The Trinity? Well, it's like...........

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?

Forgiveness

"When somebody you've wronged forgives you you're spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience.

When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you're spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.

For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each other's presence."

This entry in Frederick Buechner's volume, Wishful Thinking, is at the same time succinct and powerful (as, by the way, are most of Buechner's reflections.)

Forgiveness will trip up even the most faithful of Jesus' servants.  As much as we rely on God's forgiveness through our Lord Jesus, we are challenged to turn around and offer the same sweet gift to those who have wronged us.  Just so you know, this is no different for me than it is for you.

I've given this some thought.  I think there is a secret chamber in my heart that depends on God to forgive me........because that is who God is.  I stand before the Divine Creator and reiterate my frail humanity, mentioning the forces that led to my wrongheadedness.  My prayerful confession can include everything from 'I didn't get enough sleep' to 'he's such a demanding person' to 'Did you see what she did to me first?'

Of course, even I have to admit times when there is no excuse unless one includes laziness, or crankiness, or just plain meanness.  When I take the time to truly consider the broken places in my relationship with other humans and with God, I am full of excuses and explanations.  At some level I want to be left off the hook.  In some secret chamber of my heart, I expect that God will in fact forgive and I can move forward in wholeness.

I feel much less obligation towards my fellow frail human beings.  I am hurt by their actions or words or neglect and until those hurt feelings disappear, I find it difficult to truly forgive.  At best I can slowly wipe the slate clean, a little at a time, until the sin disappears.  The larger the hurt, the longer and more difficult is this process.  I've been at this a long time and I am not sure that I am getting any better at it.

But this I can say.  With each passing year, my grief has grown.  I am grieved when I stand before God seeking forgiveness - not because God loves me less but because I am more acutely aware of the fractures I have caused.  Furthermore, I am grieved when I must confess that I have withheld forgiveness from another.  My inability to forgive becomes a much greater offense than that done to me in the beginning.


Now my conversation with God is more about my blindness to the humanity of others and the hardness of my heart.  My confessions are no shorter, just a bit more focused as I struggle to live out the forgiveness that nourishes my life.

All of this sends me back to Buechner's original quote.  He reminds me how life-giving forgiveness is: not just for the one who has erred, but for the one who forgives as well.  Forgiveness is a font of never ending blessing.  It surprises me that I need to be reminded so often to stop and drink deeply.