Celebrate the Mystery 5.31.26

Celebrate the Mystery
Trinity Sunday 2026

A humorous story was told by George Buttrick, a prominent preacher of the mid-20th

Century. It seems
Reverend Buttrick was on an airplane, scribbling out notes for a sermon on a legal pad. The man next to
him tried to strike up a conversation and asked what he was writing about. Buttrick said, “I'm working on
next Sunday's sermon.” “Oh, you're a preacher,” the man replied. “I am,” said Buttrick. “Religion,” said
the fellow passenger. “Well, I'd just as soon keep my religion simple. I don't have time for complicated
doctrines. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule—that's MY religion.”
“I see,” Rev. Buttrick replied, “and, tell me, what is it that you do?” “I'm an astronomer. I teach in the
science department at the university.” “Ah, astronomy,” Buttrick shot back. “Well, I don't like to get very
technical about such things. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. That's my
astronomy. Why would anyone need to know more than that?”
Today is a different kind of Sunday in the church year. We call it “Trinity Sunday.” Now, as regular
church attenders, you soon come to realize that every Sunday service has a theme. We follow a three year
series of Bible readings and the sermons are based on one or more of those readings. But what is unique
about Trinity Sunday is that it's the one Sunday of the year that focuses on a core DOCTRINE of the
church, rather than on a specific event or passage from the Bible. And, as doctrines go, it might seem just
a little bit dry and tedious.
On top of that, it just so happens that the one doctrine that we focus on is the most impossible to grasp.
Try to wrap your mind around the nature of God. John Wesley said it best: “Bring me a worm that can
comprehend a human being, and I will show you a human being that can comprehend the triune God.”
Who do we worship? Who is God? The Church has wrestled with that question for 20 centuries...ever
since our risen Christ commissioned us to “make disciples of all nations” and “baptize them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”--a God who simply doesn't add up. After all, one,
plus one, plus one, cannot add up to one...right?
And so, dear Christians, we are invited into a mystery. And I can think of two ways to react to that. One
way we can react to the mystery would be to simply dismiss it because we can't comprehend it. Deep
thinking can be painful. If you don't believe that, try changing places with an algebra teacher, trying to
present mathematical equations as fascinating to a room full of middle schoolers who are only waiting for
the bell to ring. Yes, if we're not up to the challenge of celebrating the mystery, then let's just dumb our
religion down to following the Golden Rule. Don't get me wrong...we SHOULD follow the Golden Rule,
but we all know, there's more to our faith than the Golden Rule.
But one might ask, “Is it so important to wrestle with a doctrine that, in the end, you know you won't
fully grasp? Why bother? Well, I'll tell you why. A month or so ago, I was driving north on route 33, and,
just as I entered Decatur, I encountered a big old billboard. In huge red upper case letters I read the
chilling words: “JESUS WAS NOT GOD.” “Wow!” I thought, “I'll bet that's going over well with all the
German Lutherans living around these parts. That's enough to spoil their sauerkraut.”
As it turns out, those billboards are appearing coast to coast, thanks to a misinformed fringe sect that calls
themselves “The World's Last Chance.” And what is it? Well, have you ever heard the saying, “Old
heresies never die; they just change their names?” This one goes back to the 4th

Century, called the Arian
controversy, because it centered on the teachings of a priest name Arius, who claimed that Jesus couldn't
have been God, He was only God's created son. The controversy wasn't settled until representatives from
all over the known world assembled in Nicea. The official statement of the Council of Nicea is what we
know as the Nicene Creed.
Now, we may dismiss this World's Last Chance group as a bunch of kooks, and everyone is entitled to
one's beliefs...true. But consider this—every child who lives south of Decatur passes that billboard twice a
day. We don't burn heretics at the stake these days, but that alone should remind us that doctrine is indeed
important, and we need to be diligent in knowing and passing on what the Bible says is the truth.
So, invited as we are into the mystery, and we not wanting to simply dismiss it as something too hard to
comprehend, what's the OTHER way we can react to it? The second—and far better—way to react to the
mystery is to OWN it...step into it...embrace it, experience it, and appreciate it for all its glory.

Picture yourself standing by the seashore, watching the endless waves roll in. You look out far to the
horizon; it stretches out beyond your sight. You're overwhelmed. And you realize, no matter how hard you
try to comprehend it, you'll never fully comprehend its depth. The nature of God is like the ocean—vast
and beautiful and far beyond our mortal comprehension. But, as the ocean invites us to step in, God
invites you to enter into his majesty.
Own the mystery. God is Father, God is Son, God is Holy Spirit...God is one. For me, to own that
mystery, the best place to begin is the Biblical truth: God is love. In the First Epistle of John we hear it:
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God.”
From beginning to end...Old Testament and New Testament...scripture affirms that there is but one true
God, the Holy One of Israel. Jesus himself quotes the ancient Jewish prayer, known as the Shema: Hear,
O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your God is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The God of the
New Testament is the One who, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth, and, when He was
finished, said, “It is good.” He is the one called Abraham out of his tent and said, “Abram, look at the
stars; count them, if you can. So shall your descendants be.” He is the same one God who heard the cries
of his people in Egypt's bonds, and led them to freedom by a pillar of cloud and fire. He is the same one
God who, in great love, swore a covenant with his people on Mt. Sinai—even as in the valley below--in
their ignorance--they worshiped a golden calf.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your God is One. And it is in the fullness of God's time,
revealed in the New Testament, that in Jesus Christ, we meet him in flesh and bone. For God so loved the
world, it says, that he gave his only Son. Out of the depths of the one God's love, God acted to make his
people free...this time not from slavery in Egypt...no, this time a far greater freedom...the freedom to be
God's children and heirs of his kingdom.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and
how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33) That the One who in the beginning flung out the stars to the
heavens...loves me. Why, I could never believe it, let alone embrace it, had not the Spirit of the One true
God called me to faith.
God is one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one—a mystery of such depth that some may dismiss, because
it's beyond our ability to comprehend. How much simpler to just boil it all down to the Golden Rule. But I
would rather own the divine mystery of the majesty of my God. Amen.