“The Trinity: The Holy Spirit”                                                                                                  
Trinity Sunday, June 12, 2022 
Silver Spring Presbyterian Church, Mechanicsburg, PA
The Rev. Lisa Strong Chase
All rights reserved.

Old Testament Scripture: Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31

New Testament Text:

1 Corinthians 2: 6-16

The True Wisdom of God
⁶ Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. ⁷ But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

 ⁹ But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
¹⁰ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹ For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. ¹³ And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[b]
¹⁴ Those who are unspiritual[c] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually. ¹⁵ Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
¹⁶ ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?’
But we have the mind of Christ.

Today is Trinity Sunday and we celebrate the majesty, the humanity and the mystery of the Triune God: God as Creator, God manifested in God's son, Jesus, and God revealed in the Holy Spirit.

While we recognize Trinity Sunday as a special day with the white banners and paraments, it is also the first Sunday of what we call ordinary time in our liturgical year. I think we would all agree there is nothing ordinary about this three-dimensional, one-in- three and three-in-one wonder.

Before we look more closely at the mystery of the Trinity and specifically, the Holy Spirit, let us reflect on its three components - God, the father, or Creator, that God is Creator of all - and is always be praised. Just look around at God's creation - it is exquisite and needs to be cared for. God is omniscient and omnipotent and loves us with a breadth and depth we cannot fathom.

The second part of the Trinity - Jesus Christ, God’s son, is known to us through our understanding of the Gospels, Paul, and the other New Testament writers, and our personal relationship with him.

Then we have the third part of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit, who joins God the Creator and Jesus the son with a breath of a whisper, a rushing wind, tongues of fire, which we encounter in our heightened awareness of Scripture, the power of life and God, our love for each other, and our ministry.

The Trinity - that great mystery, is based on the Nicene Creed. The creed was first written in 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea and it teaches followers that we believe in one God almighty, God's Son, Jesus Christ, eternally begotten from God, light from light, true God from true God, and finally, the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.

One in three and three in one are difficult concepts, and they have puzzled the faithful for centuries. As I prepared for this sermon, I found one of the best illustrations to describe this phenomenon in the form of the C-Chord - (Tracy plays – play the middle chord.). The C-chord is made up of the note C (Tracy plays), the E note (Tracy plays), and finally, the G-note (Tracy plays). Each note has a distinct tonality and musical essence that is unique.

If we just play the C-E notes (Tracy plays), or the C-G notes (Tracy plays), we understand, if we have some tonal recognition, that those notes are part of the C-chord, and the chord is not complete. Something - an important sound - is missing.

However, all three played together provide the richness and the depth of the C-Chord, just as the three district personalities of the Trinity provide the depth, breadth, and richness of the Triune God - Creator, Savior, and Holy Spirit. There are other ways we can think of the Trinity: The One to Whom, The One by Whom, and the One in Whom (to be praised), Speak, Word and Breath, or Sun, Ray and Warmth - are all ways we can describe the together and the distinct qualities of the Trinity, and together, they are powerful and impactful. Separately, they are personal to us, as we grow in our knowledge and understanding of each entity - each essence and personality, and our understanding of the whole - three in one and one three.

Since we used a piano chord to illustrate the Trinity, I would like to tell you a funny story. I promise you, it ties in the point I would like to make.

Tall, beautiful, blond, and willowy, my mother, after years of piano lessons in Tennessee, could have been a concert pianist. She most certainly looked the part. She also loving science - specifically biology and chemistry. She chose biology and ditched the piano lessons. Which is a good thing, because she met my father in the biology lab when she was 17 years old, and the rest is history. But the love for music stayed with Mama, and as an 88-year-old matriarch, she still plays. She desired that her children love piano and music too, and some of us four siblings took piano lessons, some lasting longer than others.

I lasted three months.

Our teacher, Mrs. Tigg - (imagine the fun we had with that name – my apologies!), was a stickler for an hour practice every day. (What if her name had been Stigg – she would have been a Stigg-ler for practice!) My issue is that I could and still can play by ear. I would hear the music twice, then sit down and play it without looking at the music – simple songs. Once I learned the chords, I was on my way, creating all kinds of music, and as I proudly would say, without looking at the music! “Row, Row Row Your Boat,” became a masterpiece (in my mind), but sometimes I would leave parts of the chords out, to create certain sounds. I thought it sounded good, different. But it was discordant and incomplete. Not right in sound and structure. Mrs. Tigg told my mother that she was not going to waste her time with teaching me and resigned in frustration.

With the help of Ms. Childers in 11th grade, I made it through the fourth-year piano book, and Ms. Melanie at Dover Presbyterian Church, a beloved friend and colleague, has even helped me - and I promise I will return to lessons one of these days.

The point I am making in telling this story is proper use of the notes, the chords, and PRACTICE, is what makes a good pianist - as we see in our sisters Tracy, Erica and Lucy and our brother Kyle.

Practice and disciple in our faith journeys - reading the Bible, spending time in prayer and reflection, helps us to understand the Trinity, its components, and the power it has in its wholeness.            

I would like to spend a few moments on the third component of the Trinity – last, but not least, the Holy Spirit, which came to the earth at Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday. The Holy Spirit is real, with a distinct personality.

The Holy Spirit does many things for us in our faith journey, including:

• Helps Us (Romans 8:26)
• Guides Us (John 16:13)
• Teaches Us (John 14:26)
• Speaks (Revelation 2:7)
• Reveals (1 Corinthians 2:10)
• Instructs (Acts 8:29)
• Testifies of Jesus (John 15:26)
• Comforts Us (Acts 9:31)
• Calls Us (Acts 13:2)
• Fills Us (Acts 4:31)

The Holy Spirit convicts and prunes us, so we may be more like Christ.

The Holy spirit is also a gift giver. Our scripture readings today focused on the gift of godly wisdom – and the Holy Spirit gives revelation gifts – a manifestation that “knows something “inner intuition or knowledge. Flashes of insight we may have.

The Revelation gifts include:  A word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, ability to discern spirits.

The Holy Spirit also gives gifts of faith, healing and miracles, and prophecy. As we grow in God’s love, and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we show by products of that relationship by glorifying God, living in peace and in Christian love with one another, and experiencing the joy that only knowing the Lord can give.

Serving where the Lord has called us to serve, using the gifts that the Lord has given us.

Let us go back now to look at the complete Trinity. As music needs the combination of the chording and individual notes, our lives need the power of the Trinity and the individuals that make up the trinity. As we worship God, we are reminded of the C-note, that important base note whose sound resonates in much music, and is central to the keys on a piano, for instance. God is central to all areas of our lives- giving us life, rhythm, purpose, security, and love, and who is worthy of all praise and worship. Jesus, our E note, that adds that second dimension - God  as human being and brother and teacher to us all, and then finally G - the Holy Spirit, the final note to this essential chord, that adds the powerful third dimension to God - Creator, Jesus Christ - adding breadth and depth to the mystery of the Trinity, depth to our lives, expansion of our faith, and heightens our praise,

Let us not forget the power of the Trinity, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us call on it regularly, in our prayers, our reading of scripture, our work within the church and within the community, and in our own families. Let the Triune God - the Trinity, in its three in one and one and three strengths transform us to what the Triune God hopes for our discipleship.

So that we might live out Christ's Great Commission, and that we may continue to do God's healing work in a hurting, discordant world, so that all of Creation - Creation that is made up of children, families, individuals of various stages of life's journey, the hungry, lonely, forgotten or oppressed, and our Earth - might flourish with joy, freedom, love and peace, and fulfillment.

And May It Be So. Amen.

Click here to view Worship Videos.