When you get right down to it there are
only a few things that fall under “doctrine” in the Church, those
things that the Church says are required to be an orthodox Christian.
Those things include: God created; Jesus was fully human and fully
divine; Jesus was sinless; Christ died, risen, will come again;
baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the
Trinity, 3-in-1 and 1-in-3. Almost everything else is up for debate,
and can therefore fall under “discipline” as opposed to doctrine.
And once again we spend this first Sunday after Pentecost exploring
and honoring that aspect of the Godhead that confuses people to no
end – the Holy Trinity.
On this day preachers everywhere try to
articulate the concept of the Trinity to their congregations. And
congregations every year try to wrap their brains around this
particular concept. Either that or they sit dumbfounded as the
preacher drifts further and further into heresy.
In some places the Creed of St.
Athanasius will be read. In others, people will hear about water,
apples, eggs, fingers, or clovers. Last year I handed out a sheet
listing all the major heresies and what classifies as orthodox
Trinitarian understanding. And I've often said that, when talking
about the Trinity, anything more than “3-in-1 and 1-in-3” will
get you in trouble.
A Facebook friend of mine, seeing my
post about writing today's sermon, suggested I simply show pictures
of kittens.
So here we are once again proclaiming
our belief in the Trinity and trying to explain the unexplainable.
First, where did we, or how did we,
come up with the doctrine of the Trinity? Because it is not
self-evident in reading through Scripture. In fact, there is only
one place where the Trinity is explicitly referenced and that is at
the end of Matthew: “Go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit.” Additionally, the word “Trinity” does not appear
anywhere in Scripture. (Mention that the next time a “biblical
literalist” spouts off about why he or she hates a certain class of
people.)
Trinitarian theology was first
explicitly developed by Theophilus of Antioch around the year 180
c.e. Different views and expressions arose over time that were later
determined to be unorthodox or outright heretical. Eventually the
doctrine was defined at Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381
respectively.
So where do we get this idea of the
Trinity in scripture if that word never appears and there's only one
outright reference to it? Well, like God is revealed in a variety of
ways and over time, the doctrine of the Trinity was slowly revealed
in a variety of ways and over time. Here are the most common
scriptural references that Christians take as revealing the Trinity:
In the beginning when God created the
heavens and the earth, the spirit of God swept over the face of the
waters. And God spoke. – Genesis 1
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the
oaks of Mamre. He looked up and saw three men. – Gen. 18:1-2
Make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. – Matt. 28:19
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
– 2 Cor. 13:13
In these and other places Christians
began to see and formulate the idea that God exists and is revealed
in three persons, one substance, unified but self-differentiated.
And through their study and prayer and discussion, the doctrine of
the Trinity arose.
This is all well and good to help give
an understanding of where and how the doctrine originated. And it
probably helps to have an idea of the difference between orthodox and
unorthodox understandings. But how can we understand it? How can
our human minds understand something so deep and mysterious as the
nature of God? Because regardless of the various examples, the
Trinity is not water, apples, fingers, or clovers.
I think the answer might be found in
the relationship of a dance. Think about the greatest pair of
dancers in our history – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Those two
did amazing things when paired together. Or maybe you would prefer
the image of ice dancers at the winter Olympics. Or maybe you can
see it in Dancing with the Stars.
However you imagine it, dancers may be
our best image of the Trinitarian God.
God the Father is represented by the
dance itself. The dance is a series of choreographed moves designed
to bring two people together. Their reason for being is the dance.
And as the dancers move together, the dance can be seen as its own
entity.
God the Son is represented by Fred
Astaire. He was both a dancer and a choreographer. Through his
influence, he brought others into dancing. Besides dancing with
another person, he also danced alone. But when we watch him alone we
recognize that the dance is incomplete without another. That other,
that third person of the dance, or the third person of the Trinity,
is Ginger Rogers.
God the Holy Spirit is represented by
Ginger. She makes the dance complete. Ginger worked with Fred to
enhance, tweak, and complete the choreography. Like the Holy Spirit
blows where it will and we know not how, Ginger danced perfectly with
Fred “backwards and in high heels,” and most of us know not how.
This image of the Trinity as a dance
has been made before, so it isn't my idea. But out of all the
explanations and examples we have for the Trinity, I believe this is
the best one.
Two people dance in and around a
relationship that has three distinct aspects – the dance itself,
and each of the two partners. The dance itself is the reason for
all. The dance generates the first dancer and the other partner
proceeds from the dancer. None is greater than the other, none is
less than the other. And like dancers often say, “The dance was in
me from the beginning,” so it is that the dance didn't create the
dancers, but that they were there from the beginning. The dance and
dancers are united but also differentiated, just as the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are united but differentiated.
The dance, as with the dance of Astaire
and Rogers, when it comes together perfectly is unified in the three
parts, and the three parts reflect unity. The same can be said of
the Godhead where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have Unity in Trinity
and Trinity in Unity.
The Trinitarian Godhead is a dance of
three equal parts. When we participate in a dance, or when we
participate in a loving relationship, the Trinity is manifest in us
and we help reveal God's glory to the world.
As followers of Christ who worship the
One God in Trinity, may we go forth from here and teach the world to
dance.
Amen.
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