It is widely thought that it is impossible to preach about the Trinity without falling into Heresy. It appears to me that Christians have debated the Trinity for almost 2000 years and no-one has yet got it quite right. Some Christian groups don’t believe in the Trinity at all, as the world ‘Trinity’ isn’t mentioned in the Bible, although there are Gospel accounts where God is mentioned as Father, Son and Holy Spirit all at the same time, so Trinity is definitely implied.
The thing is we can spend whole lifetimes trying to nail God, to understand God fully and rationally. If anyone were to succeed (and some believe they have) then God would no longer BE God, but just a human invention – an idol. If Trinity Sunday teaches us anything it is that God is a mystery, beyond our deepest knowing, way beyond any of our thinking.
Trinitarian fashions come and go. When I was a child it was all rather mathematical. I can remember singing endless dull and unmemorable hymns about three in one and three in unity – it all seemed rather irrelevant to anything real. Fortunately, these days, new ideas about the Trinity have emerged which make it all much more interesting and relevant.
The Trinity is somewhat like a community or communion – three persons, one God, in a perpetual flow of love, meaning, conversation, balance. Community is also what the Church is about. We know how good it is when everyone works together well, when ideas are shared and gifts offered and shared, where conversation is easy, where all are included and welcomed into the circle of friendship and love. This God of community is what we uniquely offer to the world – a model of community where all are equal, where there is no outsider, and where everything is held in perfect but lively balance. In God’s community, the creation is held as the outpouring of the creativity of the Trinity. Salvation is held there too – God’s love poured out for our sake. Human inspiration, giftedness, fruitfulness are there too – the work of the Holy Spirit. It is like a beautiful dance which surrounds us and holds us within – and its name is Love.
So you can begin to see how the Trinity suddenly becomes relevant. It gives us a model of how to live both as church and as humans in the world. The Trinity is inclusive – no-one is sidelined or alienated. The Trinity is full of hope – there is no end to its love, dynamism, liveliness. The Trinity holds the Creation, humankind, animals, plants, oceans and mountains within its embrace – an expression of the creativity which happens when there is harmony, and where destruction is banished. The Trinity is our life and it’s our vision for how the world should be.
I was once talking to Rev’d Hilary about the difficulties of preaching on the Holy Trinity. She said something very profound – which isn’t surprising really – she said something like ‘The Trinity is just about how God is , about how God is God.’ And that’s all we need to grasp really. We can experience God being God – in creation and recreation, in the suffering of Jesus and in the faithful love which never leaves us if only we take time to notice.
God the Trinity. God with us, God between us, God within us. Us with God, held in the eternal dance of love.
Amen
Rev’d Dr. Anne Morris
Vicar St. Oswald’s, Knuzden