Abraham lived in a world of many gods. He was called from his home town Ur of the Chaldeans to be brought into fellowship with a radical new kind of faith – “Faith in One God only”. And this God could not be carved in stone or cast in metal. So Moses later declared the “God of Abraham” to be “One” and Isaiah preached with passion that the only One God was “holy, holy, holy” and beyond every human attempt to be packaged, controlled, or manipulated.
Hear Israel, the Lord our God, the LORD, is One!
He only is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said that "when the Spirit of truth comes, he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. For all that the Father has is mine." Jesus also said: "Do you not know that the Father is in me and I in the Father?" And on the night of his betrayal he prayed that his church may be one "even as the Father and I are one."
The one true and only God of Abraham, who is "I AM" revealed to Moses, and who spoke through the prophets, is never alone. The very essence of who the One God is, is that he is a God in relationship. The essence of God is relationship, community, which means unconditional love. God, in relationship with himself revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, also has one purpose for us – to live in relationship with him.
God is love. Therefore God is in essence “relationship”. And God, who essentially is “love and relationship”, desires relationship with us!
The Apostle Paul spoke of such care, such "charity", such love, in 1 Corinthians 13. This charity is patient and kind, not jealous or self-centered, not keeping a checklist of wrongs done against us. It is a love that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." It is greater than faith or hope. It is God’s own love given to his Son Jesus, and in our unity with Jesus we also receive this love as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
In this way, what makes God to be the Only One, his unique divine love, becomes ours as a gracious gift.
As we look around, we see the need. Not for a rational explanation of doctrine impossible to fathom or understand, but the need of a lonely human race who still needs the One God, who is love in relationships. On Trinity Sunday, God gives us an incomparable gift to share with the world so scared, depressed, anxious and lonely within this vast universe. As Christians we dare declare that behind the immeasurable creation, is the One who created everything, in order to have a relationship with us, because the essence of who he is, is love. And as he loves his Son, he loves us too. And his Spirit confirms what my spirit says, that I too am God’s beloved. I too have a relationship with the holy relationship, the Holy Trinity, our God.
Let us pray. Almighty Father, whose only Son before his suffering for our sake, prayed for his church to be one, as you and he are one: Bind us together in love that reflects the essence of your heart, that the world may believe in Jesus whom you have sent. In your mercy, give us this love, through Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives, reigns and redeems by the gracious work of the Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and remain with you always.
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