A Message for Trinity Sunday

Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 6:1-8. Our Story today is a call Story when God has a job to do and taps someone on the shoulder to go do it. Unlike Moses, who when he was tapped by God, made five different excuses for not doing what he was asked to do like, “What if they don’t believe me?”, “I don’t speak too good,” or my favorite, “Can’t you send someone else to do it?”^[1] The same goes for the great prophet Jeremiah, who when God said, “I appointed you to be a prophet,” Jeremiah whined back, “But c’mon, God, I don’t know how to speak! I’m only a kid!”^[2] Isaiah, when confronted with God’s call begged God, “Send me! Send me! Oh, oh, oh…Me! Send me!”

The book of Isaiah was more than likely written by at least three different writers based on the different writing styles scholars have noted. The early portions of the book were written most likely by the character we meet today whose name was Isaiah. He focuses on the impending collapse of the Judah’s empire. Another writer using Isaiah’s name and style speaks about the Jewish deportation and exile. And the final Isaiah who picks up at chapter 40 speaks of Israel’s restoration.

Our Story today mentions King Uzziah who ruled the throne for 50 plus years. His father was killed while escaping a coup attempt and Uzziah became king of the southern kingdom of Judah when he was 16 years old. He was an okay King as far as that goes. He started off well and made sure everyone was worshipping the Lord the way Moses proscribed but as he got older and entrenched with power, his pride seems to have gotten in the way of his faithfulness. He died roughly around 740 years before Jesus was born.  As you listen and read, see if you can determine why this text was chosen by the lectionary composers to be read on what the Church calls Trinity Sunday. Hear the Word of the Lord.

So, could you hear and figure out why this particular text was chosen to be read on Trinity Sunday? The most obvious reason is there in verse 8 when Isaiah hears God talking out loud saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Though the word Trinity is not used, and neither are there specific references to Jesus or the Holy Spirit, we get the sense of a unified community within God in the heavenly Temple setting. Also, we see the Trinity at work in the missional command of Isaiah to go and proclaim to the people. Let me show you.

On Thursday evening, I snuck off to Roger’s Rock campground up near Ticonderoga. I hadn’t gone camping in fifteen years and felt the need to get back into the woods before the rush and heat of summer hit. I had the place to myself that first night and it was so very quiet. Gone were the screaming ambulances I heard every night from my apartment near the hospital. Many trees had fallen this winter and there was cut and stacked wood everywhere from the cleanup. A campfire was in order! I got one going in short order and sat up past midnight just listening to the wood snap while the flames lapped at the logs. Owls were talking back and forth. Time seemed to stop.

Campfires can’t just be lit and then left alone. Like a relationship you have to tend to them and make slight adjustments with the logs to keep them burning. Sometimes you have to add more fuel and kindling. Throughout the evening, it hit me. The Trinity is like a campfire tended with care.

If I took a single log and set it on fire, it would burn on its own for a while but would have the tendency to go out. If you add a second log, the first log can share and receive the energy and flame with another log next to it but will tend to burn out leaving two unconsumed logs. But what I noticed, is that when you add a third log to the first two, the fire gets roaring! When the combined energy of three burning logs comes together, the flames swirl, spark, and wrap themselves in and throughout all three at once.

Think of it like this: You have a single log and cut it up into three equal pieces. The first log will call God the Father. The second log is Jesus, the Son. But even Jesus said to us that God would send another Counselor and Advocate on our behalf who would show us and teach us what to do. The third log is the Holy Spirit. When the three logs are burning together, feeding off while at the same time enhancing the energy of the other two, lapping, dancing flames are created.  The flames of the three logs, i.e. the flame of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, create outwardly directed missional service in the world. Friends, this is a very imperfect example but hopefully, it paints an image for you.

When we think of the Trinity, we often think of a triangle. Go ahead and make one with your fingers! Culture has taught us that the top of the triangle represents the Father. The bottom right corner represents the Son and the bottom left corner represents Spirit. This is very hierarchical and some would say, patriarchal, way of understanding it. But let’s try something different. With your fingers in the shape of a triangle, lower them together so they’re parallel with the floor and adjust their shape so it becomes circular. You see, the hierarchy disappears! Father, Son, and Spirit are all on the same plane and like a campfire, share each of their energies this way and that, to and fro, like they’re dancing in a circle.  The energy this dance creates are flames of ministry and as a dance, the Trinity invites us into the circle to dance along with it. The fifty-cent word for this is perichoresis.^[3]

The power of the Triune God is it creates energy and spins it outward in ever-enlarging circles of grace in which you, me, and Isaiah, are called to participate and share. When Isaiah had his vision, God asked him to join the heavenly dance and share in the labor of worship and service.  As we hold hands with God and with each other in this divine dance of worship, God looks at you and smiles, saying, “Who will go for us?” As you and I are whirling around in this perichoretic dance with Father, Son, and Spirit, how do we answer?

Think back to when you were in middle school. There’s a big dance in the gym that Friday night and you’re filled both with excitement and with a little fear.  You’re excited because you are going to be with your friends and if you’re lucky enough, or courageous enough, you might even get to dance with that favorite boy or girl from your class. But you’re in middle school. It’s the first dance you’ve ever been to and you’re not sure what to do. So, you and your buddies begin to make bets on who will go first. Finally, someone says, “Oh get on with it; tag, you’re it!” and they push you out on the dance floor and it’s awkward at first. But then you begin to feel the energy out on the floor and start to find your groove. The next thing you know you’re smiling, laughing, sweating, and having the time of your life.

Beloved, being in a church, being in worship is a holy gala and ball. Within the church, within our worship and missional service, our Lord God is reaching out and trying to get us to join in the movement.  “C’mon and join us. Tag! You’re it” the Lord God shouts. What do you do? Do you, are you, will you get out and dance, or shall you be a wallflower and miss all that exciting energy?

Our church’s purpose is for its members to be loving, learning, and making a difference through Christ. To fulfill this ministry, we gotta’ dance!

                  Let’s pray.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] See Exodus 3 – 4.

[2] See Jeremiah 1:1-10.

[3] See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perichoresis