Christ Church

Eureka California
First Sunday after Pentecost
Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Canticle 13, Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
May 30, 2010
The Rev. Ron W. Griffin
“A Spirit Shaped Community”

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the
confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power
of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship,
and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son
and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 16:12-15

Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear
them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will
not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the
things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it
to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine
and declare it to you."

Good Morning!
Since the 5th Sunday of Easter we have been looking at different sections of the
Farewell discourse of Jesus as our Gospel readings. And nowhere in the gospels does
Jesus talk as much about the Holy Spirit as here in John 16, so it’s not surprising that this
is one of the texts to help us try and understand the Doctrine of the Trinity. Today is
Trinity Sunday, an important service in the yearly cycle of the 7 primary churches worship
events. Christmas, Easter, the Epiphany, the Ascension, The Day of Pentecost and All
Saints, all mark major turning points in the gospel story and all recall historic events.
except today’s emphasis, because today we are asked to consider one of the great doctrines
of our faith, the Trinity.
The Trinity is known my many names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Presence, wisdom, and power. Womb of
life, word in flesh, and brooding spirit. Almighty God, incarnate word, holy comforter.
Primordial nature, consequent nature, and superjective nature.
In last weeks message I referenced the late second century Bishop of Antioch
Theophilus writing to a friend in “Three books of Autolycus” persuading him of the truth
of Christianity, and the first author to us the term the Trinity. He framed the trinity as God,
God’s Word, and God’s wisdom. Augustine another early and influential Bishop used
these expressions, “the Lover,” the Loved,” and “the Love that unites the Lover and the
Loved.” These phrases and others are used to try to help us identify with the intent and
emotion in this multi faceted Divine relationship and give us understanding in our
connection we as the created have with the creator.
There is a sense in which the Christian faith is simple enough for any child to
understand. But with the Doctrine of the Trinity there are nuances and subtleties and even
hard counterintuitive truths that require a certain soulful stamina to grasp. And if you know
anything about church history, you know that the Trinity has been one of the thorniest
thickets, one of the trickiest subjects in the history of Christianity. As any Jehovah’s
Witness and a number of other faith expressions will readily tell you, the word “Trinity”
appears nowhere in the Bible. And the New Testament doesn’t offer anything approaching
a systematic presentation of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity as it has come to us from
the tradition of the Church via Nicea and Chalcedon councils. It is a puzzle why God need
three names anyway? Or how does God inhabit three forms? Or how can God the Father be
his own Son? And If Jesus is God, then whom is he talking to?
The Trinity has been described like a three leafed clover, like H2O, water, ice,
steam, as a triangle, and like a circle. Even though these illustrations fall short the
descriptive language can be helpful, but I know I’m not the only one who sometimes finds
the doctrine illusive.
Fortunately one of the gifts of our faith tradition as Anglicans is our willingness to
accept the mystery found in faith and in our limited human capacity to grasp the magnitude
of God. Not everything can be explained, though we keep looking for new ways to connect
to truth. We want help finding the mystery, embracing that mystery, not trying to explain
the mystery out of it." And some things are just beyond our knowing. That’s really hopeful
for me, hopefully for you when it come to The Doctrine of the Trinity.
The English writer, theologian and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis once said that the most
frequently spoken word in heaven would be, "OH." As in “Oh, now I see what God's plan
was." Or, "Oh, now I see the reason for the trial I went through" or "Oh, now I
understand."

The short gospel passage this morning is highlighting the activity of the Holy Spirit
in advancing the ministry of Jesus, who is one with God. John’s gospel today is
emphasizing several key attributes. The unity of the three, how each so freely contributes
to the further glory of the other two in definitive selfless sharing, and that a
Spirit Shaped community will be receptive to Spirit guided growth and life.
Remember in last weeks gospel the Spirit’s work was described as helping the
disciples remember what Jesus had already taught them. In today’s text the promise is that
the Spirit will offer new information for spiritual growth, and life.
The word “truth” as it translated in today’s text isn’t the equivalent of facts but as a
reference to Jesus who is “the truth extending through the Holy Spirit” Every Christian
community from the first, to us and those beyond us have gone or will go through periods
where we are grasping for the “truth”. And so Jesus words for us today encourage us to be
open to fresh encounters in the revelation of Jesus, the truth. And that by being open we
will become more a Spirit Shaped community will be more receptive to Spirit guided
growth.

To be a Spirit Shaped Community is not only in remembering what we have

learned from the tradition of the past, but also in the revelation of new ways to embrace
Spirit Guided Growth through the Words of Jesus today.

At the beginning of the service today I said, “Blessed be God: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. At the close of Communion today I will at the blessing say, “The blessing of
God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you
for ever. A physical action often accompanies those words. It is the sign of the Cross.

For some it is identified as a Roman Catholic tradition. For some it is in the group
of worship actions like kneeling or bowing before you sit down, only in a service and only
at certain times. So depending on your faith background, you may or may not make the
sign of the cross.
Bert Ghezzi’s book the "Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient
Prayer" writes about this ancient action. By the year 200 in Africa, an early leader in the
Christian movement Tertullian wrote saying "We Christians wear out our foreheads with
the sign of the cross". St. Basil in the fourth century said that Christians learned the sign
from the time of the apostles and that it was administered in baptisms. “We have been
given a new life in Christ, and marked as Christ’s own forever.” Some scholars interpret
St. Paul's saying that he bears the marks of Christ on his body, in (Galatians 6:17), as his
referring to the sign of the cross. And today we are reminded the sign of the cross, is often
used in connection to the Trinity as a mini version of the creed —belief in the Father, and
in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
In the movie “About Schmidt” starring Jack Nicholson it tells about one man's
"frightful and lifelong loneliness." Warren Schmidt is alone, even when he's together with
his wife. Right after Warren’s retirement his wife dies unexpectedly. And his daughter
lives far away and wants nothing to do with him.
 One day while watching TV Warren is touched by a plea to help a hungry child. He
sends off for some information and receives an appeal from an International Children's aid
fund . . . for $22 a month he can help an orphan in Africa. He writes a check and then
starts to write the child, named Ngudu, a six-year-old Tanzanian orphan. Schmidt says "I'm
a failure; I've never made a difference to a solitary human being."
Toward the end of the movie Warren opens an envelope postmarked Tanzania. The
writer is a French nun at the orphanage. She's writing for Ngudu, and says thank you,
enclosing a picture that Ngudu drew -- two stick figures of an adult and a child with arms
reaching out, as if trying to hold hands. Schmidt cries for the first time in years.
It has been said that the greatest distance in the universe is the 18 inches that
separate the head and the heart. On this Trinity Sunday, John’s gospel is reminding us that
once the truth in the words of Jesus becomes connected; to our minds and then our hearts,
our hands will follow. And our hands, working at the command of both the head and the
heart, can connect the greatest distance in the universe.
Warren Schmidt’s hand-written checks connected his heart and his head. His hands
had unlocked the deep need to find purpose and meaning, Oh, now he understood, and
begun to fell what had been only a mystery before.
Unlike, a three leafed clover, Triangle or Circle describing the Doctrine of the
Trinity, the Sign of the Cross this ancient action encourages revelation of new ways to
embrace the unity of the Lover,” the Loved,” and “the Love that unites the Lover and the
Loved.”The Sign of the Cross reminds us as Christians we are to be part of a selfless
community of sharing. An ancient action marking of our responsibilities and generosity,
extending our actions to each other and on behalf of each other, connecting our minds, our
hearts and our hands becoming a Spirit Shaped community, receptive to Spirit guided
growth and life.

In the Name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit,