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Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "We're in This Together" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: The gospel lesson comes to us today from Matthew, the 28th chapter. It's known as the commissioning of the disciples. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him they worshiped him, but they doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. This is the word of God for the people of God. Well, welcome to Trinity Sunday. We have just completed the time from Easter to Pentecost. Trinity Sunday is the Sunday that immediately follows Pentecost Day, and it is the only Sunday in the liturgical year that is centered around what sometime is described as a doctrine rather than an event. But Trinity is Much more than a doctrine. The Trinity expresses the heart of our faith, which is one of the reasons that Trinity Sunday is just so important. We have experienced God of creation made known in Jesus and is with us always through the Holy Spirit. Now, many of us remember one thing growing up that if you were in a tradition that did this and had a lot of music. There was one thing we did on Trinity Sunday, even if we didn't immediately think of it as Trinity Sunday, or even if we didn't think about it theologically, how many of you remember growing up singing the old beloved hymn Holy, Holy, Holy? God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Well, we can know, we can love, we worship and we adore God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because that is who God is. Trinity Sunday for preachers, you'll just be glad to know this. Trinity Sunday for preachers is the most abstract of the feast days. So take a look at this group. Now doesn't that That just look like a gleefully joyous bunch. Those are theologians from across the years in history. And I look at them and I think, yeah, y'all look like you've got it all figured out. Look at all those smiles on those faces. Well, we are still wrestling with theological constructs, and we as preachers often have tied ourselves in knots. This sounds like a bit of a confession, doesn't it? Well, It kind of is. We do. We tie ourselves in knots and have great anxiety over trying to explain the Trinity. Now we've done all sorts of creative things over time. We've used all kinds of wonderful object lessons, and I just decided I would share a few of those with you this morning, and you'll recognize some of them. We have used the three-leaf clover. One stem, but three separate leaves of the clover. And then there's H2O. The chemists and the scientists in us understand that there are three manifestations: water, ice, and steam. But they're all separate and they're all different. And then there is the egg. We have the shell, the yolk. And the white of the egg. The problem is with all of these illustrations, we have three separate parts of one thing. And the Trinity isn't separate parts. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are one, three in one, and one in three. Now you completely understand, right? Well, one preacher said that they even received on Trinity Sunday, I checked, there was none in my box, but received a gift on Trinity Sunday from a parishioner. It was a Three Musketeers bar with a note attached that said, All for one and one for three. Happy Trinity. You all get creative. So, how do we explain the Trinity? Confession, we don't. Because we can't explain the nature of God. It is who God is. But I will tell you, that doesn't keep us from trying. There is a parable told by Robert Ferrar Capone. In his book Hunting the Divine Fox, he is known for actually taking a humorous approach to theology. And one of the illustrations he gives, he said that in our effort to describe God and describe the Trinity, it's like a bunch of oysters trying to describe a ballerina. Now that sounds ridiculous because it is. Think about the oyster. How many of you like oysters? Okay, so you won't mind thinking about oysters. They live on the bottom of the ocean floor. They lead a pretty good life, plenty of plankton. They have they're happy, well fed. And in this case, this particular oyster, the only thing that he worries about, and it's really not even a worry, he has a rock beside him. So he talks to the rock and eats plankton, has a good life. But has a limited field of vision. Occasionally, sometimes he pays attention to the starfish because the starfish is a predator and likes to eat oysters. But as far as understanding a ballerina, movements, leaps, point shoes, the oysters got nothing. He knows nothing about a ballerina. The only move the oyster is familiar with is the opening and closing of its shell. So, like oysters trying to describe a ballerina, we really can't describe something fully and completely that is beyond us. The created cannot explain the creator. Our understanding is limited and we just cannot understand the ununderstandable. But there is good news. What we do have is the word of God that teaches us about God and teaches us about the nature of God. Paul's letter To the church at Corinth is actually one of the few places in the New Testament where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are named together, not as a doctrine, but as a blessing. It actually follows Paul's instructions to rejoice and to live in peace. The blessing is what makes the peace possible. And the blessing is very distinct. It is three and one, and one and three, not separate, but together as a whole. Grace from Jesus, love from God, and communion from the Holy Spirit. God in three persons, the Trinity, not three separate entities. So in the gospel lesson today, Matthew. Matthew ends. We're at the close of the Gospel of Matthew, and it ends with the eleven disciples meeting the risen Jesus on a specific mountain somewhere in Galilee. Now that specific mountain is not really identified, but they're back in the region where it started. What was important is the revelation of God. This was an extraordinary experience. The disciples saw Jesus and we're told that they worshiped him, but we're also graciously told that some doubted. Jesus acknowledged that they worshiped and they doubted, but he did not rebuke them. Came to them, he drew near to them, and after drawing near to them, he gave them a task, the most important task that any of us could ever be given. And here is the most excellent news for us. Jesus drew near to the very ones whom he gave the great commission, those first disciples and us, the worshiping community, because that's how we do this. He drew near to the ones who were and are flawed, to the ones who didn't and don't get it all right. Jesus drew near to them. And he draws near to us. And he continues to invite us into this ministry of strengthening and growing his church with him and with each other. So the good news and the relief is we do not have to solve the puzzle of the Trinity. What we are invited to do is experience God's presence with an open heart as a part of a community, and we do this together because we truly are in this together. We are created for community. We are created to be together. And Jesus assures us that we're never alone. We have the Trinity and we have each other. And because of Jesus' universal authority and sovereignty, we received this imperative command. And the command was given in the imperative with action verbs. Go. Go therefore and make. Make disciples, make disciples of who? Of all nations. The mission to disciple the world is given to a worshiping, yet sometimes doubting, imperfect community of disciples, and that includes us. And it sounds like an impossible monumental task. And to do it on our own, it would be yet the very group. That worships and doubts Jesus is the very group that Jesus sends. So good news for us again is that doubt and fear and messing up did not disqualify the first disciples. And it doesn't disqualify us either. We are disciples. And what does that mean? Well, it means we're lifelong students. We're learners. We're learners about Jesus. We're learners about the mission. And what we learn is the more we learn, we learn that we have even more to learn. And the disciples then, understanding some of that, were given authority to teach all nations. in the words of Jesus to obey everything I have commanded you. Because any of us who have ever taught are always relieved, and and we hear this with Sunday school teachers or with vacation Bible school or whatever it may be. We we need people to help us present the lessons, but the lessons will already be prepared and set up for you, and you can see relief wash over people. Well, in this case, we're being sent out to do exactly that, to be disciples, to teach and to learn. Well, the lessons have already been decided and prepared and given to us by Jesus. The one who saves and promises to be with us to the end of the age. So when we go out and we are a part of strengthening, teaching, and growing the Church of Jesus Christ, we don't do it alone. We do it together and we learn from each other. Today is Confirmation Sunday. Today, seven young people will become full members of the Church Universal, the United Methodist Church, and of Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church. They have spent time studying and learning from others, from each other, and they have learned as we have that when we are confirmed into the church. We don't graduate from church. It is a beginning. It's a lifelong journey. We're gracefully prepared and we prepare others and we prepare with others for a lifetime of learning about following Jesus. Jesus was well aware that the command, the great commission, was beyond what any one of them could have done on their own. Can you imagine being one of eleven that you are to go and make disciples of who? Of all the world, even places you will never go and you don't even know about. Two thousand plus years later, the message is still being taught, still being shared, and the good news of the gospel is still active, present, and being shared. The good the verbs go, make. They are not second, they are not first person, they are second person plural. It's now we could say y'all, but that means you all go, you all make, but not in our own strength. The mission is an extension of Jesus who chooses to. To give us and close with a promise. Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. And the promise is what makes all of this possible. The promise and the presence of Christ. It's the good news that our task today is not to figure out or try to explain the Trinity. Rather, It's a community of faith where we reflect on the many ways that the divine, the triune God, is with us and how we are called and led and nurtured. And then we go and we make disciples. We learn from each other who learn from each other and it continues to grow. The very presence of the risen living Christ, the triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit goes with us. And that's why we're in this together. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. ⁓ God, you call us to labor and to be about the tasks that you design. You equip us to serve you and you care for all our needs. The gifts we offer are but a portion of the treasures you heap upon us. Help us to never take your presence or your blessings for granted. Time after time your presence brings new life and hope. Creator of us all, when we look to the heavens and bask in the light of the sun, the moon and the stars are We feel small. Still you care for us and you call us to care for one another. With the rush of your spirit sweeping over us, guide us to be your disciples and to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching what Christ commanded and remembering that you are with us. Almighty Creator and ever-living God, we worship your glory, eternal three-in-one, and we praise your power, majestic one and three. Keep us steadfast in this faith so that we may proclaim all that Christ has revealed and rejoice in the glory He shares with us. Glory and praise to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And now as a community of faith together, we pray as our Lord taught us to say: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.