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On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the church celebrates Trinity Sunday (John 16:12-15). This is the day when we ponder the “three-in-one” nature of God. It is not high up on our list of feast days – not because it is not important – but because it is so hard to talk about and understand. For ultimately, the doctrine of the Trinity – the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is a mystery.
Now, I am a fan of mysteries. Reading a mystery novel is one of my favorite vacation activities because not only can I can relax but I can get something done at the same time. With a good mystery, at the end of the book, you’ve figured out the plot. You now know who is who and what happened. You get it. You have solved something.
Well, the doctrine of the Trinity is not really that kind of mystery. It is the kind of mystery that unfolds only to leave you realizing how little you still don’t know. The reason for this is that God is so much grander than our ability to comprehend or describe who God is. In our limited human capacity to think and feel and even love, we can never fully know all there is to know about God. There are not enough words to describe the totality of God. With every attempt to define God, we realize how much more we have yet to experience and embrace. And it is that infinite character of God that makes the life of faith all the more exciting. There is the opportunity for newness of life and experience of God’s love at every turn.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this great mystery, God loves us and wants us to be with him and so we need some means of expressing that relationship. Through the stories of the Bible, we come to see a pattern of how God relates to people in three distinct ways: as creator in the person of God; as friend and teacher and savior in the person of Jesus; and as “ever present with us” in the person of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity gives us three ways to know and experience and talk and sing about God in relationship to us.
So, come to church this Sunday and share in the mystery as we worship the God who loves us all.
See you Sunday,
Rev. Martha