Besides having the occasion to sing that stirring Trinity hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” what difference does having a Trinity Sunday make? This question may be approached from two points of view.
One point of view begins by questioning what academic theology has to do with real life. Steven Eason, as Presbyterian pastor, lists a number of life difficulties facing people—unemployment, serious illness, divorce, unplanned pregnancy or infertility—and offers this opinion: “Does it really matter to them that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? They just want to know that God is God and that God somehow knows who they are, where they are, what they are doing [or coping with] and what they need.”
The other point of view believes that the doctrine of the Trinity was created by real people dealing with the stresses of living a life following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Thomas Long, a professor of preaching, offers this observation: “The doctrine of the Trinity was not dreamed up in a theological think tank but was articulated by worshipping and serving Christians who, under stress and in the face of questions and challenges, were sweating it out to say with clarity just why they were willing to live a life that looked foolish to others, caring for widows and orphans, suffering persecution, and spilling their own blood—all of it for the wild notion that the Spirit had gathered them into the life of God, the God who in Christ was making peace with the world.”
Seeking clarity about who God is, who Jesus or the Messiah is and who the Spirit is began from Abraham's leaving Ur to follow what he believed was a call leave his land and journey to another land. Abraham's faith in following the call came from his trust in the God he worshipped. We see particular evidence of the effort to seek clarity about God's nature in the Gospel of John, in sermons by Peter recorded in the books of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the letters of St. Paul.
Every Sunday we say together the Nicene Creed which represents the efforts of church leaders to clarify what the members of the church should believe about God. From 325 AD through 451 AD three church councils were held to create a statement of belief about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that would unify the church. The history of this time could not be messier or more fraught with conflict. The fourth century emperor, Constantine, had ended the persecution of Christians. In doing so, he hoped that church leaders could agree about what they believed and the church would serve as a source of unity for the empire. Things did not work out as Constantine had hoped. The leaders who lost did not give up the fight. Unity was not achieved—eventually, those who lost at the councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon were declared heretics.
But out of this messiness the gift of the Nicene Creed has been passed on to us as one of our most treasured traditions. In the late 19th century, the Episcopal Church and the Church of England declared that this creed, along with the Apostles Creed, is a source of Christian unity. The very long list of churches accepting the Nicene Creed as authoritative speaks to a type of unity that those Christian leaders of the 4th and 5th centuries strived for.
But we need to return to the two points of view expressed earlier: does the doctrine of the Trinity, expressed in the Nicene Creed, make one bit of difference in our lives right now, in what we would be willing to live and die for, and in what we hope for after our death. I think is does.
Remember that Jesus taught us two great commandments—to love God and to love each other. What we believe in our heart of hearts about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will inform our efforts to follow Jesus' teaching. Our belief about the Trinity will inform how we respond to the messiness of our own lives. Our belief about one God in three Persons will inform our hope for eternal life.
What part of the Creed, what part of the Trinity speaks to your heart and serves as a guide as you try to follow Jesus in all the ups and downs of life? Each us believes in God in individual ways; yet we are joined by the Creed in a community of faith that gives us strength and hope in difficult times. In addition the Trinity provides a space for us, through Jesus, to draw close to God. [I referred to a copy of the Rublev icon of the Trinity, which I showed to the congregation and encouraged them to look at it more closely during coffee hour.]
I experienced the Creed as a way to express my love of God and understand God's love for me when I learned a tune in our hymnal that sets the Creed to music. Please join me in singing S 105 in our Hymnal. I have found this to be a love song to the Triune God with whom we can trust our lives now and for eternity.
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