Sermon - Trinity (A)

            Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday - a day to really focus on the three persons of the Trinity, and to recognise two things. First, that this is an incredibly complex interconnection of the three persons in One God. And secondly, directly related - we call it the mystery of the Trinity because we will never fully understand that incredibly complex interconnection. And: good news: we don't have to. We just get to believe it, and leave the sorting out of details to God.

            So the Triune, or three-personned God, is celebrated every day, and yet this day it is highighted. Why? Well, back in 1162 when Thomas à Beckett was consecrated the Archbishop of Canterbury, he decreed that the first Sunday after Pentecost every year would honour and highlight the mystery of the Trinity. So! Here we are. Trinity Sunday.

            And on Trinity Sunday, we get the intentional scriptural focus of the three distinct manifestations of God. The Creating presence, who loved the cosmos into being; the Redeeming Christ, made known to us in the person of Jesus, and the sustaining force of the Holy Spirit.

            So let's dive into the scriptures. Starting with creation. Beautiful. The beginning of Good news, where God is entirely active: the Creator creating, Christ's preeminent redemption appearing in the image of God, and the Spirit's life-force touching all things they were created before breathing life into them. Great stuff.

            It's no wonder we start teaching it to our youngest: so that they can know it as well as we do! But wait... do we know it that well? Because every time I go to read, study, and pray these passages, I learn something new - something exciting. Something that opens up new ways of thinking about what God is saying to us as the church today, through this ancient narrative.

            One of the areas where my mind goes to is the word "dominion" in verse 28... because that's a verse that many have used for years, in an incorrect sense. Whereas the word itself means a structure of care, humans started hearing the sense of 'domination' - and thus a sense of ownership began. Societies and economies have been formed around a mistaken understanding that we are meant to dominate the entirety of the earth, and have broken the sustainable relationship with all of creation, revering God's created masterpiece with awe and wonder - it's exploiting it for our own purposes. Hmm.

            BUT! you may be thinking. There's a direct command here from God to SUBDUE the earth!

            And yes! There is! Same verse even - right after God has created the order of things and set life in motion, and before declaring things complete and whole (the difference between good and very good is not qualitative, but quantitative). And humans are invited to subdue the earth.

            Subdue. Powerful word. And so, this week, I spent some time looking into its meaning and history.

            Subdue, as we know, means to control. And as a verb, we tend to hear this in the context of forcible control - militaristic, for example: "The protests were subdued by the national guard." As an adjective, we have attached a depressed connotation: He was feeling subdued after failing his exam."

            Yet the root of subdue has a lot more nuance to it: coming from middle Latin, the verb means to lead or draw, from below. To lift up: to raise. The adjective focuses not on making morose, but on making more gentle.

            Hmm. Well now THAT changes things, doesn't it? Because now we have God inviting humankind into a relationship of caregiving, of nurturing, of raising up all things within creation. Even, Genesis tells us, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. What a message of confidence that God gives to humans, that these folks will have the privilege of caring for all things: leading, drawing up, raising: all things.

            It's no wonder then, that the psalmist is awe-struck by the wonders of creation, and delighting in what it means to be a part of that. With all that there is, in all places and at all times, God pays attention to humanity and invites them into the splendour. How majestic indeed is the name of God!

            And yet: we're human. We forget the majesty of God. We get caught up in the ways of the world. We forget to pray one day, and we miss worship one week, and we act in ways that benefit ourselves and sometimes forget to think about how it will impact others. We put humans first, and then only some humans, and then we forget entirely to raise up our neighbours.

            Hey: we're human. It happens to all of us.

            And this is when the Trinity calls us back: inviting us out of our selfishness and into community: out of our easy patterns and into acts of love: out of our "what about me?"s and into servant leadership. The Trinity calls us in exciting ways to build the kingdom of God - in the here and now.

            Jesus is blunt about this in his message: the authority of God - from the very beginning of creation - belongs only to God. And always will. And that through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, the work of kingdom building has been shared - gifted! with all believers. The assurance that we are not alone in this ministry is powerful, too - for Jesus emphasizes the divine presence at all times, to the end of the age. Not the end of the day, or the end of the year - the end of the age.

            So we are to build up the kingdom - by teaching and obeying the commandments of God. To love God, and to love one another. And every other commandment that has come from God since the very beginning - ah, then, including the commandment to subdue: to lift up, raise, draw from below. So kingdom-building then is not about quantifiable measures, but about making the earth more gentle that we can raise one another up in the faith, controlling away the temptations of this age and focus on the powers of good that we are blessed to bring.

            And years later, Paul has to remind folks again of what this means; that the church is to rely on God's power as it seeks to be transformed to be a faithful presence for ministry. He's not saying they all have to be the same, he knows there are divisions there. But he also knows that to build - and re-build - a church means returning to the basics: relying on God.

            And hey: we've been there, haven't we? As community, as people of God, relying on God and each other:

267 years ago when the ship first landed in Lunenburg, and a whole new town and life was built. 90-odd years ago as the economy collapsed; the post-war years as families established new ways to be together;

and 15 years ago this week - when we celebrated the re-dedicated church building to house our prayers and praise.

We've been there: building our lives together in this place, as we raise one another up: as we lead, as we make gentle, as we draw from below.

For in no way could any of these things happened if we were working alone, or if we were not acting in faith.

And while we face a new challenge of re-building after COVID, we know - we believe - we trust - that God is with us. For God is always with us, because the age is not yet done.

So let us rely on God: God who created us and continues to create new ways for us to engage with the world in sustaining ways;

God who redeems us, as we strive to learn and live the commandments that were given us.

God who breathes new energy into us, filling us with a desire to worship.

Let us rely on God: and share in the privilege and responsibility we bear within this creation.

And: as Paul says: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.