Lectionary Readings: Year A – Trinity Sunday

Today is Trinity Sunday. It’s the Sunday where we celebrate the mystery of the Trinity, the Godhead, the Three in One and One in Three. It’s something that has caused quite a bit of confusion among a lot of people for many years. Because the Trinity is not exactly a simple concept to wrap our brains around. 

God the Father is God, but is not the Holy Spirit, and is not Jesus. Jesus is God, but is not the Father and is not the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is God, but is neither the Father, nor the Son. The three are one God, and yet also, distinctly three.

If you’re one of those people who hears that and says, “Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense. No problems here,” then I applaud you. The rest of Christendom, however, has spent quite a bit of time trying to explain this mystery in a way that makes sense, and in a way that all parties can agree on.

In fact, the primary reason for the Nicene Creed, which we say every Sunday after the sermon is a result of all of these disagreements about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Looking at our Gospel, you can see why the Gospel was picked as one of our scriptures today. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that they should go into all the world, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing these newly converted disciples into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three of the persons of the Godhead are mentioned here. But that’s it. They’re just mentioned. The interplay between them all is not explained. It’s just Jesus saying that all of these parties exist. 

To give you an idea about some of the disagreements about our faith, let’s just start with the part about God, which includes the phrase, “maker of heaven and earth.” Now, you would think that most people would all agree that God created the earth, since our faith grew out of the covenant with the people of Israel. And they believe that God created the heavens and the earth. But guess what? There were some people who decided that since God was a spiritual being, and too exalted to be bothered with something as vile as created matter, that God didn’t actually create the earth. Some of them argued that there were actually two gods: one that created the earth, and the other one that Jesus knew. This is why the Creed says that we believe in one God who also created heaven and earth.

When it comes to the person of Jesus, we get even more disagreement. As time progressed, people began to question what Jesus meant when he said that he and the Father are one. Did Jesus just mean that they were one in purpose, one in mission, one in vision? Or, did Jesus mean that they were literally one God? People began to argue that Jesus was just a human being, but that he was the only one who perfectly enacted the will of the Father – which would be one in purpose – and because of this obedience he was then adopted as God’s son. And if he was created, then it meant that at one point in his life, Jesus did not exist; he only became God after having been a human first, so he couldn’t possibly be the same as God. He had to be a separate entity from the Father. But, based on scripture, the Church responded that Jesus was not only not created, but was of the same substance as the Father, and had existed with the Father for all eternity. And, what’s more, that all things were created through Jesus, because he was the same as that one God who created all things. 

A little later, some people decided that Jesus didn’t really come to the earth. He was a spiritual being after all, so it wasn’t really Jesus who was here on this earth. Instead, they said, Jesus only appeared to exist as a human being. And if he only appeared to be human, then he couldn’t have possibly suffered. And if he was only an apparition, then he couldn’t have died and risen again, since he wasn’t human, and couldn’t – and more importantly – didn’t die. Of course, the Church repeated that Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father. Or, as the creed says it, “Of one Being with the Father.” And, also, as the scriptures say, that Jesus was fully human, that he did, in fact, suffer, and that he died, and that he was resurrected from the dead. Because if Jesus wasn’t truly human, then he couldn’t have possibly understood us, or shown us fellow humans the way to the Father.

When it comes to the Holy Spirit, we get one of the bits of the Creed that has been a thorn in the side of the Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Churches. It’s that little bit that says, “and from the Son.” This phrase was not part of the original Creed that was agreed upon in all the Church Councils from the first one in Nicea in the year 325, up until the final one in Constantinople in the year 381. No, this one was added by a Church Council that didn’t include the Eastern Churches, and was decided upon by the Roman Catholic church at the Council of Toledo (in Spain), in the year 589. And this caused a huge rift in the two factions of the Church Universal for centuries. No more unity among the two, and instead, they each declared the other side anathema, which is just a way of saying they excommunicated each other because they disagreed on theology. The interesting thing is that the Roman Church added that phrase in to combat a group of people who had once again brought up the argument that Jesus was not the same as God – that he was a created being, and not “of one Being with the Father.” They felt that saying that the Holy Spirit came from the Father and the Son would solidify this argument that Jesus was the same as the Father. But to the other side, that phrase made the Holy Spirit subordinate to both the Father and the Son. And, probably, a good bit of this mutual excommunication came from the fact that the Eastern Churches hadn’t been invited to this council in Toledo, and felt that this wasn’t an actual universal church council. Of course, as the Creed says, the Holy Spirit, “with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.” So, in the end, the Holy Spirit is the same as the Father and the Son. Those mutual excommunications were lifted in 1965, and the two sides realized this was not a heresy, but just a problem with the clarity and definitions of words. Thank God for that.

So, now that I’ve explained a bunch of stuff in the Creed, and shared the history of Trinitarian thought, you’re probably thinking, “Oh yeah, now that makes perfect sense. No problems here.” And, if that’s you, once again, I applaud you. Most of us are probably thinking, “Okay, so I know some of the history. Yay! But what am I supposed to do with all of that? How does that help me understand the Trinity? And how is the Creed even useful?”

Well, there’s a few things I can tell you. First, the history of how we got there, and the Creed itself aren’t going to help you understand the mystery of the Trinity. Sorry. It just won’t. The second thing is that the Creed is there to help you understand what the Church teaches and believes, even if some of it is as clear as mud. Third, the Creed is useful in that it gives us a plumb line to compare the sermon to. If someone comes and preaches something that doesn’t align with the Creed – like telling you that Jesus is a created being, or that Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all separate beings and only one in purpose, then you can pretty much assume that they don’t believe the same as you do; what they are telling you is just a new version of the heresies the church spent millenia fighting against. The last thing is that since all of this is pretty difficult to understand, we need to remember that the Creed is there to remind us that we are all part of a community. And not just a community of believers here in this little church in this little town, but a community of believers that spans the globe and centuries of history. That means that when we recite the Creed, we are connected to people in 381 who recited this Creed in their parish in Istanbul, or in a church in Italy in the 900s, or a person in London in the 1300s. The Creed unites us all as a community of believers, across time and across borders.

The Creed, and the concept of the Trinity are difficult to understand.  And some of us might look at these words, and realize that we cannot with good conscience say the words and actually mean it. That is, some of us might not believe that God is Three in One and One in Three, or that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. And if that’s you, that’s okay. The collective we of the Creed is there to let us know that we are a community, and it is the community that works together and carries us when we cannot believe something in the creed. We carry each other until we can believe this mystery of the Trinity. That’s what communities do. They carry one another’s burdens, they lift up one another’s doubts, and the community stands in our place and professes our faith for us when we find it difficult to do on our own.

Of course, for some, looking at the Creed and trying to understand the history and what it’s talking about seems like idle amusement, or a rich man’s hobby: a thing for people with lots of free time. The rest of us are trying to pay our bills, or are questioning how to deal with that neighbor that’s causing grief for us, or asking how God is a part of our lives when facing a loved one who is actively dying. 

In those situations, the Creed can still provide some comfort. Maybe we don’t have enough money for food or gas; maybe we had an unexpected bill in the mail; maybe we just pulled that last bit of money out of our savings. Whatever it is, “we believe in one God … maker of heaven and earth.” If God can make everything you see – or even don’t see – then God can also provide what you need. Because if God can make the world, then God can work miracles in your life.

Maybe you are dealing with an angry or irritating neighbor. Maybe you are grieving the recent loss of a loved one, or facing the imminent death of another. Maybe you’re dealing with a contentious relationship, or you’re struggling with an illness that seems mysterious or just won’t go away. We believe that “he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. … he suffered” and he died. And he rose again. God understands everything you’re going through. He experienced and still experiences what you are dealing with.

The most exciting thing, however, is what we celebrated last week, which is Pentecost. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and filled the disciples, and all those who believe. This means that the person in the pew next to you is filled with the Holy Spirit. And you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Each of us has the opportunity to hear from God about the needs of those around us. We are a community of believers, after all. And just like the Creed allows for the community to carry our doubts and disbelief when it comes to the finer points of theology in the Creed, the fact that we are a community of believers filled with the Holy Spirit allows us all to carry the burdens of those who are struggling. Sometimes that means listening to someone and saying, “I understand. Tell me more.” Sometimes it means realizing someone is struggling to make ends meet, and providing what they need. As the old Irish Proverb says, “God likes help when helping people,” and that means that we, the community of believers, often stand in as God’s hands and feet in this world. And we are prompted to help through the voice of the Holy Spirit.

The Nicene Creed, our blueprint and guidepost for understanding the Trinity is more than just that thing we say after the sermon. It’s not just a statement of faith. In many ways, it’s also a roadmap for prayer. If we believe, then we can say these statements with hope in our hearts for God’s provision, God’s comfort, and God’s work in this world, both through miraculous provision, and through our own work, and the work of the community that carries one another’s burdens.

[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on May 31, 2026.]