Three are One – 30 May, 2021

That there is mystery here in this idea of Trinity is beyond doubt. . . Such an enterprise is presumptuous at best, but Christians have been trying at least since the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. In the most ancient teachings of Christianity, we talk about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. . . . If that sounds to your ears (as it does to mine) a little too masculine and therefore limited, we could talk about God as Mystery, as Redeemer, and as Sustainer. . .

. . . To define God in this way is, as Frederick Buechner says, “a way of saying something about us and the way we experience God” (Wishful Thinking, 1973], 93). –– L. Ann Hallisey

John 3:1-17

The question of when new birth happens has been part of historical Protestant suspicions about sacraments and rites. Some of my Protestant forebears attempted not only to distinguish between but also to separate baptism and new birth, to separate the “outward sign” of water from the “inward sign” of God’s grace and presence in the life of Christian people.

The concern for such distinctions often grew out of the practical pastoral situation of the church—a situation in which baptized children were growing up never knowing in any full way what new life in Christ meant and baptized adults seemed unwilling or unable to. . . accept the claims made upon them through Christ and in the Spirit. Although, in our own day, renewed processes of catechesis and formation have had some limited success in helping the newly baptized appropriate or live into their new lives, in too many lives and in too many places little seems to have changed. . .

. . . This is the mystery and gift that lies at the heart of this Trinity Sunday: God has given us new life. –– E. Byron (Ron) Anderson

Romans 8:12-17

Jesus’ invitation to Nicodemus and Paul’s reminder to the church at Rome are invitations and reminders that our lives need not be what they have always been. To be born of water and the Spirit is to know that life as we knew it before baptism has ended, that our lives are now either “by the Spirit” or “against the Spirit.” . . . We live in the knowledge that the Spirit is an active force shaping who we are and what we do. –– E. Byron (Ron) Anderson

Isaiah 6:1-8

One of the striking images in these verses from Isaiah is the vision of God sitting high on a throne, with the train of God’s robe flowing out into the temple. . . In this picture, we have the oxymoron of God’s divinity shown through God’s clothing. God is majestic and unapproachable—wholly other—and yet God’s very life flows forth into our world—God with us—pouring out to the very places where we wait. If not, we would have no life. Oh, we would live going through the motions of waking and working, retreating and resting. But to have life and have it abundantly is to know the wonder of God’s love present to us in something as tangible as the hem of a garment or a babe in a manger. –– Jennifer Copeland

E. Byron (Ron) Anderson is the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship and the Director of the Nellie B. Ebersole Program in Music Ministry at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Jennifer Copeland, a United Methodist ordained minister, served for 16 years as chaplain at Duke University and as director of the Duke Wesley Fellowship. She is currently executive director at North Carolina Council of Churches in Raleigh-Durham.

L. Ann Hallisey is an executive coach and organizational consultant, a spiritual director and retreat leader, and a licensed marriage and family therapist. She has been a parish priest, rector, and interim rector in the Diocese of Northern California for over 30 years, most recently, serving for six years as Dean of Students at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Homily Service 42, no. 3 (2009): 17-26.