June 15 2025 Sermon
To take a break from sitting behind my desk on Friday afternoon, I walked down to the Marylyn I Walker school of fine art to see an exhibit put on by the Willow arts community. It was a very moving exhibition including mixed media, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, fiber arts, music, and poetry. The Willow Arts Community is run by and for people living with Mental Illness and Substance Abuse. Each piece of art in this exhibit was accompanied by a description detailing elements of the artist’s lives. One large sculpture was made up of pieces of shattered glass collected from the artist’s home after it had been targeted with gunfire. Another piece was co-created by a daughter and her father who are building their relationship that has been impacted by the father’s long struggle with schizophrenia. A large fuzzy blue Frankenstein type piece entitled “The Monster” was created by a man with suicidal ideation as he reflected upon the “monster” within himself. The art, the descriptions, the overall exhibition, the life stories all contributed to a profound experience. I left enriched, feeling grateful that the Willow Arts Community exists and provides a place for self-expression, healing, and community. I continue to marvel at the resilience and depth of the artists. I reflected on that visit as I walked back to my office and unfinished sermon.
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday has been described as a celebration of the doctrine of the trinity, the doctrine of God as father son and Holy Spirit, creator, redeemer and sanctifier, three persons of one God. Trinity Sunday sermons often focus on the doctrine of the trinity. I’ve preached sermons detailing how the church, over centuries, has come to describe the nature and essence of God. But like the words on the placards in an art gallery, words alone are woefully inadequate. Having a sense of the artist and their experience, what they desired to convey with the piece offer a fuller experience.
So, in this Trinity Sunday sermon I hope to express gratitude for the doctrine of the Trinity. How it provides space for exploration, self-expression, healing, and hope for community. How the doctrine expresses the resilience and depth of the artist, God, who continuously calls us to enter into the divine dance of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The inadequacy of words when it comes to speaking of God seems obvious but it is not always acknowledged. The Summa Theologica, written by Thomas Aquinas, is a comprehensive summary of Christian theology. It’s structured to guide theology students, covering topics from God’s existence and nature to creation, humanity, Christ, and the sacraments. The work employs a scholastic method, presenting arguments, objections, and Aquinas’s own responses to build a logical foundation for Christian belief. In 1273, Thomas Aquinas, while celebrating Mass, had a mystical experience that led him to declare that his writings, including the Summa Theologica, seemed like “straw” compared to what he had been shown. This wasn’t a retraction of his work, but rather a realization of the vastness and ineffability of God’s truth compared to human language and understanding.
OT proverbs and psalm sovereign and creator Marvel and Awe in creation – doctrine of Trinity teaches us there is a divine ground of being that is both our source and our destiny.
Paul’s letter to the romans, through faith in Jesus, the second person of the trinity, we are given a share in the divine life and an example of how to live a fully human life – a life sometimes marked by suffering and sacrifice but always within the embrace of God’s unconditional love. Feel the Philia is described as love that is about friendships that are meaningful and deep. The constant companionship of Jesus, through the joys and sorrows of life.
In his farewell discourse to the disciples, Jesus promises that they, and we, will receive the gift of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. For the ongoing revelation for at any moment in time Jesus I still have many things to say to us, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. The Spirit empowers and inspires. The Spirit guides us in the silence of meditation, in the collaborative work of a community gathered to discern our Mission Action Plan and perhaps even in calling me from my desk to an art exhibit.
We gather today to for a multimedia act of thanksgiving with music and artistic beauty, choreography, and well-crafted words, with smells and bells to give glory to God and celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity giving thanks for how this doctrine helps us to more fully experience the breadth and depth of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.