since you have nothing to do with your hands

you might as well pray

Its Trinity Sunday - Our name-sake day!

Today we meditate on the doctrine we profess: one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit…

For as satisfying as it is to talk in circles about the Trinity, though; truthfully, this day is “red herring.” The temptation of this day is to explain away the Trinity; which is a sermon no one wants to hear and no one can give.

In fact, if you want to really learn about the Trinity read the words from the hymn we just sang (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty), look at the man who watched his wife pass away a few days ago and is here today and singing “glory to God,” look at the parents with enough to do and yet got their children ready and are here.

The truth is, I’m up here for a reason and the problem with Trinity Sunday is the simple fact is, the doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t preach worth a darn. 

There’s primarily two related reasons why the doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t preach. And as it turns out, neither problem is the fault of the Trinity. In fact, the reasons the Trinity doesn’t preach are directly related to the perverse pleasure we get from pontificating on the theory of the Trinity. 

I’ll admit, talking about this doctrine can be satisfying. In fact, when we get a free moment and the proper temperament, nothing could be more enjoyable than a hearty debate about the Trinity…

And that’s the problem…

We can all agree, a lovely Friday evening would be to gather some folks, go to Moto’s, order Lemon Shake-ups and sit on his patio wrangling over the doctrine of the Trinity. 

The thing, though, is that when it was all said and done; we’d leave, wondering what exactly happened. And it won’t be because the ratio of lemon to shake-up was too strong, either…

No, it will be because such “talk about” inevitably becomes mere noise filling in the air. 

These theological debates we enjoy so thoroughly, never go anywhere! They’re pointless. In fact, they’re often cause for doubt.

But, you all already know that, didn’t you? That’s the reason you’re not dying to hear a sermon explaining away the doctrine of the Trinity.

For as perfectly happy as we can be to talk about the Trinity; each of us already know that when you really get pushed on this doctrine, it never seems to work. That’s why we always walk away from debates on this topic scratching our heads.

For as much as we might love a rousing debate over the doctrine; the Trinity always seems to resist becoming a nice and tidy doctrine. 

No mater which way you crunch the numbers, one plus one plus one will never equal three!

You can debate and debate, but you’ll only go in circles; you’ll always end exactly where you began or maybe further back than when you started… 

Perhaps that has something to do with the reason we can become perfectly happy to talk about the Trinity. Nothing ventured, nothing lost - and, of course, nothing gained either.

And as we said earlier, that’s the problem; our talk about the Trinity is self-serving.

Here’s the dirty secret about the doctrine of the Trinity: it doesn’t work. 

At least it doesn’t work on the terms we set, the terms of doctrinaire.

And that’s precisely how God prefers it…

The doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t make for good doctrine, sisters and brothers, because the Trinity isn’t doctrine! 

As much as you may hate to hear it, the truth is God doesn’t give a fig if we have to admit, ’one plus one plus one can’t equal three.’ 

That’s our problem!

In fact, it’s always been our problem. 

Ever since Moses first met God in that burning bush and asked for God’s name, only to hear the retort, “I will be what I will be;” God has consistently resisted our attempts to confine God to theory or doctrine.

God doesn’t want to be mere speculation…

The way we always seem to want to consign the Trinity to a topic for discussion and the way we try to domesticate the Trinity to some manageable doctrine, both reveal why our doctrine of the Trinity never seems to preach; we won’t let it…

Here’s why the doctrine of the Trinity won’t preach; the Trinity isn’t accurate information about God; the Trinity is God. 

That distinction makes all the difference.

The first reason the doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t preach is because doctrine never preaches, doctrine can’t save a single one of us. For as much as we might prefer God to be set in stone; God always refuses our attempts to control God.

Thank God, after all, the Trinity always has the power to resist our pathetic attempts to confine God into some inept theory. Thank God, the Trinity isn’t doctrine; because otherwise, we’d all be lost.

And that distinction between theory and God, pushes us, finally, to the last reason why our talk about the Trinity never preaches. 

Our talk about the Trinity turns out to be the difference between words about God and the very Word from God. 

That difference is as significant as the difference between getting the boy-scout manual on how to start a fire for survival, and the flame itself.

It’s a distinction that matters.

In the final, clear-eyed analysis, it has never been our explanations that have saved us. 

No, the only thing that has the power to save us from the power of Sin and Death, has always only been the Word of God bursting into the present and speaking the Word to you: 

I Choose You, You Are Free.

That distinction is why the doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t preach. In fact, it’s even the reason why the Trinity doesn’t even work as doctrine in the first place! 

The Trinity isn’t doctrine. 

The Trinity isn’t the divine calculations to somehow make one plus one plus one equal three. 

The Trinity isn’t even accurate information about God.

No, the Trinity is God - the Holy and Blessed Three-in-One. 

The Trinity is how God gets at each of us, to create a relationship of trust with each of us.

The Trinity promises that God sends the Holy Spirit here; God sends the Holy Spirit is here to make sure you get all of Christ, the Holy Spirit makes sure you get all of Christ so you can finally trust God, trust God to be God for you.

The Trinity isn’t doctrine. The Trinity, as it turns out, isn’t something to meditate on or figure out. Furthermore, the Trinity isn’t even our namesake, either!

No, the Trinity is nothing other than our very confession, our only hope!

The Trinity is the end of all our attempts to control God, and the Trinity is the beginning of us finally letting God be God, through trust.

The Trinity is a new relationship with God built on nothing other than trust.

That, sisters and brothers, is why we gather here; that is why we have taken a term that is never once found in the Bible and placed it over ourselves. 

The Trinity has become our very witness. 

The Trinity is our witness that God comes to us, to sinners; God comes to sinners and creates faith so that Sin may no longer have any power over us. 

The Trinity is, finally, how God shows up as the God we are freed to honor and adore, the God we can love and trust, the God who is for us.

We are bear the name “Trinity” because this place is where God has promised to send the Holy Spirit so the Word will deliver Christ for us. And, after all, if Christ is for us, who can be against us?

We are Trinity because this place is a place where the Trinity can be had. 

This is the Trinity, as I declare unto you the entire forgiveness of all your sins for the sake of Jesus.

No doctrine can do that.

No Speculation can grasp that.

No description of God’s interior life can promise that.

That is the Trinity at work here.

Amen