The Upload
Posted on May 20, 2016 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week.
This Sunday, May 22, is Trinity Sunday. It is the one day in the whole church year in which we actually celebrate a church doctrine. Although we use the term “trinity” as though it was a word explained in scripture, the word is never found in scripture. The church made up this doctrine and actually created the term “the Trinity” for God.
Now, before you start saying that this is wrong, the church shouldn’t do such things, it is important to understand the Doctrine of the Trinity was, and is, necessary. You see, in the early days of the church, beginning right after Jesus ascended into heaven, the people began to wrestle with how to describe their experience with God. They sought language that would describe a God that revealed himself to them in so many different ways. From the beginning, they had experienced God in many different ways. In creation, we are told “a wind from God (God’s Spirit) swept over the face of the waters” (1:2). In later times, as we read in Proverbs 8:1, we are told how God revealed God’s self to the world as “wisdom,” a feminine revelation of God that we often ignore. Then some 2000 years ago, God chose to reveal himself to the world in human form as Jesus. And through all of this time, God often revealed himself in paternal ways to his creation. The early church sought a way to share their real-life experiences with God and, in doing so, the Doctrine of the Trinity provided them a partial answer. God, although one, revealed himself to the world in many ways, and most specifically as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now, there is nothing wrong with this doctrine and I use this language all the time, but it was not intended to be the only way to talk about God.
The language “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” was created as a way to describe a God that was a relational God that desired to be in relationship with his creation. And, in fact, this Sunday, along with remembering the language of the Trinity, we are reminded that this relational God is still with us in the form of the Advocate, or the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit will continue open our eyes and our hearts to God’s truth.
Yes, there is more truth for all of us to learn. As much as the church likes to claim it has the answers, the truth is, we don’t. The truth is, as we go about living in this ever-changing world, God is still revealing to us how we are to treat each other and how we are to live and love as Jesus loved. There is a bumper sticker that many Christians love to put on their cars that reads, “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!” Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday, John 16:12-15, Jesus begins by saying, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” There is much for us to come to know, and the truth is, yes, the Bible is God’s Word, but we are not yet capable of fully understanding it.
May God’s Spirit continue to open our hearts, our eyes, and our minds to God’s truth each and every day of our lives.
Have a blessed week!
Shalom,
Pr. Dave