Trinity Sunday - on the liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday always follows Pentecost Sunday when we celebrate the gift of the Spirit. It is the Sunday we acknowledge the mystery of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Theologians have long sought to explain the mystery of the Trinity.
Some people describe the Trinity as God taking on three different forms or roles - Father, Son, Spirit. They illustrate this concept by pointing to the three different states or forms in which we find water - solid (ice), liquid (water), vapor (steam).
In contrast to this common understanding, theologians commonly use two specific terms to speak of the Trinity. The most common term is "the three-in-one." This idea is explained by the second, lessor known term: "unity in diversity expressed in community." Diversity refers to the three. In this understanding, God is viewed as three individual beings - each unique and different (diversity) - who live in unending relationship with one another. The words unity and community are used to describe this relationship. Ancient theologians used the term "divine dance" to speak of it. In this way of thinking, the term "Godhead" is often used instead of God.
But how can three be one? This question capture the mystery of the Trinity. How are the three one?
A number of years ago, I was teaching a confirmation class about the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In our exploration, we looked at 1 John 4:8, "God is love." I asked the question, "Which of the Three is love?" With a moment's hesitation, the students answered excitedly, "They all are! Each one is love!" They got it. The three are one because they each have the same character of self-giving love.
The oneness of the Godhead is their character of self-giving, servant love. Father, Son, Spirit - while each is unique and different, they are alike in this one defining characteristic. Each lives out of self-giving, other-centered loved. Thus, their divine dance is a dance of love in which each gives of self, without reservation, on behalf of the other's good. Their love-shaped relationship produces community in which the uniqueness of each contributes to the good of all; hence, unity.
An additional, amazing feature resides in the mystery of the Trinity: that dance of divine love is focused on us and our wholeness.
Each member of the Godhead has given themselves in an eternal redemptive purpose of restoring the unity of heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:3-14, especially verses 9 & 10). At the heart of that eternal redemptive purpose lies our role as the beloved children of God. The Father chose us before the foundation of the world to be adopted as beloved children (Ephesians 1:3-6). Through the Son, we have the forgiveness of our sin and an inheritance as God's beloved children (Ephesians 1:7-12). That inheritance is the possession of God's character of self-giving, servant love as our own. The Spirit marks us as God's beloved children (compare Romans 8:14-17 and Galatians 4:4-7) and is the guarantee that the Godhead will complete the work of maturing us into the likeness of Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14), thereby restoring the unity of heaven and earth (see Romans 8:19-21).
Through their work of self-giving, servant love, we have been given a central role in the Godhead's eternal, redemptive purpose. Their character of self-giving, servant love is being engrained in each of us. As we live together in community, we embody the unity in diversity found in the Godhead itself (Ephesians 4:1-16). We become the Godhead's "Exhibit A" of the wisdom of their way of life based on self-giving, servant love (Ephesians 3:10-11). We are being recreated in their divine likeness so that we might contribute to their divine dance of love.
The mystery of the Trinity is far greater than we imagine!
No comments:
Post a Comment