Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 The Trinitarian Mystery Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Trinity Sunday always arrives one week after Pentecost - the Sunday of the Spirit. So following Easter and Pentecost the whole revelation of the Triune God - Father, Son and Ftoly Spirit — stands before our eyes, presented to our hearts and minds. But Trinity is just a name, perhaps for some of us a cold distant theological idea. How can we warm up to this somewhat puzzling teaching? Perhaps in the Bible we are asked to believe on the God who is 3 in 1 and 1 in 3? No. Perhaps somewhere the Bible reads plainly, “I, your Lord, am 3 in 1 and 1 in 3.” No. But in scripture we are invited to believe in God, to follow the Lord Jesus and to receive the Holy Spirit. In the gospel lesson we hear the last words of our Lord to his disciples. Through the evangelist St. Matthew we hear our Savior say, “Go . . . make disciples . . . baptize and teach in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The teaching about the Trinity is more difficult to understand than many Christian doctrines. On that account some absurd ideas have arisen from time to time. It is said that one church group prayed to each person of the Trinity until they received the answer they wanted. Some misunderstand the mathematics of Trinity, thinking 1 + 1 + 1 = 1, an impossible sort of math, equivalent to a round square or a square circle. So it is technically not best to say, “The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” We really mean the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to the divine self. . . and giving to us the Spirit of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:19 paraphrase) Allow me to share with you a bit of my own experience. I have known the strong sense of God’s Spirit in pursuit of me. Like the wind whistling through the lattice I have tried to shut it out. But it has been a breeze I could not escape. I quote the words of Frances Thompson: When the Spirit caught up with me and tracked me down, what I saw was the human face of Jesus. I was impressed with the text in the Hebrew epistle that read, “He was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 paraphrase) This sense of God with us and for us proved winsome and magnetic to me. By this route I have come to the One who inhabits eternity - the Father. I asked, “How?” and I asked “Why?” and then I felt the sense of Job. After Job asks many questions, God says, “You have asked; now you are the one to be questioned.” (See Job 38:1-3 paraphrase) I do not mean to suggest that his is or should be your pattern of experience. Each of us comes to faith in the uniqueness of our personhood. But on Trinity Sunday we ask: Is it not truewhatever our various journeys - that the three meanings of God mingle into one? We know the God who creates, who redeems and who resides, and we know this is the one God. The Triune God, however, remains a mystery. How foolish is the preacher who seeks to explain. Such is the foolishness of preaching, as St. Paul admits. For we stand not before an Agatha Christie sort of mystery where all the pieces eventually fall into place. Rather we stand before a mystery which like a gentle, benign mist on the shore envelopes us, perhaps frightening at first, then enclosing us, offering us quiet and nurturing assurance. So we do not seek to unravel all the tangled twine of Trinity, as if we could. Rather, we seek to help each other to be caught up in the God who is beyond us, yet who comes to us, and who as a gentle breeze whispers to us the no and yes of God’s will. This message calls us to move beyond analysis to worship. In the words of the psalmist: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth ... Who are we that you are mindful of us? O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic Is your name in all the earth. (Psalm 8 excerpts) In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God forever, world to its end. Amen. David B. Bowman, Pli.D CHANGE OFADDRESS FORM Name....................................................................... Subscription No...................................................... Old Address:........................................................... New Address:......................................................... I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the arches of the years. I fled him down the labyrinthian ways of my mind And in the midst of tears I hid from Him. But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace And a Voice saying, ‘All things betray thee, that betrays me’
