Things come in threes, or George and his triple bypass

I re-rehearsed my 2008 sermon, Things come in threes, for the people of Inwardleigh, Sourton and later Germansweek today. It's a bit of fun but it gets the Trinity across, I think. Great feedback too... as in this extract from the afternoon's version:

Preachers get worked up about the Trinity. They think it's something that other people will never understand. A complex doctrine beyond the theologically untrained. If I ever get that arrogant or ignorant, fire me.

Because God has ordained that things come in threes.

And most of the time that helps us, comforts us, pleases us. We get it. We know what that's about.

I’ve preached this sermon twice already today. At Inwardleigh people came up to me afterwards and said I could have mentioned the Three Wise Men, or Three Blind Mice; and one man told me that he had realised for the first time ever, that behind the altar there, are three windows, each a with picture illustrating one person of the Trinity - Father, Son and Spirit.

And at Sourton old George Heathman smiled wryly throughout my talk and later told me nonchalantly that this week he’d had a triple heart bypass operation....

There are signs of the Trinity everywhere in our lives, in the world, if we are tuned in to seeing them.

      If we understand threes then we understand God.

      If we understand God then we understand threes.