A Reflection for Trinity Sunday
By Ross Hebb
IN THE CURRENT ATMOSPHERE of Western Anglicanism, there is hardly anything that sets a Parish more apart as “Prayer Bookish” and retro than the observance of Trinity Sunday. Canadian Anglicanism relinquished the term over thirty years ago. Instead of Trinity Sunday and Trinity season we now have Pentecost and Sundays after Pentecost. Not that there is anything awry with Pentecost, but I have yet to hear any compelling reason for the change other than a determination to mimic Rome, embrace change and eschew anything that reminds us of Anglicanism’s historic liturgical treasure – the “Book of Common Prayer.”
So why is there a Trinity Sunday? That such a question even needs to be asked is telling. Why is it necessary to ‘justify’ a Sunday devoted to a consideration of the God whom we worship? Surely if anything is self-evident and obvious to all, this observance should be. But perhaps not these days. It is a Sunday traditionally given to a consideration of the God we worship – the God who reveals himself in Scripture. Here an answer begins to emerge – for to say that the Trinity is the God of the Bible is to assert a truth, and an approach to Scripture, which challenges many Christians. It means we have to think outside the box of easy, literalist, fundamentalist inclined ‘interpretations.’ As the Jehovah’s Witnesses so correctly point out – the term ‘Trinity’ is not found in the Bible. But neither are planes, trains or automobiles or my name for that matter. But I am sure that all these things exist. So too with God.
Secondly, the very word ‘Trinity’ forces us to think. As contemporary Westerners we have been discouraged to do that in relation to our religion. ‘Thinking’ is for other areas of our lives like school, politics and the stock market but not in relation to our Faith! Such an activity could be dangerous – even destructive. Thinking might undermine our ‘faith.’ This is simply silly. Did not Jesus say that He was the Truth? So, simply stated, to seek the Truth is to draw closer to God. There is, however, a caveat. Who is to be the ultimate judge of what is truth? Remember Pilate? If human reasoning is the ultimate measure of all things truthful, if the truthfulness of our faith is restricted to what humans can easily and immediately comprehend, then we are truly in trouble. If the pandemic has revealed anything, it is the scarcity of ‘common sense’ and the absence of ‘commonality’ amongst our fellow citizens as they ‘reason.’ Clearly our reasonings are incomplete and flawed. We mere mortals are in no position to judge what is proper and reasonable about God’s very Nature. Surely, we must realize, in humility, that God’s self-revelation to humanity in Scripture is geared to our limited capabilities. Now, at the very best, we see in and through a glass – darkly. And so, Scripture communicates the truth concerning our God by means of symbolism, figures and images.
The early Church, that is, early Christians thinking, praying and living the Faith for two centuries, eventually coined the term “Trinity” to name the reality of the God they believed in, worshipped and heard of in the evolving canon of Scripture. It would be another 150 years before that same organic, ever-evolving, Spirit-guided body of believers would decide what books made up the New Testament! The truth is that the term ‘Trinity’ came into use before the finalized version of the New Testament even existed. The propriety of this chronology is comforting – after all, God, the Holy Trinity existed before the Bible.
But let’s be clear. I am not arguing that belief in the Trinity is irrational. Very much the contrary. I am stating that God cannot be fully comprehended by our limited, creaturely knowledge. So, what can we understand about the Trinity? Now we turn necessarily to images and comparisons that are by their very nature limited and imperfect. The first, very imperfect, comparison I offer is this: the Trinity is like fire. The burning wick of a candle consists of flame, heat and light. There are not three burning wicks but one only. So too God is one, but at the same time Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The burning wick is one, but at the same time is also flame, heat and light. Furthermore, the flame is not the heat, nor the light, but is necessarily related to each of them. So too each ‘Person’ of the Trinity is distinct yet related to the other two.
Now for a better and more biblical image. Scripture relates that God said in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.” (Notice the use of the term ‘us’ in the very first chapter of the Bible.) What can this mean? The fundamentalist might at first think, contrary to repeated Scriptural warnings to the contrary, that God has a physical existence like ours. After all, does not Genesis say that the “Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8)? It definitely does, but perhaps this is best understood as an anthropomorphism – Scripture adopting a form of speech for easier human comprehension. After all, let us remember what Truth said – “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). Furthermore, if we were to succumb to the notion that God has a body like us, we immediately encounter all sorts of troubles – Is the body male or female or both? How is He completely present, at all times and in all places, if He is limited to a physical body? Why can’t we see Him? And on and on the silliness proceeds.
We are ‘like’ God not by possessing a body but in that we share certain non-physical qualities similar to God. We possess memory, understanding and the ability to will or to love. Not just memories but the capacity of memory in all its dimensions – to recall, to sort, and to reassemble our memories. We all know persons we have loved who, to some extent or another, lost their memories. Insofar as their memory was gone, they too were no longer present. This is the sort of memory I mean – it is, in a very real and powerful sense, who we are.
But so too is the ability to reason or to know. This is an extraordinary ability. It is best seen in children as they develop from gurgling, bubbling bodies into inquisitive toddlers, speech-acquiring children and then early readers. Children best embody and exemplify this amazing human capacity to know.
Finally, there is our capacity to will or to love. This is the capacity we think we most appreciate. As 21st-century people we are naturally very enamoured of our ability to choose. Making choices is all the rage. Sadly, we, like the lead character in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade often “choose unwisely.” We find it difficult to know what is the good which we are to love. Our wills are conflicted, sometimes even tormented. The ability to will or to choose love also implies the ability to choose to hate and to pursue not love, but selfishness. Our choices are the ultimate two-edged sword – they can equally lead us to hell as they can incline us toward heaven.
And so, we, as individual human beings, are made in the image and likeness of God. We are possessed of memory, understanding and love – three distinct qualities or characteristics in each of us. By means of this similitude, however imperfect, we possess a means by which to better understand our God and by so doing, draw ever closer to Him. Blessed be our God, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. TAP
Rev Dr Hebb, Rector of St Peter’s, Fredericton (until July 1st).
Editor’s Note: For further reading, Alister E. McGrath’s Understanding the Trinity is a fine volume for laity and clergy alike.
