Trinity C 2007

Whenever Trinity Sunday comes around I suspect we all struggle together to try to make some sense of it all. Just think about the various phrases we use: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer? Presence, wisdom, power? Womb of life, word in flesh, brooding spirit? Almighty God, incarnate word, holy comforter? Even something like: primordial nature, consequent nature, superjective nature? Which doesn’t make any sense to me at all and complicates my own thinking about the Trinity immensely. All of these phrases have been used to refer to the Trinity. I personally still fall back on the Classical formulation: God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This classical phrase serves to remind me that it is the one living God we are talking about and not three disembodied, separate, and disconnected beings.

One minister, embarking on the struggle of preparing a Trinity Sunday sermon turned to her spouse. She wrote: “Talking about the Trinity is not easy, so I went to the other theologian in our house – no, not the cat. Our cat doesn’t study God; he thinks he is God. No, I asked my kind, thoughtful and very smart husband, Allen, how I might speak about the Trinity. His response? “What’s the point of talking about the Trinity? It’s the most useless doctrine in all of Christianity.”

What kernels of truth might we glean from staying with this notion of the Trinity? She went on: “I can tell you what insight Allen gleaned from staying with it. Dissatisfied with his initial response to my query about the Trinity, I chased -- I mean followed -- him around the house asking my questions. In the kitchen: “If the idea of the Trinity is so useless, why has it stuck around so long?” In the den: “Useless? Totally useless?” In that tiny corner in the basement he thought I didn’t know about: “Father-Son-Holy Ghost? Creator- Redeemer-Sustainer? I end all my sermons with that Trinitarian formula! Has it all really been for naught? Surely there’s something helpful about the idea of the Trinity!”

“Maybe it was having his back to the basement wall that did it, but as my last question hung between us, I saw the light bulb click on. His eyes widening, Allen said: “The Trinity reveals the creative, the ethical, and the mystical.” In response to my theologically astute “HUH?” he went on, “The essence of God is creative. That’s what God does, God creates. And Jesus’ whole thing was doing good; God sent Jesus to show us how to live–that’s ethics. And the mystical? The mystical is all that Spirit stuff–prayer, meditation, being fully present with God, with ourselves, and with others.”

“By this time, Allen was so excited that he was chasing -- I mean, following --- me- around the house. “And the important thing about the Trinity,” he said, “Father-Son-Holy Ghost, creative-ethical-mystical– however you name it–the important thing about the Trinity is that all three partners go together, all three are equal, mutually-related, interdependent.” At that point, he took a breath, which I took as my cue to make a run for it.

“And tell them about the image of God!” he yelled after me. (“You tell them about the image of God,” I thought.) But I asked sweetly: “What about the image of God, Honey?” “Well, the image of God,” he said, “is this mutual balance of creative, ethical, and mystical...and since we’re created in the image of God...”

“Then I got it,” She wrote. “ Since God’s essence is this three-way dance of creative, ethical, and mystical and since we are created in God’s image, then we are whole, which is to say, most God-like when the creative, ethical, and mystical dance interdependently in our lives. And when the creative—our imaginative thinking—the ethical—what we do and how we decide to do it—and the mystical—how we pray—when the creative, the ethical, and the mystical dance interdependently in our lives, then we are dancing with the Trinity.” (1)

In such ordinary circumstances as this challenging and humorous conversation – and chase dance – between spouses can new theological concepts be born. I myself prefer simply to accept the glory of the mystery at the heart of the Trinity. I know I will never understand it. Some thinkers much more profound than I, beginning with Saint Augustine and not ending with Dorothy Sayers in the 20th Century can see Trinitarian forms and formulations in all creation. But on one Sunday each year, Trinity Sunday forces me to think again and more deeply about this wonderful God who loves us. And that is Trinitarian grace made manifest indeed.
AMEN


1. “Dancing with the Trinity", The Rev. Dr. Kim Buchanan, June 3, 2007, Trinity Sunday, www.Day1.net