Thomas J Parlette
“The Mystery of the Trinity”
Genesis 1:1- 2:4
6/7/2020
So it’s Trinity Sunday today. Last week, we celebrated Pentecost, perhaps our most colorful Sunday of the year as we break out the red banners and vestments and celebrate the birthday of the church with talk of wind and flame. It’s a pretty dramatic Sunday in the church year.
And that brings us to Trinity Sunday – perhaps our most confusing Sunday of the year. Some of our best hymns were written for this Sunday, but the theology of the day can be hard to grasp – and I’ll be honest, it can be hard to explain and preach on too.
And we don’t get too much help from the historical documents of the church either. For instance, consider the ancient Creed of Athanasius, one that’s still found in the Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church. This creed begins with “we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.”
Then, trying to further clarify the three persons, the creed continues: “The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible… And yet… there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one created, and one incomprehensible.”(1)
And we are left with the question – “WHAT!!!”
You see what I mean that this can be a confusing Sunday.
Whereas Pentecost is one of the most dramatic and colorful Sundays of the church year – Trinity Sunday is one of the most mysterious and sometimes confusing Sundays in our liturgical year.
Which might explain why the lectionary puts the first creation story from Genesis as our Old Testament Reading for today. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with the concept of the Trinity – but perhaps it’s inclusion speaks more to the mysterious of this day, rather than the theology.
The creation story in Genesis 1 is certainly mysterious – “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless….. void. And darkness covered the face of the waters…. While a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”
It’s not science, but poetry – poetry rooted in faith rather than biological facts. God spoke, and creation happened.
The author of Genesis 1 did not debate or defend the divine role and presence but simply assumed that there was a God who created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was chaos. Then God breathed over the chaos, over the watery mess, and God’s ruach (breath, wind, or spirit are all appropriate translations) moved over and separated the waters. God spoke, and order began to take place. God spoke and the world appeared. God spoke, and divided the day from the night. God spoke, and separated the water from the land. Out of the chaos came order and life. An important thing to remember in when we see so much chaos around us – God’s Spirit brings order and life.
The description of creation is precisely ordered. In the first three days of creation, God created the habitat – day and night/ heaven and the oceans/ earth and sea. In the next three days, God created the inhabitants forth this space – sun, moon and stars/ birds and sea creatures/ cattle and all animals, including earthlings, known as humans. (2)
Be sure to take note of the order of creation. God didn’t make human beings and then provide them with animals. No, the animals were created first and then human beings last. The way this text is structured, it puts humans into the leading role.
Think of attending a play or a musical. At the end of the show is the curtain call. This wouldn’t seem like a big deal – but for those in the theater world, it is. The curtain call even gets it’s own music in the score – at least most of the time.
It starts with the actors that had the smallest parts and works it’s way to the lead actors. For those who’ve been in a play or a musical, the importance of the curtain call is well known, and it’s always something you rehearse in that last week of preparation.
Well, here in the creation story, humans receive the last bow, the final curtain call. Everything else is on the stage, and humanity enters, then God declares creation good, and takes a Sabbath break to enjoy what has been accomplished – the applause of heaven, perhaps.
Humans are the crown jewel of God’s created order. To paraphrase Paul in Ephesians 2:10 – “You are God’s masterpiece.” God created the world because God loves people, after all, we’re the only ones made in the image of God.
So, instead of getting swept away by the theology of the day, perhaps we should concentrate on the mystery of this Trinity Sunday. What do we learn when we hear the story of creation?
We hear over and over again that God believes creation is good. God loves creation. And above all, God loves humans. When we look through the mystery of creation, what do we see? We see God’s love for us and God’s desire to provide for us and be with us.
Perhaps a visual depiction of the Trinity would help more than complicated theological concepts.
There is one classic image called “Trinity” by Andrei Rublev, a Russian artist, who painted it in 1425.
Through his praying with Scripture, Rublev began to understand the three messengers who visited Abraham and Sarah and announced the future birth of a child to this aged couple as precursors of the Holy Trinity of the New Testament. In the icon depicting that scene, he draws three figures seated around three sides of a square table. There is an opening on the fourth side immediately in front of the viewer.
As one gazes on this image, one is aware of the vast silence that surrounds the three figures. They seem to be looking into each other with an unqualified dignity, respect and loving gaze – three distinct persons, three yet one. The fourth side to the table is left open intentionally by Rublev, signaling an invitation for the person viewing the image to draw near, even to sit at the table and join in the intimate conversation taking place. In a profound sense the person viewing the icon completes the image by joining the divine circle of the Sacred Three.(3)
The concept of the Trinity then becomes an invitation to sit with God, known in three different ways, and experience the love of God.
Another very different understanding of the Trinity comes from Meister Eckhart, a 14th century German mystic. His take may be a bit unusual, but it is one of my favorites. He wrote that God the Father laughed, and the Son was born. Then the two of them laughed, and the Spirit was born. When all of them laughed, the human being was born. For Eckhart, the mystery of the Trinity was surrounded by peals of golden laughter at the heart of the universe.(4) The Trinity becomes an expression of God’s joy.
The Trinity may be a confusing and mysterious concept, but at the center of the mystery is God who created the world good – whose crowning achievement was the creation of human beings, all human beings. So let us come to the table and celebrate the gifts of God.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Carole Crumley, Feasting on the World, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p26.
2. Lynn Japinga, Connections, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p3.
3. Carole Crumley, Feasting on the Word, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p28, 30.
4. Ibid… p30.
