I really do think and believe that “keeping things simple” – is best.
Life is getting way too complex…and way too complicated…way too harried.
I realize that this is the celebration of the “Holy Trinity.” It is a big day. It is big stuff. This happens to be – the only day -of the church year that is specifically devoted to “a doctrine” or to “dogma” or to “a teaching,” or to a “belief” of the church!
It is therefore important stuff. Far be it, for anyone to say otherwise!
But understand this – it is a tough day to talk about or even to describe.
I do not like “dumbing things” down.
But what works for me and for my head, is to say that is Gods’ Sunday…and “the call” is not to explain God…but rather…to celebrate God’s mysterious, more-than-we-can-ever- explain-presence!
That works for me! It is honest. It is not “dumbing down” and yet, it is totally and completely respectful.
So, we gather this weekend to celebrate our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God-in-three-persons-blessed-trinity.
We are “Trinitarians.” We worship a “triune” God. We celebrate “the unity and the oneness” of our God. It is a mystery – a “tremendous mystery.”
It is not some kind of a riddle.
It is a reality beyond our human comprehension.
It has been said that “mystery” is not a wall to “run up against” and “bang your head into or onto” – instead it is more like an ocean in which to swim.
And common wisdom has always said that if you talk about the Trinity for longer than a few minutes – you will slip into some form of “heresy” because you are probing the depths of God too deeply.
I know this – the church has been celebrating the Trinity in its life and worship – since the earliest days of the church, as evidenced by the Trinitarian baptismal formula.
As early as the second century (125-150 CE) the “Baptismal Formula” was cut in stone. Over and over again, we read – that one was baptized “into the name.”
It was a three-fold formula, “Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” we are told.
From what we can tell, this probably meant that the candidate by baptism came under the ownership of the Lord and thus was placed at his service…by being baptized in “the name.”
So, for close to 2,000 years we have been baptizing in this “name.”
We are a “triune people” who today, celebrate our God!
In spite of all of this, there was no general feast day of the Holy Trinity in the life of the early church.
Slowly over time, churches began celebrating feasts of the trinity – locally. It was a grassroots movement, from the bottom up.
Churches in various locations and at various times celebrated one liturgical day out of the church year – to honor God, as they understood him to be…
Some churches celebrated this day before Advent…so that the new church year was celebrated in the name of the Triune God.
In other places it was celebrated following the Day of Pentecost – as the final celebration of Resurrection-Ascension-Pentecost-Trinity. Both placements made sense!
By the 900’s most churches celebrated the Holy on Trinity on this day – today. It was not until 1334 that Pope John XXII approved this date for the entire church.
As you know – there have been many attempts to develop illustrations of the Trinity. None are accurate. None are that helpful. You do not “explain away”
Mystery.
There is no way that an “infinite God” can be “fully described” by a “finite” illustration. It just doesn’t work!
We do not have the language for it. We make our feeble attempts, but we can never truly be successful. But for whatever reason we still keep on trying!
Creeds cannot describe our God. Metaphysical doctrines and definitions cannot describe him. Language of scholars from the second, fourth or sixth century cannot accurately describe him. Nor do we have the language today…in the 21st century.
Some things are above my pay grade. Some things they did not teach me at Madison or at Whitewater. Some things they do not teach in seminaries of our churches…
God is simply God…and today we celebrate him and all that he is…
And it will always be a feeble attempt at best!