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Sunday May 31 – The Holy Trinity
First Sunday After Pentecost
Genesis 1:1–2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
WHY?
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Triune God — Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Why?”
If you’ve ever spent time with a child, you know exactly how that goes.
Why is the sky blue?
Why do people get sick?
Why can’t I stay up later?
Why do bad things happen?
Why do I have to eat vegetables?
Why? Why? Why?
And usually, parents and grandparents do their best to answer those questions thoughtfully and patiently… until eventually, exhausted and out of answers, they say something like:
“Because I said so!”
Honestly, sometimes faith feels a little like that.
Today is Holy Trinity Sunday — the one Sunday every year when pastors everywhere collectively sigh and think:
“Now how exactly are we supposed to explain this?”
One God.
Three persons.
Creator, Son, Holy Spirit.
Three in one and one in three.
And to make things even more interesting, the word “Trinity” never actually appears in scripture.
So naturally, people ask:
Why do we believe this?
Why does it matter?
And how can something this mysterious possibly connect to real life?
Truthfully, Christians have been wrestling with those questions for centuries. Some of the greatest theologians in history have tried to explain the Trinity with diagrams and metaphors and complicated language — and most of them eventually fall apart if you push them too far.
This week, as I was preparing for today, I found myself asking God those same questions again:
Why do we keep trying to explain something that seems impossible to explain?
And in that quiet way God so often speaks — not loudly, but persistently — the answer that came was quick and simple:
“Just tell them that I love them.”
And I thought:
Well… that can’t possibly be enough for Trinity Sunday.
But think about it for a bit. Because, maybe it is just right for Trinity Sunday.
Because maybe love is exactly what the Trinity is about.
When we open the scriptures, we don’t meet a distant God disconnected from the world. We meet a God who is constantly reaching outward in relationship.
In Genesis, God creates.
God speaks light into darkness.
God brings life where there was emptiness.
God calls creation “very good.”
And honestly, we need that reminder right now.
Because we live in a world where it can feel like everything is unraveling:
wars that never seem to end,
politics built on fear and outrage,
communities divided,
people anxious about the future,
creation itself groaning under climate disasters and destruction.
Some days it becomes hard to believe the world is still “very good.”
And yet Genesis reminds us:
before there was fear,
before there was violence,
before there was hatred or greed,
there was love.
Creation itself began in love.
The Triune God creates not out of loneliness or power, but out of relationship and abundance and grace.
And then, when humanity wandered away — when violence and selfishness and sin entered the story — God did not walk away from creation.
God came closer.
That’s who Jesus is.
Not God standing at a distance.
Not God condemning the world.
But God stepping directly into human life.
Into joy and grief.
Into celebration and suffering.
Into broken systems and wounded hearts.
Jesus touched people others avoided.
Jesus crossed boundaries society enforced.
Jesus welcomed people religion often excluded.
Jesus reminded people that they belonged to God long before the world told them otherwise.
And ultimately, Jesus showed us that God’s love is stronger than fear, stronger than sin, even stronger than death itself.
That is the work of the Son.
And then comes the Spirit.
Jesus tells the disciples:
“I will not leave you orphaned.”
Because God’s presence did not end with resurrection or ascension.
The Holy Spirit is still moving.
Still comforting.
Still challenging.
Still disrupting.
Still breathing life into weary hearts and tired churches and divided communities.
The Spirit shows up whenever courage rises in the face of hatred.
Whenever compassion wins over cruelty.
Whenever people choose justice instead of indifference.
Whenever forgiveness breaks cycles of shame.
Whenever people gather around tables where everyone is welcome.
The Spirit keeps reminding us:
You are not alone.
God is still here.
Love still has power.
Maybe that is the mystery of the Trinity.
Not a math problem to solve.
Not a doctrine to perfectly explain.
But a relationship to live inside of.
A God who creates us,
redeems us,
and stays with us.
A God who continually reaches toward the world in love.
And maybe that matters now more than ever.
Because we are living in a time when people are hungry for connection.
Hungry for belonging.
Hungry for hope that is deeper than outrage and stronger than fear.
The Trinity reminds us that relationship is at the center of who God is.
And if relationship is at the center of who God is, then relationship should also be at the center of who we are.
We were created for community.
For compassion.
For caring for one another and for this earth.
For reminding each other that every human being bears the image of God.
Even when the world forgets it.
Even when we forget it ourselves.
So if someone asks you this week:
“Can you explain the Trinity?”
You can certainly try.
But maybe the better answer is this:
The Trinity is how Christians describe a God who never stops loving the world.
A Creator who brings life.
A Savior who walks beside us.
A Spirit who refuses to abandon us.
Why?
Because God says so.
And because, somehow against all odds, God keeps showing it.
Amen.
God's Yes + My Amen 