The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 

2 Corinthians 13:13)

There’s a comforting start - the Grace we’re all familiar with and which we often share at the end of church meetings and one which mentions all three persons in the Trinity. Which is appropriate as this is Trinity Sunday and I have to tell you that preaching on Trinity is something I’ve always found a little tricky. I’m not alone. When people are in training for the ministry their supervising minister will often give them this Sunday to preach ‘to see how they do’. There’s always the worry that I’ll commit some dreadful heresy. Do you have any idea how many ideas have been condemned as heretical connected with the Trinity? Back in 1054 the whole church literally split in two, the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other over one word - filioque - over whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father or the Father and the Son.

How would we know? It sometimes seems we want to be at our most dogmatic about things we cannot possibly fully understand. And we don’t fully understand the Trinity. We can’t fully understand the Trinity. We have nothing in our human experience to let us do so, Know what? I said I worry about committing some dreadful heresy but truth is I’m 63 years old enough to know when I don’t know. Truth is when we talk about the Trinity the best we can do is metaphor - or metathree in this case - and this is mine.

We live in three spatial dimensions - up-down, left-right, back-forward or in-out. For as long as humanity has existed we have gazed upward into what we still sometimes call the heavens because we have a sense that there is something bigger than us; something awesome and all-encompassing that we call God. When we look up into the night sky we see God’s creation - incomprehensibly vast and reaching back into the past into an eternity that we cannot grasp. That is the Father in whose presence we are gathered here today - awesome but also incomprehensible to human beings that live finite lives in finite time.

But he is also the ground beneath our feet. He has given us a world that is solid and tangible governed by laws of nature; laws that mean we can make moral choices and choose between right wrong - that mean we can predict the outcomes of our actions and live in ways that make this world a brighter more beautiful place; in ways that glorify God.

Up-down. But also left-right. We cannot understand God so he came to live alongside us in the life of a human being like us. Christ, the Son, taught about God in simple stories, simple metaphors that we can all understand. He spoke of God as a forgiving father welcoming home a prodigal son. He experienced all the things we experience including pain and death. That same Son - that Christ - walks beside us all the days of our lives to our left and to our right. He offers us encouragement when times are hard reminding us that he knew hardship too. He offers us forgiveness through his cross reminding us that he knew temptation too.

Because we all do experience temptation. And sometimes we succumb to it - especially if it involves self-righteousness or a desire for revenge. But for all the times we do succumb we have the promise of forgiveness through the Cross of Jesus Christ but also the challenge to forgive those around us - to our left and to our right - who have hurt us. Sometimes we need to lean on Christ in hard times and we can do so. And we can be there for those around us - to our left and to our right - who are going through hard times.

Left-Right but also In-Out. Last Sunday was Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God within us; within our hearts and our minds, touching our souls and inspiring us. A still, small voice sometimes that seeks to guide us and encourage us to be the best human beings we can possibly in the way we live our daily lives. A still, small voice sometimes that will, if we search ourselves deep within, speak to us of the love of God for us and humanity. But also sometimes a loud unmissable roar that changes lives and demands we do things we never thought we’d do. I’ve experienced that and so have countless Christians down the centuries.

The Spirit that came at Pentecost drove the disciples out into the world to tell the world about the love of God. It sends us out too to live in the world in a way that proclaims the love of God. It sends us to love our neighbour - even if that neighbour is different from us in terms of race or language or culture; even if the world calls them our enemy. It sends us to be kind in the way we deal with those we meet; to be a voice for the people the world doesn’t always listen to - the poor and the dispossessed. It sends us to be light to the world.

Three dimensions. It’s a metaphor. We can’t fully understand the Trinity. Paul didn’t. Christians developed the idea not because they had some deep theological theory but out of experience of this thing they couldn’t fully understand but which they grasped was about the love of God the Father, the teachings of the Son and his presence with us and about finding that same God within them. All three encouraging them and us to be brilliant. Encouraging them and us to be light to the world and salt to the Earth. Encouraging the Church to be a city built on a hill; to live in this three dimensional world as children of God and citizens of Heaven. 

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and always

Preached at Baxter Hall Eastriggs and at Annan Old Parish Church

Complete Service