Trinity Sunday Sermon

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. +In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We have been celebrating the Easter season which reminds us of some of the most important events and beliefs in Christian tradition. In the last seven weeks, we have remembered Jesus’ Last Supper with his friends (regarded as the institution or establishment of the Eucharist); Jesus’ death on the cross; the discovery of the empty tomb on Easter Sunday; the appearances of the Risen Lord to his disciples; the Ascension into heaven; and finally, the Holy Spirit filling the disciples at Pentecost.

These are the events that have shaped Christian belief for nearly 2,000 years. They provide the basis of beliefs and teachings such as: Christ present in the Eucharist; the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of resurrection for all people; the divinity of Jesus; and the ongoing action of the Holy Spirit in the world. The period of Easter-Pentecost celebrates these truly momentous events, beliefs and teachings. Almost to round off this extraordinary focus on Christian beliefs and teachings, the Church this week celebrates the central doctrine of Christian faith: the Trinity.

The belief in the Trinity is the belief that there are three ‘persons’ in the one Godhead: Father; Son; and Holy Spirit. I must admit this is probably the hardest thing to explain and where we all fall short because we are human with human understandings. When I was in seminary we were required to read a book by Clark Carlton called “The Faith; Understanding Orthodox Christianity.” In this book, it has a section on the Trinity which seemed to explain it well enough for me. Although the doctrine of the Trinity was not fully revealed until the coming of Christ, there are hints of the Trinity throughout the Old Testament, in which is recounted the creation of the world and God’s dealings with the people of Israel.

In Genesis we find that when God was creating mankind he said, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen 1:26). The early church fathers understood the use of the plural here as an indication of the three persons of the Trinity. The Psalmist tells us that God created the world through His Word and His Spirit: by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the Breath of His mouth (Psalm 32[33]:6) One of the Hebrew words for God, Elohim, carries with it the idea of plurality and thus the name of God itself denotes the plurality of persons within the unity of nature. One of the most important Old testament hints of the trinity is the visitation of Abraham by three Angels: in Gen 18: 1-5 And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre; and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three Men stood by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself forward the ground, and said “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Thy sight, pass not away, I pray Thee, from thy servant; Let a little water, I pray You, be fetched, and wash Your feet, and rest Yourselves under the tree; and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort Ye Your hearts; after that Ye shall pass on ; for therefore are Ye come to Your servant.: And they said, “So do, as thou has said”. Notice that in this account, there is a constant interplay between the singular and plural. The Lord appears to Abraham, and yet he sees three Men. He addresses Them at one point in the singular, and later in the plural. Now compare this to what St. Gregory Nazianzus (4th c.) says about the Trinity: "No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the splendor of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the One. When I think of any One of the Three, I think of Him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking of escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light."

The only Icon of the Trinity which the Orthodox Church allows is, strictly speaking, not an icon of the Trinity per se, but of the visitation of the three Angels to Abraham. One cannot make a pictorial representation of the Father because He is spirit and has no depictable form. Similarly, one can depict the Holy Spirit only symbolically, as a dove or as tongues of fire. The Angels, which were clearly seen by Abraham, provide the Church with an indirect way of depicting the All-holy Trinity. The most famous icon of this kind is by the Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev (15th c.). Indeed, this is perhaps the most famous icon in the world. What makes this icon so special is the way in which Rublev captured the interplay between the one and the three. In the icon, we clearly see the three Angels, representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit And yet, these three form a perfect circle, a complete communion of love. There is no disharmony, no rebellion or self-will among them. Rather, there is perfect concord. One and many, motion and rest--- Icons of the Hospitality of Abraham capture the dynamic paradox of the Trinity and present to the faithful and image of that divine life we seek in union with The God of Triune Love. That life was revealed to the People of Israel only indirectly, in types and shadows. When Christ became man, however, the shadows passed away, and man beheld One of the Holy Trinity in the flesh. This is the essence of the Orthodox Faith. At the beginning of the chapter on the Trinity there is a quote that sums it all up. “God is not an impersonal concept or an isolated individual, but the Father Who exists in an eternal communion of love with his Son and His Spirit”. That quote seems to sum it up, but as humans with only have the ability to understand on human terms we are not God and therefore fall short of the full understanding of what the Trinity is and must hold fast to our Faith in God, because we know that God will not lie to us and that he will always be there for us.

Fighting the Good Fight

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Instructions preceding this statement:
2 Timothy 4:1-5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Matthew 5:43-45

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Luke 6:20-26

Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Luke 6:27-35

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Who are our enemies?
Matthew 10:35-38

For I have come to turn

" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

I was reading something and I remembered that a signifigant while back, someone online argued with me about who our 'enemies' are. I was telling them that we are supposed to love our enemies and the person told me that the person they were arguing with wasn't their enemy. I think our enemy is anyone who we believe is blinded in some way to the faith. Truly not the person, granted, but the one blinding them. However, since it manifests through the person, that is who the 'enemy' verses are referring to, I think.

To be as blunt as possible, I think we are supposed to be harder on those who believe the same as we do (our friends) and more careful in our ministry to those who do NOT believe as we do. I think of Jesus telling Peter "Get behind me Satan" when Peter rebuked him and I think of the statements regarding 'pearls before swine' and I can't help but put 'of wisdom' after the word pearls in my mind. Those who are blind, will not be able to see until the Lord forces the scales to fall from their eyes...and some will choose blindness. That is their unfortunate choice and a choice that God gave them.

But those who believe as we do, we should be quick to lovingly rebuke. They should already recognize and have experienced our love, and so rebuke, though especially painful from those we love and respect, would be more willingly received. The closer the person is to being a 'milk' Christian, the more grace and instruction that person might need...and those who are more 'meat'...who offer a poor reflection even though they know better...they are the ones who need a bit harsher rebuke.

I find all too often we give more grace to those who should know better and offer no grace to those who DON'T know better. That seems backwards to me.

That is not to say that those who are outside of faith should not get some kind of correction for ACTIONS (so no one thinks I am saying we should let non-believers get away with murder). I simply believe that their BELIEFS, the matters of SPIRIT...not the matters of flesh...should receive more grace from us, because we already know their situation at this point, there is no point in 'rubbing it in' or doing something that makes the situation worse.

So...fighting the GOOD fight... requires putting on the armor of God:

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

A belt is to carry tools. So God's Truth is the tool we use. A breastplate protects the heart and is used to protect us in time of battle, so our righteous behavior is protection. Shoes are for walking...so we should be walking in peace. With our shield, we defend face to face battle...so our faith protects us as well. The helmet covers our head...the place where our knowledge is stored and our salvation protects us in knowing that even in death, we live. Finally, the sword is our weapon...the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, if we pray in the Spirit (use our sword) ON ALL OCCASSIONS and with ALL KINDS of PRAYERS and requests, keeping in mind that God knows what is best for each of us and all of us as a whole and that he has even numbered the hairs upon our heads, if we are praying for God's will, then how could we doubt that it is God's will that all be saved? If we are praying for the salvation of those who we want to be saved, then we must have confidence that God will do it, but he might not do it through you or me, he might accomplish it through someone else. Does it matter so much WHO he accomplishes it through?

You can't fight God's battles in a physical way...you can only fight flesh in a physical way. Spiritual battles are best accomplished through the Lord, through love, gentle rebuke, prayer and supplication. This is what I believe fighting the good fight requires of us.

God bless you all.