Grits and the Gospel - May 31, 2026

Hello friends welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel my name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and I'm excited to be with you on this Trinity Sunday it is good to be with you you'll probably hear some of you I know turn the volume up so you can hear Maggie snoring she is tuckered out from all this heat and I hope that she is not too bothersome for you as we come together communing with all of the Saints all of the beautiful creatures of God human and four-legged and furry on this Trinity Sunday where we celebrate the trinitarian nature of God the three and one the unknowable the beautiful and the God with us let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you today's epistle lesson is from the second letter to the Corinthians at the end of the letter chapter 13 verses 11 through 13 here now the word of the Lord finally brothers and sisters farewell be restored listen to my appeal agree with one another live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you greet one another with a holy kiss all the Saints agree the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you the word of God for us the people of God thanks be to God let us come together now and join in those words those familiar words of the Apostles Creed as we focus today on the three parts of the Trinity that are written in to this Creed the Father Son and the Holy Spirit let us come together now in the practice of the Apostles Creed friends what debate we believe I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting let us pray to the Lord we come to you today in all of you in all of your power and your might and your unknowable love it is so big and so powerful and so complex that there is no way for us to fully know it but we can fully experience it and we thank you for that here now the words of your that your son taught us our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen today's gospel lesson is from the gospel according to Matthew the 28th chapter verses 16 through 20 here now the word of the Lord now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them when they saw him they worshipped him but they doubted and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you and remember I am with you always to the end of the age the Word of God for us the people of God thanks be to God would you pray with me to Lord as we come together today help us know the unknowable help us feel the love that you have for us that is so complex that we cannot fully understand it help us to feel it more than we understand but the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in my sight oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer amen how do you explain the unknowable it's the question I ask myself every year as I write the sermon for Trinity Sunday my professors expected and my ordination paperwork expects me to give it my best shot but the academic world often leaves out the relational part of the Trinity to focus on the deep philosophical side every year I think the best I can do is to focus on one small part of what makes the Trinitarian God God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit so amazing and powerful and unknowable that way as we look back over each and every message that I am given over the years we can begin to see the full picture of the complexity of the Trinity headings and even chapters and verses were not part of the original biblical text over the years editors and translators have developed a system of organization for scripture using those devices chapter and section headings are a fairly modern addition to the Bible they weren't used widely until the 19th and 20th centuries I tell you all of this to say that the thing that stood out this year when I read the Trinity text was not the actual text but the heading and specifically the heading used by the online Vanderbilt translation of the scriptures they titled this section of scripture living in the community of the Trinity I love that idea that the Trinity the thing that we are supposed to share and go out to all nations with and baptize in the name of is a community that we are sharing and joining one that we can live in and live in too I have this dream I have a dream that when all of my friends and I get older that we can buy a big piece of property with a lake on it and there will be this big gathering pavilion on one side of the lake and on the other side of the lake we will each have a small house of our own and we can have peace and tranquility and nights by the lake and book clubs and dinners we can grow old together we haven't convinced all of the husbands yet that they aren't invited it is still in the dream stage that's my kind of heavenly community that I'm looking for and in a small part I think that is the living community that the Trinity embodies now of course everyone is invited to that community fellas too but that is a beautiful way to think of the community not just of the Trinity but of the community that the early believers and the rest of us today are baptized into part of what made Jesus and the Trinitarian God so special was that God modeled every part of the human condition for us including communing together we have the earthly examples of how to build community in the way Jesus gathered his disciples and inner circle but ultimately we have this God this heavenly presence this spirit made flesh that shows us what total communion with God can look like because God is the ultimate example of communion God shows us how to exist in the world how to get along and work with others how to leave part of ourselves in legacy of all that you do how to love those who you are in close communion with and share that love with the world the scriptural heading might not be a part of the original text but the idea of living into the community of the Trinity is a big part of what Jesus was doing on that mountain with the remaining 11 disciples he gathered those closest to him just like God lives in close community with all of the complexity of the Trinity and then Jesus bestows that power to baptize and bring the good news to all the nations on those closest to him Jesus does this so that then they can go out and baptize and make communities and build relationships with new believers so that then they can be close in close communion with God just like the disciples and just like Jesus is and finally at the end he tells them and remember I am with you always to the end of the age this part of him the presence of the Holy Spirit is meant to make this practice a never-ending and always growing process God never ends the power and might of our Trinitarian God goes on until the end of time and because God never ends neither does his community and communion nature what a gift we're given I don't know what heaven is really like what I'm sure of is that it is total communion with God how that manifests itself is a mystery that I am assured of so I guess I'll find out eventually but until I can see what it is for myself I can dream about what it will be and I may joke about wanting a retirement commune of tiny houses for me and for all of my friends but in some way I think that's actually what heaven is like the Trinity exists in heaven and on earth in a community and heaven is a way for us to be a part of it as well and I was kind of kidding about keeping the fellas out of my community of friends I have lots of friends that are fellas so I guess y'all are welcome too the main point of the dream is to be surrounded by people that I love to have time for solitude when I need it and laughter and community when I want to and isn't that in a very small way a way to begin to think about the big concept of the Trinity the parts of God can be in solitude when we need when they need to be Jesus came down to earth as his own human form the Holy Spirit remains as a lone presence since Jesus ascended and then they came to be and community as one in the heavens and on earth which is where things start to get circular and complicated when you try to put words around the Trinity this idea of being in solitude and community together reminds me of the words of Henry now in and his book out of solitude three meditations of the Christian life he speaks of the solitude that Jesus experiences in his alone prayers that individual part of the Trinity that Jesus was is still a moment of time with his father and the spirit Jesus now and says Jesus went to a holy place to pray that is to grow an awareness that all the power he had was given to him that all the words he spoke came from his father and that all the works he did were not really his but the works of the one who had sent him in solitude we are still in community and now in second meditation is about care and community he says this of a healthy and God-centered community those who can sit in silence with their fellow man not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there can bring new life and a dying heart those who are not afraid to hold a hand of gratitude to shed tears in grief and to let a sign of distress arise straight from the heart can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship the fellowship of the broken that is the complexity of the Trinity that is the complexity of the human experience and of faith being in solitude and in fellowship together having our own tiny houses and also having a big space to gather together and be supportive and joyful as one caring for each other just how God cares for us healing and feeding and find those finding those that are at the margins that are desperate for love and care just like Jesus modeled for us being present for us for each other just like the Holy Spirit is present for us that is what the Trinity is about that is how we should live and what we have to look forward to in eternity a full life of moments of meditative solitude and total communion with God maybe I'll get my heavenly commune one day maybe my dream of living out my retirement year surrounded by the people who care for me and bring me joy will happen one day or maybe I'll find a place deep in the woods and become a hermit and live a life of solitude either way sounds heavenly to me either way I'm modeling and living a part of the Trinitarian God that brings me care and joy either way it will be a reflection of the eternal life yet to come when I can be in total community and communion with the one being that is ever-present in all of our lives amen as we go throughout our week let us look for the spirit that remains with us look for ways that we can live out the mission and ministry that Jesus the son modeled for us and be in all of the creation and the one true God that surrounds them and us all because in life in death in life beyond death God is with us we are never alone thanks be to God amen