Holy Trinity; May 18, 2008; Bethel Lutheran Church, Rochester.
2 Corinthians 13:11-13.

Dear Friends in Christ, Grace to you and Peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. AMEN.


There is an old story about a oppressed husband who went to a psychologist. He was tired of being dominated by his wife. The psychologist told him, “You do not have to accept your wife’s bullying. You need to go home right now and let her know that you’re your own boss.”
The husband decided to take the doctor’s advice. He went home and slammed the door on the way in. He confronted his wife and said, “From now on you’ll do what I say. Get my supper, then go upstairs and lay out my clothes. After I eat, I’m going out with the boys while you stay home. By the way, do you know who is going to tie my tie for me?”
“I sure do,” said his wife calmly, “the undertaker.”

Oppressed or not, the husband probably misinterpreted the counselor’s suggestion. That is no way to solve conflict in a marriage. And conflicts occur not only in marriages, but in churches. Our lesson from Second Corinthians today comes from a letter sent to a church that had conflict after conflict. In fact, the Apostle Paul accuses them of not acting like a church at all because of some of the things they are doing to one another. So it is in his farewell, Paul writes, “…agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Paul closes with a blessing that we have been using for 2000 years: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, and we explore the concept of the Trinity: our One-in-Three, Three-in-One God. It is a difficult concept that has been debated for 2000 years by Christian scholars, but it has also been believed for 2000 years by the brightest amongst us and even by children in Sunday School. We will never fully understand how our God can be one and three at the same time, but that is because God is God. God is something separate from us—one to worship and adore.

A college choir was all set to present its package of music in a large church. The program of sacred song was to be carried live by a local radio station. When everything appeared to be ready, the announcer made his final introduction and waited for the choir director to begin. One of the tenors was not ready, however, so the venerable conductor refused to raise his baton. All this time, nothing but silence was being broadcast.
Growing very nervous, the announcer, forgetting that his microphone was still on and that he could be heard in the church and on the radio, said in exasperation, "Get on with it, you old goat!"
Later in the week, the radio station got a letter from one of its listeners--a man who had tuned in to listen to the music from the comfort of his easy chair. When he heard "Get on with it, you old goat!" he took the message personally. He had been doing nothing to further God's work, and this startling message was enough to convict him and get him going again.

Many of us need to get going again. We need to be those people whom Jesus sends out in our Gospel lesson for today, commanding us to go to all nations teaching people about Jesus and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There it is again, another reference to our Trinitarian God. How is it that we can see God as essentially one, but with three different roles?
Let me apply this analogy to myself. I have several different roles. That is, you know me primarily as Norman Wahl, the pastor. There is a certain personality to that. You know me as a person who preaches, teaches, cares for you, counsels you, am a friend to you, a leader in this congregation. Essentially, when you know me, you know me as Norman Wahl, the pastor. There are several other dimensions to me that you don’t know about. I am a husband to my wife, Kathy, and we have been married for nearly 34 years. We have an emotional and physical intimacy that you may think you know about, but you really don’t. Our relationship is between the two of us. For instance, you don’t know (but now you will), when we share a can of Caffeine free diet cola at the end of the day, we consider that an act of love in sharing. It isn’t just a can of pop. We have a knowledge of each other, and you do not share in that knowledge. I am a husband to my wife. A third part of me that you really don’t know is Norm Wahl from Preston, Minnesota. Now, I cringe a little when I say that since I grew up only 35 miles from here, and there actually are some people here who know some stories about my junior high and senior high years. One of my next door neighbors married my wife’s sister, and they are here this morning. Brian knows some of my “stories.” Most of you don’t though. So when someone tells a questionable story about my childhood, I remind them that that was about one of my brothers, since there were five of us boys. All in all, there is a wonderful complexity to me as a human being, and to you also. There is the persona of a pastor. There is the persona of a husband. There is a persona of a child. To know me in all my complexity and fullness is to know me in all my personas.
And so it is with God. To know God in all of God’s wonderful complexity and persona, you need to know God the Creator who at the same time is the loving Father. You need to know God the Son who loved you so much that he died on the cross to forgive us our sins. You need to know God the Holy Spirit who is in you at this moment. It is only when you know the full persona of God that you know God.
Rev. James Lemler tells a story about one family's Sunday morning experience of a sermon that he had preached. They had gone home and during Sunday lunch were talking about his sermon. (something that warms the heart of a pastor to be sure.) In the midst of their conversation, the second-grade daughter sitting at the table chimed in. "Oh, Father Lemler's sermons, they're always the same. You know...blah, blah, blah,...love." Father Lemler was amused and thought to himself, "Hey, this little girl really got it...the message, the repetition, the core, the redundancy.”

And so it is with the Holy Trinity...the message, the repetition, the core, the redundancy. Over and over again..."Blah, blah, blah, love..."
1. God the Creator...I love you and give you life.
2. God the Redeemer...I love you and embrace you in that love forever.
3. God the Spirit...I love you and warm your heart and your soul with my love.
Or, perhaps to think of it through the lens of baptism, four of which we are privileged to witness this Saturday and Sunday. As each of these children come to the font, we see:
1. A child who has been brought to this world by God the Creator who promised that he has known this child even in the womb.
2. A child who has been redeemed by the innocent suffering and death of God the Son.
3. A child who is given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that the light might shine and glorify the Father in heaven!
God is active in all parts of these children’s lives. God lives in them, and in us, powerfully.
We are all children of the heavenly Father. We are all created, redeemed and sanctified in our Triune God. AMEN.