Proverbs 8; 22, 23; Psalm 8 4,5; Romans 5:1-5

Faith by Numbers

You all know all about painting by numbers.  Fill in the pictures with the right colors and an image will appear.  You also know how to connect the dots by numbers, following them in order.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of life was like that? And wouldn’t it be great if we come to a picture of God that way?

Admit it or not you and I put our faith a lot in numbers.  It is Trinity Sunday and Trinity means the unity of three or 3-in-1. It seems to be a kind of formula.  And to us God does not fit in formulas very well.

I head a puzzler question on car talk.  A ragtag bunch of explorers is stuck in northern Alaska in the heart of winter.  One of them needs to get to the doctor.   There is one plane which they are getting ready. They are worried whether it will start, because it is thirty degrees below 0.  The gauge says “do not operate below 40% Celsius. So the pilot asks the mechanic:” do you know the conversion formula from Celsius to Fahrenheit?  “No,” says the mechanic, but you will be alright.” How did he know?  Well, let’s leave that for a bit shall we, I am sure you do not care to know the answer.

Friends, there are many numbers we pay attention to.  Perhaps you follow the stock market up and downs or the status of your retirement accounts; maybe you closely monitor gas prices or food prices;  maybe you like to go out a lot and you keep track of ticket prices;  As kids inch toward high school graduation there are grades and test scores to keep tabs on.  If you like politics there are poll numbers and voters; If you take could care of your car you will care about miles traveled and care mileage.  If you have concerns about you health there are blood pressure and blood tests for all kind of indicators. And then we have said nothing yet about weight and length. Churches keep an eye on pledges and spaghetti dinner fundraiser totals.  Then are the numbers in passwords and codes and in the genome code we discussed earlier. What all these have in common, friends, are numbers.  Numbers, numbers everywhere.  Baseball stats are numbers as are those of any sports. They measure ability and speed and efforts and success.  You and I live by numbers.  And I have just mentioned a small number of things. Numbers run our lives and sometimes ruin our lives.  It is almost as if we live our lives painting by numbers or connecting dots in sequential numbers.  We have a belief that if the numbers are good our lives are most likely to be good. Oh, and by the way, the mechanic knew things would be okay because he knew that 40 degree Celsius and 40 degrees Fahrenheit  below zero are the same temperature.

Friends, we get lost in the numbers that we use to try to keep our life on track and our lives lined up.  All the measurements and indicators haunt us in our sleep.  So many figures to keep track of.

The problem is not there is no truth in numbers.  There is, because otherwise we wouldn’t pay any attention to it.  No, the problem is that there is no meaning in the figures.

Then once a year there is Trinity Sunday.  Trinity, as 3-in-1.  Numbers again.  There seems to be something cheap in using a formula for God.  As if God could be mathematically deduced.  Still we get them from the Bible.  Maybe this 3-in-1 has been foreordained, before time.  Or maybe it is the only way we can make sense of the mystery of God.   There is God the Creator, the Origin of all things, the force that propels all matter and life.   There is also God as Messiah Who became the smallest and the most vulnerable among us.  Then there is God as a spiritual wind or breeze of some sorts and Holy Spirit.  These are inseparable and they are One.  So they are creative power, power of love and power of and peace.  As simple as it is, this is not just a formula however.  The formula doesn’t matter in the end. It is how we human beings get meaning in our lives.  With our faith in the Trinity instead of in numbers, first we can participate in creation and be a creative force, second, we can know that God empathizes with us and loves us beyond life and finally and we can be assured of the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit. It is an intricate web of meaning.  No numbers we devise to explain the universe as well as our lives can take that place.

So, friends, this formula of numbers called the Trinity is not a formula at all, it is the God Whom we worship, A God Who is Creator,  Vulnerable Human and ever-present Spirit at the same time.  It is because of this God that we matter, that our existence on this earth makes a difference, not just for the moment, but in the greater scheme of things.  Friends, to God we are not a number.  Thanks be to God.