Trinity

From EpiscoWiki

At the center of the Christian proclamation is not an idea but a set of persons bound in mystery. For convenience we speak of God; for convenience we speaking of a Supreme Being--but the God we worship is no being but is beyond being, beyond our frail and hollow words, beyond our frail and hollow concepts and ways of wrapping our minds around the world. For convenience we speak of God--we speak of the Trinity--but in reality we speak of the mystery at the heart of life.

Now this word "Trinity," This word arises from centuries, from millennia, of interactions with God. This God we worship is no philosophical principle but constantly interacts with humanity and the whole created sphere--not impersonal but deeply personal. As this time has passed, God has revealed three root metaphors that are particularly apt for speaking of the three persons who exist in the unity that is the truth of God. Three metaphors: "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" are the primary ways that God is known among us, ways that we believe that God is revealed and continues to communicate to us.

Think not, however, of two men and a breeze; think, rather, of the mystery that lies at the heart of life.

These deep root metaphors ground our understanding of our relationship with God. But, in recognizing them as metaphors, we recognize that they both point to a reality yet fail to capture or exhaust the reality to which they point. Other metaphors spoken in Scripture--"Rock", "Hiding Place", "Lamb"--too are fitting in so far as they point to the three persons in unity, bound in relationship, who choose to interact with humanity and the created sphere.

Think not of two men and a breeze; think, rather, of the mystery that lies at the heart of life.

Creating, redeeming, sustaining, and sanctifying: these are acts in which God rejoices. All three persons participate fully in all three actions--and not one to each action alone. Rather, the full mystery acts. Not spurning, not deserting corruptible matter and the created world God not only creates anew each moment, each second, but--in the person of Jesus--even deigned to enter it himself, taking on, suffusing, and being true flesh and blood in the body of a man who walked the hills of Palestine who spoke with human tongue and enacted with human hands the mysteries of creating, redeeming, sustaining, and sanctifying. And the power that lies of the heart of the mystery is love.

As Christians our awe is kindled by the repeated actions and motions of God. This mystery, this being-beyond-all-being, beckons us into the eternal presence, beckons us to enter the courts of glory, beckons us to enter and share in the life of the mystery itself. God without ceasing invites us into the mystery that lies at the heart of life. God beckons us into love.