Sermon Trinity Sunday June 16 2019

Let’s discuss the holiday itself and its readings.

First of all, this Feast Day we call Trinity Sunday,

is not in recognition of “A’ special event.

Our Lords Incarnation is celebrated by the event of His Birth,

and His Resurrection by the events on Easter Morning,

His Ascension and sending down of tongues of fire, thus instituting the beginning of the Church, are actual events.

But what about this day we celebrate today, Trinity Sunday?

This day is not a celebration of a single event,

but rather a celebration, A Feast Day, of the completion

all we have walked through together for the past seven months,

beginning with the first week of the Church Calendar, Advent Sunday,

all the way through Whitsunday (Pentecost) just last week.

It is a day in which we celebrate

God’s full revelation to His people,

of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

This is a celebration of God’s true revelation of Himself to us.

How marvelous is this?

The Readings today paints a picture through its words of, and it inter- locks the Old and New Testaments.

This day is revealed through the mysteries of A FAITH which warms the heart;

and cultivates the good ground

and nurtures that beautiful and wonderful seed of faith,

which comes from God’s Grace, His love, for each one of you.

And wow, what wonderful readings we have for the day;

full of amazing mysteries, of symbolism, of God greatness,

and reflects upon the importance of our Jewish Fathers.

Scriptures covering two thousand years points us, and even guides us to our God, our Creator.

When discussing the details and mysteries of scripture,

we must be careful of not being overly literal nor overly allegorical.

It is best to let Scripture describe Scripture,

but even then the mysteries of faith can lead us in many directions.

Thus Peter tells us (2Pe 1:20)

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation;” so we are warned that

SELF INTERPRETATION IS NOT TO BE .

We will carefully reflect upon some thoughts of the Church itself,

as we review briefly the Epistle and Gospel.

Some people have a love of numbers and wonder what they all mean…

We are told that there are The 24 seats,

and upon each seat,

elders sat and they were clothed in white

and upon their heads were crowns of gold…

who are these people?

What does the mean or signify…

Were they angels (?), as some early church tradition suggests?

Or are they,

as others in the Church have proclaimed,

the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament

along with

the twelve Apostles of the New Testament?

Just picture that in your minds and imaginations,

here you have

God’s chosen people (Old and New Testament)

sitting together in unity praising God;

and all in White (obviously, washed in the blood of the lamb!),

with crowns upon their heads signifying their importance

in God’s plan for our salvation.

Just that vision should start to not warm your heart,

So let us continue…

Now, out of the throne proceeds lightening’s and thundering’s,

(reminding us of last week’s description as The Holy Ghost came as a “rushing mighty wind” descending

and landing upon His Apostles on that day of Pentecost.)

And now there were “four living creatures” in their midst,

yes there were “four living creatures”

such as we read of in Ezekiel (1:4-14)

and as “for the likeness of their faces,

“they four” had the face of a man,

the face of a lion, …

face of an ox

and face of an eagle.”

Once again images are stirred allowing our minds to reach back to Ezekiel’s time.

And we do not have to stop there…

for there are traditions also saying

that they are “symbols for the four Evangelists.”

And it is the these four “living creatures”

(NOT DEAD BUT LIVING!!!!! – there is no dead faith here!!!!!!!)

who rest not day or night;

from WHICH WE HEAR THE SANCTUS,

first given in Isaiah 6  Isa 6:3 as one cried unto another,

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

All of this is a summation of the praise that is offered continually

before God by the host in heaven

and by His Church on Earth.

HEAVEN AND EARTH JOINED TOGETHER!

What a privilege FOR EACH OF US: united with heaven,

Old and New Testament

together praising God…

Yes brothers and sisters, I must admit my heart is now beginning to warm-up.

This is a great miracle from God, and we are part of it.

Let us continue within this great Mystery of our God.

As we now hear from a friend,

you remember him  good ole Nicodemus,

a Jewish Pharisee, a devout Jew

and he approaches Jesus

And it is nighttime, for his associates would not approve of his coming to Jesus.

Nicodemus, who represents Judaism,

obviously had been amazed by some of the stories about Jesus.

So he, like many of us, had an inquiring mind to find the truth,

as he asks of this “being born again” thing

of which Jesus spoke.

And it is here that the Forth Evangelist,

my hero the Apostle John,

makes a very firm and stern statement in defense of Christianity.

As Jesus tells his friend Nicodemus as he lays out clearly the road of faith ahead:

it is not found in the evidence

of signs and of miracles,

but the truth is revealed to those

who through a change of life

have a spiritual rebirth

and it is that faith in Christ

that brings Him to His People. 

My friend, I am here today to tell you that

it is only by the Spirit,

which is from God,

that brings a person into the Kingdom of God.

Except a man be born of water

and OF THE SPIRIT,

he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

So let not us, nor His Church, argue this tradition or that tradition,

this doctrine verses that doctrine,

nor argue this one point against that other point of view,

but let us take the totality of Scripture

and see the Love of God for each of us

and let us return that Love to Him

through our obedience and love to His words and of His life.

The traditional teaching of His church is not here to “sell Jesus”

as some great guy to hang out with,

but it is here “to stir” ones heart, soul, and mind.

To kindle the “ember” (as we just completed Ember Days),

that ember that little spark, within our hearts

that it my free us and stir our hearts to receive that free gift of God Grace.

Take that same spirit that descended last week upon the Apostles

and put it to work within your life and your heart.

Grab hold of that Spirit and and never let it go

for it is the Key to the door (Jesus Christ) for eternal life.

(Jhn 10:7)  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you,

I am the door of the sheep… by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,

and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Let us together find Jesus in His pasture – for He await us.

The hour cometh and now is……