Sermon for Trinity Sunday

John 3: 1-17, page 93 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can we enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Sermon Our first hymn today, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” is well known and well loved by our church. It’s so well known that I suspect many of you didn’t need the words Marcy provided, and it’s so well loved it’s surprising that she had to print the words and hand them to you on a separate sheet of paper because you won’t find this hymn in our hymnal. This one has been kept out of the Presbyterian hymnal for some reason or another, but our congregation has loved singing it for so long that when Lenora Parnell was the church secretary, she was asked to glue the words into the back. Lacy Coleman, who was the sexton at the time, brought those hymnals to Lenora’s desk, stack by stack, so that she could glue to words into each one. After a while he looked at the title to the hymn and said something like, “It’s a good thing we’ll know them by their love because we’re sure not going to know them by their words or actions.” As usual, Lacy was right. The hymn is about characteristics representative of Christians, and so it calls us to “walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,” but we’re often more interested in winning than walking with each other, so we break the bond and if we leave one behind in the dust, so be it. Churches should cooperate rather than compete with each other, but that’s often not the case. It’s nice that we play each other in softball, but I’m not slowing down to hold hands with anyone while I’m running the bases on the way to beating the Methodist Church. But on the other hand, there are so many great reasons to work together. “We will work with each other, we will work side by side,” the hymn goes, and what is this place but a great sign that we can do more when we’re working together than when we’re trying to see who is biggest and best. This camp and conference center is a result of the cooperation between churches from Nashville, Columbia, and Memphis – hence the name – Na, for Nashville, Co, for Columbia, and Me, for Memphis. Because of cooperation churches came together to do what no single church could have done on its own. We are called then, for the good of the Kingdom, to build relationships with each other even though relationships aren’t easy. It can be difficult to get the 15 members of our session to agree, but can you imagine having to get the 15 session members from 15 different churches to agree? It’s a wonder this place turned out as well as it did. The temptation is to simplify the process, to do it alone, to run ahead and leave the others behind, but that’s rarely what the Christian Church, or any Christian for that matter, is called to do. Going it alone doesn’t reflect what we believe about the Church or what we believe about God. In addition to being NaCoMe Sunday, today is also Trinity Sunday, the day of the church year when we are called to remember that God is not one but three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that within our God there is relationship. We read Psalm 29 and are reminded of the Trinity; that from the creation of the world there was one who sat enthroned over the flood, while the voice of the Lord was over the waters so powerful as to break the cedars. The voice of God was made flesh and dwelt among us in Christ, and he sent his word to remain with us forever in the Holy Spirit. These three – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – together they act and are one God. While relationship is modeled this way in our God, it is still difficult for us unfortunately. We were created in God’s image, male and female we were created to reflect the image of God, and while we need relationships to be truly happy, relationships also have a way of making us truly miserable. While attracted we are also pulled apart. While given the gift of speech we have trouble hearing each other. While forgiveness has been modeled by God, we are tempted to withhold it. And for these reasons and others, while we were made to be in relationships and were created in the image of the God who is not one but one in three, we have trouble with friendships, marriages, and bonds within our families, and too often find ourselves isolated and alone. There is always a knocking at the door however, and sometimes the one who wants to break through to us is right on the other side. Nicodemus goes to Christ at night. Of course, the kinds of relationships most people build during the night aren’t very wholesome. If it’s done at night it might be because you’re ashamed to do it during the day. That was the case with Nicodemus. He didn’t want anyone to see him associating with Christ. In fact, the world was pulling these two in opposite directions as is often the case. There are those whom you are supposed to associate with, and there are those who you shouldn’t be seen with. This is a tragic story – it’s Romeo and Juliet – their hearts say yes but their families, their friends, their whole world says no. Nicodemus sees something in Christ, but to follow and believe in him means to give up the position that he gained in society – he could lose his job, he could lose respectability, he could lose everything. Still he goes to Christ, and in an attempt to hold on to what he stands to lose he goes under the shadow of night. Once he gets there though, more problems emerge. Nicodemus makes a simple statement that longs for a simple response: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” This is the kind of statement that begs a “yes I am” or a “no I’m not.” If only Christ could have given him a response so clear. Instead he says something that’s easily misunderstood: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,” Nicodemus doesn’t understand what this means, and after trying to break it down into simpler terms Jesus gets frustrated: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” This isn’t something that’s ever happened to any of you is it? If only there were an easy answer, but the truth is that relationships require communication – and that’s the problem with all relationships. Somehow you have to learn to communicate what you mean in a way that he can hear it, but that takes this enormous step into an uncomfortable direction – in order to say something so that she can hear it you have to be able to imagine what it’s like to be her. That’s why the last two verses of this passage mean so much. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” God sent God’s Son into the world to do precisely this: to bridge the gap between humanity and divinity, to form a firm relationship between God and you. That’s what all relationships take – someone has to give up something to make it work – and to make this relationship work God gave up everything. Thanks be to God. Amen.