Holy Trinity Sunday – June 3, 2012

People get confused. Yes, even Christian people who believe in the Holy Trinity get confused. I suppose that Unitarians naturally don’t have this problem, explaining how God can be One God but three Persons. As I like to say, “To explain the name of God-the Holy Trinity-you must use a new math! 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.”

First of all, why is it so important to name God exactly? Isn’t it true that there has always been a mystery about the divine Lord of All? Don’t we talk about the fact that maybe the human mind cannot come close to comprehending the true nature of God? Every time we try to pray to God or share a Word about God-we limit Him. To pray the simple table grace: “God is great, God is good…” we must ask ourselves “Why couldn’t He be greater – why couldn’t He be beyond just plain good?”

Even in our best intentions, we cannot fully explain, acknowledge, or even come to know Him on our own. We need the community of faith and the Word of God, the Bible, to help us with this gracious task. We need the Holy Spirit to help us begin to understand!

There are plenty of places in the Bible where one can discover images of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My favorite would have to be the passage known to many of us a “The Great Commission” which is from the 28th chapter of Matthew where Jesus says to go and baptize and make disciples of all nations “…in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit….”

God simply “is.” He is one thing to me, and one thing to someone else. He may make Himself known to me tomorrow in a totally different way. Some scholars say that God makes Himself known to other peoples and cultures by other names and through different historical stories.

There is no perfect illustration to describe the Holy Trinity. We see on paraments in church chancels the designs of triangles, three interlocking circles, or the three words “Holy, Holy, Holy” (or in older churches “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus”). A shamrock with three leaves is commonly used. A descending hand, representing God, that has two fingers pointing down to earth but the other two are clasped in the hand. The symbolism there has never been fully explained to me, but if I might take a shot at it, I would think that the fingers pointing down shows the initiative of God’s love coming to earth in the two natures of Jesus Christ! (divine and human) and the other two fingers, virtually pointing upward relate to Father and Holy Spirit. They are separate and yet connected to the same hand. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!

We do proclaim that God comes to us best through the love of Christ. Yes, He is known through creation (image of the Father) and through daily inspiration (image of the Holy Spirit), but we do acknowledge at the center of our theology the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are “Christocentric” in our conversations about God-even though, technically, God is equally three Persons. We cannot live without the Father or the Holy Spirit.

So-there you have it. Will the real name of God stand up!?!? What you see and believe might be slightly different from my view, but it is okay. God deserves His space and time and His unique qualities that make Him God. “Let Go and Let God” is a title to a book and a familiar saying. It seems to fit here too, don’t you think?

No matter, God’s peace is upon those who have faith. Keep the faith-no matter how God reveals Himself to us. It will always be great and beyond good, because, after all, it is God!

God loves you and so do I!

Pastor Jim