Trinity Sunday – Year B
We
Are Triune Christians
When the ELW was printed, the third
of our approved “Creeds” was omitted.
The ELCA confesses three Creeds:
The Apostles’, the Nicene, and The Athanasian Creed.
The Athanasian Creed has
typically been used once a year – on Holy Trinity Sunday. Written later in church history (sometime
around the 6th century), it is the only creed in which the equal
natures of the three persons of the Trinity is explicitly stated. (It is also the only one of the Creeds which
states that those who do not hold to the statements of the creed are condemned.)
Having (seemingly) expressed my
dissatisfaction at the non-inclusion of the Athanasian Creed, let me say that I
found it troubling when we did use it, year after year, on Trinity Sunday, with
no real explanation. Its language is
harsh. I wondered how those who had not
sat in a seminary classroom might respond to its insistence that “those who do
not believe these things are condemned already.”
On the other hand, I do believe
it to be a good teaching tool. And I am all
about teaching. Especially on a concept
as difficult to explain (and understand) as the Trinity. It is important, on Trinity Sunday, to turn
into a teacher and attempt to teach as much as can be learned about the
Trinity, and why understanding the Trinity is important. Our Christian faith is a faith in a Triune
God. We worship One God, in three
persons. And if it takes the jolt of the
Antanasian Creed to remind us how serious all this is, so be it.
You would be hard pressed to find
a modern day gathering of Christians who doesn’t make use Father-Son-Holy
Spirit language. But not all of them
will be observing Holy Trinity Sunday.
We do. Just like Christmas and
Easter and Pentecost, Trinity Sunday is set on our calendars as one of the
major Church festivals.
One God, three persons;
indivisible, yet distinct. This is the
way we talk about God; this is the way we understand God. It is the way we have come to understand
God. This does not mean that the
earliest gathering of Jesus’ followers understood God to be a Trinity.
Before they were called
“Christians,” the followers of Jesus were referred to as participants in “The
Way.” Before there were official Church
statements, there was a whole plethora of statements of understanding. Yes, it is completely true (and never
denied,) that there are other “gospels” out there, in addition the four
collected in our bibles (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and it is also true
(and never denied,) some of these other accounts speak quite differently about
Jesus and about his relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. The Church statements, developing
over time, decided which perspectives were to be embraced (some would want to
say “allowed”) and which were to be regarded as informative, but not normative.
The perspective of one God in
three persons, which we now share, was not universally shared by all those who
in the first century A.D. were trying to figure out what it means to follow
Jesus. They had the core teachings which
lead to the formation of the Doctrines associated with God as Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. But, they would not have
used that formula, nor insisted that each worship service begin and end with
it.
Over time, the understanding of
God as one yet three is the perspective which the followers of Jesus came to
share. They/we found this perspective to
be helpful and informative. Seeing God
as One God, in three persons, allowed us to see in its entirety the message
which Jesus taught.
Father – Son – Holy Spirit. These are the “names” associated with the
Triune God. Some prefer to refer to the
functions of these three, so you will hear formulas like Creator – Redeemer –
Sanctifier. The perspective being sought
is one in which God is understood as larger than and more complete than
anything we could envision or describe.
God needs three names to even begin to speak of who he is and what he
does.
God the Father/God the Creator,
is an acknowledgement that in God all things find their ground of being. Who we are is rooted in God. We are all God’s creation; everyone one of us. The God whom we worship is the maker of all
things. The God to whom we offer our
prayers, is the One who called all things into being. When we insist on a Triune perspective we are
instructing followers that no one in the whole of God’s creation is to been
seen as anything less than one of God’s children. Their ethnic heritage or the color of their
skin, nor even the creed they confess changes or denies that they are
God’s. Everyone, and everything, in the
whole of creation, belongs to God.
In talking about the Son, it is helpful
if we begin with the opening words of John’s Gospel. John writes, In the beginning was the Word, he tells us that this Word of God called into
being everything which is. After
painting a marvelous vision of the power and strength of this Word of God, he
tells us that this Word has become flesh and dwelt among us.
The Son, the Redeemer, is that
part of God’s person which seeks to be known.
It is the facet of God’s person which allows us to understand. It is that self-expression of God which
liberates us from the fears associated with darkness and death. We have come to believe that Jesus is the Son
of God, the One sent among us to save us.
Within the Trinity, the Son
embodies what it is that we believe and teach.
It is the invitation from God to think right thoughts.
The name of the third person of
the Trinity is the one which varies the most.
Like many of you, I grew up referring to the third person as the Holy
Ghost. “Ghost” language begins to be
changed to “Spirit” language sometime around the early 70’s. “Spirit” is a better word. And “Ghost” has too many non-religious
connotations. In scripture, this third
person is referred to as the “Paracleat,” or more simply, “Helper.” In another part of John’s Gospel, the Spirit
is called “the Advocate.” The Spirit is
that part of God which guides us into righteous living.
The Spirit is concerned with how
we live. The Spirit addresses the
realization that God not only concerns God’s self with who we are and what we
think but also with what we do.
Salvation may be associated with the second person of the Trinity, but
our relationship with God isn’t complete unless we are also actively seeking
sanctification.
Father – Son – Holy Spirit;
Creator – Redeemer – Sanctifier; who we are – what we believe – how we live or
lives; this is what it means to embrace
the concept of a Triune God.
Who we are – what we believe –
how we lives our lives; all three are important to those who continue to desire
to participate in the Way of Jesus.
The Doctrine of the Trinity is
one of those Church statements which developed over time, reaching it final
formulation centuries after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Those who formulated the Doctrine (and those
accept the Doctrine) believe that all of the parts are there in the earliest
writings. Most importantly, we see in
the Doctrine of the Trinity a way to direct the perspectives of those who would
seek to become Christian, encouraging them to see all that there is to be seen
when one considers who God is and what it is that God calls upon us to do.
Father – Son – Holy Spirit.
Creator – Redeemer – Sanctifier.
Who we are – what we believe –
how we live our lives.
Our identity as Christians includes
all three.
Amen.
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