Holy Trinity - Year C

Jason Schafer

After Pentecost • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

0 ratings

· 14 views

Notes

Transcript

Welcome Statement

Today we are celebrating two occasions. Of course, today we celebrate Father’s Day, but we also are celebrating in the liturgical Calendar, . Now us Dads in the audience, are used to having to share things, so we learn to work with it!

Joking aside, last year I recall having a hard time trying to tie in Father’s Day and Trinity Sunday, but I had an epiphany, in the Trinity, we have 3 persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So I think today, it would make sense to emphasize the Father. Today’s scripture is going to take an interesting turn however, as we are going to see how the Father relates to us through Spirit. Lady Wisdom, Holy Spirit

Pillar of Smoke, Father

Angel of The Lord: Jesus Christ? Or Logos!

The Father veiled in smoke

The Son made flesh

The Spirit breathed into us

Old Testament Reading - Proverbs 8:1-4, Proverbs 8:22-31

Proverbs 8:1–4 NRSV

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.

Proverbs 8:22–31 NRSV

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth— when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

Old Testament Point #1

The Trinity and Father’s Day – Key Insights

🕊️ The Trinity as Revealed in Scripture

q1God the Father is the source (arche) of the Son and the Spirit – the origin without origin (John 5:26, 1 Cor. 8:6).

The Son is the Logos, eternally begotten, who makes the Father known (John 1:18, Col. 1:15).

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26), indwelling and empowering believers (Rom. 8:11).

🔥 Old Testament Prefigurations of the Trinity

Father – revealed as transcendent, unseeable, holy mystery:

Pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21–22)

Glory cloud in tabernacle/temple (Ex. 40:34–35)

Fire and smoke on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19)

These evoke reverence, distance, and awe—God present but unapproachable.

Son – the Angel of the Lord, the Word, the visible Mediator:

Appears, speaks as God (Gen. 22, Ex. 3, Judges 6)

Brings God’s face into view, prepares the way for Incarnation.

Spirit – seen in Wisdom, wind, power, overshadowing presence:

Hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:2)

Given to prophets, artisans, leaders

Later, the indwelling fire of Pentecost

🌿 The Father in Eastern Orthodox Theology

The monarchy of the Father: He alone is unbegotten, the eternal source of both Son and Spirit.

The Trinity is best seen as a tree or fountain:

Father as root/spring

Son begotten like a branch or stream

Spirit proceeding like wind or breath from the root

💬 Preaching Connection to Father’s Day

The Father is not just a metaphor for God, but the origin of all divine relationship.

Unlike the Son and Spirit who serve, reveal, and indwell, the Father sends, sources, and sustains.

This day can remind earthly fathers of:

Their call to be a source of love and life, not control or fear

The value of being present but not overbearing

Reflecting the Father’s nature: steadfast, unseen, faithful, initiating love

“Our Father in heaven does not overpower us—but surrounds us, leads us, sends His Word, and fills us with His Spirit.”

New Testament Reading - John 16:12-15

John 16:12–15 NRSV

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Romans 5:1–5 NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.