>>A million years ago when I was in the seminary back in the 90’s, there was a trend that was happening at the time, a trend that we were encouraged not to continue because it was limiting who God was. The trend was this: Instead of praying to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, you were to mock yourself or to remember God, the Creator, the Redeemer, and the sanctifier. All true. God is Creator. Jesus is the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier. But those are just parts, parts of the ways to describe the creator. And so, it was encouraged not to continue that trend. Another reason, recently I was thinking, another reason why it’s probably not helpful to limit God is because those titles talk about who God is. I think it’s important for us today, especially in today’s day and age, when we’re very intimate, individualistic sometimes it’s important to remember who we are in front of the Creator. Who are we? Who are we? I want us, to just remind us that during this Easter Lenten season and now into Easter, we’re reminded that we are God’s children – we are sons and daughters of God. Absolutely. Who created us, who loves us. How often do we think of ourselves as sons and daughters of God? Who cares for us and showers down, grace upon us. We’re also, ah, brothers and sisters to Jesus, for sure. We are all baptized into Christ Jesus, and therefore we become sisters and brothers to Jesus. And further we become disciples of Jesus. We sit at the feet of Jesus and he’s the master and we follow everything that he commands, everything he invites us to do. We remember not just that he redeemed us, absolutely, but he also showed us how to love. He also showed us what it means to heal. He also showed us what it means to forgive. And especially today, we remember the outpouring of Jesus’s love, his healing, and his mercy on all of us. We remember who we are. We are brothers and sisters, to God, to Jesus. Sons of God, sons and daughters of God. But we’re also recipients of the Holy Spirit, every single one of us in baptism, and then again in confirmation, we see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Sister Anacleta made sure that we remembered when we were confirmed: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. We’re recipients of the Holy Spirit. But just like Jesus’s mercy and love and healing, similarly, with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we’re not called to hang on to these things ourselves and just to hang on to them and never let go of them. Rather to be conduit of all of that to the world around us. And so today, as we celebrate God’s mercy, yes, we have received God’s outpouring of mercy and love and healing and grace and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But we share it with all those who we love. In basketball, we always yell at the ball hog, you know, the guy who will never the girl who’ll never pass the ball. We can’t be ball hogs when it comes to our relationship with God, the father, the son and the Spirit. We’ve got to share mercy and love and healing with all those we encounter. Thomas was in relationship with Jesus. Thomas looked Jesus in the eyes when eventually Jesus and Thomas connected. And He knelt down and he said, “My Lord and my God.” We two are in relationship with Jesus and have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and call God our Father. May that relationship continue to nourish us and strengthen us. And not just us, but all those we encounter as we share all those gifts with all those we love. Amen.