Sermon: "Knowing God"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

Relationships are puzzling things. We human beings are unique individuals, and putting two or more of us in relationship does make for a degree of uncertainty. I suspect that each of us can testify to that.

Also, relationships are challenging. People constantly are changing, and therefore, we are difficult to predict at times. Thus, to be in relationship with someone who always changes is indeed a challenge ... and, may we not forget, the same is true for those in relationship with us as well.

Of course, relationships take many forms and develop in many ways, and most often they do present opportunities to be puzzled and challenged. However, one task seems always to be central. And that central task in any relationship is the twin responsibility of knowing someone and of being known by that other person - of knowing and of being known.

What we can say about human relationships applies to some extent to our relationship with God. As human beings in relationship to God, a central task involves knowing God, to the degree that we can. Further, we are called to make ourselves known to God also.

This mutual knowledge enriches itself through prayer and study. There really can be no substitute for time spent in communication with God through prayer and in seeking knowledge of God through study. Of course, our everyday actions beyond prayer and study also help build the relationship. In fact, new attributes of our relationship with God emerge as our knowledge becomes more complete and as we discover new angles by which we may look at God. And, as in human relationships, growth and change describe parts of this task - a task that never ends.

There was a book written some thirty years ago titled "Knowing God." The book deals precisely with the subject named by the title. And at one point, an interesting series of questions and answers occurs: "What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the 'eternal life' that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God … What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment than anything else? Knowledge of God" (Packer, p29).

Now, you may not have considered life in those terms. However, I want to suggest to you today that the author is correct, in the broadest sense of the picture he paints. Knowing God is our fundamental calling as people of God - and, more particularly, as Christian people. From that knowledge arise various responses within the deepening relationship with God. And that relationship has everything to do with the reason for our presence here on earth.

We all have experienced this growing relationship with God to some degree - often, as we encounter some new revelation of truth or beauty or love. And, when we take a step on that journey of the knowledge of God, we realize at the depth of our being that we were created to do this, to be here, and to know what we have learned.

My prayer is that the candidates for confirmation and reaffirmation today understand themselves to be on this journey … the journey that involves - at its center - knowing God and being known by God. Indeed, for all of us, this is our life journey, and occasions like confirmation and reaffirmation mark signposts along the way.

Yet, even as we all walk this journey, we know that our knowledge of God is not yet complete. St Paul wrote words of truth when he observed, "Our knowledge is imperfect" (I Cor 13:9). However, to the extent that our knowledge of God is deepening, then so are our responses of faith, hope, and love. The relationship with God therefore becomes more and more significant in our lives. And that is the Christian quest - our Christian calling.

Precisely at this focal point of Christianity - the knowledge of God - does this particular Sunday make the most sense, it seems to me. Today is Trinity Sunday. And probably more than anything else, the subject of Trinity Sunday involves the way that we know God - or, more accurately, the ways that we know God.

Our historic Faith includes statements of belief, called the Creeds. The object of these statements of belief is God. And, if you notice the Creeds, you will see that they are divided into three paragraphs. Each paragraph indicates one way that we know God - as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit. Thus, the Creeds present to us the doctrine of the Trinity.

This doctrine affirms the three persons of the Trinity - the ways that we know God. In addition, though, the doctrine of the Trinity affirms the underlying unity of God. Thus, the key phrase in conveying the content of that doctrine is this: "the Trinity of persons and the unity of substance."

Wars have been fought over this doctrine. It is difficult to understand. Indeed, it may be impossible for human beings to understand it, for we have no other example quite like it.

However, I want to suggest two ideas to you this morning … two ways of understanding the Trinity. These analogies have been helpful for some people in the past.

First is the familiar legend involving St. Patrick. He is said to have compared the Trinity to an Irish symbol, the shamrock. His idea was that each of the three leaves on the shamrock clover was a part of the whole. The entire clover cannot be perceived or appreciated or known without all three leaves. Thus, a trinity of leaves makes the unity of a clover. In a similar way, God cannot be understood or known without all three persons of the Trinity.

The second analogy involves an everyday concept familiar to us all. Each person here is known in different situations and roles. And, in a sense, we are different people in each one of them.

For instance, a woman may be a wife, a mother, and a working person. In each role, she is associated with certain people, activities, and responsibilities. She does different things, and in a sense, she is a different person in those various settings.

So it is with God. As the Father, we know Him as creator, the maker of all things, the source of all being. However, God the Father is only one of the ways that we know God.

As the Son, the God we know is the man, Jesus of Nazareth - the carpenter who walked this earth, who lived and died, who did marvelous works. This person of God indicates most clearly God's own will to be in relationship with us … to be known by us.

As the Holy Spirit, God is known to us even now. Following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Spirit of God informs individual Christians and the corporate Church as well. It is by means of God the Holy Spirit that we are empowered to follow our callings. By this power, we are able to continue the work of God in Christ, as the Body of Christ today - that is, his Church.

Therefore, on this Trinity Sunday, we concentrate on our relationship with God. And in particular, we focus on the fundamental aspect of that relationship, which is in knowing God. We should be joyful in the awareness that God the Father chooses to be known by us in the person of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Also, we should be joyfully - and earnestly - aware that God knows us and chooses to know us completely.

Knowing God and being known by God - within this relationship of mutual knowledge, we may grow in faith, in hope, and in love. Therefore, for that relationship, thanks be to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Copyright © 2007 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee