Sermon – 05-26-24 – Trinity Sunday – Cycle B
Scriptures – Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Sermon Title: “Blessed Times Three”

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Powerful! Many capital letters. Many exclamation points. As a child, this hymn was my anchor. I never had any need to question the idea of “three persons in one.” The hymn told me it was true with emphatic positivity. God is not one of the persons. God is all three persons at the same time.

It is tempting to think of God and Jesus as separate entities. Not so! It is Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Together they form God! Not everyone thinks of God this way and they may be able to substantiate their belief in the Bible. Do you realize that whatever we want God to be and do can be proved in the Bible if we are willing to take verses at face value. But if we take the time to read before those verses and after those verses and find similar verses elsewhere in the Bible, we can declare that the Bible means what we want it to mean.

That is why our United Church of Christ firmly believes that God is still speaking. This speaking by God becomes revealed to us through other people such as in casual conversation or in intentional Bible Study. We may find God speaking to us when we read the Bible ourselves or when we hear the word preached. But beware, God can speak to us when we are in deep trouble, when we have sinned and there is no denying it. Or God can speak to us as we watch the dawn or the skies at dusk or when the sky is dark blue with the sparkling lights of the universe shining just for us.

Sometimes it is Jesus who comes through gently and lovingly. Sometimes it is the Father person taking charge and giving us clear instructions. Then the Holy Spirit blows through. Blow, Blow, Blow where you will . . .” the song says. This song by the Medical Mission Sisters goes “Spirt of God in the clear running water, blowing to greatness the trees on the hill. Spirit of God in the finger of morning, fill the earth, bring it to birth and blow where you will. Blow, blow, blow till I be but breath of the Spirit. Did you hear, “blow till I be?” I, what does this mean? I become the breath of the Spirit? What can I be and do if I am the breath of the Spirit? What can become of the world if the world becomes the breath of the Spirit? Creation is groaning. The
principalities and governments of this world are groaning.

What can the Holy Spirit do with us and with the world? Listen while I repeat these words with you from the hymn we sang today. “In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree; in cacoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!” These words come from the heart of Natalie Sleeth, whose husband was dying. The Holy Spirit blew through Natalie. The Holy Spirit was blowing through her husband, lifting him to new things, to a new life, an eternal life.

God is still speaking! “. . . in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity. In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory.” In the dying earth, renewal. In our hopeless moments when all hope has vanished, a revewal; a surge of hope – maybe just to see onions sprouting or new hosta plants springing out of the ground in all their curled boldness. Or maybe God speaks to us in a way we have not heard yet. We wonder if we are really and surely in the line to heaven. We wonder if we will pass inspection when it is our turn at the gate. But what is God saying? “. . . in our doubt there is believing; in our life eternity; in our death a resurrection.”

God alone can see what we will yet become – not in heaven but now, now! We are not done becoming what God wants us to be and planned for us to be! In Julie, the gift of cooking is surprising Julie. In Joshua, a gift for acting evolved until there he was on stage enjoying every minute of bringing a story alive. In Nathan, one day out of boredom he picked up a small piece of wood and his pocketknife and a ship appeared. The Holy Spirit blew through a bossy person one day and inspired this person to repent, to be redeemed, and she did not even know herself the first time she gave a compliment to someone next to her in a line waiting for a store to open.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can see these gifts in us – not the outer shell, but the dormant ability. What the world needs now is the Holy Spirit to blow through us and to stir our souls to be renewed with the talents we don’t even recognize. I believe that God will blow through someone to awaken gifts for cooking for large groups. I believe that God will blow through someone to have a vision for helping Rob Seifrit to receive the surgery he needs to enjoy life again. What about someone to have the wisdom to deal with our problematic bell tower?

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (From Romans 8)

You heard about Nicodemus in our gospel lesson. The Spirit was starting to blow in him but not quite strongly enough to publicly announce himself as a follower of Christ. He came to Jesus by night. But guess what the Spirit did with Nicodemus. Nicodemus claimed the body of Christ from the cross and with Joseph of Aramithea laid Jesus in a cave-like tomb that had never been used. This Joseph also had been a secret believer in Jesus. Now two thousand plus years after Jesus was resurrected, we know about Nicodemus and Joseph of Armithea and their true belief. They both believed “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that everyone who believes in the Son may not perish, but have everlasting life.” Somehow it was not thought important enough to memorize verse 17 which says, “Indeed God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Back to the bulb song. In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity. In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. Will we invite the Holy Spirit to blow through us so we can become what God planned for us to be? There is hope in believing! Amen