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?

Faith not doctrine

For years any discussion about faith was in truth a discussion about doctrine.  We wanted to talk about what we believe.  The content.  The logic.  The implications.  These discussions often ended in "Well, I can't believe that!"

What if we talked about faith as a verb?
   What if we talked about faith as a process?
       What if we talked about faith as a surprise?
       

Think about it.  When you talk about the weather, do you debate whether the barometric pressure is 113 millibars or 85?  Or do you complain about shoveling snow, or your air conditioning bills?  You mention how many days it has rained or your hope for a sunny day for your daughter's wedding?  We discuss the weather in terms of our lives, our hopes, our dreams, even our finances!  (The heating bills up north this year will be an issue.)

Let's talk about children's soccer leagues.  The parents whose discussions are all about strategy and discipline and winning are not welcome in the groups who are laughing at their children's antics, wondering if young David will ever stop running away from the ball, or simply cheering from the sidelines.  For these parents, soccer is about social skills, physical development, group activities and most of all, having fun!

Or cars.  I was once in a discussion about what car we would own if money was no object.  You can imagine there were a few sports cars and luxury cars in the mix.  "A red Maserati"  "A silver BMW" and on and on.  One participant said he'd purchase a Volvo.  "What color?"  "Oh, the color doesn't matter, I like their safety ratings."  Now that was a perfectly legitimate reason for purchasing a Volvo, but this group wanted a little poetry and to them color was critical.  Our Volvo guy didn't realize this wasn't a discussion about reality but about status, and self-image!

Faith is about a relationship with the Divine.  Christians call the Divine God, and we see God manifest in a man called Jesus who lived and died.....and yes, we believe he was raised from the dead.....a long time ago. That is at the center of our belief system.

But our faith is about relationship.  Can I trust this one called God?  What are the intentions of this God towards me?  When I am in a pinch, can I call on this God and expect an answer?  Is this God all smiles one day and all lightening bolts the next?   When this God looks at me, what does God see?  Those are the basic questions that faith asks.

or, perhaps, this  "Can I be safe with this God?"

Let's begin our faith discussions with the questions that we are really asking ourselves; the questions which have answers which interest us.  These are the truly hard questions because these are the questions that we live day after day.  Most of us can manage a long time without a definition of predestination.
 Let's answer the important questions first.

believing is like 'faithing'

There are some technical theological terms for the difference between what we believe and the act of believing.......they are in Latin of course.......but let us not confuse the two.

Believing is a verb that depicts an action - active faith in another.  It is not a doctrinal test. 

Instead, belief is "more like a marriage vow - 'I do' as a pledge of faithfulness and loving service to and with the other"* - in this case our Lord Jesus and the Creator God.  Hebrews 11.1 says it nicely.

When we go out and serve our neighbor it reflects our trust in the promises made in and through Jesus: his work, his gifts, his forgiveness, his resurrection.  We can talk about doctrinal stuff later.  For now, trust.

* Diana Butler Bass gives us this description in her book Christianity after Religion, p 117.