The FAX Machine
Two weeks ago, I flew from my daughter’s home near Chicago to my sons’ near St. Paul. The plane was 100% full with 175 passengers, the crew, all that luggage, etc. I wondered how the plane stays up in the air. It’s been explained to me before, but my brain just hasn’t been able to comprehend it. I just have FAITH that it will get me here and there.
FAITH
Another thing I wonder about is sleep. How does that work? How does my body know to fall asleep and then to wake up? I’m sure there are doctors and medical professionals that understand it, but not me. I just have FAITH that my body will get the rest it needs and wake me up in the morning.
FAITH
And what about a fax machine. What’s with that? How does it take a piece of paper here and send it across the country and it prints looking just like the one here? Boggles my mind. I just have FAITH that it will send that important document to where it needs to go.
FAITH
May 31, 2026, we celebrated Trinity Sunday. A day when FAITH is needed. We hear about one God with 3 persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I don’t know about you; but when I was growing up, it was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Which reminds me of this little story I heard. There was this girl who was an exchange student from India. She went to church one Sunday with her host family. During Sunday dinner the mom asked her how she liked worship. She said it was okay, but she was still curious why they did not pray for the West Coast. The West Coast – the dad said. She said yes. We prayed for the Father, the Son and the whole east coast. 😊
We cannot understand Trinity. We can try to explain it by comparing it to an apple – the red peel, the white flesh and the core but just one apple. We can try to explain it by comparing it to a pencil – the yellow outside, the black lead and the pink eraser, but one pencil. We can try to explain it by comparing the Trinity to an egg – the shell, the white and the yolk but one egg. It’s not exactly it though. Some have even said illustrations like that are heresy. I’m not sure how or why it would be called heresy, but I do know that it is not a complete explanation.
I was going to have the people at Christ Lutheran Church Zionsville, where I am the interim pastor for several more weeks until their new pastor arrives on July 15th, read the Athanasian Creed with me which traditionally was done only on Trinity Sunday; however, it is not even in our hymnal any longer due to it’s length, it’s repetitiveness and it’s damning clauses at the beginning and the end. It does help with understanding the Trinity a bit more though. I’ll just share a selection with you here - not the entire 4 pages.
“That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.
What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.
The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.
The Father is eternal,
the Son is eternal,
the Holy Spirit is eternal.
And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.”
And, as I said, it goes on for four pages. If you’d like a copy, just Google Athanasian Creed. It is believed to have been written around 673 AD. Athanasius, champion for the Trinity, died in 373. Although it is attributed to him he did not write it or ever read it even. Yet, it espouses his beliefs about the Trinity.
Besides the Trinity, Sunday’s Gospel lesson from Matthew 28: 16 - 20 tells us to go, teach and baptize and that God will be with us until the end of the age. This is called the Great Commission telling us to go out and build relationships with others so they can build a relationship with God. God is about relationships. Having 3 persons in 1. Those 3 are in a relationship. God creating people recounted in Genesis. God saying he will be with us to the end of the age. That’s about relationships. And it all comes back to FAITH. FAITH in the Trinity – 3 in 1. FAITH in God wanting a relationship with us. FAITH that we can, and should, go and tell. May your FAITH propel you on to stay close to God, to build solid relationships and to bring others into a relationship with God. AMEN.
