Comments from Trinity Sunday

A couple  of Sundays ago was Trinity Sunday.   I was away, but wanted to share what I’d said back then.   That Sunday is always a hoot for me; what we’ve often been taught about what the Trinity is, is more often than not heresy in the doctrinal sense.  

Remember way back when, the - “The Trinity is like…” - statements from your Sunday school teacher?  

The Trinity is like… an egg – there’s the white, the yolk, and the shell.   Three parts that make up a whole!

Or the Shamrock example – the Shamrock has three leaves, that together form the whole plant!

Or – I for example am a father, a husband and a son – There is only one of me, but I’m three things! 

Or my favorite… H 2 O.   H2O comes in three forms: solid (ice), liquid (typical water), and a gas (vapor).   Three different forms of the same thing!

They may work in trying to describe something pretty hard to describe, and they may be able to begin the process of helping to describe something that is very hard to understand.   But… unfortunately they are all technically heresies.

But how often these examples have been used by trusted and faithful Sunday School teachers over the many (centuries) perhaps.

  

But as I’ve often said – regardless of how the church “describes” who/what God is… you are already connected to God!   You have a relationship (where there’s always room for growth on our part) with God!  And this relationship with God grows and changes as we grow and change.   So… however you are able to connect with God, and how ever you think of God… Pick a heresy and move on!

Well, the back of the bulletin that Sunday had some words, and it was titled: “Fun with the Trinity”…     That can’t be right!    “FUN” with the Trinity????   I don’t think so!   This is some serious business here!  Theology is NOT fun!  

So, let’s get started:

The official (meaning official as described by the dominant church) doctrine of the Trinity is as follows:   There is only ONE God!   However this, God… also theologically called the “God-head”, is comprised of three distinct and individual persons.   These distinct and individual person, IN  RELATIONSHIP form the God-head.   Are they God individually?  Yes… but only insofar as they are in relation to the other two members of the God-head.   And theologically speaking, they are never “independent” anyway.   They are never separated in terms of “relationship”.   There is a described “unity” among the members of the God-head.   This doesn’t necessarily mean they are always spacially together, though.   It means they are united in will and intention, not necessarily always spacially proximal to each other.  

Wow!  Sounds fun doesn’t it!?!?!?!     Interesting and fun!   Oh, do tell us more.

Having said all that –  I must say all this was not invented out of whole cloth.  It’s not like the early church “fathers” were trying to think of things to make their poor little minds not die of boredom.   It’s not like their lives weren’t complicated enough.  

The thing is, they were seeing expressions of God in various ways and through means in the biblical texts. 

In the bible, God is real and dynamic… active… expressed as a powerful God of life; a booming VOICE from the sky, the “Lord of Hosts”!   

And then there’s what we might call the “Spirit”… energy, ephemeral… that informed the prophets… and the hearts of kings…  the same "spirit” that inspired the Proverbs and psalms… the “spirit” of Divine Quietness. 

This Divine Quietness was not heard in the Booming Voices, or the burning bush, or in acts of mighty power… but was heard in the holy stillness and quietness.  

Then there’s Jesus – the story of the boy-child, who was conceived as a result of a cross of humanity and divinity.   – A child whose coming was fore-told, who changed lives even before he was born.  – A young man who grew in wisdom and knowledge of God.   –A rabbi whose teaching and life challenged the established powers.   – A convicted criminal whose death lifted up his life.    “I and the father are one”     “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father”    From Gospel texts

So, what do we make of all this?    If we look at the texts, we’re sort of forced to admit there’s really something there we can’t easily explain.   Something beyond the normal explanation. 

So- that’s the doctrine… different from what we might intuitively think.   Three distinct beings – distinct powers and personalities of God.    But if we’re monotheists, we have to somehow explain this in a way that does not violate the principles of our tradition and history; the Sh’ma… the most holy prayer of Judaism… Sh’ma Israel, adonai.  Adonai elohenu echad.   “Hear O Israel, the Lord – The Lord is one (or – the Lord alone).  There is only one God... not three.

Imagine a family – there’s a parent, a child, and another parent (or a grandparent).   Each has their role and place in the family.   But together they are a “Family”!   

Here in this example, what classic Christianity would call God, here would be “family”.   This is a closer approximation to what we mean by “Trinity”

But here’s the thing, though – I don’t think this changes how you think of God in the long run.   I don’t think this changes how you pray, or how you imagine who God is or is not. 

There’s a neighbor of mine who’s selling his home.   He’s had to make a lot of changes to his place – up-grades, improvements, etc.    His real Estate agent has told him the things he’s needed to do.   He’s told me some of the things she’s told them to do he’s thought are pretty off-the-wall in his opinion.   But instead of arguing with her, he'll just nod politely as she tells him about another crazy idea or two… then he’ll just do what he thinks is right for him to do anyway- regardless of whether she’s said it or not.

You’ve prayed before –

You’re already connected to God regardless of your understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity –  

And have you ever felt this connection to God before – at some point in your life?  

And in all this – how often does the doctrine of the Trinity ever cross your minds?   

I asked this question in church and for some this question has come up – primarily in the question of “Who do I pray to?”  

My answer to this is two-fold

Does it really matter in the grand scheme?   God is who God is anyway, and you are STILL connected to God regardless of who you pray to in the Trinity

And answer number 2 – pick the one you feel most connected to.   Again, it doesn’t matter.   God is God regardless.  

There was a movie back in the mid ‘80’s called The Breakfast Club – a pretty diverse group of teens from an ordinary high school come together for their Saturday detention.   This is one of the Brat-Pack movies from the 80’s; with Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, etc.    As far as the characters are concerned, there’s the druggie, the jock, the nerd, the goth/emo girl, and the preppie girl.

There’s a point in the movie where the characters are sitting around describing the reasons they all got Saturday detention.   It’ the super-nerds turn (Anthony Michael Hall) and he says he was there because his wood-shop project didn’t turn out right.   He wanted to take a course that he thought would be an easy A to keep his GPA up, so he decided to take wood shop – a comment the druggie-guy got a little offended by; “So you thought would shop would be easy?!” 

So for his class project, he decided he would construct a wooden lamp in the shape of an elephant.  And his plan was that he would be able to pull the trunk and the lamp would light up.   But it didn’t work!   To which the druggie-guy, still stinging by the “wood shop is an easy A” comment, made some comment about the smart kids inability to make a simple lamp.  

So the super-nerd says: “Are you saying I’m stupid cuz I can’t make a lamp?”

And the druggie-guy responds:  “No, you’re a genius cuz you can’t make a lamp!”

I think sometimes our theology can get in the way of our relationship with God.     In church that Sunday,  I asked people if they prayed.   YES.    

I also asked if people had ever (whether now or in the past) felt connected to God.   YES.

Then I asked if the doctrine of the Trinity informed that relationship.   Not so much. 

The doctrine of the Trinity is official church teaching.     But if you try to keep this in mind as you imagine God while you pray… as you find yourself in those quiet moments where you feel God’s presence… things may get a little too theologically technical, cumbersome, tedious, etc. 

Sometimes we theologian types have a tendency to over-intellectualize some of this simple God stuff too much.   Sometimes it needs to be taken as it comes – as a relationship with the divine, however it comes.  

If the doctrine of the Trinity helps you, then so be it.   It’s an attempt to try and understand something that goes pretty deep anyway.  

Regardless- when you pray…  when you feel God’s presence…   when you connect with the divine… in whatever form it takes… remember – You’re connected to God!  

God is what God is, and that’s way beyond us anyway.

So- keep it simple and just be with God as you are!