Holy Trinity Sunday is a late comer to the Christian calendar. The Holy Trinity is a mystery which is to be experienced rather than to be explained. It is an acknowledgment that the one God creates all things, relates to all things, challenges evil in all its forms, redeems all things, and continues to inspire all things. That is really vague because it is a mystery. It allows that God will be God in any way that God chooses. That said, these are great texts, so don’t try to dissect the Trinity.

The Genesis passage is a gift for addressing all things Creation. First, some thoughts about this text and science. No, it is not a detailed description of a six 24-hour days magical creation. However, I take this as the best science of the day for a nomadic people who needed to identify the divine role in Creation, given the creation myths of surrounding cultures. Many of those creation stories centered around gods having sex and birthing the world, or one god killing another god and throwing the steaming corpse out of the heavens which becomes the earth.

The first creation narrative in Genesis is remarkably, even inspirationally, more consistent with a Big Bang narrative. Creation doesn’t happen all at once. Creation occurs over time, which is a big jump from other contemporary narratives. It starts with chaos, then God orders energies (let there be light), then mass happens and is separated, then the narrative becomes earth-centric and water and dry land are set apart. Life comes after all that, with vegetation leading the way. Now there is a brief, out of order scientifically, look at the sun, moon and stars. The interesting thing, to me, is that these celestial bodies are not gods moving across the sky. They are simply lights that illuminate day and night and help people tell time (seasons & days & years). This is unusually accurate for that time and level of scientific observation. Animals come next. These land bound people tell us that life begins in the seas and the air, which is insightful (except maybe the air part, but give them a break, these are ancient folks, lacking our instruments of understanding). Next the land animals come and finally humans. It seems to me that this narrative is much closer to our scientific understanding of the processes of creation than could be observed thousands of years ago. It isn’t perfect, but it is better than it should have been given the context of the day, and it was understandable to people in that era. This may not preach well, but it makes for really interesting Bible studies and confirmation classes. It gives people the opportunity to take this text seriously and gratefully without having to deny modern scientific observations. It is a matter of differences of degree rather than kind.

Preaching this text can be more about God’s amazing delight in Creation and the meticulous manner in which Creation moves toward life. Preaching can focus on God looking at Creation and saying that the process is good and that the final result is very good. This demands that we take the same attitude toward God’s creation - not just that it is good in so far as it benefits humans, but that all of it is intrinsically good, and ought to be cherished. The dominion that God gives humans is that of a trusted steward who will manage Creation according to the values of the owner/creator. As part of Creation ourselves, we can make use of the more-than-human Creation, but when we are done with our projects (the uses we make), the earth should be as beautiful and as healthy as before we started those projects. This honors and acknowledges the Holy Trinity.

Psalm 8 is all about God’s majesty, and specifically the majesty of Creation. The psalmist seems to have had moments of feeling small by looking at the expanse of the sky. She or he could have had the same experience by looking at mountains or the sea or even a good thunderstorm. We are small by comparison, and the psalmist writes about wondering how humans could possibly be significant to God. The faith response is “Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands” which are magnificent works. This dominion honors humans. It is part of our own majesty. With this dominion also comes responsibility, the understanding that we exercise that dominion to faithfully retain the majesty of Creation and the lives of creatures “under our feet”. The theme of humans as caretakers rather than exploiters or indifferent bystanders is clear.

The text from 2 Corinthians 13 is a farewell, (“Rejoice” in Greek which adds some love) from Paul to the challenging congregation in Corinth. He writes that hallmarks of the witness of followers of Jesus to “be restored, listen to my appeal, be agreeable, peaceful and “God, the loving and peaceful will be in your midst”. While the immediate context is a congregation that sometimes has trouble being loving and peaceful with each other, this blessing of restoration applies just as well to our relationship with all of God’s creation. The assignment of dominion with respect to Creation means that we will set the tone for Creation’s experience of love, peace, and the majesty that God intends it to have. This, too, is a hallmark of the witness of the followers of Jesus.

The gospel for Trinity Sunday, which ends the Gospel according to Matthew, takes us to the mountain where the risen Christ gives disciples the Great Commission. Big things happen on mountains in the Bible. Stone tablets which define a covenant that “marries” a people to God are presented there. Jesus goes up to a mountain to tell the crowds the surprising news that the ones God blesses are the ones that no one actually sees as blessed. Jesus is transfigured on a high mountain. So, we need to pay attention to what happens on this mountain as Jesus prepares to ascend. First, the disciples worship him; but some doubted, which I find to be encouraging. Jesus reminds them that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”, which might also be understood as ultimate dominion has been given to him. Jesus uses that authority to authorize these disciples, who can worship and doubt at the same time, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the triune God (you know that’s why this text is assigned to this Sunday), and teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded them. We understand that this authorization, with its responsibility, is given to all the followers of Jesus. To keep us from being totally overwhelmed, Jesus proclaims, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Baptism is a sign of this, which affirms Jesus’ presence even when we doubt it or don’t feel it or may not even want it. The worshipping community affirms Jesus’ presence when we are the “some who doubted”. The mountain itself confirms that this is a word from God.

We may find other places in Creation, other creatures in Creation, or other moments under the sky that say to us as well, “Remember, the God who is Jesus, the Holy Spirit, creator, and Adonai of Israel is with us”. Let those places and moments restore us. Let us, as we are restored, restore God’s creation as well!