Grace, Love, Communion

May 31, 2026

Genesis 1:1-2:4; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

            Our second scripture this Trinity Sunday is more predictable because it gives the formula.  Listen as God speaks to you through some familiar words from the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.

            READ

            This past week as my mind set to work trying to figure out what to say about the Trinity this year, I kept having an intrusive thought… what does it matter?  Not the kind of thought that is helpful when trying to gather together some ideas for a sermon.  What does it matter?  Why bother with the Trinity when there is so much else going on.  Surely there’s more important stuff happening around us that I need to name and call out… this headline and that headline… war, inflation and an economy that is benefitting those at the top while leaving average people behind, racist and sexist attitudes and ideas on the rise.  If you haven’t noticed… it’s a mess out there.  But in here… inside these walls… what are we doing today… celebrating Trinity Sunday.

            It can seem like a total disconnect.

            If we let it be.

            Talking theology with you week after week… teaching you our Presbyterian theology and the principles and the ethical ideas that grow from that theology in a twenty minute or so talk every Sunday… repetitive words of our liturgy and prayers… our hymns… the liturgical calendar… what does it all matter?  How does it solve the problems we are facing daily?  How does it help you deal with the rising cost of gas and groceries?

            It can seem like a total disconnect.

            If we let it be.

            Theology rests upon the understanding that ideas matter… words matter… because words and ideas shape who we are because they guide our thoughts… they interpret the chaos around us and create those pathways to meet this and that challenge in our lives.  Look, we are bombarded daily by political propaganda.  Our little devices pummel us with easily digestible words and ideas… often not the best words and ideas.  We react to the events around us with raw emotion… often charting the course of least resistance through the day with our actions and our thoughts. 

As Presbyterians, our theology is here to connect us with God… to be Christ mindful… to strengthen our awareness so that maybe we don’t go through life on some sort of survival autopilot.  Theology is meant to strengthen our intentionality so that our thoughts may go first towards our principles and ethics as a guide rather than the perceived path of least resistance… or worse… the path that promises our gain at the expense of our neighbor.  We have to be aware of violations to our theology and secure enough in our own faith to intentionally steer away from this pervasive “me” first ethic.   Bad theology can shape us as much as good theology… and it’s important for us to be able to know the difference between the two… to be able to discern the fruits of each in the light of the revelation of God in Christ Jesus.

            The discipline of your own discipleship is your act of empowerment.  Only you can live so that the thoughts of your theology guide you in your life rather than all the other voices who are either vying for your valuable attention or looking to monetize your lack of awareness.  If you know better the talking points of Fox News or MSNow than your own Presbyterian theology… if you know better the latest trends on Instagram or Twitter than your own Presbyterian theology… if you’ve put your own faith at the bottom of the list of what is important in regards to your time and treasure, something that keeps getting pushed off to someday when I have time I’ll whatever… then this is going to continue to feel like a total disconnect.  Your mind is somewhere else.  Your heart is being guided by different words and the desire for something other than the fruit of the Spirit.

            The theology of Trinity guides the thoughts of our hearts.  It’s not about trying to solve the mystery of the three in one formula.  Trinity theology seeks the beingness of God.  See, since theology loves playing with words to explore ideas… I get to say words to you like “beingness”.  Nowhere else do I get to say such words.  When I say “beingness” what I mean is what we saw in our reading from 2 Corinthians.  Yes… Paul uses the words Lord Jesus Christ, God and Holy Spirit… he names the Trinity.  But naming the Trinity isn’t the most important idea in this passage.  He connects words of “beingness” to the naming… grace, love, communion.  These words reveal more about the nature of the Trinity than simply naming.  Grace, love and communion are the seeds that create and grow the divine fruit.  Grace, love and communion are the words in interaction and play that reveal the true character and nature of God.  These are the words that go with us… as God goes with us… into all aspects of our lives… guiding our thoughts through the wilderness in which we journey. 

            Think about this… think about what usually gets called out as bad Trinitarian theology.  Bad Trinitarian theology might emphasize a hierarchical relationship between the names God, Christ and Holy Spirit.  Hierarchy is more concerned about the power dynamics between the three as one… and the thoughts that arise from such theology have led to bad fruit as Christian disciples have followed that theology and enacted it in the world… very different from the way opened through grace, love and communion.  Grace, love, communion… these words lead more to the idea of mutuality in relationship… not just between the names but in the communities of the world dealing with whatever problems the world is facing at the time.  Mutuality is relational and it is a guide in problem solving… so that answers that are found are judged on the mutuality that serves the common good of neighbors… not the sacrifice of one people for the benefit of another.  If we are dealing with issues of the economy… Trinitarian theology as a guiding principle and ethic… will lead us to care for the least in the economy.  We will have with us the idea that billionaires who take for themselves even the widow’s mite… is a grotesque violation of our own mutuality as human beings. 

As Presbyterian Christians, we are to fight against those systems that violate the character of God.  The idea that injustice is not injustice until it happens to me is a gross violation of our mutuality as human beings… though it seems to be the operating ethic of many today.  Without the beingness of God as a discipline, what is to keep us from employing whatever ethic serves me best in the moment?

            The beingness of grace, love and communion… the theology of the Trinity.  Imagine that as an active counterpoint in our world today.  That is our common calling.

            Today we heard the words of the first creation account.  Our form of Presbyterianism means we don’t have to take those words in their literal meaning… but… we do take the theological ideas of the words seriously.  Thinking Trinitarian… we can pull from that reading the words creativity, goodness, and image.  The creativity of creation sparks the ideas of vastness and variety.  Our discoveries through science bring order and connection.  Goodness might be expressed through humility… of how we are neither above nor below… we are a part of the sustaining whole of creation.  And image… the coming to know God… of understanding that as a part of creation, we have a relationship with God of creation that is different than our fellow creatures… that we are differently gifted which leads to a different level of responsibility of stewardship within this one shared creation. 

Principles and ethics that might be drawn from the beingness of creativity, goodness and image.  Imagine where such intentionality of spirit might lead us… the fruits of good theology that creates connection and commonality.  As opposed to the fruit of bad theology that surrounds us today.  The bad theology of creation lifts up the word “dominion”… and uses it to define our place in creation.  Bad theology treats goodness in creation as a commodity to be used for the self alone.    Bad theology says if God is ultimately going to destroy it all anyway, why try to save and preserve creation for future generations?

            What does theology matter in the greater scheme of things?  It matters quite a bit.  Trinity Sunday on the surface may seem like a celebration of the abstract.  And it can be… if you let it.  But theology is the source code of our discipleship… a discipleship that keeps us from being swept along by fear, apathy, or self-interest… a discipleship that keeps us focused and intentionally aspiring to the ways of God… that keeps us wanting to live in the beingness of God.  Grace, love, communion… those words aren’t so mysterious… they can be known and lived.  If you connect to them and let them in.  Amen.