This weekend we’ll celebrate Trinity Sunday. “We” is probably a misnomer, since hardly anyone beside clergy and parament-changers will realize this. Better thinkers and more articulate writers than I have attempted to explain the Trinity with little success–although I still appreciate St. Patrick’s reference to the shamrock, which has three leaves on one stem. So I’m content to accept the Trinity as one of those Holy Mysteries which paint light into an otherwise gloomy historical scene.
Genesis begins us well: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters…” (1:1-2) I resonate with the image of “wind”: invisible, unpredictable but powerful, it flows over Creation lending its force to Make Things Go. In Hebrew, this is called “ruach”, the breath of God. In Greek, it’s “pneuma”; and in Latin, “spiritus”. Our worship explores this life- energy which roams the earth and presents God when things become formless and dark.
Perhaps the first reference to Trinity comes at the end of the Corinthian correspondence, in Paul’s benediction, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (II 13:13) Jesus (here “Lord” and not “Son”) is primary, as the conduit of grace. God is seen as the ultimate repository of love; and the Spirit knits together the community. (Daniel N. Schowalter, in THE OXFORD COMPANION TO THE BIBLE, p.782) As an apostle to the Very Diverse, Paul knows that the infant Church must be anchored on some common ground, and sees the Spirit as that glue which can unite varied cultures and mores.
Matthew reports that the final earthly words of Jesus are to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (28:19-20) Matthew isn’t as much interested in promulgating the Trinitarian formula as he is in encouraging the team to see the limitless possibilities. Remembering the recent Wind of Pentecost, they’re also to remember the promise of Jesus to send them an Advocate (paraclete, one who stands alongside for strength and comfort), “even the Spirit of Truth”. (John 14:16)
Most of those sitting in pews this weekend are content to pass over the mystery of Holy Trinity, acknowledging its presence, and then re-shelving it for another year. My own prayer is that this Divine Wind will not only Roam the Earth, but will touch where my small boat is moored and fill its limp and tattered sails once again. The journey is at hand! What ports await??
God Bless Us Every One Horace Brown King
My musings on scripture for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook, or at horacebrownking. com
My Blog 
Leave a comment