Why is it important that we are here this morning? It is Memorial Day weekend, and there are many places people like to visit to get a first taste of Summer travel and activities. Here in Indianapolis, I was reminded this week it is less often called Memorial Day Weekend, but instead Race Weekend. Our very city the epicenter of the sports world for a day.
I remember when I was young there was a Simpsons episode that showed a nearly empty worship space on Superbowl Sunday. The church sign outside the building for First Church of Springfield had the message to the public of “Every Sunday is Super Sunday.”
Rev. Lovejoy begins to speak to a few ladies near the front and a man in the back: “Well I’m glad some people could resist the lure of the big game.” The punchline of the scene is that the man in the back stands up and says, “Oh no! I forgot the game.” And then runs out…. How important is it to be here to celebrate Trinity Sunday?
We have had Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Isn’t Trinity Sunday a bit of an afterthought? A chance to think about the Trinity and see the big picture of scripture, that is all it is- right? Maybe in some ways this is just another Sunday.
I can imagine there have been plenty of Trinity Sundays in years past here or in other places where the temperature outside is warm and maybe there is not A/C working very well and it is easy to dose off a little bit in the warm almost stale air as the pastor talks about illustrations of the Trinity and what it means for us. The longer than usual Athanasian Creed might be confessed, and the different terminologies might also instill a bit of drowsiness. So how important is it?
Let’s take a look at the Athanasian Creed on page 319 of the hymnal. Let’s read together the first four verses:
“Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.”
How important is it that we are here today, that the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Trinity? It is as important as our salvation. If you wish to be saved you must hold the catholic faith. And if you don’t worship one God in Trinity, you have something else than the one true faith and you have no hope.
It is important that we gather here today because many in history have tried to call themselves Christians, but they do not believe that Jesus is truly God. When people depart from the scripture on the Triune nature of our God, they inevitably err in ways that either elevate man and works righteousness as being their God, or err on the side of denying God’s love and compassion to us- such as is the case with Islam.
I saw a headline on the news yesterday that now as the seating capacity to sports events has opened up again, fans at some of the games are getting into some ugly fights and arguments with one another. One star basketball player even had popcorn dumped on him as he was walking from the court to the locker room after being injured.
I bring this up because it makes me think how in these days of societal chaos and divisiveness stoked by the mainstream media, the passions of Americans are misguided. We have strong feelings about who is wearing a mask and who is not, but we do not have strong feelings of the importance of protecting the truth of what the scripture teaches about our God.
Certainly, Satan wants us to downplay or ignore Trinity Sunday so that we are ripe to be misled by false teachings that lead to pride or complete despair. It is good that we are here to worship and receive our Lord’s gifts, and reflect on the clear teaching of our God’s Triune nature.
Here on Trinity Sunday, it is an important activity that we worship the God who has called us by the gospel. Listen to these Liturgical texts:
“To You do we call, You do we praise, You do we worship, O blessed Trinity.” Glory be to You, coequal Trinity, one God before all worlds began, and now forevermore.”
And from Revelation chapter 4 “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Our LSB editors summarize the feast of the Holy Trinity: “Certainly the essence of God is beyond our weak comprehension, but He has graciously revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we want to summarize all the Holy Scripture says about God as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, we call Him the Holy Trinity. One title, Holy Trinity and we are confessing all of the things the scripture says about our God.”
To worship God is to celebrate and affirm the work of salvation given to us. We repeat the deliverance God has provided for us as we remember God as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
From the beginning of Genesis we hear about God creating our world from the expanse of heaven and to the close of scripture in Revelation chapter 22 we hear about the promise of Jesus: “Surely I am coming soon.” Our worship sees together all at once the beginning and the end, Jesus the Alpha and the Omega.
The doctrine of the Trinity is about God’s action in the world just as much as it is about a theology of identity of who the LORD is as one God and three persons. The phrase actions speak louder than words holds true in many circumstances, and none more so that in the process of describing God’s love for us.
Chapter 1 of Genesis makes clear beyond all doubt God’s love for us in the goodness of creation.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening and morning, the sixth day.” At the end of six days what God created was delightful, and without qualification good. The goodness of creation is a fixed truth, we cannot add to it or take away from it.
We are part of the goodness of creation and the most beautiful of cathedrals and works of architecture and art are a continuation of the goodness of God’s creation.
Genesis chapter 1 not only teaches us that creation is good, but also that creation is the specific way in which God shows His love and care for us. We see God’s love for us in countless ways from the food we eat, to the sunshine and morning breeze that gladdens our hearts, to the design of our bodies that allows us to accomplish so many things within this creation.
We know a great deal about God’s nature and order through what we can see of creation. A God who created the world is a God who loves the world enough to order days and seasons in perfect balance.
We also learn from Genesis chapter 1 that mankind was created distinct from all of the rest of creation. We are in a class all by ourselves. We alone have been created in God’s Image and given the breath of life.
Man was created out of the earth and has been given the specific task of caring for the earth. The account of God’s creation of the world is an account of our purpose in the world as caretakers of the earth. “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God speaks about our dominion over every living thing on earth. Not dominion for the purpose of reinforcing our own pride and self centerdness. Instead dominion for the purpose of serving God through serving those we have been entrusted to care for in creation.
We are caretakers of God’s creation, and we are also a part of His creation. In fact we are even joined in Christ with God’s Spirit. The Spirit gives us life, and unites us together as one body. In Holy Baptism God’s Triune name has been placed upon us. We serve God not as a people who are distinct and distant from our Triune God, but as people who have been joined into God’s kingdom through Christ, a people who have all been baptized into one Spirit.
Blessed indeed be the Holy Trinity and undivided Unity, let us give glory to him, because he has shown his mercy to us.”