I first learned of the Trinity in Sunday school. My Sunday school teacher described the Trinity by pointing to symbols posted on the wall. One of them was a three-sided triangle and the other three interlocking circles. That one looked suspiciously like the logo for the Olympics. Then she surprised us by cracking an egg and talking about the shell, the outer part of the yolk and the yolk itself. One egg in three layers.
Years later, theology came around and I read books and chapters and articles and treatises on the Holy Trinity.
All of this was very helpful. Both the theology and the Sunday school lessons.
At the end of the day, however, these explanations were just that. Explanations. Yes, they had served a purpose and do serve a purpose but can any of us really explain a mystery as deep and expansive as the Holy Trinity?
Eventually, I began to feel as though all the musings about the Trinity felt like I was on the outside looking in. It began to feel as if God was so wholly other that all we could do with God was engage in speculation, treating the Trinity as an intellectual puzzle. When we spend too much time in that place, our ideas as wonderfully thought out as they are, can whittle God down to nothing more than a concept.
Somewhere along the journey I began to wonder if there was something missing. We can explore God from a distance or even around the edges but the mystery of one God in three persons isn’t confined to the nether world. Nor is this God restricted to my individual heart.
God doesn’t so much dwell in us as we do in God. The Trinity calls for our participation. The church is the community of the Holy Trinity. God beckons us together to life within himself.
There are icons all over this sacred space – beneath the choir loft, in the chapel, near the columbarium and other spots. The beautiful feature of icons is that they do not gives us ideas. They give us faces and stories. Much like good art, they do not seek to explain or define. They are aids to prayer and they serve as windows into the holy. We are drawn into them not through ideas but through our imaginations. They draw us into the very life of God.
One such icon is the Icon of the Holy Trinity that you see up here on the altar this morning and on the cover of your worship bulletin.
This was originally produced in the early 15th century by the Russian artist Andrei Rublev who was inspired by the story of the three angelic being who came to visit Sarah and Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. As you can see, they are reclining. They are waiting while Sarah is making a cake and Abraham is preparing a calf, a feast for the three visitors.
In the background, the house of Sarah and Abraham is now become a temple and the oak trees have been replaced with the Tree of Life. The three persons are gathered around a table waiting for the feast. The table looks a lot like an altar with the cup of the Eucharist in the center. The second person extends two fingers, Jesus himself pointing to both his divine and human nature. These angelic beings have become the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Here we see the Trinity, the inner life of God existing as community. Each person of the Trinity is unique and, at the same time, each is an exact replica of the other. No one person is anymore important than the other.
They are connected interpersonally. As we say in the Creed, the Holy Spirit, with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Here in the Holy Trinity we see the house of love. While Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seated in a circular fashion, the circle is not complete. Notice the opening in the front. That’s for us. There is a place for us, a place for you. The opening is God’s invitation for us to participate in the life of God.
God is begging for our participation. God invites us to dwell in the house of love. The church, as the community of the Trinity, is to embody this very life of God so that our life together and our ministries reflect the light of love. As the community of the Trinity we value relationships, we count on working together and in mutual love, and attempt to be a community of equals while respecting the unique gifts of each and every person. Such a way of living provides witness to a world bent on self-fulfillment or idolization of the autonomous self.
On our own we cannot reflect the perfect love of God. That is why we need God and why we need to dwell in God’s house of love. God is continually beckoning us and making a place for us.
Instead of observing from the outside we are invited to live within the mystery of God inside.
At the beginning of the service the Presider and the assembly exchange the greeting. The Presider says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The assembly responds: “And also with you.” We are, in effect, extending the blessing of the Trinity to each other, the very love of God, grace of Christ, and community of the Spirit.
In other words, may this grace and love and communion of the holy God be with you and in you and all of us together.
When Jesus gave the apostles the great commission to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he commanded them to teach people all that he commands us so as to learn his teachings. The instruction to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is more than a formula or getting the words right. It is a charge to invite people into the life of the church and to tend to the business of formation, making disciples. We learn love by dwelling in this very house of love.
Soon we will gather at this table, this altar, and as always there is a place for you in the divine circle, there is a place for you in the lively dance of the holy trinity. The space is open for us. The circle isn’t complete without you. Here we will feast again, clinging to the very promise of Jesus: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”
Amen.