Readings
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
As your bulletin cover points out, today is Trinity Sunday. The one day a year that is dedicated to a theological proposition. While there are multiple passages in the Christian scriptures that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nowhere is it explained or expanded upon. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that the idea of the Trinity was controversial for several centuries before being settled on after multiple councils of the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. In the end, the idea that God is one God, who exists in the three persons, continues to this day to be something that many, if not most of us, struggle with.
We’ve all heard the standard tropes that go with trying to explain the Trinity. If you’ve spent any time in church you’ve heard about the three-leaf clover, or the three states of water (solid, liquid, and gas), or maybe even the three actions of God: creator, redeemer, and sanctifier. But in the end none of them leave us wholly satisfied. In almost all the cases they deal with the idea of three, but not so much the one.
I have shared over the last few years on this day that I believe that the nature of God in three persons is best expressed by understanding that the Trinity teaches us that the basic nature of God is that God exists as community. That we cannot understand God as an individual. That ultimately, if we are to reconcile that Jesus referred to God as his “father;” that Jesus himself is God; and that the Holy Spirit, which dwells in each of us and all of creation, is God; and yet there is only one God, then God must exist communally.
And remember, that when I say God is communal I’m not saying that we have three gods. Rather, I’m suggesting something like this. The current population of the United States is about 340 million people. Now we would never claim that there are 340 million United States, would we? No, but each of us is an American. Each of us is a citizen of the United States. The question is whether we will focus exclusively on our individual identity or our communal one. There is only one United States, but each of us as Americans are an expression of our nation. We are many and yet we are one.
While this is not a perfect analogy, it gets us to the idea of God existing as community. Each of the persons of the Trinity fully expresses the truth of God, but God cannot be understood apart from all three persons. God is not an individual but a community. The nature of God is to be in relationship – relationship with one another, and ultimately relationship with all of creation.
The great mystery of the Trinity, however, is not that God exists in three persons and yet is one God. Rather the great mystery is that we are made in the image of God and yet we continually think of ourselves as individuals.
We can only reach our fullest potential when we choose to set aside the assumptions of individualism and embrace our communal identity. We can no longer afford to consider ourselves as wholly separate selves isolated from one another only using community or cooperation when it benefits our desires or ego.
No, just as the true nature of God exists as community, then our true nature is communal as well. We are less than fully human unless we are deeply connecting with and abiding in one another.
Most of the ills in our society today. Our deep political divisions, the communal malaise of our society, corporate greed, international malice and warfare, and the emergence of a radical intolerance for anyone or anything that is perceived as other stems from our failure to recognize our truest nature. It is a fundamental sign of our sin and a pathway to evil.
As a people of the Gospel and followers in the way of Jesus we must reclaim our identity as a people made in the image of God. We must first model and then invite others into this deeply communal way of being. Christ stands inviting us to love both our enemies and our neighbors. The Spirit invites us to reach out with not only tongues that speak, but ears that hear, and hearts that care. And, the Father, the first person of the Trinity, calls us into partnership with the fullness of God and our fellow human beings in being stewards of the world in which we live.
We can’t do any of this alone, we need one another in order to accomplish it. And, friends, while there are other pathways to the sacred, it is through being connected to one another that we will most profoundly experience the nearness of God.
Now we all need personal and private space. I am not suggesting otherwise, but to what degree do we isolate ourselves? To what degree do we, using the excuse of presuming not to impose on others, find ourselves reticent to reach out? To what degree do we let the demands of work, or family, or life itself, limit our connections to one another?
If you don’t have a close friend or a group of friends to which you belong, consider doing something about it rather than simply accepting the isolation as reality. Reach out to someone you know. Ask them to have coffee with you on a regular basis. Or perhaps get together for lunch or dinner. And don’t rely exclusively on your spouse or children. Expand your circle. By doing so you’re not just serving your own needs, you’re creating opportunities for connection, you’re creating sacred space.
And if you have friends with whom you connect regularly, then think about connecting with someone you naturally wouldn’t choose to associate with, someone who has a different political ideology than you, or some who is culturally or socially different than you. Take the opportunity to find their humanity and connect to it. It may well be challenging, but by doing so you will be following in the way of Jesus and living into the image of the one who made you.
As we celebrate the revealed nature of God on this day, as we celebrate God in three persons, may we have the wisdom, the love, and the courage to be a people who embrace the communal nature of our humanity. May we follow the way of our Lord, claiming God as our deepest and most intimate friend. May we be co-creators with God and stewards of the creation. May we, filled with the spirit, speak, listen, and care with one another in ways too deep for words. And may the holy and undivided Trinity be made manifest in us that the world might know and be transformed by the God we adore.