The Divine Dance
This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, June 15, 2025.
Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I don’t know what it is about Holy Trinity Sunday, but in some ways, it has always been the bane of my existence. It started when I was a layman in my congregation back in Missouri. The pastors, knowing I was considering seminary, asked me to proclaim the gospel on Trinity Sunday because they were out of town. I always thought that was rather convenient because, frankly, Trinity Sunday is a difficult day to preach.
It’s also the bane of my existence for another reason. I’m compelled to tell an embarrassing story about myself every year on this day. Many years ago, before Jennifer and I had children, we went on a cruise with my mom and dad. On this Carnival cruise, everyone gathered on the pool deck for a men’s hairy chest dancing competition. I have a hairy chest, and I can’t dance, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I signed up, and I think Jennifer shriveled up and died a little inside when I did.
The competition worked like this: the guys stood there without shirts on, modeling a bit to show off. Then, they played a different song for each competitor—there were three of us. Each had to start dancing as soon as the music began. To my great shock, my song was “Play That Funky Music, White Boy.” I got my hips into it in front of about 300 people. People cheered—the only time anyone has ever cheered for what I look like without a shirt on. I’ll have you know I got second place. I’m even told there’s DVD proof of this event, but if that DVD ever shows its ugly head, I will burn it.
The Connection to Holy Trinity
What does this have to do with the Holy Trinity? Holy Trinity Sunday is unlike any other day in the church year. We have special days set aside for remembering certain people, such as saint days like St. Barnabas, St. Peter, or St. John. We also celebrate events in the life of Jesus, such as Easter or Christmas—His birth and resurrection.
But today, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, is different. We’re not celebrating a person or an event. We are celebrating a doctrine. Some of you might feel a little catch in your spirit at that word because it implies being doctrinal or doctrinaire. However, doctrine just means teaching. It’s not intended to be negative. Rather, doctrine is the whole body of what we do as Christians.
Understanding the Trinity
What do you believe? I believe in God. What do you believe about God? I believe that God has revealed Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons are not three gods but one God. This three-oneness, this tri-unity, we call Trinity.
Getting the details right about this is important. This isn’t trivial speculation. It matters to how we understand God. The God we worship is not some generic monad or a creator who wound up the universe and walked away. He’s not a deific person who created things like a master clockmaker and then said, “Good luck, have fun, I’ll see you when you die.” This is a God who cares about His creation.
It’s not just something God has chosen to do, as if He had other options. There’s something in the Holy Trinity that shows us who God is in His innermost self. Our God is a God of relationship.
Avoiding Historical Errors
The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is useful because it keeps us from making common mistakes made by early Christians who didn’t fully understand what it meant that God could be a three-in-one God. A wonderful example of this is found in our first reading from Proverbs chapter 8. Here, we see the image of Lady Wisdom calling out from her booth in the city square, offering her wares—wisdom, life, good things—without price for those willing to receive it.
Wisdom says, “The Lord created me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of long ago; ages ago, I was set up.” The problem is that without the doctrines of the church to guide us, we can draw false conclusions.
- One man who drew such a conclusion was Arius, denounced as a heretic by the church.
- Arius claimed Jesus is not the eternal Son of God, asserting there was a time when Jesus did not exist.
- Therefore, he argued Jesus, the Son of God, is a creation of God rather than the eternal Son.
This is no mere difference of opinion; it’s an argument over the fundamental nature of who God is and what Jesus means.
The Church’s Response
The church rejected Arius’ view and affirmed that the Son of God is begotten of the Father from eternity—that the Son has always existed in relationship to His Father and became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth.
Why does this matter? If Jesus Christ is not fully human when He dies on the cross, then He is not fully what you are. If He is not fully God, then His death on the cross does not save all people from their sins.
In fact, the real-life Saint Nicholas—yes, like Santa Claus—was so incensed by Arius’ claim that there was a time when the Son of God did not exist that, according to a probably apocryphal but delightful story, he strode across the floor during a council debate and punched Arius in the face. So, do as Santa Claus did: give gifts on Christmas or deck a heretic.
The Dance of the Trinity
The conclusion the church draws over centuries is that there’s something fundamental and beautiful happening in God’s very essence. We call it Holy Trinity—a term not found in the Bible but an idea woven through every part of it from Genesis to Revelation.
We worship one God in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet we hear about:
- The Father creating and sustaining.
- The Son becoming human, living among us, dying for us on the cross, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven.
- The Holy Spirit as the advocate and giver of life who shares faith and life with us.
The church concluded that who God is in His very self is like a dance—a continuous cooperation and sharing between the three persons of the Trinity in one God. The theological term for this is perichoresis, but the idea is a dance: an interweaving of Father, Spirit, and Son that forms the essence of who God is.
Called into Relationship
Why does this matter? Such a God created you for relationship. God our Father did not create you as an experiment to dump you into creation and walk away. He created you so that in this life you would have a relationship with Him.
Because God is a relational God within Himself, He created you for relationship. You have a purpose in this world independent of anything else. First and foremost, God has created you for relationship with Him. It’s who God is, and it’s who you are.
As we gather to celebrate the Holy Trinity, we participate in this dance. We participate in this relationship. We give and take. We come to worship and give Him our praise. He speaks His Word to us—a Word that does not return empty but accomplishes the purpose God set out for us.
He walks with us and provides us with an advocate and guide—not only saving us from our sins but also helping us live everyday life. As St. Paul says, the suffering we undergo in this world produces endurance when God uses it through His wisdom to shape us. That endurance produces character—not naturally but because that’s what God does for us during difficult times.
That character produces hope—a hope that does not disappoint because it is hope in something beyond what this fallen world can provide. It’s the hope that the God who created you for relationship, redeemed you by His Son, and gives you His Spirit as an advocate shaping you for His future truly cares for you and loves you.
Trusting the Lord of the Dance
As we participate in this dance, we don’t always know what will happen due to the spontaneity of God. He does things we don’t see coming or can’t predict. Just as I didn’t know they would play “Play That Funky Music, White Boy” on that cruise—but dove into the dance anyway—you are called into this divine dance.
God is calling you to participate in the world He is making and remaking—to be transformed by that participation so you can go out into the world and change it because God goes with you.
May you trust the Lord of the dance. May you trust the One who calls you, loves you, and gave Himself for you—because that is who He is, and that’s who you are. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
