Trinity Sunday Homily - June 7th, 2020 - "What does the Church believe?"

The Holy Trinity Icon

I.

"Fr. Mark, what does the Episcopal Church

 believe about X?"

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked that question.

Part of it is a genuine curiosity,

 because, let's face it, 

  we as Episcopalians are a vast minority in our region

   as it comes to our particular expression of Christianity. 

The vast majority of our brothers and sisters worshiping this morning

 are worshiping in a very different way than we do, right?

  

For the most part,

 our friends and neighbors who follow Jesus

  are worshiping in a way that would be generally described

   as a broadly Protestant and Evangelical way.

Speaking from my own experience,

 my hometown church undoubtedly is participating in song,

  in the reading of the Bible,

   in saying our prayers,

    but in a way that is not as formal or as full of symbolic ritual

     as we do here at Trinity Parish Church. 

So, when we get visitors either to our live streams or physically in our services,

 many people have never experienced worship like what we do here.

  Its a really neat thing to walk with people through,

   because I myself was captured by the reverence and the meaningfulness

    of how we worship.

     It is a beautiful treasure that we have in the Book of Common Prayer!

But what follows shortly after that

 is usually a question about what exactly the Episcopal Church believes. 

  "What does the Episcopal Church believe about X, Y, Z, 1, 2, 3?"

If I'm paying attention and I'm really listening to Jesus,

 my follow up is usually, "Thank you for asking!

  What specifically are you meaning?"

Because, let's face it:

 Christian theology is a HUGELY diverse realm,

  where systems of belief have hundreds of volumes written on them

   throughout the past 2000 years. 

However, for the average person,

 the question "What do you believe" 

  often times is a surrogate for another, far more important question.

 

And that question is:

 "What does the Episcopal Church believe is most important?"

This is a good question!

 And if I were to walk into most church assemblies around Arkansas,

  I would hopefully get the same answer that the Episcopal Church would give as well:

   

"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing we believe."

And it is really important to understand that,

 for us as Episcopalians,

  what we believe about Jesus Christ

   has already been spelled out for us through hundreds of years of inquiry.

    And the great confession of our faith is found right in the middle of our service.

That confession is none other than 

 the Nicene Creed. 

  And the central confession of that Nicene Creed

   is one of the most unique beliefs that Christians hold:

    the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

     Or, more specifically,

      our confession of One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

II.

Now, there might be some of you who when I said "Doctrine,"

 might have gotten a little uncomfortable. 

  That word "Doctrine" has taken on somewhat of a bitter taste,

   as it may conjure up images of angry debates between different Christian groups,

    accusing each other of "wrong doctrine."

Rather, the term "doctrine" is actually very helpful.

 In the way I'm using it this morning,

  it describes a complex system of theological evidences

   that point to a theological truth. 

"Doctrine" for us is the science of religion.

 We arrange our evidence and draw our conclusions

  based upon the observance and examination

   of the authorities within our Christian faith. 

So what does this have to do with the Trinity?

 Well, everything actually!

You see, the word "Trinity,"

 even though it is a fundamental confession of Christianity for nearly two millennia,

  is not a word you will find used in the Bible.

   However, the strong evidence of the Trinity

    can be found throughout the Holy Scriptures,

     which is where this Doctrine of the Trinity,

      this complex theological truth,

       comes from in the first place. 

The early theologians of the church

 examined the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments

  and began to put together evidence that yielded a very unexpected truth:

   the confession of One God in Three Persons. 

And it all begins with Jesus Christ.

You see, when we as Christians confess Jesus Christ as God,

 and we worship Jesus as God,

  there is an interesting problem that comes up:

   how do we reconcile the New Testament's witness to Jesus as being God

    with the belief that there is only One God?

     (Christians, by the way, believe in One God.)

Well, this is where the Trinitarian confession of Christianity begins.

 How do we reconcile the evidences that we see in the Scripture

  about One God,

   with the other evidences of Three distinct persons enumerated in the New Testament:

    Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

The reconciliation of these things begin to take shape between the end of the writings

 of the New Testament, which is broadly somewhere around A.D. 100,

  and the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.

Without going into too much detail,

 (trust me, just do a Google Search for "Doctrine of the Trinity and read to your heart's content)

  what get's enumerated in the Doctrine of the Trinity

   is what widely is confessed in the Creed we still say today

    which more specifically concerns what we believe about Jesus.

The Trinity theologically and historically really is all about Jesus!

 And likewise if it is about Jesus,

  it is about the belief in One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

III.

So, why is this important?

It is important for many reasons,

 but let's just name a few big ones.

1) God really did come to save us. 

Because Jesus is God,

 God actually came and accomplished our salvation

  in the way that God saw fit to do so.

   And it was through death,

    so that we might be given the gift of the resurrection.

     We really have been saved by God,

       and it is a gift given to us!

        What an astounding love that God has for us!

2) There is an essential goodness to Humanity

Because Jesus is God, 

 and God thought it was good to take on our full humanity, 

  there is something profoundly good about humanity,

   something that tells us an important thing:

    sin is not a basic component to our humanity. 

This might seem strange, but think about it. 

 God cannot be tainted by sin (1 John 3:9 & etc.)

  but Jesus became fully human. 

   There is a goodness in humanity,

     an image of God that isn't tainted by sin (Genesis 1 & 2)

      and Jesus thought it good to take on our full humanity. 

Because of the Trinity,

 we see our humanity raised up into the very life of God!

  Jesus in full unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit

   has ascended with our humanity as well. 

    This means we look at ourselves and others with very different eyes,

     and God demands that we see each other with that same vision

       that breaks through the distortions of each other that we see through sin. 

3) The God really does indwell us!

The Holy Spirit is poured out through the fire at Pentecost,

 but continues to be poured out onto all who call upon the name of the Triune God.

The Holy Spirit (God) really does indwell us,

 and by that virtue,

  God really resides closer to us than anyone else in the world.

   It is a divine and real comfort that even if we experience loneliness and separation,

    God is always there and will never leave you nor forsake you.

There are so many other things that can be said,

 but perhaps there is only one thing that needs to be said about the Trinity:

The Trinity is the doctrine that proves the incredible love of God for all of us.

It isn't just an abstract idea that theologians enjoy parsing out:

 it is a truth arrived at through careful examination that DEEPENS our love of God. 

It isn't just a dead word on the page that has to be recited every Sunday.

 It is a Creed that is living, a life-giving affirmation of our Christian faith.

  And as one hymnist would say, 

   "I did not make it, it is making me. 

    It is the very truth of God, and not the invention of any man."

      [Rich Mullins. "Creed"]

And it isn't just the namesake of our beloved church here at Trinity Searcy.

 It is the Gospel that we carry and represent to the world,

  confessing the love of God for absolutely everyone,

   regardless of any factor that we can think of. 

The Trinity is the confession of the Love of God for the world. 

And that's not just idle speculation. 

 That's what Episcopalians believe.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.