Images of relationship
Clare L. Hickman
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale
June 15, 2025—Trinity C
Hear the promise that Paul writes, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God” (Rom 5:1-2).
WE can share the glory of God, can participate in God made visible in this world. And while I spoke a few weeks ago about the transformative nature of glory, on Trinity Sunday, our focus shifts to the relational:
How is the presence of God, the glory of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), reflected in our relationships with each other?
I think about God the Father, the Begetter, the Creator, and the ways in which we become connected to each other when we make something together. There is a reason, if you’re trying to bring people who vehemently disagree about something together, that there’s one of two things you should have them do before they start talking: eat a meal, or create something together. Anyway, I remember back in high school, up in Port Huron. And every year, each class would get together and build a Wall, which was essentially a static version of a float. These massive scenes of paint and papier mâché would live in the four corners of the cafeteria during Homecoming, promising serious bragging rights for the class that built the best one.
Our class built ours in the Guizar family’s barn. And Homecoming must have been later in the year than I think, because I remember it was always cold in that barn! But there we were, bundled up in the dimly lit space (and yeah, it didn’t pay to look too closely in the corners, for all kinds of reasons!). There we were, a wide cross-section of social groups like some kind of reenactment of the Breakfast Club. Because artistic talent is no respecter of social strata, and we needed all the artistic talent we could get. And we needed more hands than just the popular people could provide. So, I was there, spray painting the inside of Hagar the Horrible’s cave with someone who wouldn’t normally have exchanged more than a few words with me. And lots of other people were there too, all working together, for those four weeks. And when we were done, every year, we were united by pride in our creation. Through that process, we became more closely connected, and in some small way, just as Paul promised, we shared in the glory of God, and caught a glimpse of the Father.
Paul goes on to say more about the glory of God, more about the way the Trinity lives in us. “And not only that,” he writes, “but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” (Rom 5:3-5a). Which is to say that we find the Son reflected in our relationships, in situations of shared suffering and sacrifice.
We see it come about in the long, sleepless nights of new parenthood, witness it in the bonds formed between siblings as they grieve the death of a parent. Perhaps most powerfully and iconically, we recognize it as it is forged in the trenches, between those who undergo great physical strain and deprivation, those who have promised to go together, to give even their lives, even undergo grievous spiritual harm to serve their country. But it’s also there in all those who share the long, hard fight for justice and peace: the diplomats, the aid workers, the organizers and the protesters. All those who give so much time, give up higher paying jobs they could have taken … all those who risk everything from fatigue to arrest to tear gas and rubber bullets.
There is a bond formed, between those who give, who suffer, on behalf of others. And in that bond, we see the Son.
Rounding it out, Paul concludes, “…and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).
The Spirit who goes with us, the Spirit who gives us words we didn’t think we had, the Spirit who enlivens and inspires … I believe we see the Spirit’s reflection (the Spirit’s action!) in relationships that surprise us. Relationships that had been damaged but are repaired. Relationships between unexpected people: connections that spring up between strangers, or bonds formed across the divides of race, religion or politics. Those that come like a reward after long, hard work, or like a gift that has been dropped in our laps. Or should I say, Love that has been dropped in our hearts?
I think about a woman who was on the Diocesan Civil Rights Pilgrimage with me, who spoke so passionately about the relationship she and others from Church of the Messiah in Detroit have been building for several years with folks from St. Paul’s Brighton. And the love and appreciation she had was palpable, as she spoke of their willingness to learn. So often, she explained, she gets stuck in conversations with well-meaning people from the suburbs who want to help but can’t stop centering themselves and the power that they’re used to having, the knowledge and the decision-making that they just assume belongs to them. But the relationship with St. Paul’s has been different, she explained. They never presumed that they knew what was needed for the work she was doing to house people in the city. They asked. They listened. And they were willing to be wrong, brave enough to speak their truth, and strong enough to hear truth back.
And you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, feel the power and the surprise of it, in the relationship she described!
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit: at the very core of their nature, they are bound together in relationship with each other. In return, as we are created and re-created in their image, we are bound together with one another, and in doing so, we find ourselves united with the Trinity itself. God is there, in all of the ways we connect with one another, breaking through in another glimpse of glory.
May it be so. Amen.
Blessing for Trinity Sunday:
My friends, may you go forth from here filled with the power of our Triune God,
whose unity is grounded not in uniformity but in relationship.
And may the blessing of
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer
Source, Well-spring, and Living Water
Lover, Beloved and Love
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Who is Mother to us all,
be with you this day and forever more. Amen