I am gleefully excited about this coming Sunday! Selfishly, I 'm grateful that Joyce volunteered, (Truly she did!) to preach and preside on Trinity Sunday. It will be joyous for me to not have to prepare a theological or
homiletic treatise on God's
Trinitarian nature. Joyce seems very excited to preach about The Trinity and I hope that you'll eagerly join me in listening to what she says.
What strikes me today about these couple of verses from Matthew is that Jesus sends his disciples out into the world based upon the authority he possesses. They are now empowered by his resurrection, his Father's creative love, and God's Spirit's power to spread the Gospel. These eleven disciples are entrusted to honor Jesus' teaching and share it with the people . They do so abiding in the assurance of Christ's eternal presence. The mission didn't stop with them.
The nature of the relationship between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew is that of a Messianic ruler and his subjects. Jesus has battled the evils powers of his time, including death, and overcome them. He now entrusts the Reign of God to his immediate followers. Amazingly, they indeed spread the Gospel throughout the known ancient world. We hear these words again this week. Go and baptize!
Well, let's just say that we're not always great about sharing our faith, our belief in Christ's resurrection, or our limited understanding of The Holy Trinity. Our shared reluctance to share our faith may make us feel guilty. Let's therefore reclaim the
Great Commission by casually talking about how we're observing God's presence around us. Let's peer deep inside of our souls and outward into our world to notice that God is indeed with us, right now, today. What's holy, healthy, and wholehearted about our relationships with one another and God? We're can't capture The Holy Spirit's breath and place it in a bottle but we can affirm that something bigger than us sustains us and comforts us. Joy, let's being there.
Speaking of Joyce; we have witnessed her progression from being a Episcopalian lay leader to a seminarian. That occurred here just some months ago. Now, she is a priest and lives as someone who consecrates ordinary bread and wine into sacramental gifts for the first time this Sunday morning. Her pilgrimage is an ordained example of The Holy Spirit's presence here at St. James but she is not alone by any means. Take note of the evolving relationships between you and other people. Consider what's unfolding around us because of your belief in God. Observe how God is pneumatically transforming lives. Then see if you understand the Holy Trinity just a tad bit better and how these experiences shape us as baptized followers of Jesus who desire to share God with our neighbors today.
