Well, we have survived another Trinity Sunday in those faith communities who are prone to naming Sundays and following a set order for scripture reading. Trinity Sunday, in these traditions, always comes the week after Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter, which is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox.
In other words, it's a bit complicated unless you simply go with the flow and know that the rhythm of our worship life together mimics the evaporation, condensation, precipitation cycle of water, that is, it flows on in endless stream. Ergo, we have just experienced another Trinity Sunday.
Which, of course, at some level is a silly designation. It is similar to saying, 'We have just experienced another Jesus Sunday." Of course we did. Along with a God the Creator Sunday, and a Holy Spirit Sunday. Every time we gather to worship as Christians we gather to worship a Triune God...........as defined over the ages by serious theologians and deep thinkers.
Lest you think I mock, you try to explain the Trinity - or better yet, please don't. Please leave it to the poets and mystics, plus all those talented writers and composers and artists who can open us to the possibilities of realities beyond our grasp, beyond our sight, beyond our comprehending. Let's leave it to those who can invite us into a deep mystery which is not for our solving but rather for eternal exploration and discovery. Let's leave it to those who don't attempt to explain but rather lead us to experience such unfathomables as love and truth and beauty. And let us give thanks for the ways in which God speaks through them.
This is what Frederick Buechner (one of my favorite writers) wrote
"THE MUCH-MALIGNED doctrine of the Trinity is an assertion that, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, there is only one God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit mean that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery. Thus the Trinity is a way of saying something about us and the way we experience God.
The Trinity is also a way of saying something about God and the way [God] is within himself, i.e., God does not need the Creation in order to have something to love because within himself love happens. In other words, the love God is is love not as a noun but as a verb. This verb is reflexive as well as transitive. " from his book Wishful Thinking
There is so much to like in this description, right up until the reflexive and transitive verbs. Once English grammar comes into play, the playful creativeness of our God begins to fade.
The Trinity is either a deadly doctrine (and frequent question on Systematic Theology exams) or it is a life-giving experience. I'm going with the deep mystery and joy-filled experience. How about you?
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