Trinity Sunday 
 Rod Sprange

Before I begin my reflection on the Gospel this morning I want to acknowledge the terrible violence and reprehensible words that have been spoken these last weeks. I am speaking of course about the killing of Mr. George Floyd. A ten minute reflection cannot begin to do justice to that crime and the continuing injustice and racism being experienced by black people and other groups. As we look in horror at what happened to Mr. Floyd and what has happened to so many other black men in America we should be careful not to become self righteous. Racism, violence, intolerance and systemic injustice of indigenous people, black and other racial and religious minorities is a reality in Canada, a reality inManitoba a reality in Winnipeg, and in your neighbourhood. We need to look deep into our own hearts with a critical eye and recognize our own prejudices. I don’t think it’s possible for any of us to not have some prejudice - the issue is what we do with it. When we are aware of our prejudices we can start to manage our responses and actions. In addition we must be ready and willing to speak up when we hear racial slurs, and become active in making positive, real change happen.

Let’s pray: Almighty God open our hearts and minds to your loving compassion, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we hear the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen

Today we celebrate the mystery of the Trinity - a mystery that we can’t explain through examples without getting ourselves into heretical trouble. The mystery of the Trinity - Three persons in one God, one God in three persons, is really all we need to know. Jesus himself, according to Matthew, gave us the great Trinitarian formula. As we heard this morning, he told the disciples to “go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

If we go very far in trying to work out exactly how there can be one God, but three persons - eventually it will make our brains hurt! It’s beyond our comprehension. Just as the God who created the whole cosmos is beyond our full comprehension. God the Trinity takes us into a whole different dimension. However, we have the witness of the Bible that gives us as much as we need to understand about God; about the Trinity. What we have to do is have faith in the God who comes close to us in relationship, but who is also beyond our experience and comprehension. Let’s just be in awe of the triune God: God the Creator of the Cosmos and everything that exists, God the Redeemer and Saviour, who died for us and conquered sin and death, God the Sustainer, who abides within and around us and guides us and nourishes us.

The word Cosmos, that I mentioned, reminds me to accept what I can’t see or fully comprehend. The great Carl Segan, taught many complex things to people like me, simplifying them, yet never loosing the mystery. In one episode of Cosmos, Carl demonstrated how it is impossible for us, who live in a three dimensional existence, to see something in four dimensions. He said we can’t show what something with four equal dimensions would look like, but we can show what its shadow would look like in our three dimensional limitations, in the same way we see the shadow a three dimensional cube on a two dimensional plane - like a wall or floor. He actually showed a mathematically created projection of the shadow of a four dimensional object. It was fascinating. I can’t begin to explain how they were able to calculate and project this image but I believe a scientist like Carl Segan when he shows it to me. Just because we can’t see a fourth dimension doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Similarly, because we can’t adequately explain the Trinity doesn’t negate the Triune God’s reality. Faith in the Trinity is critical to us as followers of Jesus Christ. We believe in one God and we believe and worship no other God’s. We know that Jesus prayed to God the Father. And we know that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit was sent to be our guide, our teacher and our comforter. And we worship all three of these persons, yet only one God. The only solution to this seeming paradox is the doctrine of Trinity.

Paul also used the Trinitarian formula in his farewell statement in his second letter to the church in Corinth - and our presider greets us with those very same words every Sunday - “The Peace of Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”. How amazing is that?

If you find this Trinitarian doctrine hard, be comforted, so did some of the disciples. The eleven disciples were told by Mary Magdalene that the Risen Lord had said he was going on ahead to Galilee where they would see him. When the eleven disciples saw Jesus on the mountain in Galilee, some hesitated, or doubted. They were faced with a problem. While some had immediately fallen down and begun to worship the Risen Christ, some were likely thinking: “But the first commandment says worship only the one true God”. So, how could they worship Jesus as well? Others recognized they were in the presence of Emmanuel, as promised at the very beginning of the Gospel according Matthew, “They will call him Emmanuel, God with us”. Somehow the living God had become incarnate and lived among them and they knew him as Jesus. It would take a few hundred years for the church to almost stop arguing about whether or not Jesus was divine, and the final verdict was that Jesus was fully human and fully divine and then the doctrine of the Trinity was established. All other views were declared heretical.

Well, this all very interesting, at least it is to some of us, but what Jesus said to the disciples on the mountain that day, is vital for all of us to understand, because this is Emmanuel commanding us. God with us. It is called the Great Commission. Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”.

So let’s break this down a bit. They are to go out and make disciples. Unfortunately this has been badly abused in the past and continues to be badly abused today. Jesus never coerced or forced anyone to be his disciple. He invited them with words like “Come and see”. He even warned prospective followers of the cost of discipleship. I believe we are commissioned and commanded to offer the Gospel to others and to hold out the invitation for them to become disciples. After that it is between that person and God. I’ll come back to offering the Gospel in a moment. Next, he commands the disciples to baptize the new disciples in the name of The Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These words and the use of water have been and remain the signs of true Christian baptism since the 1st century and across the whole Christian church. It is the sign of us giving up our old life and committing to living a new life in Christ. It is not something to be taken lightly. And it needs instruction. Jesus went on to say, “and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Baptized disciples should not be ignorant of Jesus’s teaching and the Gospel.

If the making of disciples is accomplished by the sharing of the Gospel and Jesus’s teaching, how do we do that? I believe the most important, and possibly the most difficult way, is by the example of our lives - not by our words - but the way we live out our faith, and our willingness to openly share why we live the way we do. Like my friend Mark, who stopped telling his pals he couldn’t play golf on Sunday because he had to go to church. And started saying, “I can’t play golf on Sunday because I want and need to go to church, it’s more important to me than even paying golf with you”. Now that’s a powerful message and a real show of commitment.

We are told that to love God we must love our neighbours as ourselves. And Christ aded a new commandment, “You are to love one another as I have loved you”.
During the crisis of this pandemic we have the opportunity to do this and show we are doing this. We can show our love for neighbour the way many of you have done already, by reaching out to others who are isolated or in need of assistance and by being present to them on the phone or by the use of other technologies. Making sure no one is forgotten. But we also live out and demonstrate this love by not going out into public paces unnecessarily, especially if we are in a more vulnerable category or over 65. If those of us in these categories acquire the virus we are more likely to be hospitalized and to tie up critical medical resources. I believe we have a responsibility to our neighbours to limit the risks we take. If we are sick we should stay home, and not risk spreading what could be the virus. And when we do go out in public places, we should wear a mask - not for our benefit, but for the benefit of our neighbours, whether known to us or not. As disciples, we of all people, should respect the medical advice about physical distancing and hand washing; for our own sake, for the sake of our families and for our neighbours, because this pandemic is far from over.

Once again today, I give thanks for your faithfulness in coming together as the church through Zoom. While it’s not the same as physically congregating, I have felt a wonderful sense of the gathered community each week. Thank you for your commitment and presence to one another. And thanks to David who has overcome many technological limitations to enhance our worship with inspirational music.

May we always remember that God first loved us, and that we show our love of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, by loving others as ourselves.
Amen