Trinity Sunday ---- May 22, 2016

Romans 5:1-5

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

…and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

·        One of the most life-giving and amazing revelations in our faith is that God loves us. That’s right; God loves us without condition or limit. There’s nothing we can do to deserve or earn God’s love and there is no situation where God’s love is available on conditions or with “fine print.”

·        This emphasis on the love of God shows us not simply what God is about in our world; it show us about the nature of God.

·        For a Scripture verse explaining this, we might turn to a passage not used in today’s readings. The passage in question is from the first letter of John:

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.  (1 John 4:7-12)

·        Love might be the greatest mystery in all of creation. If we echo what John says and say “God is love”, then the love found in our lives and in any part of creation is based on and molded by the love of God and the nature of God.

·        Simply put (while leaving a lot out), love is of the very nature of God.

·        This may indeed sound too simple. However, if the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all love each other, there is something there. The relationship they share is love in the absolute best sense of the word.

·        Love wishes to be shared and that sharing leads to creation by God. It leads to the sustaining of creation. It leads to the salvation that is ours in Christ Jesus. It leads to the sanctification found in the Spirit or as Paul said God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

·        These are examples of God’s love for us. We might wonder why God loves us. This love is not something we can earn or deserve as I said before. Neither is it something we can control. We might wish that this love would be predictable on our own terms. We might wish that God would love those whom WE choose.

·        That will not be the case… and it’s just as well. If we expect God to behave as WE wish, we are building nothing less than an idol made in our own image.

·        If we expect God to have the same values as we have made and accepted, we could well be making an idol.

·        So what does this have to do with the Trinity? How does this have any bearing on the festival we celebrate today?

·        On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate who God is, whether we understand or not. We say the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not understandable or comprehendible, that’s actually a good thing! God will not fit into our preconceived categories. God will not be what we expect. God will continue to surprise us in many, many ways.

·        Just looking quickly, we see God creating all that exists, not because God needs to, but out of love and the desire to share that love, even to our own day.

·        We see Jesus preaching repentance and salvation to people considered completely unworthy. He brings that salvation out of love and shows it in his own suffering, death, and resurrection.

·        We see the Spirit coming to a timid and hiding group of disciples and giving them such a fire in their hearts that they cannot remain silent about what they have received, in spite of misunderstanding, terror, suffering, and even death.

·        None of these actions would be what we might expect. All of these are such surprises that many find them hard to believe.

·        What is still to come is unknown, but it is in God’s hands. Someone once said something like this: I don’t know the road or where it leads, but I know the guide and that’s enough.

·        May God continue to surprise us all our lives long, even in our deepest hopes.

·        With that in mind, let us remember what Paul wrote to the Romans, we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.