The Festival of the Holy Trinity

"The Love of the Triune God"

May 30, 2010

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs

Lessons: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; St. John 3:11-17

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

This falls under the title, "You Never Know What Will Catch the Attention of the Media", even if the media is the conservative journal, "The Weekly Standard". In the May 17th issue, there is an interesting article titled, "The Convert Conundrum", by Mary Eberstadt. She begins, "We interrupt the latest bilious rants about religion with a respectful bulletin. Mid-April marked the passing of British philosopher Antony Flew, perhaps the most famous atheist turned theist of recent times. As a scourge of believers for much of his life, in his straightforwardly entitled book, "There is a God", he announced to the world that he'd changed his mind and become a deist—(a believer in God).Research on DNA, Flew submitted, 'has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements that are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved." The article goes on to discuss what Eberstadt calls, "The Convert Conundrum", the fact of many popular, well-known unbelievers in recent time, actually converting to belief in God, and how that shocks and confuses other unbelievers.

It's no surprise, really, that well-known atheists converting to belief in God catches their fellow atheists off-guard, as they see their comrades jump ship, abandoning the atheistic enterprise. It doesn't surprise us, because as believers ourselves, we understand it. We should understand that there is this constant movement of unbelievers, to belief, because God is continually at work to create and cause faith in those who previously had none. And this is not because we Christians are such good evangelists—it's because this is God's intention and work—He intends to bring all people to faith. And the all-too-common reality of such conversions ought not be a conundrum—puzzling for us, because we know humanity, and human nature, just as we know how our God loves us, and is always striving to claim all His children—to bring them to salvation.

In the book that's being studied in our Monday Night Book group, "Principles of Lutheran Theology", Braaten writes in his chapter on the Christocentric (or Christ-centered) Principle, that it points to, as he calls it, "the universal human need for salvation". He writes, "the need for salvation is universal. Every religion presupposes that human beings need salvation. The idea of salvation presupposes some kind of dualism (some kind of division) in the human condition. If there were no split, if people were whole, salvation would be unnecessary and churches would simply go out of business." Braaten states, "Deep within the earthbound soul there is a yearning for a supernatural life beyond, that will never end." At the same time, he says, "human beings long for a perfect community that has never been actualized, yet one with a higher right to exist than the unequal, unjust, un-peaceful and unfulfilling forms that exist" in the history of the world. In other words, Dr. Braaten contends that there is a universal split (or wound) in the human condition that causes men and women to yearn for something more than this troubled, broken world—and this yearning is for now, just as it also is for the future. And it is this that is at work in what he calls, "the logic of salvation"—the openness that exists in all people, in every time, to God—even in the hearts and lives of those who consider themselves dyed-in-the-wool atheists.

Which brings us, of course, to our Festival of the Holy Trinity, and the need for us to celebrate God, and recognize God, not just as a philosophical concept, not just as an idea, certainly, not just as a theological construct or a doctrine, but God, as Savior. On this festival day, we want to realize not just the abstract notion of God, but God as the one who knows the brokenness of humanity and the world, knows the universal wound in the human condition, and has acted, to restore and heal that wound, so that humans may finally be, truly, whole. This is the work of the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to reconcile and restore human beings, to wholeness and completeness.

Which is why when you get to the truth of it, you see that the Triune God is not a distant, detached, abstract god. You see that God is not far off, waiting and watching to see how we all turn out. Rather, the Triune God is Triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that in our fractured state, in our troubled lives, He could come to us, in Jesus Christ, to be with us, but also, to die for us, that by His sacrifice on the cross, we might be made whole and well. God came to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, to manifest, not His perfection, not His wrath, not His judgment on this world, but His love—His love that finally, ultimately, heals. In a world that is torn apart by fighting, violence, abuse, objectification of others, disease, suffering and death, what heals and makes whole, finally, is love. The love of the Creator, for His creatures. The love of the Father, for His children. And this love was shown by the gift of His own Son, to live with us, yes; to walk and talk with us, yes; to give us guidance and advice in life, yes; but even more, to die for us, that we might be reconciled to God and to each other. Seeing and knowing the great pain and yearning we experience daily, as we hope and pray that things might be different, our God chose to become human, Himself, to make life different for us. Jesus came to take our place on the cross, to die the death we deserve, to give us the gift of resurrection unto eternal life we DON'T deserve—so that we might have hope, and promise for the future—the far off future, sure, but more, that we might have hope and promise tomorrow, and the next day, each day of our lives, because we have been, we are being healed by the presence of the Risen Christ, moment by moment, as He assures us, offers us the love of the Father—the unconditional, never-ending love of the Father.

I am reminded of the story of a well-known celebrity who once said, for all his fame and notoriety, what he wanted most was for his father to tell him that he loved him, that he was now a man, and that his father would recognize him as such. He said, "for years, all I wanted was for someone to put their arms around me." But for decades of his life, no one did. He yearned for wholeness and healing, he knew things weren't right in his life, but no one, not his father, nor anyone else, could put their arms around him to touch him in such a way that he knew he was truly a man—and a man who was loved. And that is what our Triune God offers us—the loving embrace of Jesus on the cross, reaching out his arms to us. Why? To love us.

Jesus died on the cross for no other reason, than that we might know the love of God, in his complete, self-sacrificing act of love—for us. This Memorial Day weekend, we understand the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, for us, as we remember all those in our military, who gave their lives for the sake of others—the cost of one man, dying to save the life of another. How much are you and I worth? The life of the Father's only Son, Jesus. That's how much you are worth to God—the life of His Son. That's what this festival of the Holy Trinity is really about—the love of God, for you and me, in Jesus Christ. Every preacher will tell you that this festival can easily become a time when the preacher teaches about the complexity and doctrinal integrity of the Trinity. But today is not about theological explanations of how God can be Three-in-One. Today is about our God who loves us. It's about our God who loves each and every one of us. It's about our God and Father, who says to you and to me, "I accept you, and recognize you as my own beloved daughter—my own beloved son."

St. Paul writes in our second lesson, "God's love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit that's been given to us. In our Gospel lesson, John proclaims, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved, through Him." That's how much our God loves us. So much that He poured His love, into our hearts. So much that He wants to fill us with His love. So much that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life. That's why we come to meet with our God, each and every week, in worship. First, because He will fill us with His love, as He pours His love into our hearts, giving us the very presence of His only begotten Son, Jesus, in His Body and Blood, broken and poured out for us in the Lord's Supper. And second, because being in His presence, we have hope. Hope, even in the midst of suffering, as Paul says. Hope that will stay with us. Hope that will remain with us, not disappointing us, because God's love has now been poured into our hearts.

If you hear anything, and remember anything from this sermon on the Festival of the Holy Trinity, let it not be information or explanation about the Three-in-One, who is One-in-Three. Let it not be doctrinal stuff that, while fun to turn around in your head, won't change your life. If you hear and remember anything, hear and remember this: "You are loved. God loves you, completely, totally, unconditionally. The mystery of the Triune God-head is this: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." That's what we need to know and to experience—The Father's love, in and through Jesus Christ, made real for us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's what will change our hearts and lives. That's what will heal us. And—that's what will ultimately make believers, out of unbelievers!