Trinity Sunday
1+1+1=3?
Sunday June 3rd is Trinity Sunday in the life of the Church. This is the one distinctive doctrine of Christianity that is difficult for most people It is also a doctrine that makes other monotheists question whether Christianity is not a tri-theistic religion. We insist that we are indeed monotheistic. As the Jewish people, whose Bible makes up 2/3 of our own Scripture, we believe there is one God and only one. Within that Godhead there are three Persons dwelling in perfect unity. Each Person is fully God, and not 1/3 of God. The Father is fully in the Son and Spirit, and each person shares the same being in that way. Therefore we are not tri-theistic. The doctrine is complicated and, if approached as a math problem as above, does not make much sense. There is no doubt that it is scriptural, though not spelled out as explicitly as in the creeds. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one". Paul said, speaking of Jesus, "The Lord is the Spirit". Thomas makes his confession of faith after the resurrection, and says to Jesus something no good Jew would say, unless he believed that Jesus was one God with the Father. He confesses, "My Lord and my God".
We probably get into trouble trying to explain the doctrine intellectually. In most lectionary study groups I have been in, preachers start talking about how they are going to do the children's sermon. I don't remember ever discussing children's sermons in these groups on any other day of the Christian year. Perhaps, in discussing how to do the children's sermon, we are really trying to figure out how we can understand the doctrine in a simple way. We talk about the wick, the candle and the flame being three yet one. Sometimes we talk about H2O and say it can be water, liquid, and gas. However, these are all inadequate, for no created image can ever explain God. Water is not in the 3 states at the same time. God is all three and yet a complete unity. The question of the Trinity will not be solved as a math problem. The doctrine, while based on scripture, is also explained in the Greek philosophical categories of the 4th and 5th centuries in the Nicene Creed. The Trinity starts from the experience of the Church. God the Father created heaven and earth. In God the Son we find our salvation, and in God the Holy Spirit, we find our peace and power as Christian people. God is above us, God is with us, God is among and within us. The doctrine rises out of Christian experience, spirituality, and worship. The theological categories explain the experience.
Now that we have gone through the long theological discourse, what does it mean for us? Why is it important for us? First, it shows that God is love and wants to dwell in community, that God wants a relationship with us. God's very being is in community. The One is in a community of Three and yet is still One. Each of the Divine Persons relates to the others within the Divine Being. God created us in the Divine image so that we could be in relationship with God and each other. We receive salvation because the Father sent the Son, and we are related to God through the Holy Spirit who unites us to the Father and Son. In other words, God is love and wants a relationship with us, because that is God's nature in himself. Secondly, it means God loves us, and does not reject us, but wants to redeem us. Finally, it means we also are created not just for union with God through the Trinity, but with each other. We are made in God's image, we are baptized into the name of a relational God, and are then called to grow in sharing and reflecting God's love and grace to others. God loves us and is active with and in each of us. This is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday. This is our understanding of our relationship with God. May God help us to grow in relationship to himself and to our neighbors, as we share in the divine grace and carry out God's mission in the world.
Peace and Joy,
Jim
1+1+1=3?
Sunday June 3rd is Trinity Sunday in the life of the Church. This is the one distinctive doctrine of Christianity that is difficult for most people It is also a doctrine that makes other monotheists question whether Christianity is not a tri-theistic religion. We insist that we are indeed monotheistic. As the Jewish people, whose Bible makes up 2/3 of our own Scripture, we believe there is one God and only one. Within that Godhead there are three Persons dwelling in perfect unity. Each Person is fully God, and not 1/3 of God. The Father is fully in the Son and Spirit, and each person shares the same being in that way. Therefore we are not tri-theistic. The doctrine is complicated and, if approached as a math problem as above, does not make much sense. There is no doubt that it is scriptural, though not spelled out as explicitly as in the creeds. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one". Paul said, speaking of Jesus, "The Lord is the Spirit". Thomas makes his confession of faith after the resurrection, and says to Jesus something no good Jew would say, unless he believed that Jesus was one God with the Father. He confesses, "My Lord and my God".
We probably get into trouble trying to explain the doctrine intellectually. In most lectionary study groups I have been in, preachers start talking about how they are going to do the children's sermon. I don't remember ever discussing children's sermons in these groups on any other day of the Christian year. Perhaps, in discussing how to do the children's sermon, we are really trying to figure out how we can understand the doctrine in a simple way. We talk about the wick, the candle and the flame being three yet one. Sometimes we talk about H2O and say it can be water, liquid, and gas. However, these are all inadequate, for no created image can ever explain God. Water is not in the 3 states at the same time. God is all three and yet a complete unity. The question of the Trinity will not be solved as a math problem. The doctrine, while based on scripture, is also explained in the Greek philosophical categories of the 4th and 5th centuries in the Nicene Creed. The Trinity starts from the experience of the Church. God the Father created heaven and earth. In God the Son we find our salvation, and in God the Holy Spirit, we find our peace and power as Christian people. God is above us, God is with us, God is among and within us. The doctrine rises out of Christian experience, spirituality, and worship. The theological categories explain the experience.
Now that we have gone through the long theological discourse, what does it mean for us? Why is it important for us? First, it shows that God is love and wants to dwell in community, that God wants a relationship with us. God's very being is in community. The One is in a community of Three and yet is still One. Each of the Divine Persons relates to the others within the Divine Being. God created us in the Divine image so that we could be in relationship with God and each other. We receive salvation because the Father sent the Son, and we are related to God through the Holy Spirit who unites us to the Father and Son. In other words, God is love and wants a relationship with us, because that is God's nature in himself. Secondly, it means God loves us, and does not reject us, but wants to redeem us. Finally, it means we also are created not just for union with God through the Trinity, but with each other. We are made in God's image, we are baptized into the name of a relational God, and are then called to grow in sharing and reflecting God's love and grace to others. God loves us and is active with and in each of us. This is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday. This is our understanding of our relationship with God. May God help us to grow in relationship to himself and to our neighbors, as we share in the divine grace and carry out God's mission in the world.
Peace and Joy,
Jim
posted by Theoblogger at
3:57 PM
