Why Should I Trust What Pastor Heather Says?
June 15th, 2025 “Why Should I Trust What Pastor Heather Says?” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Summer Sermon Series: Stump the Pastor
Matthew 28:16-20 and Proverbs 8
My friends, today we continue our summer sermon series, “Stump the Pastor”. Rather than being a cool new nickname for yours truly, this is a chance for you to ask hard questions and me to try to answer them. Today we are going to wonder about my authority to preach and if what I say has any value. We are combining this with the liturgical holiday for today, “Trinity Sunday”, which in and of itself is a “stump the pastor” subject.
Why should you listen to me teach about the Trinity? Because I have a Master’s Degree in Divinity. I am highly trained with 4 years of post-college experience studying the Bible in both Hebrew and Greek, its original languages. I have been trained to interpret the text in these settings which are the most true to the original meaning. I have spent years of studying church history and theology. I have graduated with this Master’s degree, and beyond that passed a series of exams proving my knowledge in Bible literacy, worship, theology, church polity, and hermeneutics (which is translating the text and forming a sermon). Your PCUSA clergy are a highly educated bunch which is one reason the church swings to the left.
So, I can tell you all the correct answers about the Trinity. Trinity Sunday is a Catholic holiday, celebrated by some Protestant churches, to honor and celebrate the Trinity. The trinity is one if the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Christians believe that the God we worship is one God, but that we encounter that God in three different forms, traditionally called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In our reading from Matthew this morning we find one of the very fist uses of the trinitarian formula. In what is often called the great commission, Jesus tells his disciples to go and baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When we baptize people, we still use that trinitarian formula.
In seminary, which is the special school for pastors, we are taught that the trinity is like a cosmic dance between three co-equal beings. We use big words like self-emptying, perichoresis, and homoousias. The idea is that these three forms of God are without hierarchy. They are always one and always together and always moving and making room for each other and the next expression of God’s love in the world.
We see God the creator in Genesis but we also read of the “ruah” of God. That’s Hebrew for the spirit, flowing over the waters of creation. In the reading from Proverbs, wisdom is called “Sophia” a Greek word, and that is seen as the Holy Spirit inspiring right thought and behavior in all people. Of course you know Jesus, and Jesus sends the spirit to the disciples by breathing on them in the gospel of John, and in the tongues of fire that we read about last week. Somehow, we have three beings that are one God, and that is one of the great mysteries of our faith.
In the reading from Proverbs, wisdom and learning are lauded high. In our denomination, we highly value this wisdom and so clergy are trained to a high level of education. But Presbyterian clergy must also show a sense of call to ministry. We require that clergy can demonstrate and explain an inward sense of God’s call, and we also require that clergy spend 4 years in process with committees from their local church to their presbytery, that probe and attest to that person’s sense of call. Not just anyone can be ordained as a PCUSA pastor. Some denominations just go by call, some just by education, but Presbyterians require both.
I would be lying if I didn’t tell you there were times in my call process where I bumped up against those judging committees. I have supported the LGBTQ community long before the church accepted them into the fold, so that has had its cost, of course. And I have a tendency to speak my mind. The truth is that I’m not sure I am orthodox enough anymore to be ordained as a PCUSA minister. But that’s ok, as I feel happy here leading this little community, and I think you are happy with me.
I think you should listen to what I say, not only because I am educated in the subject, but because I am a leader of good character. We talked last week about leaders who show respect, integrity, kindness, and compassion. I have always lived my pastoral life that way. So, it doesn’t bother me to tell you this about the trinity . . . drum roll please . . .
I’m not sure that this doctrine is correct, 3-in-1 and all that. I know it is the right answer on the test, but I’m not convinced in real life. There is scant evidence of this idea in our scriptures, and it seems to me to be more of a doctrine of convenience.
Think about it, Christianity comes from the Jewish tradition which is totally monotheistic. One God and only one God and when their messiah comes, he will not be God. But in the early Christian church, folks felt things when they were around Jesus, and they told stories about him conquering death. He clearly seemed more than a man, so he must have been God. And what about the Holy Spirit? Folks began to feel something outside themselves and wanted to name that feeling God, but was that the creator God or something different?
I don’t think we have a good answer on this, and so the trinity seems to be the best answer we can come up with. I think we have one God that we talk about in three different ways. I have never seen or felt a creator God, and I have never met the man Jesus, but I feel a presence with me in my life that I call God. Is that the Holy Spirit? Does it even matter?
I think if we claim to know what God is, then we know nothing at all. If we can explain it, then its not God. If we can understand it, then its not God. If we can detail all the fine points of existence and relationship, then we lose divinity and mystery. I don’t understand the trinity and I don’t care. I understand enough to know that God is good, and that I don’t need to understand in order to have faith.
One thing you should know about me is that I will always tell you the truth. I will never lie to you about what I believe. In my very first church that I was serving, the pastor I was training under told me that my job was like being a “professional person.” Everyday, I get up, live an honest life in relationship with God, and then I tell you about it. Just like you, what I think and feel about God has changed throughout these past 20 years of ministry and it will continue to change. That’s why I am always writing new sermons. I want to be fully honest with you about what I really am thinking about this week, not what I thought about God 10 years ago.
So, listen to me, or don’t listen to me. Disagree with me and ask me questions. I want you to find your own truth in the truth that I am sharing. My only goal is to love and serve the Lord and to love and serve this community. I fully admit that I make mistakes. But I endeavor to always combine my book learning with my life learning in ways that open your mind each Sunday and guide you as you seek your own relationship with God. So don’t just listen to me, get out there and make your own decisions about God, the trinity, and life. Amen.
