Trinity Sunday

Happy Trinity Sunday, everyone!

We had a guest speaker today at church. She's the daughter of a couple from our congregation, preparing to head to seminary. She just came from an interfaith conference in Doha. She works for a project that researches relations between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and how it affects the secular world.

The Anglican church urges its members to study their faith using 3 tools: Scripture, tradition, and reason. In the interfaith dialogues they urge Scriptural Reasoning, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims read their books together and explore what they mean.

Our Old Testament reading for today was Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31.

12 Who has measured the waters[a] in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “ My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

The Gospel reading was Matthew 28: 16-20.

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

In the reading from Isaiah the Jews are learning how to be Jews outside of Israel. Isaiah reminds them that God is everywhere, not just in Israel and Jerusalem. "The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth." How could he not be with them in their exile in Babylon? If He could do all the things that Isaiah lists, then how could He not be with them wherever they were? Even in their most distressing times?

A rabbi from Argentina, who was attending the dialogue in Doha, said that God is universal and transcendant. He has a special relationship with the Jews, but not an exclusive one. Muslims believe that God is universal and transcendent and revealed through revelation in the Qur'an. (They believe that all are born Muslims but that we are converted by our parents to other religions.) Christians, on the other hand, believe that God is revealed by His Son, Jesus Christ, come to earth to die for us.

Today's gospel reading tells us that Jesus is God come down from heaven. He is always with us. We are to make disciples of all nations. There are 4 options for interpreting this reading.

1) Be proactive- Head out to the far ends of the earth; make women wear hats and men wear suits; give them an organ, and teach them to sing good, English hymns.

2) Ignore it - Dismiss it because it's too challenging; just concentrate on people of different faiths getting along.

3) Just interpret it as an invitation to friendship. Even Jews and Muslims, when listening to a Christian speaker at the conference taking this stance, didn't buy that!

4) Scripture, tradition, and reason - Reason- God gives us a brain and expects us to use it. Jesus tells the disciples that the authority has been given to Him, not to them. As His disciples we are to follow His instruction and do what He says. We are to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, so that they will be able to follow His commands. Tradition- We have the wisdom and examples of the saints who came before us. Christian witness is about living our faith. Christian witness in action. Throughout our traditions we have others who have lived those lives and put their faith into action. Scripture- Might there be a case for letting our Scriptures speak to us? What do they say about how we are to live and what we are to do? They tell us that we are to make disciples and to baptize them so that they may be granted with the faith that only comes from God.

Our big, universal, transcendent God, who measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and marked off the heavens with a span, to whom the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as as dust on the scales, is with us always, through the end of the age!


Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love: hold us firm in this faith, that we may know You in all Your ways and evermore rejoice in Your eternal glory, who are three Persons yet one God, now and for ever. Amen