Trinity in the midst of life

We Christians say that our God is a Trinity, three in one and one in three. This is much more than just a theological concept, it explains how we relate to God, to one another, and to the world.

First of all, a God who is Three in One is a Divine Community. The markers of our identities are those things that distinguish us from other people by comparison. What distinguishes the follower of Christ from the world is his or her commitment to the society of Jesus and all it stands for. We need one another. But we are also a community with whom God walks. We know Him best when two or three are gathered in His name. We are never entirely alone—God is there in His Otherness to show us who we are, and God is there in His sameness in the person of Jesus who knows our weaknesses from within. There is no trial that we face alone, even the deployment of a loved one: God is with us in the community of faith.

But the Trinity is also a Unity. Our identity is established in distinction, but our function is established in relationship. They say a sea sponge is made up of thousands of individual animals, one cell apiece, yet working together they have created a way of life that creates another being—the sponge. So is the Church: St. Paul calls us holy stones—that make up the temple of Christ on the earth.

In the final analysis, the Trinity is a mystery, and we need it to be so. Robert Browning:

A man's reach should exceed his grasp. If God can be totally understood He is obviously not God, because I cannot always understand myself. Mystery calls us beyond ourselves, into the reality of God. There are a lot of common ways to explain this mystery, (egg, water, shamrock) but I like comparing it to my thoughts, my words, and my words’ effect; three aspects of my being, yet one person at its heart.

In my heart and mind are many thoughts and feelings. The whole of them make up “me”. This is like God the Father, the base and source of all things, ineffable, incomprehensible, the great mystery at the heart of creation.

The only way you know me is through my self-expression; my words and actions. In the same way God the Son incarnate in Jesus Christ is the self-expression of the Father, the “Word” by whom we know God. (John 1:18) Through Him all things are created, so that even imperfect as it is, creation bears the imprint of the Creator sufficient to reject Him (Romans 1). It is only by the Word, the expressive Second Person of the Trinity, that we know anything at all about God. (John 14:6)

Finally, my words and actions have the power to affect you. God the Holy Spirit is the power behind the effect of God’s self-expression. Wherever we see situations, catastrophes, illnesses, problems and trials, and ultimately human lives, societies and the world transformed into goodness, truth and beauty we see the work of the Holy Spirit.

That Trinitarian model infuses all that we do. There is my ability to run, the actual run I take, and the effect the run has on my health and well being. There is my ability to think, the actual thoughts I think, and the effect they have on how I see the world and act. There is my desire to play golf, the game I play, and the time I wasted on the course!

Our spiritual lives are Trinitarian. The foundation is prayer, that vial union with God through sharing of hearts. The expression of that is study, coming to know the truth about the Father through the Son. Those two should have the effect of driving me to Christian action. That action has a Trinitarian structure, too. There is my time, of which I ask myself three Trinitarian questions: What is my time usage? What does it say about God and me? What am I going to do about it? There are my talents: What are my gifts and talents? How am I currently using them? What might be the effect if I used them in a way that more closely expresses my faith? And finally there is treasure which has to do with dominion: Over what do I exercise dominion? How do I exercise that dominion? Is the effect I have a godly one or not?

Now apply the model to the church. The Church is called to be a synergistic trinity: Our foundation is God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. This is the "thought" behind the Church. It has been said that the final and ultimate reason for Church is for the incomprehensible privilege of coming to the rail to say “Thank you for the sacrifice!” John Calvin said that gratitude lies at the heart of the Christian response to God. Our expression is our corporate life. This is our "Word.” We express it in a hundred programs and activities that our parish does for ourselves and for the world around us. The effect is what is seen in the world because the Church exists. We often imagine church like a football game: the clergy are the players and the congregants are the spectators, and the field is the church. But this is wrong. Jesus Christ is the coach, the clergy are the quarterbacks, and the congregants are the team members, and the field is the world.

Because we are Trinitarian it is important to ask, “What difference would it make to Killeen if our church ceased to exist?”

Fr. Paul Moore+
St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church