Trinity

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 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." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' 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. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:1-17

Trinity Sunday is one of those Sundays where we get the chance to explain the mystery of doctrine from the pulpit. The problem with getting hung up on doctrine is that we forget to remember that it is all about relationship. The intimacy of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God in Three -so intertwined and interdependent that we are not to separate them in our understanding, can perplex many. And yet, it is simple, yet intentional binding together, where God is willing to be understood and manifest in several ways, all of them cooperating and continuing in one another.

Jesus has a very important religious scholar and leader come to him under the cover of darkness. Nicodemus seeks out Jesus as he wants to understand the gift that this man brings. It is the gift of relationship to God, being born again in the family of God, uncoerced but welcome and desired. God with the Son and Holy Spirit invite us to an intimacy of mother and child, of deep dependence and deeper joy.

Today, on this beautiful June Sunday, I ask God to help us shed the wounds and hurts of our birthing, the scars that some of our families have left, and open ourselves up to being born of the family of God - water and spirit on deep and abiding relationship. No matter what our broken vessels have endured, God wants us to be a part of the family of God.



The Collect

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: 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, for ever and ever. Amen.