The Diocese of East Tennessee
Sermons

June 18, 2000
Trinity Sunday
Delivered at St. Barnabas, Jefferson City

Sermon: Who Are You?
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

It is delightful to be with you here at St. Barnabas. I have heard much about you, and I congratulate you for your history and for your efforts to live into an association as Lutherans and Episcopalians. Bishop Ron Warren and I have spoken on several occasions, and we plan to get together later this month. He and I - along with you - await good results from the vote on "Called to Common Mission" next month in Denver. And then, it certainly is my intention to use St. Barnabas as an example of a community of Lutherans and Episcopalians that has indeed been "called to common mission."

The mystery of faith that we commemorate today stretches our perceptions of reality and challenges our common sense. The doctrine of the Trinity proclaims that God is one substance, but three persons … one God, known as three distinct persons. And that is indeed a stretch for our perception of reality and a challenge to our common sense.

This mystery of faith - the Trinity - provides the subject matter of the Creeds, those liturgical faith statements which we make each week. And if we consider the content of the Creeds, then we wade into the mystery of one substance and three persons - the three in one and one in three. However, as someone has written, "The Creeds proclaim the mystery of God; they do not define it." Indeed, that mystery of who God is cannot finally be defined, but only proclaimed. The mystery proclaimed is that of the Trinity - the God of one substance but three persons.
Mysterious though the Trinity may be, however, perhaps our own experience actually contains some suggestions - some hints - of its meaning. A partial revelation of Trinity's mystery may actually be accessible from experiences of our own lives.

Each of us has been perceived as different people at different times. Under varying circumstances, we may seem to be different people ourselves, at least as encountered by the variety of people with whom we come in contact. For instance, in our family, we have a wedding planned for late July. I will function as father, future in-law, and wedding celebrant on that occasion - three different people, in a sense. And yet, I will be the same substance … the same "me" - if, indeed, I am able to hold things together personally at that point.

Thus, in our own experience, we encounter a mystery not entirely unlike the Trinity. We may be known differently by different people, who have differing experiences of us … different points of view. The fundamental issues in all this involve knowing and being known … knowing and being known.

The truth depicted by the doctrine of the Trinity addresses the means by which we know God - the identity of God, who God is. The persons of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - name the ways that we know God. Our readings today provide us examples of people struggling to know God, by means of certain access points - that is, the persons of God.
The Old Testament Reading from Exodus deals with Moses who encounters the first person of the Trinity in a burning bush. In the mystery and the awe of that encounter, Moses has a basic question - "Who are you?" Moses seeks to know God.

The reading from the Letter to the Romans deals with who the Holy Spirit - the third person of the Trinity - is. Paul explains that by means of the Spirit, we are adopted into the household of God, and therefore, we become "joint heirs with Christ" of God's promises. The Holy Spirit in part is the one who enables such adoption.

Finally, the Gospel reading today deals with Nicodemus, who sets out under cover of night to discover more about Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. And, in the encounter with Jesus, Nicodemus' basic question is this: "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" is the fundamental existential question asked within relationships. That's what parents want to know - and struggle to find out - when a new baby comes into their lives and begins to grow up. In our family, a new dimension of that question of identity certainly will be added to our relationship with our son when he becomes a married man! Thus, we continue to ask "Who are you?" as our roles and relationships change in life. Indeed, as we exist in relationships with other people, we always want and need to know the question of identity, "Who are you?"
Thus, "Who are you?' The words name the quest to know, and they imply the need to be known. The Bible itself - and, indeed, the entire story of our faith - may be considered in those terms. On the one hand, we learn of people all through the Bible - people like Moses and Nicodemus - who seek to know God. And, on the other hand, we learn of God who seeks to reveal himself to human beings … to be known. This dynamic - to know and to be known - provides the material which builds and sustains relationships with other people and with God.

God knows us well. As the Psalmist writes, "Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar…You…are acquainted with all my ways…Such knowledge is too wonderful for me"(139:1,2,5). There exists nothing about us that God does not know. Our thoughts and our motives, as well as our words and deeds, are all transparent to God.
However, God in His infinite knowledge chooses to be known also. God created human beings to be in relationship with Him. The Psalmist ascribes these words to God: "Be still, then and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth"(46:11). Also, remember that God called Moses from the burning bush. God in Christ welcomes Nicodemus. Most revealing of all, God chose to be known by human beings in the person of Jesus. Indeed, God reveals Himself over and over again, for He wills to be known by us.

God is one God. But that one God is known to us - and has been revealed to us - in three persons. The Trinity of persons provides us the means by which we may know God.

God the Father is creator of all that is. The Creator God is source and reason for being of everything - everything that we know about and all that we do not … everything that is.

God the Son is redeemer, Emmanuel, "God-with-us." Jesus makes possible our right relationship with God by becoming a human being. God becomes known in Jesus so that we might know the Godly call of our own humanity.

God the Holy Spirit is sanctifier, the presence of God in Christ even now. The Spirit provides power and direction to the Body of Christ, the Church, in our day. God's Spirit is our motive for mission, our impetus for fellowship, and our meaning in worship.

Thanks be to God today, therefore - one God in three persons. May we know God more and more in the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, as we come to know and see God more clearly, may we also love God more dearly and follow God more nearly, day by day. Amen.

Copyright © 2000 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee