More than a numeracy hour -- Trinity Sunday

Psalm 8

John 16: 12 - 15

“Show me a worm that can comprehend a human being, and then I will show you a human being that can comprehend the Triune God.”

So said John Wesley. With such a comment by our glorious founder, I have to confess that I have felt more than a little tempted to follow the advice of Colin Morris who not so long ago was the minister at Mr Wesley’s church in City Road, London who once observed;

“Any preacher with good sense will call in sick on Trinity Sunday.”

Well being of something less that good sense, I will at least make an effort this morning to grapple with the importance of Trinity Sunday.

Why you may ask should I bother with a doctrine that does not explicitly appear in the Scriptures, a doctrine which today is as likely as not to met in many a British church with a deep yawn?

Well, in part my reason is that it mattered greatly to those who in the early centuries after Jesus, faced the challenge of working out how Jesus should be understood. As they reflected on Jesus, they found themselves becoming convinced that Jesus was not just another man. They began to talk of Jesus as being God. But of course given their Jewish background, they could not believe in there being more than one God. And so, a series of controversies took place within the church. The African theologian Tertullion by the early third century began to use the term “Trinity” as he spoke of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being “one in essence - not one in person.”

But it was in the early fourth century that the matter exploded. The converted Roman Emperor Constantine had no time for divisions within the church. It didn’t suit his political needs and so he began to press the church to resolve its differences. But this was a time when there was developing the mother of all bust ups. Its central figure was a priest named Arius who lived in Alexandria. Arius took the view that whilst Jesus was Divine, he was created by and possibly inferior to the Father.

Now Arius was by no means the first to take this view but he raised it at a time when the pressure was on to resolve the matter. And so there was quite a flare up. People came to blows over the matter and for a time it was every bit as divisive a matter as for example are views on the Iraq War in our society today. Oh yes, this doctrine was very much the stuff of street fights - those were the days!

Ultimately, Arius did not win. At a great council of bishops held in Niceae, Arius and his beliefs were roundly condemned. A few years later, they would have a brief resurgence but it is the dominant view of the Council of Niceae that has dominated ever since within the Christian Church.

And what is that view. Put simply, it is that God is One, but three distinct persons constitute that One God - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And this is the view held by what might be termed the mainstream churches of Christianity.

Now, of course, none of this makes it easy to understand. I recall that when I was in training doing a course relating to the Trinity, I discovered how easy it was to slip into some sort of heresy or other. I can certainly appreciate the second of not the first part of Martin Luther’s terse summary of the struggle to respond properly to the doctrine of the Trinity. Here is what he said;

“To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation. To try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.”

Well, this morning, I wouldn’t wish to endanger anyone’s sanity, least of all my own. But I want to argue that it is not just for historical reasons that the Trinity matters. For it matters also as a response to the big question that has been asked down the ages;

“What is God like?”

And that is a vital question. For many experts in religion tell us that people try to be like the God they worship. If your vision of God is violent, domineering and materialistic, then that is what you are likely to become. If your vision of God is peaceful, domination free and self giving, then that is what you are likely to become.

And so here, the Trinity becomes revealed as more than a mere game with numbers. For the doctrine of the Holy Trinity tells us that God essentially lives in community. And that unity is a relationship that is fundamentally equal. Contrary to what Arius thought, there is no pecking order in the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equally God. And here, we find that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit far from being an abstract doctrine, is a living doctrine which challenges fundamentally some of the norms of our age. For too often we think in terms of individualism yet the doctrine of the Trinity tells us that the God example is one of community where we think of our being interrelated across barriers. The world is not just about Me and Mine but about a sense of sharedness. And more than that, too often when we think of hierarchical structures be they based on race, gender or class yet the doctrine of the Holy Trinity tells us that the God example is rooted in equality of worth and status. For the climbing the greasy pole of personal advantage has absolutely no warrant in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

And finally the doctrine of the Holy Trinity tells us that the unity of the Holy trinity is rooted in love. Here there is no competition but a harmony that reaches out into the whole world. We see it in many ways. The eight Psalm has reminded us of that love in creation. The life and death of Jesus has shown us that love in a life lived to bring value to others and a sacrificial death to bring us to a true experience of what it is to live. And in the promise of Jesus to his disciples, the promise of the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the guidance into truth that we need in our journey of life.

In these things, we find that the Holy Trinity far from being a subject for yawns, is the sign of the reality of a God who is all that we dream of and need - and yet more beside. We find revealed a God who is both for us and a pattern that should be a guide as to how we live our lives and see the world. For here, we encounter the absolute wonder that is God.

Back for the moment to the world of the ancients. A legend is told of that great fifth century saint, Augustine of Hippo. In it he was walking by the sea meditating on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. He longed to explain it logically. As he walked he saw a small child all on her own. Time and again the little girl filled a cup with sea water and then poured it into a hole that she had made in the sand. After some time Augustine approached her to ask what she was doing.

“I am trying to empty the sea into this hole,” the girl replied.

“But how do you think that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with such a tiny cup.” asked the Saint.

Only for the girl to respond;

And how do you suppose that with your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?”

And that is a fair question. We can never adequately comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity. It is beyond us. But it still calls on us to take it seriously for in the mystery we see God being gloriously revealed to us. So this morning I encourage you to behold the mystery. I encourage you to see the God who is involved intimately in all things throughout all the markers of time and into eternity. I encourage you to see the God who is beyond your dreams and who meets you in all points of need. I encourage you to see the God whose being in community offers a pattern to each of us.

But don’t worry if like me you find it so desperately hard to write an essay on the Holy Trinity. Much more important is to wonder at it and to bask in the sheer glory of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.


This sermon was preached in Bideford Methodist Church on Sunday June 3td 2007