We Believe in One God

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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.

The Wellspring of Life

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The Jesuit mystic, Anthony de Mello said, “If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower, a bird, a child; they are the perfect images of the kingdom. For them live from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future. So they are spared the guilt and the anxiety that so torment human beings and they are full of the sheer joy of living.”

Unity

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You might be surprised to know that there were over 50,000 Christian denominations in the world in 2025. That number is expected to grow to 64,000 by 2050. What’s even more interesting is that the number of people becoming Christians is slowing down, but the number of new denominations is rising. What that means is that we are making new denominations at a faster rate than we’re making new disciples. You might think, “Oh, that’s an easy fix! We’ll just start new churches and make them non-denominational.” Unfortunately, I’ve got news for you. For at least the last 25 years, the growth rate of making new denominations is already faster than the rate of new Christian congregations. That means, quite often: New church, New denomination. And why not? You won’t have to answer to anyone, or be involved in a larger community.

It Is In Love That God is Revealed

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Lectionary Readings: Year A – Sixth Sunday in Easter One of the things my friends and I in college liked to do was to use fake church names that let people know that rather than going to church we instead decided to stay at home. You’ve probably heard a bunch of these. “Oh yeah, today…

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On the Slaying of Dragons

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In The Little Flowers of St. Francis, a collection of stories about St. Francis, his brothers, and the people whose lives he touched, we find a little story about how St. Clare had desired to eat with St. Francis. But St. Francis kept refusing to eat with her. His brothers finally came to him and said, “St. Clare converted at your preaching, and not eating with her seems a bit stiff and lacking in charity.” So St. Francis replied, “Does it seem right to all of you that I should consent to eat with her?” And all the brothers gave a resounding Yes! And so, St. Francis agreed to meet her and her companions with his own brothers at the chapel of St. Mary and the Angels, where St. Clare had performed her religious vows. As they ate, they began to talk about God, and, we are told, the glory of God descended upon all those present to such a degree that they were all in a state of ecstasy. 

In the Name of Jesus

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As I was preparing for today, one of the first things that jumped out at me was the words in the Collect of the Day: “Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life.”

That word “follow” sticks out. When we think of the word “follow” we can see it as no more important than “I follow the news.” “I keep up with, pay attention to, the news.” Maybe we even think that having the news on 24/7 on the television – even if in the background – means that we are “followers” of the news.

Heartburn?

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Have you ever gone to watch a motivational speaker? Someone who has in mind to help you bring out the very best of yourself, to help you achieve more than you are now, and to bring you up to your full potential? That was really more of a thing back a few decades ago, but if you went to a seminar like this, at the end of the seminar you probably found yourself excited about life, about the possibilities of what you could accomplish, or about how your life could improve.

I went to one of these seminars over twenty years ago, and during that time several of us overcame our fears – long held irrational fears – and we began to create new visions of our future, and answer the age old mysteries. In fact, at that seminar, I understood the answer to the mysterious question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” It was a moment of grand dreams and visions of an exciting future, filled with plans that would improve my life.

What We Need, When We Need It

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Years ago, I was working with a youth group up in Washington, and there was one evening where I couldn’t attend the gathering. On that particular evening, one of the high school girls, who played volleyball, had hurt her knee quite badly. It was swollen, and she was limping around. At one point during the evening, I’m told, the pastor and the kids surrounded her and prayed for her. The youth pastor told me, “It was amazing. As we were praying, you could see the swelling go down, and afterward, she was able to walk without a limp. I’m still just shocked. It’s a miracle!”

And in response, I said, “That is amazing. That’s awesome.” And then I paused, and added, “I really wish I could have been there to see it for myself.” Translation: “Hmmm. Is this really true?” I’ll admit, I questioned that story a bit. Because, after all, “Seeing is believing,” as the saying goes. And in this case, I would really have liked to see it, rather than just taking people’s word for it.

With Fear and Great Joy

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Every single one of us has heard the story – some of us probably hundreds of times. We know what’s going to happen by the end of the story, so we don’t think about it much anymore. The mystery has faded, and the excitement at the mystery of the incarnation – the death and resurrection – seems to have dried up as well.

Because of this, it’s hard to put ourselves into the minds of these women in the Gospel – the two Marys.