Looking at the Trinity

In the past few weeks I have been reflecting on what we can really know about God and what we can experience. The more I think about it and start to try to articulate it in sermons and conversation, I realize that my beliefs about God are not rooted in Systematic Theology. The very work of trying to combine philosophy with the Bible and my experience of the Holy is both frustrating and boring to me.

As I face Trinity Sunday, I do so with joy. When Jesus described heaven to his followers, he used models they would understand. Yet we have to understand that these are examples to give a glimpse of heaven, not a final and fully focused picture. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a wedding banquet. Great, when you are hungry. Boring, when you've finished eating and are ready to get up or go to bed. It is not a final description, just glimpse.

How do we describe the Trinity? Some will use water - steam, water, and ice. (Of course this applies to many substances which have solid, liquid, and gaseous states, but we are most familiar with water.) It shows that the substance is the same, even as the form changes. But form is not person. Our faith does not say that God changes from one thing to another based on the surrounding environment, but that there are three stable and eternal persons. The metaphor works in one direction, but certainly not in the other.

The traditional metaphor is the shamrock. I have to admit that it makes little sense to me beyond a surface picture of a thing with three equal parts - as long as you ignore the stem and roots.

As for me, I'll be talking about our relationships with God. God who is father, majestic, powerful, yet loving and just. God who is savior, challenging, and inviting. Jesus who came for us and showed us the self-sacrificing aspect of God. God who moves like the wind. God who abides with us and provides light and wisdom. God the Holy Spirit.

Without realizing that God is not monolithic and simple and easy to understand, we try to change God into a household God. Someone we call upon to magically whip up a parking place, but ignore when it comes to calls for justice and mercy. A god we call on when we are sick, but forget when things are going well.

This Sunday we will read the story of Isaiah's call. We will see the only response one can have when they see the majesty of God - "I am unworthy." We fall on our knees and know that we cannot stand before this throne. And what is God's response? He makes us worthy. He takes away our unworthiness and sends us to bring the rest to him.

There is more, of course, so come to church this Sunday and we'll talk about it!

May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit bless you!