The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5

On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate our participation in the life of the loving community of Father, Son, and Spirit.

The spirit of truth guides us to all truth: the truth about the grace in which we stand, the truth about our sharing in the Triune God’s life of love. Our participation in the Triune God’s life is not only an experience of peace with God through Christ. It is also an experience of boasting about our afflictions.

Sharing in the life of the Triune God’s loving community, we boast of our sufferings. Why? Because the Spirit of truth guides us to the truth that our suffering produces perseverance, and that our perseverance produces a tried and tested character, a character of firm commitment to the beloved community, a society where all people are treated with dignity and respect, where there is social equity and justice for everyone. Because we can be people of tried and tested character we can be people of hope. We can courageously, hopefully love God and our neighbor without pessimism, fatalism, or resignation, no matter how bad things get.

On Trinity Sunday during this Jubilee of Hope, we confess that hope does not disappoint. That is what Pope Francis said in his proclamation of the Jubilee of Hope: Spes non confundit, (which means “hope does not disappoint.”)

Our hope will not disillusion us or fail us. Our hope will be fulfilled. Sharing in the Triune God’s life of love, we believe that our hope will be fulfilled. We expect that.

At the end of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, Dr. King was sure that hope does not disappoint. In 1965, just as today, people asked how long it will take for real change to come, how long will it take for our hope to be fulfilled. Dr. King confessed that hope does not disappoint.

I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?” “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate … be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?” “How long will justice be crucified and truth bear it?” I come to say to you … however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”

How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

The Spirit of truth guides us into the truth about ourselves as participants in the Triune God’s life of love. The Spirit of truth guides us into the truth about hope that asks how long and is sure not long. Hope does not disappoint, no matter how bad things get.

The beloved community will come. How long? Not long.

Trinity Sunday during this Jubilee of Hope prepares us for a national holiday later this week in the United States: Juneteenth, the celebration of the announcement in Texas on June 19, 1865, that enslaved sisters and brothers were free. Soon after that announcement, freed sisters and brothers in Texas and throughout the U.S. began to celebrate June 19, Juneteenth.

And as soon as Juneteenth celebrations began so too did powerful and widespread efforts to undo freedom, equality, and inclusion for African Americans. Those efforts have been catastrophically successful. Since the first Juneteenth, a system of laws, social practices, and even progressive government programs such as the New Deal’s Social Security and National Labor Relations Acts, and the GI Bill, actively excluded or disadvantaged African Americans.

On Trinity Sunday and on Juneteenth, we should boast of afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.

On this Trinity Sunday and on Juneteenth, we should celebrate the family of our second American pope, a man whose immigrant family history was shaped by the one-drop rule of America’s racial caste system.

On this Trinity Sunday and on Juneteenth, we should celebrate all those families who from June 19, 1865, until today have shared in affliction, endurance, proven character, and the hope that does not disappoint.

On this Trinity Sunday, on Juneteenth, and until the beloved community comes, a great cloud of witnesses surrounds us. Never forget their affliction. Honor their endurance. Reverence their proven character. Emulate their hope. No matter how bad things get. How long? Not long.

And since, on this Trinity Sunday and on Juneteenth, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses—women and men of affliction, endurance, proven character, and hope that does not disappoint—let us throw off everything that hinders and run with perseverance the race that bends toward justice.

How long? Not long. Amen.