Today is Trinity Sunday, the day when the Church celebrates and contemplates the triune nature of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It used to be that the question of the Trinity was at the center of vital debate in the Church. Nowadays, churches and theologians happily relegate the Trinity to the margins. And yet, it is important that we continue to observe this holy day.

In this obscure story from the book of Numbers, a tattletale comes running up to Moses, complaining that two were doing something they weren't supposed to: they were prophesying, without permission. Moses’ response: Would that all God’s people were prophets! Moses's wish comes true, in a fashion, in our second lesson from the Acts of the Apostles - the day of Pentecost.

What the Ascension of Christ marks is not really God’s absence but rather God’s ubiquity, his omni-presence, his everywhereness. Because Jesus has ascended, left the physical plane of existence, he is now present everywhere on earth. No longer is Christ’s presence limited to the small space taken up by his human body. He is now able to be present throughout all creation, as he sits above it all, ruling over the whole earth, from his throne beside God the Father.

Coming as we are to the tail end of the Easter season, when it’s harder and harder to maintain excitement at the news of Jesus’ resurrection, John in the passage before us today channels Popeil, insisting, “But wait, there’s more,” more to Easter than the promise of our resurrection.

The only way we can say that, though, to claim Jesus is the way, is to follow his way ourselves. This involves learning the way of Jesus, picking up his rhythms and ways of doing things.