Today is Trinity Sunday. Today, we are celebrating and honoring our Triune God. The Trinity of God is traditionally thought of as the 3 parts of God in one. Or said another way, there is one God but in 3 parts, namely God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Does anyone here understand what I just said? Well if you do, you are way ahead of me! And I suspect that most clergy dread more than anything else the thought of explaining the Trinity of God in a sermon on Trinity Sunday or at any other time. But such is not the case with me today. And I do not believe that it was a coincidence that Wendy asked me to preach today on Trinity Sunday

The reason I say this is because I have received some new insights in the past year about the nature of God, the relationship of God to all of creation, and finally about our relationship to each other, to God, and to all of creation. I further feel called to share these insights with you today. I want to acknowledge up front that many of the thoughts expressed today come from a series of books I have read over the past year, written by Neale Walsch. I mentioned 3 of these books, entitled, "Conversations with God" in my last sermon. Again, I commend these books to you for your reading. But I also want to acknowledge to you that these insights ring so true to me that I take them as my own.

With all of this in mind, then, let's try together to focus our thoughts today in a new way, on the parts of God contained in the Trinity, namely, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Let's start with the God the Father, the great I AM, the CREATOR OF ALL THAT IS AND ALL THAT ISN'T, and the GOD AND FATHER OF US ALL. Can you visualize now this God as pure energy, in the beginning, creating the entire universe? We heard in today's magnificent old testament reading how the ancients interpreted this creation process. And can you also visualize, based on what we know today, how God, in creating the universe from pure energy, rendered a divided version of himself in that universe? And this universe contained all that now exists, both seen and unseen. In dividing himself in this way God created sufficient parts of Him so that he could give parts of himself to each part of creation and everything in creation, including all living things. And especially God gave parts of himself to each human being as his Spirit children. Thus it can be said that each of us is truly a CHILD OF GOD and that we are MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE.

Moving on, let's now visualize the Spirit of God as that part of God residing in each of us and in all parts of creation- a part of everything that is and a part of everything that isn't. And that part of God residing in each of us can be called the Holy Spirit. God communicates directly to us thru that Spirit, first in feelings, then in thoughts, and finally in words. If these communications bring us feelings of love, peace, and joy then they are from God. If these internal communications we are receiving don't arouse such positive feelings, then they are not from God.

Now on to Jesus, the Son of God. Can you visualize Jesus as being a person blessed by God with an abundance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within him? And because of this blessing Jesus was able to understand who he really was, a Son of God. Jesus also recognized that all others, including each of us, are his brothers and sisters. Jesus understood God's plan for God's creation and for all creatures in that creation. Participants in this plan included himself and all others, his brothers and sisters-us and all others.

The apostle Paul emphasized this truth when he said, "FOR ALL WHO ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD ARE CHILDREN OF GOD". Paul also said, "DO YOU ALSO NOT REALIZE THAT CHRIST IS IN YOU"?

And finally Jesus was able to brilliantly interpret many of the truths about God, about us, and about the universe in a way that people could understand. Jesus, along with Mohammed, the Buddha, and all other great spiritual leaders were able to tell these great truths in a meaningful and powerful way to the people of their day.

But what does all of this mean to us, to you, to me, and to all others? For me it means that we can look at ourselves, at others, and at all of creation in a new way. But in a nutshell, it means to me that "WE ARE ALL ONE". This theme was strongly emphasized in Susan's sermon last week and in Wendy's last sermon. I believe these sermons also were not a coincidence.

Explaining further then, if God has put a part of himself in each part of creation, this makes us one with each other and one with all other parts of creation. To emphasize part of this point, Jesus said, "I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE, JUST AS YOU AND I ARE ONE". And how can all of this influence the way that we live our lives? First, I see that it can change the way we see and deal with others, especially those whom are different from us. If we accept the premise that the Spirit of God dwells within every human being regardless of their race, color, religion, or sexual preferences, we will interact with them in a different way. If we accept the fact that WE ARE ONE, we can begin to interact with all others, just as Jesus did, in loving and caring ways. If we do this we can change the world, just as Jesus did and just as the other great spiritual leaders have done.

In conclusion, the recognition of these truths has changed me and the way I interact with others and with all of creation. This change also has brought new joy and peace into my life, just as Jesus said it would. Jesus said, "I WILL GIVE YOU THAT PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING". I have discovered that this is true!!

In summary, all of this is expressed so beautifully in today's collect, as follows:

"ALMIGHTY AND EVERLASTING GOD, BRING US AT LAST TO SEE YOU IN YOUR ONE AND ETERNAL GLORY, O FATHER; WHO WITH THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVE AND REIGN, ONE GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER." And I add, "WE ARE ONE." AMEN