation history. Trinity Sunday, though, invites us to pause and contemplate the very nature of God Himself. It is about the eternal identity of the One we worship: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Three Persons in One God.

This morning, we have already heard the Athanasian Creed, one of the three great creeds of the Church. Its language may feel ancient and solemn, but its message is both relevant and deeply comforting: “The Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confusing the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.” The doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of our faith, the key to our worship, and the shape of our life in God.

The Holy Trinity is the most complex Theological aspect of God for us to understand and even more so to try and explain. Many have tried. All have failed. Even some of the ancient Fathers of the Church fell into heresy while trying to explain the Trinity. And so I will not try either; however, I do want to speak on some of God’s attributes.

First, let’s discuss the Glory of the Trinity. We’ll begin where the prophet Isaiah began, in the temple, in the year that King Uzziah died.

Isaiah writes, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” Seraphim flew around the throne crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Three times “Holy.” This threefold acclamation is an ancient whisper of the Triune God. In the presence of such holiness, Isaiah is undone. He cries, “Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips.” But God, in His mercy, sends the seraph to touch Isaiah’s lips with a live coal from the altar, saying, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

This is always how it begins: with awe in revelation. The doctrine of the Trinity is revealed to us by the Holy Ghost to deepen our worship, purify our hearts, and manifest His glory on the whole earth.

The second attribute of the Holy Trinity is His Unity. The Athanasian Creed reminds us of two equal and opposite dangers in thinking about who God is. A) We must not “confuse the Persons.” The Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost is not the Father. Each Person is fully and eternally God.

B) Yet, being three persons, we must not “divide the Substance.” There are not three gods, but one God. Not parts of God, not modes of being, but One Divine Essence, eternally existing in Three Persons.

Now you might say, “Father Mike, that sounds like high theology, not everyday life.” But let me tell you, this mystery shapes everything.

The Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Holy Ghost sanctifies, but they do so in perfect unity. When we pray, we pray to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Ghost. When we worship, we do so in the same manner, offering the same Sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ, with His Holy Spirit working within us, so that we may worship Him wholeheartedly. When we are baptized, it is in the Name, singular, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Even in our life together, we reflect this mystery. The Trinity is One Divine Essence, but He’s not a solitary God. He’s a God of communion, of relationship, of perfect love among the Three. That’s why the Church is called to live in fellowship, in unity, in mutual love, because we were created in the image of a God who embodies relationship.

The third attribute of the Holy Trinity is that the Love of God is revealed in the Son. Perhaps nowhere is the love of the Triune God more beautifully displayed than in our Gospel passage from St. John, where our Lord speaks to Nicodemus.

Jesus tells him, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is the same holy, majestic God that Isaiah saw, but now we see Him drawing near in love.

Notice how the Trinity is revealed even here: The Father loves and sends. The Son is given, lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. The Spirit, although not explicitly named in this passage, is the one who brings new birth and enables belief, as Jesus explains earlier in the chapter.

This is the good news! The eternal love between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost overflows to include us. Our Triune God reaches out to draw us into that divine fellowship.

The fourth point I want to make is not, strictly speaking, an attribute of the Trinity. It’s more of what He is for us. And that’s a shield against all adversities.

Our Collect prays that “this holy faith may evermore be our defence against all adversities.” We live in an era when many are confused about God, His identity, and His truth. The doctrine of the Trinity is both a safeguard for the Church and a protection for the soul. To know God rightly is to find our anchor.

When trials come, and they will come, remember who our God is: A Father who made us in love, A Son who died to redeem us, and A Spirit who dwells in us, strengthens us, and will never forsake us. That is our defense.

Okay! So, how do we live the Trinitarian Life? How do we live this out, here in Bellville, in our homes, on our farms, in our daily work?

Let me suggest three simple but effective practices.

First, pray Trinitarian prayers. Begin and end your day with the sign of the cross and the invocation: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” It centers you in God’s reality.

Second, love in community. The Trinity is perfect unity in love. So, when we forgive a neighbor, serve a friend, or show kindness to a stranger, we reflect the image of God.

Third, worship the beauty of His holiness with reverence and joy. Our worship is shaped by the Trinity. When we participate in the liturgy, we join in the heavenly worship described in Revelation: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”

The Holy Trinity is a mystery, yes, not a source of confusion. It is majestic. It is unity, but not uniformity. It is love, and it is holiness. And in this God, in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we find our salvation.

So today, let’s not try to master the mystery. Let us simply worship and fall down in reverence, like Isaiah, and hear the voice saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And let us answer with willing hearts, “Here am I; send me.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.