A Sermon for Trinity Sunday
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie

Isaiah 6:1-8
Revelation 4:1-11
John 16:(5-11)12-15
Psalm 29

"MINE!" (Preacher snatches book from congregation member.) How long since you spent time with a pair of toddlers? Patiently explain, repeatedly, "THIS book is yours, but this one is Pam's" "MINE!"

Children learn the limits to their possessions – where "mine" ends and "yours" begins. Just as they as babies learned "my toes" by reaching out and touching them. In the same way adults learn the boundaries around their own lives. It's part of defining our own identity. Where do I end and you begin? How far may I step over the line into your space, physical or emotional? How far do I let you step over the line into what is mine? Where are the boundaries? Ego boundaries, social and sexual and cultural boundaries. Contemporary psychological wisdom suggests that developing good boundaries is a sign of maturity and health.

But in today's gospel – in fact, throughout the Gospel according to John – it looks like Jesus has some real boundary issues. Just look at his relationship with the Father and the Spirit: "(The Spirit) will take what is mine.... All that the Father has is mine." Sounds kinda like that two-year-old, until Jesus says something like: "All mine are yours, and yours are mine" And then remember all that other stuff about "As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so . . . that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one."

Father, Son, Spirit? Jesus! Where are your boundaries? This can be really confusing. Happy Trinity Sunday! Perhaps the "Holy, holy, holy!" of the heavenly host is all we can or should say about the mystery of the Trinity.

Of course that doesn't stop the church from making theological statements about the mystery. Just check the Historical Documents of our Book of Common Prayer. The Athanasian Creed should clarify things:

That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory
equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

Is that enough? (There is more.) Is the mystery clear now? Are all God's boundaries neatly lined up?

The temptation to analyze and categorize is normal and human. But I'd guess that God has a somewhat different perspective from eternity. How does one define boundaries around a boundless and ever-living God?

The early church fathers wrote about the "uncircumscribable" three persons of the trinity using the term "perichoresis" - a mutual and lively interpenetration - almost a dance of three together. It's a dance the Spirit invites us to join.

God knows the reality of our divisions and brokenness, but perhaps from the perspective of eternity, the simultaneous reality of God-in-Christ-in-Spirit-in-us makes perfect sense. The eternal procession of the Holy Spirit leading us in the dance.

However for us who are time bound, that mystery of unity in diversity debated by the church fathers and expressed in the Athanasian Creed may seem nonsense.

What makes a bit of sense to me about the Trinity is the simple truth that the God we worship is essentially a relationship. God really IS love.

One person alone cannot be love. It takes a Lover and a Beloved for Love to be real. And our God is the fullness of love that overflows beyond Lover and Beloved.

This is not an exclusive partnership of two lovers. The Holy Trinity is bigger than that, with three Lovers the Spirit blows apart all possible exclusive dualisms. No more "male and female, Jew and Greek, slave and free"... black and white, liberal and conservative, us and them.

The Trinity reminds us that love overflows reaching out beyond itself. It is not just the "two" of us here -- God and God's church; if the love of the Holy Trinity is here it MUST reach out beyond us to the world.

From a Trinitarian perspective, that old saying about "two is company, three's a crowd" looks different. In Christ, in the Spirit, in the Father, in the One God, we are part of "the crowd" that is the communion of saints.

Where the Love of the Trinity is present three IS company. Literally "companions" – the roots of the word are "com" meaning "with" and "pan" meaning "bread ." Christians are companions -- bread sharers in open communion with God.

The mystery of the Eucharist invites us into the mystery of the Trinity and unites us with the Love that reaches out through us, to spread God's love beyond this place.

Jesus reaches through all our boundaries and sends us the Spirit. And the voice of the Lord is heard again saying, "Whom shall I send?"

Could it be you?

May the love of God the Holy Trinity bring all God's children to the table.