How many of you have lost sleep lately pondering the mystery of the Holy Trinity? Be honest now. You confirmation students better have your hands up; we heard you recite the Apostle's Creed just last week and I know you spent a lot of time memorizing that! But the rest of us maybe haven't thought about the Trinity in a long time; maybe never! I know that the majority of the people who live all around us, the ones who have never been invited or dared to go to church, have virtually no idea what we are talking about when we refer to God as three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It's not that we are not interested in God. I would hazard a guess many people (and even some of us) awakened this morning in the midst of crisis, confusion or even celebration, desiring to have a true and powerful encounter with God. Are you one of them? What would that encounter look like? I have an answer for you that might not be the first thing that comes to mind: I believe it would look like the Trinity - God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So what we presume to be a boring theological doctrine we talked about in depth maybe once in our lives at confirmation or in the Catechumenate is really only an observation of our most desired experience - to truly and powerfully encounter God!

Let's test this out. As always, the Old Testament and the Hebrew experience lead the way for Christians into all matters concerning God; and today's lesson in Isaiah is no exception. Isaiah, the great prophet of Jerusalem, the one who centuries before Christ cried out to the rich and powerful to change their shameful treatment of the poor, must begin his prophetic ministry somewhere. Like you have done this morning by coming here, Isaiah's encounter begins when he ventures into the temple. There he finds the grandeur and beauty and expansiveness of God who is sitting high and mighty on a throne, attended to by strange winged creatures, and so huge that the mere hem of God's robe fills the temple. Oh if we could only encounter God in this way. Maybe you have had this type of experience where you glimpse, as if through a keyhole, just how thoroughly, how totally, how completely God is involved with all of life from the cosmos to each molecule of your being. This is the first person of the God of the Trinity - Creator God, Father of all things! And we see God as Isaiah does initially if and only if we get our attention off ourselves. Most of us are too busy enamored with our own image to see unbelievably huge vista that is God. As the great poet of our century T. S. Eliot put it, "Human kind cannot bear much reality." Rather than seeing God, we arrogantly trust and believe in our own powers to create, understanding them not as a part of God's miraculous power, but as the only thing worth trusting in our short-sighted ways. Believing this, most of us only flit along the edges of the divine, really in the annoying manner of an incurable flirt. And if I could bat my eyes I would. "O God here I amŠnot so fast."

How do you know if you've really encountered this big God, the first person of the Trinity? Here Isaiah sounds like our very own Martin Luther. You see, when you encounter God in a way that does not paint him into a small corner of your life; when you begin to glimpse the beauty and power and justice of God, your initial reaction is to quake with fear. This is what Isaiah did; this is what Martin Luther did; this is what every member of a 12 step recovery program does when he or she truly hits bottom and knows there are things in life that are beyond our ability to manage; that God has the power to control. This is the God we cannot deceive or mislead; which is what most of us do as we barter our way through an entire lifetime's relationship with God. "If you just let me have my way here God, I'll come to church 3 out of 4 Sundays a month." God as the great transaction. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Despite all our efforts to hide our intentions, this is the God who knows every selfish, shameful, hurtful thing we have ever done. This is the God Martin Luther concluded could not be pleased because no matter how good he was, Luther knew he could not live up to the expectations of this awesome, just and perfect God. Most of us do not even get to this point of the encounter, for it is truly humiliating and painful to loose the chains you've put around God so that, for the first time, you not only see God for who God is, but yourself for who you are. Isaiah puts it this way, "I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinfulŠ"

But true shame, not the kind we throw out there as the last line of defense to protect ourselves, true shame leads to true contrition. And so it is that a true encounter with God does not end with shame and sorrow. That is only a stage whereby we become open to God's searing yet cleansing touch. This is the most interesting part of the Isaiah text, when Isaiah understands that he is called into an incredible relationship with God; to speak God's prophetic Word to God's wayward people. What does this look like? Ask anyone who has had a true encounter with God. It is both healing and painful. Painful because all of the most creative relational experiences are built around the ability, willingness, even desire, to bear the pain that is triggered by transformation. Ask any woman who has made it through childbirth. Ask any man who has supported and disciplined a teenager through a coming of age. Ask any spouse who has seen his or her mate through the final days to death. Ask any Pastor who has nudged and prodded and coaxed a congregation and its parishioners to the next stage of Christian discipleship. In the Isaiah text, this transforming, creative moment comes when a hot coal is placed on Isaiah's lips; signifying that by God's action alone the sinful words of Isaiah's mouth are seared away. Sound familiar? This is precisely the God Martin Luther encountered as he reached bottom; a God who takes on our shamefully sinful selves and raises us up to a new and wonderful life; this is GRACE; the killing off our old ways tom allow God in. This is the second person of the Trinity and I ask you to humble yourself so that you may be redeemed again, as if for the first time.

And where does this all lead? Is there a point to all this? Well, many of us think that it is point enough to stop our encounter with God right here. I mean, if Jesus has done it all; if our lips have been seared by the hot coal of Christ; if we, as we did last week, have placed the sign of the cross over every part of our bodies and minds and souls, what is left to do? It is this, and I read it directly from the Isaiah passage. The Lord God asks: "Is there anyone I can send? Will someone go for us?" Surprise, surprise. God is not content with showing us the all-seeing, all-powerful, all-knowing ways of God. God doesn't desire to transform our lives as the concluding act of creation. God desires more. A true and constant and honest relationship is what God desires. A response to God's call in our lives. The call to become more human as God intended and way more than we ever presumed we could become. This is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who God and Jesus has sent to us to guide us in all that is to follow, and most importantly, to prompt us to lives of faithful witness to the incredible thing God has done for us!

You see, the Festival of the Holy Trinity we celebrate today has nothing to do with theological doctrine and everything to do with relationship. Indeed, God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaches us as Christians that God is principally, maybe even solely about relationship; creative, redemptive and fully interactive relationships. God in relationship with God. God in relationship with all creation. God in relationship with you. Are you ready for this kind of encounter? Do you see any hot coals around? Open yourself this day to the full encounter with God so that you see in truth and treasure your place in God' creation; you are seared with Jesus' redemptive love that burns in your heart like fire, and finally that you may respond to the call of the Holy Spirit and say, "Here I am Lord." Amen.