“Three-In-One”
Romans 5:1-5 and John 16:12-15
May 26, 2013, First Presbyterian Church of Jesup
Have you ever been watching television in the middle of the day and you see one of those infomercials? You know the ones, ones that offer a product that will change your cooking/cleaning/daily life/outlook/world in such a profound way that you’ve just got to have it! And it comes to you cheap and you’ll get a second one if you call right now!
Though I’ll admit I do have a few “as seen on tv,” products in my life, I’ve always been a bit dubious about the claims that are made for these products. Will it really do all of those things at the same time? Will it really be of a good quality at that price? Why do I suddenly feel like my life won’t be the same without it? Those ads can be quite effective if you’re in the right mood!
Well this morning I’m going to tell you about another multifunctioning, got to have it, sort of thing: the three in one of our faith, the trinity.
The trinity is one of those often referred to but rarely understood beliefs of the church. Like infomercial sales people we may take on the overeager, seemingly unfounded certainty and proclaim: Creator, redeemer, sustainer! Father, Son, Holy Ghost!
But then we sit back in the pews like we do on our living room sofas and ask: really? Can God be all of those things at the same time? Does God’s energy get divided? How is my life different for claiming God is three in one? How much am I going to have to pay for shipping and handling for this one?!
Actually, there’s no shipping and handling, and there’s no need for multiple payments, but it does beckon us to watch what’s next, as in the unpacking of these statements we are able to grow closer to God.
The trinity is often described as the different roles of God. One God with multiple roles, points to a quite practical idea that unity and is achieved through interrelationship.
A favorite movie of mine, “About a Boy,” starts with the main character, Will, claiming that Bon Jovi got it wrong and “All men are islands… This is an island age. A hundred years ago, for example, you had to depend on other people. No one had TV or CDs or DVDs or home espresso makers… now you can make yourself a little island paradise.”
Through these couch side purchases and a small fortune off of royalties for a one hit wonder his dad wrote Will does manage to live quite isolated, quite self-centered. But when he reaches outside of his own little corner of the world his life gets much more complicated and much more fulfilling through relationships. At the end of the movie his view changes and Will restates his theory, 
“Every man is an island. I stand by that. But clearly some men are island CHAINS. Underneath, they are connected.” In the course of the movie Will becomes a friend, mentor, and boyfriend, and is made much more whole through these relationships.
We are who we are in context of relationship, like how I am simultaneously a pastor, daughter, and friend. As humans when we try to fully support each role we occupy we can become overwhelmed and feel inadequate. I know I often feel pulled in multiple directions in the different roles I try and live into. This is not the same with God. God is actually able to be all things at the same time.
Anglican pastor Richard Norris explains the Trinity as the way we interact with God through the different roles we are to God and God is to us. He writes that this relationship “is, first of all, a relation of creature to Creator. At the same time, it is a relation of sinner to Redeemer. Finally, it is the relation of one in process of transformation to the Power, which transforms. This is the threefold way in which Christian faith knows and receives the God of the exodus and the resurrection.”[1]
Knowing God as creator, redeemer, and transformer expands our island chain of connection with God. By relating to God in these different ways we are better able to see below the surface of connection into the depth of relationship.
It means something different to me to know that God created me. When I acknowledge God as creator I have to also acknowledge being created in God’s own image. This forces me into the sometimes uncomfortable knowledge that how I look is exactly what God intended. That God is revealed through who I am, how I am, what I am. This is simultaneously daunting and empowering. This person in front of you, and all of these people gathered here are a reflection of the “good” ness God proclaimed at creation. You are good. You are in God’s image. Understanding God as creator is also knowing God as all knowing, all encompassing. Psalm 34:18 refers to God as close to the brokenhearted. This is God the parent who weeps with us, loves us in our brokenness and in the sorrow of our human experience.
It means something different to me to know that God is my redeemer through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this earth, lived, breathed, and walked about on this planet. God doesn’t just stay far off, but comes near, comes into the human story, into human history. I can’t imagine it would be the most comfortable thing to be both God and human. I wonder if human skin felt itchy to Jesus? God as redeemer also makes me think about all of the horribleness that Jesus endured both on the cross and through experiencing hell on our behalf. God as redeemer reminds me of my sin, it reminds me of my need for redemption. It makes me feel a bit itchy in my own skin, in my own sinfulness. It reminds me that there is life beyond our human walking-around experience.
It means something different to me to know that God transforms me through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, sometimes called the “Holy Ghost,” can seem a bit spooky, a bit illusive. I picture God as Holy Spirit as an invisible blanket covering all of us, the impermeable atmosphere of the heavens touching earth. I think of God as Holy Spirit as that voice whispering in the stillness on that mountaintop to Elijah. I think of that bush set on fire in the beyond the wilderness place where Moses was hiding out with sheep. I think of my own places of searching, of loneliness and God whispering into my ear messages of hope, of love, of connection, of joy. Knowing God through the Holy Spirit is knowing God who is speaking to you, to your life, to your mountaintop, to your valley. It know God as Holy Spirit is to trust that God is still speaking.
Knowing God in these three ways can and should change us. Like discovering those island chain connections knowing God better, having better spiritual geography, reminds us who we are and whose was are.
Presbyterian pastor and theologian, Frederick Buechner explains the trinity in this way: “If the idea of God as both Three and One seems farfetched… look in the mirror someday. There is (a) the interior life known only to yourself and those you choose to communicate it to [which is like God,] the Father. There is (b) the visible face, which in some measure reflects that inner life [which is like God,] the Son. And there is (c) the invisible power you have which enables you to communicate that interior life in such a way that others do not merely known about it, but know it in the sense of its becoming part of who they are [which is like God,] the Holy Spirit. Yet what you are looking at in the mirror is clearly and indivisibly the one and only you.” [2]
The different aspects of God reveal God’s depth and reveal our own complexity as created beings.
In our epistle reading today Paul explains the different natures of God in how they interact with each other in regards to grace: “1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God… God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”[3]
So, we become justified with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the redeemer, the aspect of God that bent to this earth to pave our own way to heaven, cover our sins so that we may fully be in relationship with God. The redeemer brings us peace. Jesus the redeemer gives us a way to access grace.
By this grace we can share in God, the creator’s glory. This glory is the great goodness of the whole wide world. This glory is the building of a Kingdom both on earth and in heaven. Sharing in the creator’s glory means taking on the joy and responsibility of being God’s children.
The Holy Spirit is the aspect of God that places Gods love in our hearts, or as the text poetically says, “pours.”
These three aspects of God work together, going about being God by relating to us in specific ways: indivisible yet multifunctional.
Perhaps a bit like those products the infomercials tell us about. Three-in-one. One-in-three. All available if you call right now!
Confused? Still sitting on that couch with the remote in your hand deciding whether or not you actually buy these claims? Our gospel reading today speaks of the Holy Spirit’s impending clarity, saying, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”[4]
Notice that it does not say if the Spirit of truth comes. It says when. God does not leave us in our confusion but desires to speak truth into our lives, when we can handle it. As a professional theological thinker you better believe I’m looking forward to a time devoid of theological confusion. 
But in the meantime, I’m sort of loving thinking about the many and varied ways that God is God unto Godself, and that God is God to me. May we yearn to know God better. May we not forget that we are created, we are redeemed, we are transformed. Amen!
Presbydestrian 