Fr. Dale Matson
Let us begin with a prayer from our prayer book.
Most loving Father, you will us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on the One who cares for us. Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested unto us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I want to begin with some comments about the current situation and then get into Trinity Sunday observations.
My Garmin sport watch has a feature called “Body Battery”. It has a reading from 1-100. I think it does a good job of telling me when I have over exercised or been too stressed or I didn’t get enough sleep. Lately, I have begun my days with a score below 50. This is indicative of not just my overactive life, it is also a measure of my stress. Much of my activity is for dealing with stress. It seemed for me just as I was beginning to deal with the Covid 19 lock down and the easing of the restrictions, we were hit with the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. His death was an event that shook the nation. Unfortunately, the civil protests were followed by rioting, looting and fires. Mr. Floyd’s family has called for peace. There will be justice.
This is deja vu for me. I remember well the riots in 1967 that spread to 130 U.S. cities. I came home on leave from the army and found that Detroit was on fire and under martial law. Over 2,000 buildings were burned to the ground, a thousand people were injured and 44 people were killed. President Lyndon Johnson sent in units of the 92nd and 101st airborne divisions to put down the riots which lasted five days. This was the beginning of the end of the 5th largest city in the U.S. which is now about the population of Fresno.
All of this was during the backdrop of the Vietnam War. It was an unpopular war and young people were demonstrating everywhere. Being seen on the streets in uniform was an invitation to abuse. When I was 22 I was bothered by this but not distressed. So, you had a powder keg setting with the civil unrest of the Viet Nam war and then the match was struck with the riots. It ended LBJs presidential ambitions for another term as president. He chose not to run.
I believe the Covid 19 shut down was a similar preliminary problem to the Viet Nam war. People were already upset and had been demonstrating against the shutdown. With the U.S. population being cooped up for 3 months, was the seedbed. This was the powder keg that set the stage for the demonstrations and rioting following the death of George Floyd. It was once again a perfect storm.
While I was resilient when I was 22, today I am distressed. I think the words fragile and elderly go together. I cannot begin to imagine the stress some of our parishioners are under who are in poor health and living alone. But this is taking a toll on all of us. Stress damages the immune system. Many folks will die younger because of the stress of these two events so close together. But, I want to say to all of you, pray, pray and pray some more. I understand what you are experiencing because I am going through this too.
The title of my homily today is:
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit
Today is Trinity Sunday. The Christian Church is Trinitarian. The doctrine of the Trinity was established early in the history of the Christian Church and we confess it every Sunday in the Nicene Creed. I am sure that you are all familiar with the fact that we worship one God in three persons. This is both a fact and a mystery of Christ’s Church. Each person of the Godhead is usually associated with particular actions and we say as we do in the Nicene Creed that God the Father is the Creator of Heaven and Earth and all things seen and unseen. We also say that God the Son, Jesus Christ also participated in creation. Christ is one person with two natures. He is both God and Man. He is also associated with our redemption and salvation through this perfect life, death, resurrection and ascension. When He ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to give spiritual life to those who believe in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is here to live in us, to guide us into truth and to sanctify us as we live out our Christian lives. Sanctification is the process of becoming Holy. In this process we take on the life of our Savior Christ. God the Holy Spirit empowers us to live the Christian life and to boldly proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. What I have expressed are the basics of our faith.
While we think of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit acting independently from one another, what makes us a truly Christian Church is our embracing each of the Persons of the Godhead equally and understanding how all the Persons of the Godhead are working together for our sake. Let me give you an example in the account of the resurrection of Christ. Who raised Christ from the dead?
1. There are a number of passages that say it was God the Father. Here is an example from Acts 5:30. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.”
2. In the verse immediately prior to our reading from Romans Chapter 8, we hear in verse 11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Here it is God the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead.
3. How about this? “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. “The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:19-20). The Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses try and explain this verse away because it clearly shows the deity of Christ. They will say He was simply speaking in a metaphor and this should not be taken literally. OK, how about these verses from John Chapter 10 (17-18a). “Therefore, My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” So, who raised Christ from the dead? One God acting as three Persons raised Christ from the dead.
We have three creeds in the Anglican Church. We have the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and ….What is the other creed? How many here have heard of the Athanasian Creed before? How many have said the Athanasian Creed before? The creed is the summary of our belief about the Trinity. Before I get to our Epistle Lesson today I want to take you to Page 769 of your ACNA prayer book for those of you who have one, please follow along as I read the Athanasian Creed. It is fitting that on Trinity Sunday we should examine aspects of the Creed.
“…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.”
“…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. And in this Trinity, none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
At this point in the Athanasian Creed, it becomes similar to the Nicene Creed. And fleshes out a similar Christology.
“For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven; he sits at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from Whom He will come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.”
In our Epistle lesson the Apostle Paul concludes and includes the Trinity with this. “11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
My final prayer is also from our prayer book.
“O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful: Sanctify this Congregation by your abiding presence. Bless those who minister in holy things. Enlighten the minds of your people more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel. Bring erring souls to the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ; and those who are walking in the way of life, keep steadfast to the end. Give patience to the sick and afflicted, and renew them in body and soul. Guard those who are strong and prosperous from forgetting you. Increase in us your many gifts of grace, and make us all fruitful in good works. This we ask, O blessed Spirit, whom with the Father and the Son we worship and glorify, one God, world without end. Amen.”
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