This coming Sunday is the Festival of the Holy Trinity, somewhat of a puzzle regarding faith and belief, theological reflection and self-understanding. A late arrival in the Church’s Year of Grace with origins in the tenth century (universal, 1334), it occurs the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Christian West and is subsumed in Eastern Christianity’s observation of Pentecost itself. While the word Trinity does not appear in the New Testament, we understand it to be clearly implied in the Bible. Nevertheless, there is no universal agreement on how its mystery is to be set forth either theologically or liturgically. What is certain is that conflicting understandings of this sacred mystery caused the scandalous split between the Christian East and West. The concept of a Triune God itself is at the heart the tragic division and intransigence between Judaism and Christianity. Throughout the Church’s troubled history even more recent splits have been prompted by disagreements over competing “orthodox” constructions. The more convinced a group of Christians is about its own dogmatic understandings and practice as non-negotiable, the less likely helpful, respectful dialog will occur with those who sincerely differ. One longs for the unrecorded clarity and loving respect Paul showed to new Christians in Corinth [Acts 19:1-7]: [Paul] said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then [Paul] said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— altogether there were about twelve of them. Would present faith communities be as gracious to believers who haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit? Yet even in this hospitable passage, controversy lurks. The earliest strain of Christian baptism is reflected in the phrase “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Later we hear in Matthew 28, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Which formula is “correct?” The passage continues, “…and teaching them to obey everything that [Jesus has] commanded…” The Church’s teaching can be as instructive and hospitable as Paul displayed, or it can be unyielding and oppressive. Often, we get bogged down in defending our detailed attempts to specify the pieces-parts of divine mystery.
Probably our teaching through the centuries and not the Holy Trinity itself is the source of the Church’s scandalous divisions. Even our hopefully helpful attempts to explain the concept to children in worship or provide Reader’s Digest tidbits for Sunday School classes can cause more problems than they solve. Folks have tried the three-leaf clover approach as well as the H20 [Ice / Water / Steam] analogy. Neither offers much solid ground for application. More recently, folks have attempted to skirt tensions regarding gender by substituting the Biblical names Father, Son, and Spirit with functions – Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, yet biblically ALL persons of the Trinity participate fully in creation, redemption, and sanctification. [For example, Genesis 1:2 notes the creating Spirit’s hovering over the brooding waters. John 1:1-3a invokes the mystery of Christ the eternal Word, also with the Godhead from the beginning.] Thus, “function” is misleading at best in this instance. A post-WWII comment despairing the difficulties of peaceful resettlement is to the point. “The Devil is in the details” should send us in a different direction for understanding and observing Holy Trinity Sunday.
Anglican spiritual writer and lay theologian C.S. Lewis penned a gracious book comprised of imagined letters between an aging theologian and a younger person with questions about faith, belief, and practice, Letters to Malcom, Chiefly on Prayer [1964]. The author offers sage advice about worshiping God: “Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best — if you like, it ‘works’ best — when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance.” Jesus himself offered a similar critique about human preoccupation with being right, accusing others of being wrong, fixating on the details, thus blinding and deafening us to God’s invitation into a life of love to be shared. But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn’ [Matthew 11:16-17]. We often are ready to inflict burdens on others and rob them of joy rather than helping to bear those burdens or rejoicing with them [cf. Romans 12:9-16].
Christian discipleship is not fulfilled by belaboring facts and figures about God but learning and practicing the steps of holy living. Recently, spiritual writers have compared the busy life of the Holy Trinity to dancing. The idea is related to a much earlier Greek concept about the dynamic relationship of love among the persons of the Trinity. Throughout sacred history they have moved graciously in tandem, anticipating and assisting in every undertaking and action with fluidity and grace. Moreover, Christ commends the same cooperative relationship to us [John 17:20-24].
That venerable toe-tapping couple of the Golden Age of Cinema, Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire, embodied the fluid, cooperative relationship demanded of those who dance well. Through the ten films they made with rehashed, rather hokey plots, their characters often misunderstood or even despised each other at first but came to a gradual understanding and regard finally revealed on the dance floor. Astaire was the agile, ever attentive partner who supported and contributed to Rodgers’ ability to glide effortlessly through mind-boggling choreography which finally and clearly expressed their deep love and joy for one another. Their dancing appeared to be the spontaneous expression of a lively, loving relationship unfolding on the silver screen. Together they had moved far beyond “…just counting the steps.”
If we are to celebrate Trinity Sunday without getting bogged down in theological fine points or doctrinally lambasting each other, let our focus be on the enduring relationship of loving regard the Father, Son, and Spirit hold for each other and extend also to us in love. Yes, it is important to be as articulate as we can about the Trinity, BUT we must acknowledge that the Trinity remains the ultimate mystery of holy love to be discovered and experienced but never fully understood this side of glory.
The First Reading for Holy Trinity is Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a, precisely the same reading for the Jewish Festival of Simchat Torah when the Fifth book of Moses, Deuteronomy, is concluded and the next year’s cycle begins again with Genesis. Chabad Hassidic communities celebrate by becoming the “feet” of the Torah, taking God’s Word out into the world as God intends. To do so, the massive scrolls literally are danced through the streets. Both Jewish and Christian communities affirm that in God’s Word we joyfully find our beginning and end. The Church further affirms that Christ the eternal Word, the Alpha and Omega, fulfills “…for us and our salvation” all that the Spirit testifies to and seals. May such joy, such singing, such dancing, such willingness to witness to what God has done mark our own celebrations of the Triune God. OR, as the psalmist sings: You [O Lord] have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soulmay praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever [Psalm 30:11-12].