Homilies
All you need is love.
Holy Spirit take my words and speak to each of us according to our needs.
Today, on this Trinity Sunday, we turn to one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith; that God is one in three, and three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three gods. Not one person playing different roles. But one God in perfect, loving relationship.
This doctrine of the Trinity can feel abstract or hard to grasp. Today, I want to suggest it is not a puzzle to solve, but rather, it’s an invitation. It’s an invitation to understand the very nature of God and the very nature of ourselves.
We heard in our first reading from Proverbs 8 that Wisdom was with God “at the beginning of his work,” rejoicing always in God’s presence, delighting in the world, and delighting in humanity. This passage gives us a glimpse into the inner life of God before anything was made. And what we find there is not distance, not coldness, not power for its own sake but joy, relationship, and delight. We see the Trinity not as isolation but as communion. A living, eternal relationship of love.
One important point to establish here is the understanding that God does not just have love—God is love. That’s what the first letter of John tells us. Love isn’t just a feeling God has, or a thing God does. Love is God’s very being.
So, when God created the world, it wasn’t out of need or loneliness or boredom. Creation was not an accident or an obligation. It was, as the mystic Meister Eckhart once put it, the boiling over of God’s love. Like a pot too full to contain itself, the love shared within the Trinity overflowed into creation. That means that we, our lives, our stories, and our very being are all part of that overflowing love. We are not here by mistake. We are here because the God who is love delighted to make us.
And if that’s true, it means something profound about who we are. We are made in the image of God. And if God is love, then love is at the root of who we are. Love isn’t an optional part of the Christian life it’s the very foundation of it.
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another.”
That’s how the world knows who we are. Not by the way we argue or divide ourselves or even by how right we think we might be, but by our love.
The thing is, people often find this hard to comprehend because too often love is mistaken for agreement. But they are not the same thing at all. It’s not even the same as liking everyone all the time. We’re human, we are individuals and there will be differences between us. And that’s okay. We are created with a unique character, our lives, situations and experiences will shape our needs and concerns and because of these things, our priorities will have a different focus. Even the Trinity shows us that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and yet they are one. They are not the same, but they are united in love.
So, it is with us. We are not called to sameness, but to love across difference. At our Vestry meeting last week, this precise point was emphasised in relation to our Ministry Area. All eight churches are one Parish, a single entity but that doesn’t mean we have to be the same. Unity is not uniformity. Which brings us to this moment in our year, the Month of Pride celebrations. And I want to speak clearly here, not politically, but theologically and pastorally. Regardless of our own beliefs either supporting or opposing what we think Pride represents, for us, as Christians, Pride is a duty. It is part of our Christian calling to love, welcome, and affirm the dignity of all people made in the image of God. Pride Month is a time when many people, especially LGBTQIA+ individuals, (if you don’t know what that stands for, I’m happy to have a conversation about it later) look to see whether churches will show the love we talk about—or not. And so, it is our responsibility—our joyful responsibility—to be visible signs of God’s love. To be people who embody welcome. Who affirm humanity. Who say to every person, “You are loved. You belong. You are made in God’s image.” If you will, for the third week, now, to demonstrate and live out that GENEROUS ORTHODOXY.
It doesn’t mean we have to agree on every point. We won’t. And it doesn’t mean we have to like everyone or be best friends with everyone. We won’t do that either. But it does mean that we must love. And love is shown not just in words, but in actions—in how we welcome, how we speak, how we stand beside others in their dignity and protect their safety as beloved children of God.
As an aside, more often than not an apposition to something comes from misunderstanding and fear or a perceived threat. So visibility, education and welcome are vital tools in breaking down barriers. The Trinity, although hard to articulate is not just a doctrine to recite. It is a vision of what true love looks like: mutual, overflowing, joyful, and always making room for more. It is that love that made us. It is that love that sustains us. And it is that love into which we are called; to receive and to share.
So, on this Trinity Sunday, remember:
• God is love.
• We are made in God’s image.
• At the deepest level of our being, we are made for love.
• And it is by that love, how we offer it and how we live it, that the world will know we belong to Christ.
So let us go and live that love. Let it be seen. Let it be heard. Let it bring comfort, especially to those who have felt left out or pushed aside by religion. Let it be the love that comes not from us alone, but from the very heart of the Trinity; from the God who delights in all of us, just as we are, just as we were created.
Let us pray.
God of love,
God of Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are the source of all life,
the ground of all being,
the heartbeat of all creation.
From your overflowing love,
you formed us, each one, in your image,
and you called us good.
We thank you for the gift of your love;
for the love that made the world,
for the love that binds us together,
for the love that was made flesh in Jesus,
and poured out in the Spirit.
We pray today for the courage to live that love in all we do.
To see your image in every human
in every colour, every identity,
every orientation, every story, every voice.
Help us, Lord, to love beyond fear,
to welcome without conditions,
to honour what we do not yet fully understand,
and to walk with those who have been wounded in your name.
Make us a people of your Trinity-shaped love;
joyful, generous, and overflowing.
Bind us together in that perfect communion which is your very life,
that our churches may be places of safety,
our hands may be tools of healing,
and our words may always speak grace.
This we ask in the name of the God who is Love:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.