So what?

The Holy Trinity in the Nicene Creed

Trinity Sunday, Series C
The Holy Trinity in the Nicene Creed
Episcopal Church on Edisto
May 22, 2016

O God, may all that we see be seen through your eyes, all that
we hear be heard through your ears, and all that we think and
say be with the guidance of your Spirit. AMEN.
This is a sermon with a difference. No, Im not going to sing,
nor am I going to cut it short. The difference is in the content.
Today we are observing a teaching of the Christian Church,
not an event in biblical history, like journey of the Hebrew
people or the earthly life of Christ. This is Trinity Sunday. The
word trinity does not occur in the Bible. I like to call Trinity
Sunday, so what?
After our readings from the Old and New Testaments with the
proclamation of the risen Christ as Lord and Saviour. We might
ask ourselves, So what? What do these events have to do with
me and my life two thousand years after the fact, or so what?
The answer given by the Christian Church is the Nicene Creed.
Because of Gods mighty acts among the Hebrew people and in
Jesus Christ . We believe in one God
358.)

(The Nicene Creed, page

I want to share with you this morning some insights

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proclaimed to us from this ancient credal statement. Please

follow in your prayer book, page 358 or in your bulletin.
We believe. Some of you may remember the creed from
former prayerbooks saying, I believe. This was a change from
16th century when the people did not participate vocally in the
Mass, and the creed was said by the priest alone. We is
proper, because it is the faith statement of the whole Church, not
a personal declaration. Like our Constitution, We the people of
the United States in this Christian affirmation, I join with
the universal church to declare my faith and loyalty.
believe I believe a lot of things. I trust and have faith in
many principles and laws of nature. This Creed, however, goes
further, for We believe in. This little preposition denotes a
personal relationship. We believe things. We believe in people.
(Have no fear! I am not going to expound on every word in the
creed.)
We believe in one God God alone is the source and
sustainer of all. To denote this as a personal relationship and an
all-embracing reality, the Church declares this one God first to

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be the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all

that is seen and unseen. This is our Old Testament realization
of God as revealed in lives of the Hebrew people.
Gods mighty operation within the human scene does not
conclude with this relationship. We believe in one Lord, Jesus
Christ. Jesus asked the question, WHO DO YOU (my
disciples) SAY THAT I AM? (Mark 8:29) Peter responds, but this
answer is inadequate. It took the Christian community three
hundred years to articulate their experience with this earthly
Jesus and risen Christ. This Nicene Creed, from the 1st and 2nd
Ecumenical Councils of the 4th century of a united Christian
Church, is the answer!
Note two affirming declarations about this Jesus. He is God!
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not make. He is human! and was made man, lived
and died. One of these truths without the other is an incomplete
reality! This is called a heresy, a wrong thinking or bad
theology.

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The former Bishop of London, Dr. Wand, made this observation:

Heresy is bad theology. It is not necessarily bad religion, but
like all wrong thinking it may lead to bad religion.
Religion and theology are not identical. Religion is our belief in
God and our effort to live by that belief. Theology is the effort
to give a rational explanation of our belief; it is thinking about
religion. Heresy is a mistake in thinking. It is therefore bad
theology. (J.W.C.Wand: The Four Heresies, page 13.)
We Christians affirm that this Jesus of Nazareth is both God and
man. Anything less is heresy.
The Creed also affirms Gods purpose in the coming of this
God/man, For us and our salvation he came For our sake he
was crucified. suffered death and was buried.
All of these statements are summarizing the events recorded in
the four Gospels of the New Testament.
As this Jesus in his earthly ministry revealed God the Father to
his disciples, HE, WHO HAS SEEN ME, HAS SEEN THE
FATHER, (John 14:8), so the Holy Spirit is sent to show us the
risen Jesus and His Father to be our brother and our Father.

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Remember Pentecost: WHEN HE (JESUS) HAD SAID THIS,

HE BREATHED ON THEM AND SAID TO THEM,
RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT (John 20:22)
Or now this Sunday: WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES
HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH (John 16:13.) HE
WILL GLORIFY ME, BECAUSE HE WILL TAKE WHAT IS
MINE AND DECLARE IT TO YOU. (John 16:14) We believe in
the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver of life.
Because we believe in one God: the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit, we are one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
It is our belief, our trust in God, which has created this New
Jerusalem in the midst of a pagan world. We are a frontier
outpost of pilgrim people bound for a heavenly land.
We believe in one God!
The early Church speaks about God as three persons in one
being. The early Church also uses relational terms, like Father,
Son and Spirit to describe God, but those are subjects for other

sermons. Today we have this ancient statement of an undivided

Christian community proclaim We believe in .
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Let us pray:
Bless us, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the vision of
your glory; that we may know you as the Father who created us,
rejoice in you as the Son who redeemed us, and be strong in
you, the Holy Spirit who does sanctify us; keep us steadfast in
this faith, and bring us at the last into your eternal kingdom,
where you are ever worshiped and glorified, one God, world
without end. AMEN.

The Reverend Dr. Colton M. Smith

One Bishop Gadsden Way, Apt. 346
Charleston, SC 29412