So, today is what is called, in the liturgical calendar of the Christian church, Trinity Sunday – a day when we recall the divine as imaged in Christian tradition. Not only for those who were not formed in this tradition but for those who were, it is a bit of a puzzle. God is one but at the same time three, named Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; or Creator, Savior, and Spirit.
Those of us in Christian communities are offered a variety of images to help us understand this conundrum. I remember as a child being told that I could image the Trinity as an egg. There is shell, white and yolk, and yet the egg is one. This morning projected on the screen at the front of the church was another common image – three overlapping circles.
I could recite other examples as well but these don’t really work because, in the end the shell, white, and yolk are actually distinguishable and separate things. The circles, although joined, are in fact three separate circles. But according to the tradition, the three of the Trinity are not exactly three, but One, a tri-unity!
The ancient theologians worked out the formulae: “three persons, one substance;” or, as stated of Jesus in the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God . . .” The intent is to ensure that we do not understand that there are three Gods. Although there are distinct and seemingly separate functions, and although Jesus makes reference to the Father and the Spirit as though they are distinct from himself, the tradition insists that there is but one God. Confusing enough?
Hmm!! So why am I writing about this? My purpose in this blog is to articulate, as best I can, where I stand - where I am coming from in terms of faith and understanding - and to suggest how faith and understanding connect with real-world practice, particularly in a practice that aims toward creating a world of greater justice and equality. So, if I were left only with the logical conundrum of understanding the Trinity I probably would have left the notion of Trinity behind long ago. But, in fact, I have come across ways to approach this concept of God that I do in fact find fruitful.
One of the best studies I have read on this subject is the book by Brazilian liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, titled Trinity and Society. Boff offers a rich reflection on the historical stages and development of the doctrine of the Trinity, which helps bring clarity to the process even if it does not satisfy the conundrum. However, the insight that Boff provides that I find most valuable is to see the divine as not a lone, isolated, caught-up-in-itself, solitary, figure (Gollum of “Lord of the Rings” comes to mind) but rather as a relational, communal reality within itself.
Now, I recognize that that does not resolve the logical challenge. But if one believes in a reality greater than the universe perceived by our five human senses – which I do – and if one agrees that somehow the ideal toward which we are called is one of peaceful, just, community and that somehow this calling is embedded in the very nature and substance of our World (with a big “W”), then it make sense that the Over-arching Reality, call it the Divine, be itself relational and communal. Boff argues that part of the genius of the Christian faith is to have recognized this inter-personal, relational, community quality of the divine. Personally, for me – David Crump – this is what is valuable. The metaphors of “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit” are useful and, as someone whose first faith (as in first language) was Christianity, I find personal and emotive meaning in them but as someone who recognizes that Truth is represented in many and varied ways within human religious and cultural experience, I am not limited to the trinitarian paradigm of Christianity. However, I value the sense that the Foundation, the Great Mover, the Creator, the Spirit – whatever name one uses – is relational and communal within itself.
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| Andrei Rublev's Sanctissima Trinitas |
A second fruitful reflection for me on the Trinity comes through an ancient visual image, the icon titled “Sanctissima Trinitas,” painted by the Russian monk, Andrei Rublev, in the fifteenth century. The image features three figures – representing the three traditional persons of the Trinity - sitting and in conversation at a table. Again, this does not solve the three-in-one conundrum. In fact, the image suggests three rather than one. But the richness of this image comes in something else for me. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite spiritual writers provides a beautiful, prayerful meditation on the icon in his book Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons. He points out that, as we approach the painting, we see an open space before us at the front of the table, and if we reflect on this we can come to understand that we are being invited to “participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three . . . and to join them at the table.”(p. 20) One tradition concerning this icon says that the painting originally featured a mirror in the space at the front of the table, so that when the worshiper approached the icon they would actually see themselves reflected in the image. So, the relational communion within Spirit itself becomes an invitation for us to be a part of that holy communion and, in a bigger sense, we are invited to form and join one great communion with all of humankind, our sisters and brothers.
Bringing out the historical context of conflict and destruction taking place in fifteenth-century Russia, Nouwen offers that part of the intention of the icon is that, as we are drawn ever more deeply into this mysterious place of communion, “we come to understand how to be committed to the struggle for justice and peace in the world while remaining at home in God’s love.” (p. 27)
So, on this Trinity Sunday, I am not so concerned about figuring out the logic of three and one, but I open myself to the vision of a holy communion gathered and committed to working together to create a world more in the image of the Holy One, a world of true community, justice, and peace.