SERMON | Genesis 1:1-2 & Matthew 28:16-20 | "Trinity Sunday" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

SERMON | Genesis 1:1-2 & Matthew 28:16-20 | "Trinity Sunday" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, IndianaThis faith, while it is personal, it MUST be social.A heart and soul devoted to Jesus necessitates a mind and body devoted, too.A changed heart is a changed life—we will live differently.We MUST live differently…because we are called—we are charged—we are commissioned—because we follow Jesus empowered by the Spirit so that we can become God’s humanity for the flourishing of our world and everyone and everything in it.Our goal today, friends, is not to be the finished perfected products of God at work in our shared life.Our goal today is simply to take that next step.Maybe you are very early on in the journey of faith and you’re still just trying to figure out why I called Genesis 1 a poem…or you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.—that’s okay.Your next step will look different than some people around you.Some are further “along” the path and others aren’t as far “along” as you.Trust them to take their next step and offer yourself to help them.You can help them by what you DO and what you SAY in our shared life together.Encourage them.If they believe things you don’t, you don’t need to correct them.If they still have a great deal of their life wrapped up in things that don’t reflect a life in God’s Reign yet…love them, serve them, and celebrate every step they take in that direction.If they falter or struggle, love them and serve them and treat them like the precious creation they are.We are in this together.And Jesus is God with us every step of the way.- Jesus is fulfilling what was spoken at his birth: that we would be ImmanuelOn that note:Jesus said, “I am with you always until the end of the age.”For his disciples, the destruction of the Temple in 70CE was the absolute end of an age.Jesus reminded them when he was with them (and the presence of the Holy Spirit continued to remind them) that Jesus is still with them no matter what they face.May we, as disciples…as human beings recovering from our former lives serving ourselves, remember that even hard days, bleak days, long days, dark days, and unbelievably incomprehensible days are no reason for us to despair.God is with us.The Creator continues to create…The Word continues to reveal…The Breath continues to empower us.