Trinity Sunday

Rev. Jennifer Masada - St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church - Kapa’au, Hawai'i
June 15, 2025 - Trinity Sunday, Year C
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15, Canticle 13

Opening Prayer: Holy Trinity – God of creation, God made flesh, and God of Spirit – help us move the world with harmony, unity, and balance.

Today we honor the mystery of the Holy Trinity—Creator, Christ, and Spirit. This is a unity so complete that it goes beyond our human understanding. And yet, it shows up all around us if we know how to listen.

Some say the Trinity is complicated, but I wonder if it’s also beautifully simple. We encounter God as our Creator, as Christ, and as the Holy Spirit AND we sense all three as ONE love woven together. It’s tricky to grasp, because most of us have never truly experienced that kind of unity. We live in a competitive world dominated by separation and judgment. We are taught to reject the square peg and round hole. Difference is to be hunted down and eliminated. We are not trained to recognize or cultivate harmony.

And yet, if we look, we might find evidence of divine unity all around us — traces of the Trinity that show up like the fingerprints of our Creator. For example:
In nature, plants often grow in clusters of three. We have three primary colors – red, blue, and yellow – from which all other colors emerge. Water is a trinity, a molecule made of three atoms - two hydrogen and one oxygen.

The number 3 held significance in ancient cultures around the world, including Egypt, China, the Mayans of Mesoamerica, where 3 was revered as an important part of sacred geometry and philosophy. These cultures influenced later mathematicians like Pythagoras, who called the number three the triad—a number of harmony, balance, and completeness.

Triads are the building blocks of the music we sing in church – a system that developed in monasteries, churches, and royal courts over many centuries. 
It is said that the 3-ply rope is the oldest model of rope making because of its strength, durability, and efficiency.

Everywhere we turn, creation is whispering: three different parts coming together as one is beautiful and strong. Oneness in diversity is holy.

But even with all this beauty and strength, we look around and see a broken world. War. Injustice. Climate collapse. Systems of cruelty and separation. And we wonder: where is the truth? Where is God in all of this?

Jesus says to his disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” You cannot bear them now. This rings true, doesn’t it? Because there are truths too heavy for us to carry all at once — truths about suffering and injustice, about the deep wounds we’ve inflicted on one another and on creation. Truths about love that stretch our understanding. Truths about transformation that require us to let old parts of ourselves die so something new can live.

The world is, in many ways, a mess. We cry out to the Holy Trinity—God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer—calling on Divine omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence to just fix it. We ask God to speak louder, to blanket the planet with Divine truth and make things right.

But Jesus doesn’t say, “You’ll get the whole truth all at once.” He says, “The Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth.”

To me, that means God is not silent. The truth is emerging in us. Not all at once, and certainly not through human judgment. Spirit is guiding us toward the truth of Christ Consciousness day by day, as we become ready to bear it.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does. Spirit doesn’t drop the full weight of Divine truth on us like a stone. Spirit breathes it into our lives, moment by moment, breath by breath. A whisper here, a nudge there, patiently guiding us as the truth unfolds—not just around us, but in us.

Even now, in a world aching for healing, Spirit is still speaking, inviting us to listen. Spirit asks us to stretch our imaginations, to grow, slowly but surely, into the fullness of love.

We are not passive observers—we are co-creators of a new world, one where Christ is made visible in us. Even when the weight of the world feels heavy, we are held by the wonders of Creation. The planet itself sings of harmony—built in triune rhythm by God who reminds us: You don’t have to carry everything. Just carry what you’re ready to bear. Together. With love.

This week, as I scanned the headlines, I thought to myself, “I wish we could all be ready NOW.” Aren’t we ready for Christ Consciousness to be fully manifested in the world? I know I'm not ready. Not yet. But I feel such impatience! I wonder whether I can bear the weight of humanity's slow progress.
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I want to share a story about our son Alexander. I was a working mom when he was in first grade, so he went to school and then attended an after-school program for an hour. One afternoon, I got off work early and decided to surprise him with a trip to Dairy Queen. His class was lined up, and I caught him in the hallway on the way to after-school. He was surprised—but then he surprised me right back when he said, “No, I don’t think so, Mommy. I’m supposed to go to after-school right now.”
I smiled and explained, and then took him to the car. He wasn’t thrilled. We got ice cream, but it wasn’t the joyful time I had imagined. Later, I realized I hadn’t really listened. I had followed my plan, not his rhythm.

So the next time I picked him up early, and he said, “No, I want to go to after-school,” I said, “Okay!” We stayed. We played. I got to watch him and his friends in their happy, unhurried world. I didn’t pull him away from it—I entered into it. We built a little Lego village together with the other kids, each of us adding our own piece.

And after a while, he looked up at me and said, “Can we go get ice cream now?”
That was the moment. That was the oneness. Not rushing. Not forcing. Not directing. Just being. Listening. Collaborating.

That is the pattern of the Trinity—each part moving in relationship, flowing like living water, making room for the other, co-creating joy and balance and harmony.
To be ready to bear the truth of Christ Consciousness, to be ready to hear all that God has to say, we can tune into the divine rhythm of the Trinity. To move in relationship, to make room for the other takes practice. It takes patience and openness.

Let’s practice: 

• Being open. Let go of expectations. Let imagination guide.
• Being present. Don’t dwell in the past or project into the future. Flow like water.
• Being grateful. Even when things are hard, look for what is good.
• Being expressive. Let love radiate. Say thank you. Say “I love you.” Share what’s inside.
• And finally, let’s practice collaborating. Don’t go it alone. Find the helpers. Look within and look around. Allow the fiber of your being to combine with others. Create strong, durable, and diverse connections.

At St. Augustine’s, we are the body of Christ—many members, one spirit. Every team that gathers here—each of you, every volunteer, every voice, every organizer, every helper—is a reflection of that divine teamwork.

Together, we make sacred space. Together, we reflect the essence of Trinity.
May we continue to listen for the whisper of the Spirit, for the wisdom of Christ, and for the love of the Creator flowing through it all.
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We don’t need to bear everything at once. We just need to be willing to listen, to carry what we can, and to carry it together.

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