May the words that I say and the words that you hear with the ears of your hearts be blessed by the living God? Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Trinity Sunday and Father s Day being celebrated on the same day, quite a coincidence. When I was asked to preach on Trinity Sunday my first thought was what and honor, never thinking about Father s Day being celebrated on the same day. When it hit me I thought what a daunting task this could be. Are there any parallels, any commonalities, and any reason for a co-celebration? First a little background. In the Anglican Communion Trinity Sunday is a Principal Feast and in the Episcopal Church Trinity Sunday is one of seven principal Feast Days. Trinity Sunday is the Sunday following Pentecost, and eight weeks after Easter Sunday. As a reference for 2015 Trinity Sunday is the 15 th of June. The earliest date we can celebrate Trinity is the 17 th of May and the latest is the 20 th of June. Those dates occurred in 1818 and will again 2285 and 1943 and again in 2038. I researched this and proud of it. Thanks be to God for the internet and the Book of Common Prayer. Wikipedia says that Father s Day was started as result of a memorial service for a large group of men who died in a mining accident in Monongah, West Va. Other accounts indicate Father s Day was founded in Spokane, Washington in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father was a Civil War veteran who raised his family of six children as a single parent. She heard her pastor preach a sermon honoring Mothers and suggested that he do the same for Father s. She suggested a date of June 5 th for the celebration. Pastor liked the idea but did not have enough time to 1
prepare a sermon, so the third Sunday in June was selected and so it is today. This I also researched. The opportunity to preach today turned out to be not as daunting as I anticipated. The Old and New Testament readings, the suggested Psalm and Canticles are absolutely beautiful and relevant to life today. Allow me to digress for just a moment: I happen to be a Low Church Episcopalian thriving in a pleasant, comfortable combination of both, St. Barnabas. At Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church we sang or chanted the Psalms and Canticles. We celebrated Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month and Morning Prayer on the remaining Sunday s. The Canticle chosen for today is one of my favorites. You have to hear it to feel the beauty in the words I can hear it now; Blessed art thou O Lord God of our fathers; praised and exalted above all forever. Blessed art thou, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; praised and exalted above all forever. The mystery of the Trinity. The Old Testament enters with the majesty of the Creation, In the beginning when God created the heavens and earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said let there be light and there was light. The majestic and powerful words of Genesis go on to tell us that on the seventh day, God s work was done and he rested. The seventh day was blessed and hallowed. In second Corinthians we are told to Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Without addressing the Gospel reading look at what is happening in Iraq, their affairs are not in order, they are fighting a religious war and not living in peace and the country is crumbling right before our eyes. They have not listened to 2
God s appeal. They have not been tolerant of each other neither have they been patient or obedient. The same can be said here in the USA, our affairs are not in order our politics and politicians are an absolute wreck. We are not fighting a religious war but a war of a different type, a social war. Our youngsters are plotting to kill and are killing each other. Their lives are out of order and in need of serious fixing. I see the seriousness of our situation everyday some of our children are carrying burdens I could not handle we need a FIX! We are fighting to save the lives of our children and sometimes it feels like we are losing the fight. Father s and Mother s get your lives and affairs in order so that we can save our children. Parents be OBEDIENT! In today s Gospel the eleven went to Galilee as they were instructed (Judas was eliminated) and Jesus told them; All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The beauty part of this is he says; Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. How many of us would have the patience required to make such a powerful loving statement? No answer required. I don t have library of sermons to fall back on but I am working hard to get there. During Holy Week we were delivered a mandate to; Love One Another. Then, we received another saying; If you love me keep my commandments. And now we are to remember; I am with you to the end of the age. There is turmoil, deceit, hate, discrimination, all around the world and metro St. Louis and Jesus just keeps on loving us. When are we going to get it? 3
WE are not being asked to do the impossible; we are tasked with loving, listening, following, and doing. Go out and Make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our questions are how are we going to do that? Who are we going to baptize? Where do we find them? Unlike the seven (Remember them) we don t have to find funds, stockpile rations, learn a foreign language or rent ships. Our candidates for baptism are right here; our community begins here and extends to the outside, but again I say it begins here. Our growth just has to start from within and then grow out. We must remain positive, we cannot be satisfied to come to church on Sunday and say well I ve done my part and that s good. Full participation is necessary and we are a very talented, extraordinarily talented congregation. Be active, participate! The mystery of the Trinity in today s church is not unlike the church of old, remember eleven ordinary guys believed and went out and taught, baptized, and made disciples as Jesus told them to do, we must do the same. It is our responsibility to embrace the power of Christ; embrace the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a Christ- Powered, Holy Spirit powered Church but we each of us must in our lives be Christ-Powered and Holy Spirit Powered. My Sisters and brothers do not waste your time asking what can I do for the Lord. Don t be concerned about if I had money, if I had a good voice or if I had more time, all of the IF I or IF I ONLY had questions. I say to you, Do what you can when you can and when you can do the best you can. Father s day requires us to be powered and for our own protection powered by Christ and the Holy Spirit. 4
Eleven ordinary men went out and doing what God had instructed, as Fathers we are in our own ways just ordinary men doing what we are instructed to do and expected to do. A short list of instructions might read like this; Love your children, Guide your children, Respect your children, Comfort your children. In a spiritual celebration of father s day our thoughts go to Luke 15: 11-32 the parable of the Prodigal Son and his brother. You know the story, but sometimes I think we lose track of what has happened here. This is a parable not about the son but about the father. The star of this show is the father. He loved his son, he gave him guidance (son did not follow), he respected his son, and in the end he gave him comfort. He never gave up on his son no matter what. This was his son and nothing was going to change that. Webster defines Prodigal as, Exceedingly or recklessly wasteful, or Extremely Generous; Lavish. The father is the Prodigal in this story. That is our job for real. Jesus had a relationship with God and introduced us to God to show us that our Creator, Savior, and sustainer wants to have a personal relationship us. As we entrust ourselves to God we must insure that our children entrust themselves to a loving Father. It is our job to show that this kind of relationship not only is possible but is healthy. Jesus teaches us to let God our Father, bless us. From, time of Abraham the father has been the dominant figure in a child s life. The blessings came down from the father to the first born son, and the blessing was the most important inheritance a father could give. Mothers don t squirm remember the time. 5
Jesus knows that sometimes we are inadequate. He knows that we earthly father s cannot love enough, give enough, and be enough for all our children s needs at every moment of his or hers life. Only Jesus father our heavenly father can do that. In Genesis, the same God who created the world and cast stars into space, the God who created a dome in the midst of the waters and called the dome SKY, the God who let the waters be gathered together in one place and the dry land appeared, the God who let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, the God who blessed us with language and then many tongues is the same God who blesses you and me. On this Trinity Sunday and Father s day let us remember all the good things the church is doing. The good things St. Barnabas is doing. We work quietly without fanfare. A donation to ESM, food to TEAM, a helping hand here or there, a visit to a hospital room, prayers for the sick and those in this transitory life who are in trouble or need. Does not sound like much but from these raindrops come a gentle rainfall, the communities thirst is slaked, things grow (St Barnabas), grass turns green, and we live a blessed life. Brothers and Sister s Love your CHILDREN! Let us Love each OTHER And above all KEEP GOD IN THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES! AMEN 6
7