Today marks two different days in this congregation, as it is Holy Trinity Sunday and Graduation Sunday. And, that honestly feels really beautiful to me, that we get both of those days together. Because, just as high school graduation marks a time when life is changing and our high school graduates are being sent out into the world on their next adventure, so too is Holy Trinity Sunday the mark of a new time in the life of the disciples, when Jesus will no longer be with them, but they have received the Holy Spirit who will continue to guide them. I love this overlap in imagery, of the way that we are taught, loved, and nurtured, and then that we are trusted to begin this new period in life, to be sent out to experience life in a completely different way. The love and support will still be there, but it is an invitation into a new way of being and doing, a sign of trust that we have the space to learn, grow, and even make a few mistakes along the way.
As I was preparing the blessing for the graduates that will occur later in today’s service, I was reflecting back on all of my graduations in life, realizing that my high school graduation was now over a decade ago and I have no idea how that time passed so quickly! I was thinking about soon to be high school graduate Sara, who was so unsure of what was waiting in the world and what all was still to come. If you had told me then anything about my life now, it wouldn’t have felt believable at all; nothing about my life now was in my plan at the time, and we all know I like a good plan! Honestly, though, that’s one of my favorite things about life. While each day might feel similar to the next, it’s amazing to look back at the journey and see just how far we’ve come and all the destinations, both literal and metaphorical, that we visited along the way. Some of which were planned, while others weren’t; and it’s sometimes the unplanned paths that change our lives the most.
In so many ways, graduation, this moving on to the next chapter in our lives, feels so connected to the way that Holy Trinity Sunday is the bridge between the season of Easter, which ended last Sunday at Pentecost, and this Time After Pentecost that we enter into beginning today. It doesn’t mean that everything which came before doesn’t matter or is forgotten, but instead, it is everything that came before which brings us into this new phase of life. We enter into this new phase because of what God has done, and what we have been equipped to do, even when that feels like more than what we signed up for sometimes. I know the disciples still had a lot of questions about what they were supposed to do, and we continue to ask those same questions today. It’s why it matters that God doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves but promises that the Holy Spirit will remain with us to guide and teach us. And, those questions are so important for determining how we want to live in this world as disciples because they are the ones that shape how we interact with our faith and the world around us as we go from day to day.
While we call this new season “Ordinary Time” in the church, because we don’t have any big festivals or seasons, I would argue that it’s really anything but ordinary. It’s a season where we are called to pay attention to the way that God is active and present in the world around us, in ways that require more of our focus than the big celebrations at say Christmas or Easter. As Jesus reminds the disciples again today, the Holy Spirit will continue to guide them (John 16:13), and the Proverbs reading tells us about how Wisdom is calling out, begging us to listen and pay attention (Proverbs 8: 1-4). Ordinary makes it sound mundane or routine, but that name fails to recognize how special it is that God would continue to interact with us in the everyday nature of our lives too.
It really makes me think about the Psalm for today, especially when the Psalmist writes: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8: 3-4). With everything that happens in our lives, the fullness of them, coupled with the extravagant beauty and care for detail in the world around us, sometimes it feels unfathomable that God could possibly care about us simple humans. When we think about our lifetime in comparison to the rest of the world and creation, it still feels so awe-inspiring.
This recognition of the vastness of creation isn’t meant to make us feel insignificant. Instead, it is calling us to pay attention to why it matters how we show up in the world. That our lives, our stories, do actually matter. This isn’t to say that the rest of the creation isn’t meaningful, but that the relationship between us and creation is of the utmost importance. That is a beautiful gift of trust that we are given by God. That we have been entrusted as stewards to tend to the world and one another. It seems we need a lot of the Spirit’s guidance with that reality these days, but I also have a lot of hope because of the ways that communities are showing up to support each other in both big ways and small.
So, this is a message not only for our two graduates today, but for our community, as we enter into this next season of life when it feels difficult to know what we are supposed to do or who we want to be in the midst of everything going on around us. It is a call to return to our Christian roots, centered in who we are and whose we are, as we are sent out into the world to love the world that God so wonderfully created. It is a reminder to listen to where the Spirit is calling us, when the ways of God can be drowned out by the ways of the world. And, as we prepare to bless the graduates and we enter into Ordinary time in the church, may we remember that whether we are in periods of big life changes or seemingly mundane everyday existence, that God is still working in and through you and that this journey is not one we make alone. May you be shaped and guided by the ways that the Spirit is leading you individually and us as a community, this and every day.
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Sunday June 8th, 2025 Worship