The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

God In Three Persons

Romans 5:1-5

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

June 6, 2004

Once upon a time there was a holy person who lived all alone in an ivory tower. People were always coming to the tower and shouting up questions to the holy person and the holy person would answer them.

One day, a band of believers came and shouted, “Oh Holy Person, we are a band of believers who wish to live together in love and peace and proclaim the Gospel. What must we do to live this way?”

And the holy person shouted back, “As the Lord God is one God in three persons, so you too must live.”

The believers went home and asked each other, “What does this mean?” One of them said, “Let us live together as bread. A loaf of bread cannot be separated water from oil, eggs from flour. The loaf and its parts are one.” And so they lived, everyone doing what seemed good to them, each doing the other’s job, all mixed up with no clear boundaries or sense of direction, other than to be one. And they fought and argued and everything they did came out flat and half-baked.

So back they went to the holy person in the ivory tower and asked again how to live in peace and love, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And again the holy person said, “As the Lord God is one God in three persons, so you too must live.”

And again they went home and asked each other, “What does this mean?” Finally one of them said, “Let us live together as steps. Each step is like the other, yet each step has its place and stays there, never interfering with the others.” And so they lived together as steps with a clear, fixed hierarchy. And for a while all was well, but then the steps in the middle complained the upper and lower steps were inflexible, the lowers steps felt they were being ignored while the top step basked in glory. And so their efforts, which had shown such promise, began crumbling and became just so much dust and rubble.

So back they went to the holy person in the ivory tower and again asked how to live in peace and love, proclaiming the good news of God’s love. And again the holy person said, “As the Lord God is one God in three persons, so you too must live.”

And again they went home and asked each other, “What does this mean?” Finally one of them said, “Let us live together as water. For water is ice, water and vapor, yet not all at once. This way we can each have our role to play but never interfere with each other.” And that is what they did. For a while each had a chance to be in charge, being seen and important - just as when you heat ice it first becomes water and then becomes steam. But before long the steam wanted to be there all the time. The ice argued it never got a chance to be seen. And the water was always either being frozen out or evaporated into nothing. Before long there was no love between them and the good news was not being proclaimed.

So for a fourth time the band of believers went to the holy person in the ivory tower and asked how to live together in peace and love, proclaiming the good news. And again the holy person said, “As the Lord God is one God in three persons, so you too must live.”

And this time the band of believers said, “Oh knock it off, holy person. Quit being so dad-blamed cryptic and tell us what you mean.” “Sure, be glad to” said the holy person. “God is not like bread, with the persons of the Godhead all mixed together and indistinguishable from one another. God is not like steps, with the Trinity bound in rigid hierarchy. God is not like ice and water and steam where only one can be present at a time.

“No,” the holy man said, “God is like the lava lamp.”

“The lava lamp?” “Yes, the lava lamp. Each fluid in the lava lamp is complete by itself, yet the lamp is only whole when all are present. No fluid is more important than the other. Each fluid mixes and mingles with the other, yet they remain separate and apart.

“So it is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit live together as one God in three persons. Each has its own job to do: God loving us, Jesus saving us, the Holy Spirit empowering us. Yet they live together in love and equality, each supporting and strengthening the others, none overshadowing the others. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all equal, each distinct and whole in itself, together forming one God.”

The band of believers went away and began living together in love and equality. Each had their job to do yet each helped the others, and none considered their job more important than the other’s. In time, they lived together so well and did so much together in a spirit of love and acceptance that just their presence, just their living together, inspired others to turn to God.

Friends, most of us never think of the Trinity. It’s the province of preachers and academics in ivory towers. But really the Trinity is central to you and to me because the doctrine of the Trinity helps us live like God lives.

The persons of the Trinity do not live totally apart from each other, they do not live in rigid hierarchy, they do not live as an indistinguishable lump of “God.”

The Trinity, by its very nature, lives in a community of individuals, all equal and all present all the time, each assisting the other without taking over the other, and together forming one God.

How should you and I live? How should you and I live at home and work? How should you and I live at school and church? How should you and I and this church live in the world?

Let our living be as God lives - separate and equal, complete and whole individually and together, assisting each other without overshadowing each other, bound together by love.

May our living be as God lives, now and forever more. Amen.