Trinity Sunday: Multiple Choice
Yr. C
Prov. 8:1-4, 22-31; John 16:12-15
5/30/10
Lorraine Ljunggren
[A note to the reader: This sermon began in an interactive way with the congregation actually speaking the answers, rather than by a show of hands. I admit to some ad-libs which are not included in this manuscript – though I recall we enjoyed some laughs and some serious moments.]
Today is Trinity Sunday in the church's calendar so I thought we'd start by having a short multiple choice test. Seems appropriate for the day – multiple choice! I'll read the statement and the choices; after hearing all the choices, I'll read the answers again asking for a show of hands to indicate the preferred or correct answer. So, here we go!
1. Trinity Sunday appears on the church's Sunday calendar
a. once every 5 years,
b. once every 3 years,
c. every year. [answer c – every year]
2. Trinity Sunday is
a. always the last Sunday in May,
b. usually the first Sunday in June,
c. always the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost [answer c]
3. The word trinity means
a. a group of three,
b. the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one,
c. triunity,
d. all of the above [answer d]
4. Trinity Sunday is
a. to remind us we use a three year cycle of readings on Sunday mornings,
b. to remind us God reveals God's self in more than one way,
c. a reason for clergy to wear green stoles [answer b; and of course I'm wearing a white stole – hint, hint]
Now, it gets a bit trickier. J
5. Trinity Sunday was included in the Church Year in the year
a. 1234,
b. 1334,
c. 1434 [answer b – 1334]
6. Trinity Sunday commemorates
a. a discipline of the church,
b. a doctrine of the church,
c. a dogma of the church [answer b – in fact, Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday on which we commemorate a doctrine of the church]
That's the end of our formal multiple choice test. But, truth be told, every time any one of us thinks about, meditates upon, wonders about or calls upon God, we always face multiple choices. Who is God and how do we experience God, or wish we did? What language do we use to name God and what are the limitations of language? In what settings and under what circum-stances is God more or less 'real' to us – more or less present in a way or ways which calls forth faith, and then calls forth some response from us? In what ways do we permit culture to block our ability to imagine God in ways culture will not or cannot explain?
The joke among seminarians and clergy is to take a vacation day on Trinity Sunday because there's no way on God's earth to deal with the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. That made me nervous as a new clergyperson, but I actually think this is a wonderful Sunday because it challenges us to stretch our hearts, minds, and imaginations. It challenges us to stretch how we use language. It gives God yet another chance to reach out to us.
If we look in a theological dictionary, we'll find this entry: “Doctrine means 'teaching.' In Christian tradition the word is used in a broad sense to describe the whole body of Christian teaching, or in a narrower sense to describe what Christians believe about particular aspects of their faith. ... Christian doctrine is not the object of Christian faith. Christians do not believe in this or that doctrine or doctrinal system but in God. Nevertheless doctrines…are the result of their attempt to reflect rationally and consistently about the God in whom they believe and thus to explain and defend their faith and way of life.” (The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology, p. 161)
In the Episcopal Church the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity affirms that the one God is revealed to us in three persons. The traditional way of naming the Holy Trinity is God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. That's the one with which I grew up. But since humans first uttered 'God' there have been and continue to be other ways of speaking of God. Another way of naming the Holy Trinity to which I gravitate is God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer or Sanctifier.
If we look back to the second century of the church's existence, we'll find “Theophilus of Antioch…used [the form] God/Word/Wisdom.” (~181 C.E.) (Synthesis, 2010) “Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (d. 202 A.D.)…preferred to speak
of Wisdom, the Spirit of Christ, and the image of the Father.” (ibid.)
Another truth be told is that the earliest church was less concerned about naming God using Trinitarian language; they were focused on telling people about Jesus and trying to emulate or live like Jesus. And, even by the time the Gospels were written recounting Jesus telling the disciples that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter, would be sent to them, some people believed the Holy Spirit existed from before time while others did not. It took the church several hundred years to duke out the doctrine of the Trinity. The result of those more than lively theological discussions resulted in the Apostles' Creed, the Creed of St. Athanasius, and the Nicene Creed. As a footnote, the Athanasian Creed can be found in the Historical Documents section of The Book of Common Prayer.
But, again, today is dedicated to the idea, the concept, the belief, that God reveals God's self to us in more than one way. It is about how those of us who live our lives in the midst of religious communities come to know and name God.
“John Sanford in an article in The Well Tended Tree … suggested that religious experience might be compared to a scientist studying an atom, who suddenly found that the atom was reaching out to discover the scientist far more than the other way around.” (Encounter with God, Morton Kelsey, Bethany Fellowship, Inc: Minneapolis, 1972, p. 146) Like Sanford's atom I believe God is seeking relationship with each of us and will go to great lengths to open the doors to our hearts, minds, and spirits.
“To speak of God is among the most difficult and audacious things that humans do. ....” (Womanspirit Rising, Ed. Carol P. Christ & Judith Plaskow, Harper & Row: San Francisco, 1979, p. 169)
In the Night Prayers from A Prayer Book for New Zealand God is addressed as “Earth Maker, Pain Bearer, Life Giver” followed by the phrase “source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all…”
For more than a couple of decades I have been drawn to the feminine
aspect of the Divine. When I hear voices in church referring to the Holy Spirit as 'she' in the creeds, I confess boldly it makes my heart glad and, as a woman, I am able to hear myself more fully wrapped in the love of the Divine, the Holy One, God whose name I believe we experience more fully than our human language can capture.
And so it makes sense that in today's reading from Proverbs I am drawn to Wisdom personified as all that is feminine present from before the beginning of creation, involved in creation, present in bringing order out of chaos. Like the breath of God which breathes life into creation, Wisdom is spirit still delighting in the human race, still helping us, female and male, to understand that God is infinitely great, always loving, and ever-present.
What I appreciate about the Doctrine of the Trinity is the freedom to seek and find God according to the needs of our hearts, minds, and spirits. There are days when I need to bask in God as Creator of all that is, beyond, still creating and calling us to be co-creators in the universe; there are days when I need Jesus the Christ concretely human and mysteriously divine looking back at me with compassion and love; and everyday I need the strength of the Holy Spirit inspiring and leading me along paths of peace, justice, and love.
Once again, it all boils down to the reality that every time any one of us thinks about, meditates upon, wonders about, or calls upon God, we always face multiple choices. Who is God and how do we experience God, or wish we did? What language do we use to name God and what are the limitations of language? If we're willing to believe God is seeking relationship with each of us and will go to great lengths to open the doors to our hearts, minds, and spirits, perhaps it's as simple as making a choice. Amen.
©2010
Lorraine Ljunggren