SPEAKER_02: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_02: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of your divine majesty to worship the unity.
SPEAKER_02: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: A prayer from Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_02: O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the women and men of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy.
SPEAKER_02: Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines.
SPEAKER_02: This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Each had six wings, and two with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
SPEAKER_03: And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.
SPEAKER_03: The pivots on the threshold shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
SPEAKER_03: And I said, Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.
SPEAKER_03: Yet my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_03: Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken up from the altar with a pair of tongs.
SPEAKER_03: And the seraph touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed, and your sin is blotted out.
SPEAKER_03: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
SPEAKER_03: And who will go for us?
SPEAKER_03: And I said, Here I am.
SPEAKER_03: Send me.
SPEAKER_03: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_03: Psalter for today is Psalm twenty-nine.
SPEAKER_03: I ascribe to the Lord you God.
SPEAKER_03: Ascribe to the Lord the glory, do his holy do the holy name.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.
SPEAKER_03: The glory of God thunders.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees.
SPEAKER_03: The Lord makes Lebanon skip like a calf.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.
SPEAKER_03: The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe.
SPEAKER_03: And in the temple of the Lord all are crying.
SPEAKER_03: The Lord sits enthroned above the flood.
SPEAKER_03: The Lord shall give three strength to the chosen people.
SPEAKER_03: The Lord shall give the people.
SPEAKER_03: When we cry, Ahba Father, it is that very spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_03: And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if in fact we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_03: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_02: Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_02: He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered him, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.
SPEAKER_02: Nicodemus said to him, How can anyone be born after having grown old?
SPEAKER_02: Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.
SPEAKER_02: What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Do not be astonished that I said to you, You must be born from above.
SPEAKER_02: The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
SPEAKER_02: So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Nicodemus said to Jesus, How can these things be?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
SPEAKER_02: Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we've seen, yet you do not receive our testimony.
SPEAKER_02: If I've told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
SPEAKER_02: No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_02: And just as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: Indeed.
SPEAKER_02: God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Well, once a year we get to come together to explore the holy mystery of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: We get it once a year for like 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02: So buckle your seatbelts.
SPEAKER_02: First thing to say is the history of where the Trinity comes from.
SPEAKER_02: Many of us don't know this, but according to most historians, the way we came up with the doctrine of the Trinity is people were baptizing people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: That happened first.
SPEAKER_02: And then people had to figure out what it meant.
SPEAKER_02: I know that sounds backward.
SPEAKER_02: This is the history.
SPEAKER_02: The way we say that in Latin is lex orandi, lex credendi.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry for my lisp here.
SPEAKER_02: What it means is that the things that are practiced are the things we give our heart to.
SPEAKER_02: Three generations after Jesus, people have been baptizing folk in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit without really any theology.
SPEAKER_02: So theologians had to, in the second century, start to try to make sense of what that might mean.
SPEAKER_02: We struggle with it a little bit, quite honestly, because we're a little suspicious of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And just to tell you why that is, the early Christian church spread rapidly because they believed in charismatic needs of power.
SPEAKER_02: You can read about these in Paul's epistles.
SPEAKER_02: And what do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_02: Speaking in different languages.
SPEAKER_02: Now, last week we talked about the disciples spoke their language, probably Aramaic, and other people heard in their own indigenous language what they were saying.
SPEAKER_02: This was not speaking in tongues as Paul writes about.
SPEAKER_02: People were speaking in heavenly languages that nobody else could understand.
SPEAKER_02: It was ecstatic.
SPEAKER_02: People were getting up in the middle of coming together and giving prophecies.
SPEAKER_02: I don't mean like your best numbers are 28 and be careful starting a new business venture.
SPEAKER_02: They were getting up and speaking words on God's behalf to the people gathered.
SPEAKER_02: There were people doing faith healings.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, that wasn't just in Christian communities, it happened in Judaism.
SPEAKER_02: Well, there were people like Honey the Circle Maker, who would draw a circle on the ground from which healing power came and according to the records would physically heal people.
SPEAKER_02: The early church was enamored with these things.
SPEAKER_02: Until, as I told you last week, a guy called Montanus showed up in the middle or at the beginning of the fourth century and said, You know how Jesus was like God incarnate?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I am the Holy Spirit incarnate.
SPEAKER_02: He apparently was a compelling guy, except he died.
SPEAKER_02: And when he died and didn't like come back to life, we've been a little suspicious of this charismatic Christianity business for a while.
SPEAKER_02: Add that to the fact that after the Nicene Creed was written, we decided there needed to be order.
SPEAKER_02: And there is nothing more disorderly than someone interrupting my brilliant sermons.
SPEAKER_02: You know, so I hope you get that was a joke.
SPEAKER_02: So this is part of why we say we've chosen order.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't know if you realize this, but charismatic Christianity really only showed up fewer than a hundred years ago, and many of us don't realize it is the only form of Christianity growing in the world today.
SPEAKER_02: The only one.
SPEAKER_02: Charismatic expressions of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, you can understand why that is.
SPEAKER_02: People want to demonstrably know that God is involved in our everyday lives, is not just intervening in the world, but is fully present in deeds of power.
SPEAKER_02: We have a hard time with this, like I mentioned, because we've chosen order.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, I'm not a charismatic Christian, I should tell you.
SPEAKER_02: But what I want you to hear is that the Holy Spirit is a complicator for us in the doctrine of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: And there's a couple other things that have come to us with the doctrine of the Trinity, because quite honestly, Trinity was really embarrassing for the Christian church back when Islam spread across North Africa and into Europe.
SPEAKER_02: Muslims said, look, we believe in one God, and you Christians, you're polytheist.
SPEAKER_02: You've got Father, Son, and Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: That's three.
SPEAKER_02: And he was only partially correct.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you know the language of the Nicene Council.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what they said about the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: God is no more one than God is three.
SPEAKER_02: And if that makes sense to you, please explain it to me after the service.
SPEAKER_02: But this is what we've chosen.
SPEAKER_02: God is no more one than three.
SPEAKER_02: I can't tell you why it is what it is, but I do want to offer to you some reflections about what the Trinity might mean for our faith life, for the way that we follow and grow spiritually, for the ways we find God in one another in the world.
SPEAKER_02: So that's what I'm going to try to do.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to show you the classic diagram that many of you walked through part of on your way in.
SPEAKER_02: This is the diagram that St.
SPEAKER_02: Augustine of Hippo came up with in the early 5th century.
SPEAKER_02: What you see out there in the narthex is just the pink part, the triangular part.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you don't have to be a mathematician to understand this.
SPEAKER_02: It's a Venn diagram, right?
SPEAKER_02: We often forget this part of the diagram, and I want to tell you, I think that's the most important part of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: You've probably heard me say this before, but it bears repeating.
SPEAKER_02: I only get to say it once a year.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how Venn diagrams work.
SPEAKER_02: This circle is Jesus, and this circle is the Holy Spirit, and this circle is God, the Father, right?
SPEAKER_02: Where all three circles overlap is what they all have in common.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to take this diagram seriously, because this is what Augustine drew.
SPEAKER_02: This part of the circle, that's what Jesus and the Holy Spirit have in common that they don't have in common with God the Father.
SPEAKER_02: This part of the circle is what God the Father and Jesus have in common that they don't have in common with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: This part of the circle is what God the Father and the Spirit have in common that they don't share with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And notice how big this part of the circle is.
SPEAKER_02: This is what Jesus has that neither the Father nor the Spirit have.
SPEAKER_02: This is going to sound heretical, but please notice the circles do not just overlay one another.
SPEAKER_02: The mystery of the Trinity is that there are parts of Jesus that neither the Father nor the Spirit shares.
SPEAKER_02: What are those parts?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe Jesus likes techno.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe the Holy Spirit is into gangster rap music, and the father and the son don't care for that, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe the father has long hair, and Jesus has a crew cut, or maybe the Holy Spirit has earrings.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Take it wherever you want to, but here's the amazing part of the Trinity as a doctrine.
SPEAKER_02: They're not the same.
SPEAKER_02: Now, as a kid, the way I grew up is the Trinity is like Neapolitan ice cream, which was something we enjoyed in the 80s.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's around anymore.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, but to be honest, they all taste the same.
SPEAKER_02: They're just slightly different colors.
SPEAKER_02: And they're not even different colors if you buy it in Texas, because by the time you get it home, it's all melted and it refreezes, right?
SPEAKER_02: So the Trinity is just sort of like somewhat colorific, but it's all the same.
SPEAKER_02: That's usually how we rest, but I want you to hear in this diagram that is not the case at all.
SPEAKER_02: Part of the mystery, and frankly, the holiness of the Trinity, is that you don't have to be uniform to be unified.
SPEAKER_02: I know I said that last week, but I want you to hear it again because this is good Trinitarian theology, even though it might be a little bit mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_02: They're not the same.
SPEAKER_02: And that differentiation, don't you see, is not just who God is.
SPEAKER_02: That's how God made us.
SPEAKER_02: If God wanted us to all be the same, God wouldn't have made us so different.
SPEAKER_02: And the good news is when we live into the Trinity, you don't have to sacrifice who you are.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, if you did that, you'd be a heretic.
SPEAKER_02: When we hear Isaiah's call today in the temple, he says, Here I am, send me.
SPEAKER_02: In Hebrew, he says something a little bit different.
SPEAKER_02: In Hebrew, there's this word called Hine, and it's the particle of entreaty or enunciation.
SPEAKER_02: It could mean a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't usually mean here I am.
SPEAKER_02: It usually means something like boom, shakalaka.
SPEAKER_02: It's really how you translate it.
SPEAKER_02: BAM! Me.
SPEAKER_02: And this is what God wants us to do when we hear God's voice.
SPEAKER_02: We don't say, God, here I am.
SPEAKER_02: This part of me.
SPEAKER_02: We say, God, here I am.
SPEAKER_02: All of me.
SPEAKER_02: You may not go jogging with your shirt off.
SPEAKER_02: I do, and I show up when I say, Here I am, God.
SPEAKER_02: Here I am.
SPEAKER_02: You may not like your hair.
SPEAKER_02: God does.
SPEAKER_02: When you say, here I am, curly hair and all, warts and all, freckles, whatever you want to fill in the blank is, that's what Isaiah says.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say, oh, God, just this little bit of me.
SPEAKER_02: He says, behold.
SPEAKER_02: BAM! Here I am, God.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it means to live into the Trinity and to live into it together.
SPEAKER_02: Because at the end of the day, right, you get to keep your particularity and your differentiation, but we come together in mission and in unity.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to sound controversial.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity is not colorblind.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity is black, and it's white, and it's red, and it's yellow, and all of those things are who they are and they come together.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity is not colorblind, it's interracial.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity is not either or, the Trinity is and together.
SPEAKER_02: And that's a vision not only for who God is, but who God made us to be.
SPEAKER_02: And we live into Trinitarian theology when we show up, all of us, unabashed, unashamed.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody gave me a Trinitarian gift.
SPEAKER_02: I was at their home visiting them, like I would like to do with all of you.
SPEAKER_02: And I had, as I often do, not scheduled my margins very well.
SPEAKER_02: I had allotted 90 minutes for this vision.
SPEAKER_02: It and 90 minutes into it, I said, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_02: I need to go.
SPEAKER_02: I'm supposed to go bless somebody's dog.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm really so I'm really sorry that I didn't budget enough time.
SPEAKER_02: I don't like this part about myself.
SPEAKER_02: I rarely get time estimates right, and I tend to overbook my schedule.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: I wish you would like that about yourself because I like that about you.
SPEAKER_02: Behold.
SPEAKER_02: Here I am.
SPEAKER_02: God invites you to be who you are.
SPEAKER_02: God invites you to appreciate the individuality and the distinctiveness of your neighbor and your coworker and the people that drive you nuts.
SPEAKER_02: You may not like rap music, but it exists in the Godhead.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, here's another thought about the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we have these constraints of language and we don't even realize how constrained we are by it.
SPEAKER_02: So we've got these words that we understand really well because we have physical analogues and realities.
SPEAKER_02: We've got father-son, and then the really the cute, confusing ones, Holy Spirit, because what's that?
SPEAKER_02: But we know what fathers and sons are like, right?
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes what we forget is that that language is meant to point us at a reality instead of completely circumscribing it.
SPEAKER_02: So let me point out to you that the word father comes to us in Latin from poter familius.
SPEAKER_02: A poter familius is somebody who is in charge of the entire family's welfare, education, and joy.
SPEAKER_02: Please hear that.
SPEAKER_02: It's a role, not a body.
SPEAKER_02: When we say our father, we're saying our poter familius, our collectively as human beings, the father who is in charge of our welfare and our joy and our advancement and our education.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, in my house, that was my mom.
SPEAKER_02: I think that's true for many of you.
SPEAKER_02: It was a role that was played.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes we forget that the words of Scripture are meant to point us at God's care for us, not God's physicality.
SPEAKER_02: When we say the word son, this shows up in the tree, in the creed.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna see it.
SPEAKER_02: For our sake became man, is how we translate it into English.
SPEAKER_02: It's a terrible translation.
SPEAKER_02: Greek has a word for man, like male body, and Greek has a word for human beings.
SPEAKER_02: The human being is the anthropos.
SPEAKER_02: The man, the gendered male, is the word anair.
SPEAKER_02: The creed uses the word anthropos.
SPEAKER_02: The creed says, for our sake, God became a human being.
SPEAKER_02: And I put to you, what's more important, that God was a man or that God was a human being?
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we forget that Scripture is pointing us to something bigger than the words themselves.
SPEAKER_02: When we settle down on these words, and friends, it's a mistake.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we try to correct it.
SPEAKER_02: And that's good.
SPEAKER_02: It's good to remind us to push out.
SPEAKER_02: So many of you have heard this gender-neutral version of the Trinity: the creator, the sustainer, and the redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: To be honest, Father, Son, and Spirit are trying to point us at that as well.
SPEAKER_02: When I was in seminary, I was in a class, and the final project, you didn't have to write a paper, you could do artwork.
SPEAKER_02: That's really scary for me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm much better at just writing a paper.
SPEAKER_02: But somebody in class took this up seriously and she made a feminine sculpture of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: It was a mother giving birth to a child, and there was a midwife facilitating the birth.
SPEAKER_02: Creator, sustainer, redeemer, father, son, spirit.
SPEAKER_02: This feminine image was better for me than either the other two because it fit.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: It fit.
SPEAKER_02: Just a new creation constantly being born and the midwife facilitating it.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, all of that's trying to do is point us to the reality of who God is and who we're called to be.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to replace your titles.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to say the reason we have titles is to point us to who God is, not to settle into a label.
SPEAKER_02: Turns out when we came up with the doctrine of the Trinity at Nicaea, the classical heresy, which is like bad thinking, remember, is that the Trinity is what we call an education, he is a scaffolding.
SPEAKER_02: It's a tool that we use to understand God.
SPEAKER_02: This is not good thinking, says the council.
SPEAKER_02: The council says the Trinity is not about modalism.
SPEAKER_02: Modalism is like modes of God's being that we've just chosen the name, but it's all just a choice.
SPEAKER_02: Modes, like creator, sustainer, redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: Those are like jobs.
SPEAKER_02: And we divide God into job categories.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of modes, let's just talk about role playing for a second, right?
SPEAKER_02: The problem with role playing and with some of this language when we talk about Trinity is that sometimes we get told to know our role.
SPEAKER_02: You ever been told that?
SPEAKER_02: You better know your role.
SPEAKER_02: I've been told to know my role.
SPEAKER_02: I'm young.
SPEAKER_02: Know your role.
SPEAKER_02: I went to a liberal divinity school.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Know your role.
SPEAKER_02: Because all that theological talk you're doing, that's not who we are.
SPEAKER_02: That's just what you learned.
SPEAKER_02: Know your role.
SPEAKER_02: Now I don't have to know a lot of roles, because I'm a white man.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm pretty sure people in this room know what it's like to be told to know your role because of the color of your skin, because of your gender, because of your sexual preference, because you choose to go running in the neighborhood in which you live and you're a priest, and you also do not wear a shirt when you do that.
SPEAKER_02: Know your role.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity says, know your role.
SPEAKER_02: Be who you are and show up, and show up unified in mission.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another thought about the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: You've heard me say this before, perhaps.
SPEAKER_02: There's this really lovely diagram that is an equilateral triangle.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes to our uh to our deficit, what we do is we say, look, there's God the Father in charge, and then God the Son, God the Spirit, and they're all God, but you know, God the Father's on top.
SPEAKER_02: So let me help you in turn it kind of like that.
SPEAKER_02: In an equilateral triangle, actually, all the points are equidistant, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so is what we call the orthocenter.
SPEAKER_02: That's the middle, it's equidistant from each vertex.
SPEAKER_02: It also has to be perpendicular to each bisector.
SPEAKER_02: These are fun things you do when you teach geometry.
SPEAKER_02: I've probably already bored you.
SPEAKER_02: But what I want to talk to you about with this diagram are two really great ideas that I think are right there in the Trinity that offer to inform the way that we live.
SPEAKER_02: First, this is a Greek Orthodox idea.
SPEAKER_02: It's very old.
SPEAKER_02: It says, this point O, that's where you are.
SPEAKER_02: A is God, B is other people, and C is the self God made you to be.
SPEAKER_02: We often find ourselves at distance from the selves God made us to be.
SPEAKER_02: We often find ourselves at some distance from our neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: And we usually experience distance from God, even though God isn't really distant from us, we experience that.
SPEAKER_02: The Orthodox diagram says actually you're always equidistant from those points.
SPEAKER_02: What that means is if you think you've gotten closer to God and you're further away from neighbor, you were wrong.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot get closer to God unless you also draw closer to your neighbor and the self God made you to be.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we like to think, well, really, we're supposed to live in this scaling triangle world.
SPEAKER_02: We're supposed to be really distanced from ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want to be selfish.
SPEAKER_02: We're supposed to hate ourselves, and the more we hate ourselves, the closer we'll get to God.
SPEAKER_02: And the Orthodox diagram says no to that.
SPEAKER_02: The orthodox diagram says, if you don't love the self God made you to be, you can't possibly love anything else.
SPEAKER_02: This is what Trinitarian living is all about.
SPEAKER_02: And the reason I think that people are tired of the church is because people are really close to God and hate their neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: And that's called bankrupt living.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity says, you want to get closer to God, you better love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: You want to love your neighbor, get closer to God.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't love yourself, you've got no hope of either thing.
SPEAKER_02: There's one other great thing about this diagram and about these triangles that I think we're called to live into.
SPEAKER_02: A lot of times we find ourselves in systems that are a little bit unhealthy.
SPEAKER_02: Like maybe the pastor said something I didn't like.
SPEAKER_02: So what I'd like to do is go to my friend Jim and say, Jim, I'd like to get real close to you because we can both hate Mike.
SPEAKER_02: So let's have a conference on all the things we hate about Mike, and then our relationship will really be good.
SPEAKER_02: This is called triangulation.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, it's real unhealthy, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's usually what we settle for in churches, which is why people don't like coming to them, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because nobody wants to be talked about in the parking lot after we all leave.
SPEAKER_02: So here's how the Trinity works.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity says, oh, hey Jesus, you don't like that thing about God the Father?
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you go tell it to God the Father?
SPEAKER_02: If you want, I'll go with you.
SPEAKER_02: Not to team up, but just so you don't have to go alone.
SPEAKER_02: This is what Jesus says in Matthew 22 when he says, hey, if you got a problem with your brother or sister, go to them first.
SPEAKER_02: Curious thing.
SPEAKER_02: Direct communication.
SPEAKER_02: I find that least often in church.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not just talking about y'all, I'm talking about me.
SPEAKER_02: Going to people with whom I have a problem directly, boy, it's terrifying.
SPEAKER_02: They might not listen.
SPEAKER_02: They may not take me seriously.
SPEAKER_02: They might be defensive.
SPEAKER_02: They might even tell me to like shut up or something.
SPEAKER_02: So what I'll do is I'll just tell all my problems with Nancy to Jim, you know, and then we'll be really good friends at Nancy's expense.
SPEAKER_02: And when we live like that, we've lived outside the Trinity.
SPEAKER_02: We've made the mistake that I can get closer with one neighbor at the expense of another.
SPEAKER_02: And not only is it not Trinitarian, it's sinful.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to put before you, I don't know why God is triune.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know the answer to that.
SPEAKER_02: But I know we're living in Trinity, I know how it makes a difference in how we live our lives.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what we're invited to consider today.
SPEAKER_02: How do we live into God's Trinitarian identity?
SPEAKER_02: And I got one more thought for you because as a kid, what I heard is that God made the world because God was lonely.
SPEAKER_02: And friends, that's just not really a good way of doing stuff.
SPEAKER_02: You know, creating sentient beings because you're lonely, it could really boomerang on you.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to suggest to you that there's something different that the Trinity offers.
SPEAKER_02: The Trinity offers this idea that whether we like it or not, God is community.
SPEAKER_02: God exists in community.
SPEAKER_02: And God didn't make the world because God was bored, God made the world out of community.
SPEAKER_02: You know, the way this works, a little bit, and I know this isn't everybody's story, but I loved my daughter before she was born because she was an icon, like a physical representation of my love for my wife.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe that's why God loves you just like you are.
SPEAKER_02: Because when God looks at Jim or looks at Ned or looks at Laura, God the Father says, Oh, I see my love for the Holy Spirit right there.
SPEAKER_02: That's why I love them.
SPEAKER_02: God's not lonely.
SPEAKER_02: And God's not beckoning to you from loneliness.
SPEAKER_02: God exists in a community that loves one another mutually, that appreciates difference, that isn't afraid for the Son to say, Here I am, Father, here I am, Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And our encouragement, this Trinity Sunday, is to pattern our lives after the way God has made us and the way that God is.
SPEAKER_02: And that means, even when it vexes us the most, we don't just get to look at our neighbor that's driving us crazy and say, well, I guess God loves you.
SPEAKER_02: We get to look at our neighbor and see an icon of the Father's love for the Son and for the Spirit all wrapped in one.
SPEAKER_02: And you know you don't pray two icons, but you pray through them.
SPEAKER_02: So here's a spiritual discipline.
SPEAKER_02: The person that's driving you crazy, pray through them.
SPEAKER_02: To the community of God that created a difference.
SPEAKER_02: Not only because God enjoys it, but because God thinks we'll enjoy it ourselves.
SPEAKER_08: We believe in one God, Father the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
SPEAKER_08: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father.
SPEAKER_08: Through him all things were made.
SPEAKER_08: For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_08: He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.
SPEAKER_08: For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
SPEAKER_08: He suffered death and was buried.
SPEAKER_08: On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures.
SPEAKER_08: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_08: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
SPEAKER_08: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_08: With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.
SPEAKER_08: He has spoken through the prophets.
SPEAKER_08: We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic Church.
SPEAKER_08: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_08: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Grant that every member of the Church may truly and humbly serve you.
SPEAKER_04: That your name may be glorified by all people.
SPEAKER_04: We pray for Michael, our presiding bishop, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, in the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.
SPEAKER_04: Augustine of Hippo, Galveston, St.
SPEAKER_04: Christopher's League City, and St.
SPEAKER_04: George's, Texas City.
SPEAKER_04: For Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Jim, Bill, and Lillian, and for all bishops, priests, and deacons, that they may be faithful ministers of your word and sacraments.
SPEAKER_04: We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world, for all the members of the armed forces, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere, that there may be justice and peace on the earth.
SPEAKER_04: We pray for our parish and our vestry, that our community may discern clearly and minister effectively.
SPEAKER_04: We pray for St.
SPEAKER_04: Thomas the Apostle's School for those who teach and those who learn, that we may be bearers of your grace to all who come through our borders.
SPEAKER_04: Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake, that our work may find favor in your sight.
SPEAKER_04: Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble, that they may be delivered.
SPEAKER_04: Give to the departed eternal rest.
SPEAKER_04: Let light perpetual shine upon them.
SPEAKER_04: We praise you for St.
SPEAKER_04: Thomas the Apostle and your saints who have entered into joy.
SPEAKER_08: May we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom.
SPEAKER_04: Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Eric, and Lee, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_04: Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit, you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_04: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy.
SPEAKER_04: We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns forever and ever.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor in a form of mutual confession.
SPEAKER_02: Before God, with you, the people of God, I confess to my brokenness, to the ways I wound my life, the lives of others, and the life of the world.
SPEAKER_08: May God forgive you, Christ renew you, and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: Before God, with the people of God, we confess to our brokenness, to the ways we wound our lives, the lives of others, and the life of the world.
SPEAKER_02: May God forgive you, may Christ renew you, and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you haven't been here before or done this in the Narthex, that's the room right behind you here with the Trinity symbol on the floor, we have these little cards that say welcome.
SPEAKER_02: And we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of those out so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_02: And thank you for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to call a couple announcements to your attention.
SPEAKER_02: One is that, as you can see in our weekly e-news, but also on our front doors, we are updating, along with the CDC and the diocese, our COVID guidelines.
SPEAKER_02: And so here's the TLDR for that.
SPEAKER_02: Too long didn't read.
SPEAKER_02: This is our mask section here starting next week on my far right.
SPEAKER_02: This will be the mask section.
SPEAKER_02: Please live into your own comfort.
SPEAKER_02: This is really, really important.
SPEAKER_02: But our bishop and the CDC have come up with these guidelines, and our vestry has been really thoughtful about them.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to continue to do communion by intinction only throughout the summer with the hope that we'll open the common cup as conditions allow, closer to the fall.
SPEAKER_02: We'll probably go back to coffee and donuts as we get closer to September.
SPEAKER_02: So we're just going slowly and moderately and reasonably because we want to make sure that this is in fact a sanctuary for all people.
SPEAKER_02: That's really important.
SPEAKER_02: So please have a look at those guidelines.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have said, hey, I don't see the sign-up link anymore.
SPEAKER_02: We're not doing that any longer.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need to sign up for services any longer.
SPEAKER_02: Again, this is in conversation with the CDC and the diocese.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions about protocols, please approach me or one of our vestry members.
SPEAKER_02: Happy to learn from you and not be defensive to explain our thinking if you'd like or have a conversation about anything you want.
SPEAKER_02: I also want to uphold to you, please, that I would love to have a non-necessary clergy visit with each of you this year.
SPEAKER_02: It's been a long time, and just an opportunity to reconnect would be lovely.
SPEAKER_02: I've made several of these visits and I look forward to making more throughout the summer.
SPEAKER_02: So please take me up on this by just talking to me on the way out or sending me email or giving me a call.
SPEAKER_02: This coming Saturday is the first Saturday in June, and it's when we do our fresh food mobile distribution.
SPEAKER_02: So just to be clear, a truck with groceries shows up.
SPEAKER_02: We don't bring any food to the event.
SPEAKER_02: And from 7.45 in the morning until 10, people of all ages and abilities download that truck, package it, and put it in people's cars.
SPEAKER_02: So you don't have to sign up to attend from 7.45 till 10.
SPEAKER_02: It really is a fantastic way of volunteering.
SPEAKER_02: And you did hear me right.
SPEAKER_02: We had four-year-olds working this event with 90-year-olds.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the communion of saints, really.
SPEAKER_02: It's quite lovely.
SPEAKER_02: I want to uphold to you two more things, and then I've got not an extra sermon, but just an extra bit that we need to say today.
SPEAKER_02: Next Sunday, we're starting our summer reading group.
SPEAKER_02: So throughout the month of June, we'll be reading a book called Invite, Welcome, Connect.
SPEAKER_02: And it's really how do we live deeper into being a welcoming and inviting parish?
SPEAKER_02: You all already do this in such wonderful ways.
SPEAKER_02: Like I've seen newcomers come in and they say, Well, I've never been to an Episcopal church, and I've seen people say, Come sit with me, I'll show you the ropes.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for doing that.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen people come in and bring their kids, and their kids aren't quiet, and they say, That's great, glad they're here.
SPEAKER_02: Or, you want to listen while I entertain your kids in the sanctuary?
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being those people, because it matters.
SPEAKER_02: And we just want to deepen our welcome and our hospitality.
SPEAKER_02: So I hope that you'll read this book whether you change to join the discussion or not.
SPEAKER_02: I also want to make sure you hear that on Friday we had graduation from our school, and the narrative hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_02: We had zero contact spread of COVID at our school this year.
SPEAKER_02: This is our most visible ministry to the community.
SPEAKER_02: It fills our parking lot five days a week, sometimes six, uh, and they represented you well.
SPEAKER_02: And you know, I just had this moment.
SPEAKER_02: Our graduating kids, some of them, I've been sort of their chaplain now for six years.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm so proud of these kids who are not only smart and clever, but wise.
SPEAKER_02: And I have seen them grow in compassion and grace.
SPEAKER_02: And you don't get to see this, but you need to know this is what you're doing.
SPEAKER_02: You're growing children in wisdom and in grace, in wisdom and faith, and they don't even know to say thank you.
SPEAKER_02: So on their behalf, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for sponsoring this wonderful ministry to our community.
SPEAKER_02: On a more challenging note.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to give you another sermon, but I want you to hear tomorrow's Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_02: And we understand not only gratitude for people who have given, but really the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, whether you think they should have or not, it's a day to remember with gratitude.
SPEAKER_02: And I can't help but tell you that one of our parishioners gave me this ring.
SPEAKER_02: I I've never been in a post where people gave me jewelry, but this is really quite lovely.
SPEAKER_02: One of our parishioners gave me this ring.
SPEAKER_02: Because on average, 22 veterans take their life every day because of things like PTSD and despair.
SPEAKER_02: And friends, no single one of us has the answer for this problem.
SPEAKER_02: And we need to remember this problem.
SPEAKER_02: Just because we can't solve it, we cannot let it go.
SPEAKER_02: And this is part of our Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_02: Not only people in past wars, but people who are living with despair and PTSD on our behalf.
SPEAKER_02: So I invite your prayers and I invite your consideration as we approach the Eucharist to hear twenty-two bells for the twenty-two people who are likely to take their life today.
SPEAKER_02: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.
SPEAKER_02: You who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_02: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_02: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_02: Uniting peoples of many languages and worldviews into the confession of one faith, and giving to thy church the power to serve thee as a royal priesthood and to preach the gospel to all nations.
SPEAKER_02: And therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we Lord and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and singing.
SPEAKER_02: And of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature upon him and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption.
SPEAKER_02: He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and then institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.
SPEAKER_02: For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.
SPEAKER_02: And when he'd given thanks to thee, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_02: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_02: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_02: Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_02: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sins.
SPEAKER_02: Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_02: Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with these thy holy gifts, which now offer unto thee the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make, having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.
SPEAKER_02: And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and with thy word and Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our whole selves, our souls, our bodies.
SPEAKER_02: Grant we beseech thee that all who partake of this holy communion may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.
SPEAKER_02: And also that we and all thy whole church may be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom and with whom and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.
SPEAKER_02: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And reminder, as we go through Pentecost, we're praying the Lord's Prayer in a different version as well.
SPEAKER_02: So please join me as we pray the version found in human rights by Word and Wild.
SPEAKER_02: Beloved, our Father and Mother, in whom is heaven, hallowed be your name, followed be your royal way, done be your will and rule throughout the whole creation.
SPEAKER_02: With the bread we need for today, feed us, in the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
SPEAKER_02: In times of temptation and test, strengthen us, from trials too great to endure, spare us, from the grip of all that is evil, free us, for you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever.
SPEAKER_02: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02: And I invite you to come forward to receive bread and wine by intinction, by coming to the aisle closest to your right, by coming in six-foot intervals and returning to your seat on the far side.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Freely thou hast given me thy body for my food, O thou who art a fire, consuming the unworthy.
SPEAKER_02: Consume us not, O our Creator.
SPEAKER_02: Consume the thorns of our transgressions.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, enter into our members, our veins, our hearts, cleanse our souls and sanctify our reasonings.
SPEAKER_02: Make firm our knees and bodies with this nourishment from your table.
SPEAKER_02: Illumine our five senses to see you ever at work in the world.
SPEAKER_02: Always protect, guard, and keep us from soul destroying words and deeds.
SPEAKER_02: Give us understanding and illumination.
SPEAKER_02: Show us to be a temple of thy one spirit, and not the home of many sins.
SPEAKER_02: Thou art the only sanctification, nourishment, and light of our souls, O good one.
SPEAKER_02: And to thee we ascribe glory day by day.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: May God, who by the Holy Spirit cause those of many languages and worldviews to proclaim Jesus as Lord, strengthen your faith, and send you out to bear witness to God in word and deed.
SPEAKER_02: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.