Grace and peace to you, from the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Today is the celebration of the Holy Trinity and Father’s Day. 

While there are many dad jokes painting pictures of dads as squares, I think of the Holy Trinity in the shape of a triangle. 

More specifically an equilateral triangle where all of the sides are the same length and all three interior angles add up to180 degrees. 

The Holy Trinity is a perfect example of an equilateral triangle; the eternal Three-In-One and majestic One-In Three. 

Perhaps like you I am more comfortable with the Father, and the Son, but I often seek the wisdom given by the Holy Spirit. 

Our three readings for today offer insights into the glory and power; the eternal Three-in-One the majestic One-in-Three. 

Many of you are familiar with the traditional idea of the nuclear family; two parents and one child, the three become one family, of the whole human family. 

We are blessed to have many different families, no one better than the other, and as I have experienced at times, families can be dysfunctional families. 

This morning I would like to celebrate the Holy Trinity with a testament to my own father as it relates to our Father in heaven. 

The Holy Trinity is a balance of love, love expressed and exercised with peace, through endurance, character and the hope of eternal life. 

The Holy Trinity is an example that I picture as one of the oldest family businesses still in existence. 

A business that has cornered the market on the love of God abundantly poured out for each one of us.

I have first hand knowledge and experience working in the family business. I was the third generation to work in our family printing business. 

Little did I know about running a business and what running a family business meant. 

Working in the printing shop began at an early age. 

The sounds and smells were imprinted on me and it all comes back with the sound of the presses and the smell of the ink and solvents. 

I have walked hundreds of miles around a table collating the printed pages that would become books, pamphlets, or calendars. 

We did things more of the old fashioned way, by hand, building endurance. 

Machines were expensive and often broke down, people were much more reliable. 

I also learned how to work with a very diverse group of people. 

After graduating from St. Olaf and a couple of first jobs I hadn’t really felt compelled to any one career. 

My dad asked if I was interested in coming to work for him and the timing was right for me to say yes. 

Even though I would still be asked to help in the shop, my new role was to learn the business. 

No expensive business school, but right from the source. 

What I learned was priceless. 

I learned not only how to run a business, but what it means to run a family business that produces a compassionate character.

Fresh out of college I had many worldly and untested ideas. 

What I didn’t know was my father as a business owner. 

I first learned that we are always going to be father and son. 

No matter what happens in the business, that fact stays the same. The important thing is learning what that means. 

Showing up on time and ready to work, not when I wanted to work. 

Being able to learn and learn from my mistakes; being responsible and accountable. 

Being the boss's son is much more than collecting a pay check. I learned that every employee is an important member of the family. We had five sales people and they were paid very well. 

One of my duties as the bookkeeper was to compile all of the monthly sales for the sales people. 

We also did all of the bookkeeping by hand, and I carefully recorded and totalled their sales. 

Once the salesperson received their accounting they would go over the copies of their invoices and commissions against what I had recorded. 

Usually I was spot on, because I checked my work; occasionally I would make an error and it would be corrected. 

At one point I remember that I had made a rather large error, transposing some numbers, that resulted in a few hundred dollars loss to the person.

The salesperson accused me of not caring and being the boss's son. 

I felt like I could do no right and I was being attacked for being the boss’s son, I was being treated like I was the error not a math miscalculation. 

I lacked the wisdom to deal with and understand the whole situation. Wisdom is learned by looking at the bigger picture, not just trying to be right . I had in fact made a mistake and was willing to correct it. 

Rather than argue I listened to the wisdom of the other. 

I learned that the salespeople helped pay my salary and keep the business going. 

Much like God who loves us no matter how bad we goof up. 

Top salespeople are just that, they are blessed with a gift to sell just about anything. 

My job was to help the salespeople sell more printing. 

If they were worried about being paid correctly or facing off against the boss’s son then I wasn’t doing my job. 

After an apology to the salesperson we reached a new appreciation for our individual skills and we became partners, not adversaries. 

With that appreciation came respect for each other's work. 

The most painful experience for me was when we decided that I would not buy the business from my dad and the best course was to sell it so he could realize his retirement.

We found a buyer, who apparently thought that owning and running a business would be easy. 

I quickly saw that their method had only to do with money and I quickly lost hope. All that my grandfather and father had made was being questioned and ridiculed. 

It was evident from day one that they had no idea what a family was, let alone a family business. 

My dad taught me that a family business is all about good relationships. Everyone who worked for our company mattered. 

The new owners thought that only they mattered. 

In an effort to make more money they sacrificed good relationships, at the expense of creating distrust and fear. 

When people aren’t treated as people, they quit or at least quit doing a good job. 

The new owners didn’t know what a family was or much less how to run a family business. 

Gone were the Friday lunches, morning treats and good will. 

Employee turnover was suddenly high and I had agreed to stay on for one year as part of the sale. 

I could teach them the basics, but I couldn’t help them to learn the wisdom my dad taught me of how to run a family business. 

On this Father’s Day I thank God for my father who taught me what it means to be a good member in a family business. 

A business runs out of love for the other.

Perhaps that is why the Holy Trinity works so well, equally balanced, made of and for love. 

My business knowledge is like the priceless, unconditional love that God has for us. 

The Holy Trinity: Father Son, and Holy Spirit is a loving relationship that God counts us as mere mortals that glorify and receive everything from God. 

“All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” 

For this we can say, “Thanks be to God!” Amen