Trinity: It's Not Just for Theologians Anymore...

Westminster Presbyterian Church
June 3rd 2007

Rev. Mark Bradshaw-Miller
Proverbs Romans John
“Trinity: It’s Not Just for Theologians Anymore!”


Last year the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church recommended a document called: “Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing.” In the days following its approval the press made claims that we had stopped believing in the classical Trinitarian formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The press coverage caused a great deal of concern for a number of our Presbyterian brothers and sisters. In fact, on one website from a group of concerned Presbyterians, it was claimed that ‘Godless-Wiccan-Feminists’ were to blame for this blasphemy. And that was some of the more gracious commentaries.
While we could spend our time unpacking what is actually in the paper, I believe we have more important things to talk about. However, it is important to know that these ‘crazy liberal folk’ got their ideas from such dangerous publications like; the Bible and that bastion of blasphemy; John Calvin. It is clear that many people who spoke publicly did so without concern for the actual substance of the report. While I was not one who was angered by the report, I was disappointed with it. My disappointment had to do with my hope that the report would make it clear to non-church professionals and interested parties why the Trinity matters.
It is my opinion that many people in the church, and most outside the church, do not see the necessity of this particular Christian belief. It is almost as if the Trinity is a mere appendix to the life of faith, a part of the body of faith but not necessary. On this account, the report was less than satisfactory. But, in fairness, that was not the goal of their work. So, my plan this morning is to attempt to make a case why the Trinity actually matters in our day-to-day life.
I have not always believed that the Trinity is a cornerstone of Christian belief. However, I am personally convinced that it is essential and worthy of recovery in the church. But, before I get to why I believe that, let us take a few moments with the particulars of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity cannot be easily pointed to in the bible. It can be inferred but it is not explicit. For the first three hundred years after Jesus death, the Trinity was not a universally accepted Christian belief. It wasn’t until the Council of Nicaea in 325 that it became a uniform Christian Doctrine. Since this is not a sermon on that first Christian council, where believers from all over gathered to solidify doctrine, I will not go into the intricate details of the religious and Political intrigue. However, until that time there was diversity in Christian belief that would boggle the modern imagination.
One of the major issues facing the church at that time was the person of Jesus. Questions about the nature of Jesus were instrumental in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. The accepted formula was the Jesus was both fully human and fully God. Jesus became to be understood as not only existing at the moment of his birth, but since before creation. So Jesus became identified with woman wisdom found in Proverbs as well as the Logos or Word of God which was also present at creation. Along with the Spirit, Jesus, and the Father, it could have been construed as having multiple God’s but this would not do. The scripture is clear that God is one, and yet made known to us in the three persons of the Trinity. This is represented in the classic formula; Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
In speaking to his followers Jesus called God Abba. In doing so he invited others to do the same. The invitation was not about claiming that God was a male. Instead it was a sign and symbol meant to express deep intimacy. After all, Abba is a word better translated as daddy, a term of love and informality. So insistence on ‘Father-language’ in our setting does not convey the same intimacy. In fact, it establishes a formality which Jesus was out to undermine. I have come to believe strongly that until we are able to express the central role of the love of God and the intimacy offered in our relationship with God, the ongoing struggles over language are revealed as more about power and uniformity instead of orthodoxy.
What I find most compelling about the doctrine of the Trinity has to do with another doctrine all together. The doctrine is found in Genesis where God decides to create human beings, male and female, in God’s image. If God is triune that means that God’s being and essence is about interrelatedness. What comes from this is that we, as people created in the image of God cannot be fully human, let alone Christian, unless we are in relationship with other people. It means that human beings were created to be in relationship. Interrelatedness is at the core of human nature.
As we wrestle with the mystery of the Trinity we learn how we are to relate with one another. Theologian Catherine LaCugna writes that "The doctrine of the Trinity is about God's life with us and our life with each other.” So, instead of becoming a remote philosophical doctrine, it is the ground for our actions and relationships with one another and the world. How we treat our neighbors, those next door, next to us in the pew, on the other side of town, and even those living on the other side of the world (even those we call enemy) is, in fact, a living expression of our faith in God.
We live in a time which thrives on divisive politics and inflamed rhetoric. Too often the church, our denominations and others, seems to offer little different than the Sunday morning talk shows and the minions who dominate talk radio. So, instead of providing fodder for these folks, let us find, in the doctrine of the trinity, the ground for our corporate witness in the world. I believe that the Trinity is not a doctrine which can be discarded from our faith. It is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that we come to understand that the triune God is love. Made in the image of the loving God we are called to live this love each day of our lives. As we prepare to join together in the Lord’s Supper, let us pray that it be a sign, a public witness to the triune God’s love for the world. Amen.