Today is
Trinity Sunday – that day when I am told that Ministers take the day off to
avoid talking about the Trinity.
Picture of
kitten: How not to commit heresy preaching on the Trinity
Say nothing and show pictures of kittens instead.
Say nothing and show pictures of kittens instead.
As Christians, we have a Trinitarian faith. The
God we hear of in the Old Testament and New Testament are one God. The Creator,
is the same God who walked the earth as Jesus, is the same God as the Holy
Spirit.
For me the Trinity is a reminder that we cannot
fully understand or explain the mystery of God, and God is not limited to what
we can imagine or understand.
One of the implications of the doctrine of the
trinity is non-hierarchical relationships; living in community, being
co-equals, even when gifted differently; none of the ways in which God relates
to us being more important than others. At various times, some images of God,
or ways of thinking about God will be more important to us, individually, but
that doesn’t mean they are more important. One of the traps Christians can fall
into is taking one part of the trinity out of the relationship.
If we see God the Father, as God, and leave out
the Son and the Spirit, we can live as if God is distant, or only interested in
a particular ethnic or religious group. [1]
Where the main object of devotion is Jesus, we
can have a religion of pious devotion, where salvation is in the next life and
there is little or no effort in overcoming oppression or poverty in this life. [2] This type of religion can also be authoritarian as the words or deeds of Jesus
become codified rather than living as part of a Trinitarian faith. [3]
Worshipping the Spirit, without the Father and
Jesus tends to elevate the experience of the believer above all else. Here the
Spirit is disconnected from God and Jesus. [4]
Trinitarian faith helps us to see God more
fully, and to see ourselves more fully. As we worship God in trinity, in
relationship, we can be aware of our sin, and our need for forgiveness and
transformation. We can be aware of our tendency towards individualism and our
need to live in community with God and each other. We can be aware of the
injustice around us and work with God to transform society.
A quote: “God loves in freedom, lives in
community and wills creatures to live in community. God is self-sharing,
other-regarding, community-forming love.”[5]
That means we are included in the love
relationship that is God, a relationship that leads to community and allows us
to live in freedom.
Thanks for sharing, Pearl! I just went back to Migliore last week for Pentecost! Great book.
ReplyDelete