05/31/2026
This Trinity Sunday service, “Worship and Doubt,” invited us to stand honestly before mystery: the God who creates, the Christ who walks among us, and the Spirit who gathers us into love. With scripture from Psalm 8, Matthew 28, and Paul’s blessing of grace, love, and communion, we reflected on how faith is not merely something we define, but something we embody—in worship, in doubt, in neighbor-love, and in the life we share together.
Today is Trinity Sunday.
And I assure you, there are many churches where the pastor, having made it through Pentecost, has chosen this Sunday to be away from the pulpit.
Wise pastors sometimes duck this one.
Because Trinity Sunday has a reputation. It is the Sunday when preachers begin saying things like “three persons in one being,” and “one substance,” and “two natures,” and if they are feeling especially ambitious, they may even say the word homoousios.
And people in the pews smile politely.
And we all try.
We really do.
We try to listen. We try to be reverent. We try to understand. And very often we leave a little more confused than when we arrived.
So if you have ever heard a Trinity sermon and thought, “I’m sure this is important, but I’m not entirely sure what just happened,” you are in good company.
There is an old story I like.
An astrophysicist is sitting on an airplane beside a minister who is working on her sermon. He notices she is very focused and asks what she is writing.
She says, “A sermon for Trinity Sunday.”
He says, “Oh my. That sounds theological.”
And then he says, “You know, I like to keep religion simple. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The minister nods. Then she asks him what he does.
He says, “I teach astronomy.”
And she smiles and says, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. What more do I need to know about astronomy than that?”
Now, the story works because both people are partly right.
The Golden Rule matters. Love God. Love your neighbor. Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God. We said that together this morning. That is not a small thing. Jesus himself says that the law and the prophets hang on love of God and love of neighbor.
So yes, keep it simple.
But simple does not mean shallow.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star” is not wrong. It is just not enough if you are trying to understand the heavens.
And “love your neighbor” is not wrong. It is the heart of the matter. But sometimes we need deeper language to understand why that love matters, where it comes from, and how we are sustained in it when love becomes difficult.
That is where the Trinity comes in.
Not as a puzzle to solve.
Not as a theological entrance exam.
Not as a requirement that every Christian become a philosopher.
Rather, as the Church's best attempt to describe what Christians experienced when they encountered God through Jesus and continued to experience God through the Holy Spirit.
The first Christians were convinced of three things at once.
They believed God was one.
They believed Jesus revealed God in a unique and decisive way.
And they believed the Spirit of God was still active among them after Jesus' death and resurrection.
How do you hold those three convictions together?
That question occupied centuries.
It sparked arguments, councils, divisions, books thick enough to stop a door.
And eventually the Church settled on the language of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Not because the mystery was solved.
But because the mystery had to be honored.
And honestly, I am content to let some mystery remain.
Because if God can be completely reduced to my understanding, then perhaps I have not encountered God at all, but only a reflection of myself.
The older I get, the less interested I become in pretending certainty where certainty is unavailable.
I notice something interesting in today's Gospel.
The disciples see the risen Christ.
And Matthew says:
"When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted."
I love that sentence.
Not because of the worship.
Because of the doubt.
The risen Christ stands before them, and Matthew still tells the truth about the human condition.
Some doubted.
There is room in the Gospel for wonder and uncertainty to stand side by side.
Perhaps that is why our service today is called Worship and Doubt.
Not worship or doubt.
Worship and doubt.
The two often travel together.
The question is not whether we have every answer.
The question is whether we are willing to keep walking.
Whether we are willing to keep learning.
Whether we are willing to keep loving.
And that brings me to what matters most about the Trinity.
If the Trinity is true, it must be visible somewhere.
Not merely in books.
Not merely in creeds.
Not merely in arguments.
Visible.
Where?
In lives.
In communities.
In relationships.
In the ordinary work of becoming more loving people.
When I think about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I think less about metaphysics and more about movement.
God the Creator calling life into being.
God revealed in Christ showing us what love looks like in human form.
God the Spirit sustaining, guiding, correcting, and encouraging us still.
Creation.
Embodiment.
Presence.
Call.
Example.
Companionship.
A God who creates us, shows us the way, and walks with us as we attempt to follow it.
And what happens when people genuinely try to follow Jesus?
Something remarkable.
They begin, however imperfectly, to embody Christ in the world.
That is what the Church is for.
Not primarily to win arguments.
Not primarily to preserve institutions.
Not primarily to defend doctrines.
The Church exists so that the love of God becomes visible.
So that Christ has hands and feet in the world.
So that lonely people encounter companionship.
So that fearful people encounter courage.
So that wounded people encounter mercy.
So that ordinary people learn, little by little, how to love beyond their instincts.
Because if we are honest, love does not always come naturally.
Forgiveness does not always come naturally.
Compassion does not always come naturally.
Sometimes we need help.
That is why we gather.
That is why we pray.
That is why we sing.
That is why we return again and again to the stories of Jesus.
We are trying to learn the grammar of love.
And Christians have not always done that well.
We have divided ourselves.
Orthodox and Catholic.
Protestant and Pentecostal.
Liberal and conservative.
We have often behaved as though the God whose very life is communion somehow approves of our fragmentation.
Yet perhaps the Trinity stands as a gentle rebuke to all of us.
If God is relationship, then our divisions matter.
If God is communion, then reconciliation matters.
If God is love, then love matters more than we often imagine.
So today, I am content to leave some mystery unsolved.
I am content not to explain everything.
I am content to stand with those disciples who worshiped and doubted at the same time.
But I am not content to leave love optional.
The Trinity, whatever else it may mean, calls us toward lives shaped by love.
Love of God.
Love of neighbor.
Love expressed not merely in sentiment but in action.
Love that forgives.
Love that perseveres.
Love that serves.
Love that remains.
And perhaps that is enough theology for one Sunday.
Not that we have solved the mystery.
But that the mystery continues to shape us.
May the God who creates us, the Christ who teaches us, and the Spirit who sustains us draw us ever deeper into lives of faith, hope, and love.
Amen.
“Worship and Doubt”
Morning Prayer
in the service of
Trinity Sunday
The Sunday after Pentecost
31 May 2026
Order of Service
Sentences 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Finally, brothers and sisters, [farewell.] Put things in order, 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
greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Prelude, Bells & Introit
Call to Worship Psalm 8
v O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
r You have set your glory above the heavens.
v When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
r the moon and the stars that you have established;
v what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
r mortals that you care for them?
v Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
r and crowned them with glory and honor.
v You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
r you have put all things under their feet,
v all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
r the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
v O LORD, our Sovereign,
r how majestic is your name in all the earth!
v: Let us Worship God!
Song Gather us In 284
Here in this place, new light is streaming,
shadows of doubt are vanished away,
see, in this space, our fears and our dreamings,
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken;
gather us in, our spirits inflame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken,
we shall arise at the sound of our name.
We are the young, our lives are a mystery;
we are the old, who yearn for your face,
we have been sung throughout all of history,
called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty;
gather us in, the proud and the strong;
give us a heart so meek and so lowly,
give us the courage to enter the song.
Here we receive new life in the waters,
here we recieve the bread of new birth,
here you shall call your sons and your daughters,
call us anew to be salt for the earth.
Give us to drink the wine of compassion,
give us to eat, the bread that is you;
nourish us well, and teach us to fashion
lives that are holy and hearts that are true.
Not just in buildings small and confining,
not in some heaven light years away,
but here in this place, the new light is shining,
now is God present, and now is the day.
Gather us in, and hold us forever;
gather us in, and make us your own;
gather us in, all peoples together,
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
Welcome (Deut 6:4-5, Matt 22:39, Micah 6:8, UCC)
v: Hear, O Children of God: “The Lord is our God,
r: the Lord alone.
v: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
r: and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
v: “You shall love your neighbor
r: as yourself”
v: “and what does the Lord require of you
r: but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
v: No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey,
r: you are welcome here.
Invocation
v: Let us pray; God of delight, your Wisdom sings your Word
at the crossroads where humanity and divinity meet. Invite us into your joyful being where you know and are known in each beginning, in all sustenance, in every redemption.
May we manifest your unity, in the faith
r: that acts,
v: in the hope
r: that does not disappoint,
v: and in the love
r: that endures.
v: And God’s people say
r: Amen.
Prayer for Mercy, Reconciliation and Conversion
v: Almighty God, in Jesus Christ you called us to be a servant people,
r: but we do not do what you command.
v: We are often silent when we should speak, and useless when we could be useful.
r: Have mercy on us,
v: O God. Forgive us and free us from sin;
r: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silent Prayers of Confession
Assurance of Pardon Eph. 1:5-14
v: Hear the good news: In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of God,
r: so that we, who have set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
v: In Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
r: To God be praise and glory! Amen, Alleluia
Anthem
Lesson Matthew 28:16-20
v Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him;
r but some doubted.
v And Jesus came and said to them,
r "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
v Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
r baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
v and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always,
r to the end of the age."
Sermon Dr. Nancy Schaffer
Song “Come and Find the Quiet Center” 575
1 Come and find the quiet center
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
2 Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
3 In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other's pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit's lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
Prayers of the People & Prayer of the Savior (unison)
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 and ever. Amen.
Song Open My Eyes that I May See 586
1 Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
2 Open my ears, that I may hear
voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear,
everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!
3 Open my mouth, and let me bear
gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Benediction
v: May the Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace
And God’s People say:
r: Praise our God, Holy Trinity, Amen!
Bells & Postlude
