June 15th, 2014
The Fuel and Fund of the Church
Summary: The Trinitarian faith that we celebrate-with references to God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-expresses the complex and rich divine
engagement of people in the depth of their lives.
~
The Trinity, or rather the Doctrine of the Trinity, can be difficult to
understand. So much so that it’s often easier to just sing about it (like hymn #299
“Holy, holy, holy”) rather than dwell upon it for any length of period. After all, it
is challenging enough to sing, “(one) God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!” If
you dwell upon the meaning of the words, you ultimately end up asking yourself
this question: ‘How can three equal one, and vice versa, one equals three?’
And what’s with all this talk about the ‘Doctrine of the Trinity’? Also, why
are we even devoting one whole Sunday to celebrate (?) this quaint item of the
Christian Faith?
I assure you that we talk about it because it is one of the most important
doctrines of our Presbyterian (any Christian denomination for that matter) Church.
And what do we also mean by the word “doctrine”?
According to the ‘Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms” (Donald K.
McKim, ed.), the word doctrine derives from Lat. Doctrine, from docere, which
means “to teach.” It is that which is taught and believed to be true by the Church.
So the Presbyterian Church in Canada teaches that God who is and engages us is
the Triune God (One God in Three Persons). This teaching is therefore the basis
of the confession of our baptism in the Apostles’ Creed.
1
Just how do Presbyterians actually espouse and speak about this important
teaching of the Church?
In fairness, the word “Trinity” never appears in either of the New Testament
or the Old Testament. Technically, it is not a ‘biblical’ word in the strictest sense.
The word ‘mystery’ (Greek: mysterion), however, is.
If one looks carefully, the New Testament primarily speaks of God as a
‘mystery’ revealed through Jesus. And in today’s Gospel reading, the Great
Commissioning compels the followers of Jesus to proclaim the ‘mystery’ of God
as loving Father revealed in the Son through the Holy Spirit!
Not surprisingly, you find many Christians, let alone Presbyterians, referring
to this doctrine simply as one of the greatest mysteries of our faith. Light heartedly,
it’s almost like trying to describe how the caramel ends up in Cadbury’s chocolate
bar! 
I once overheard a rather serious conversation taking place between in the
cafeteria of Knox College between two individuals. One was a seminary student
and the other a visitor with limited knowledge of the Christian Faith. They just
happened to be sitting at the adjacent table. The topic of their discussion was just
too good to miss; so I ended up passively listening on their conversation! The
visitor, a middle aged woman, was rather curious about the intricacies of the
Christian Faith. This occasion being the first time that she had ever visited a
Christian seminary, she proceeded to ask the student many questions. I’m sure the
seminary would have been proud of the student on the student’s conduct under the
circumstance. With absolute confidence, the student explained away many of the
Christian doctrines (teachings). Our visitor then turned to the subject matter of the
Trinity. She had certainly heard about it somewhere but she was a little unclear on
2
the subject matter. She had heard that it was an awfully important topic amongst
the Christian circles!
All in all, this student had done a marvelous job in presenting “Christian
Faith 101” to this visitor. And now, for the grand finale, both the visitor and I
were anxiously leaning in to hear what would be said about the infamous Doctrine
of the Trinity! I guess I really didn’t have a clear understanding of the subject
matter then; secretly, I was hoping that this other student could enlighten me on it.
The student proceeded to say with utter confidence, “Well, the Trinity is one
of the greatest mysteries of the Christian Faith!” (Sigh…)
Well, I really couldn’t fault the student. He was being quite biblical to use
the word, mystery, to describe God.
Given my promise to celebrate this important teaching (Trinity) this morning,
I really must apologize that I have thus far avoided any concrete talk about it.
Allow me to invite you all back into today’s Scripture readings. What you
may notice is that we appear to have before us few proof texts for the Trinity – i.e.
texts that specifically mention the Three Persons of the Trinity: God the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19 & 2 Corinthians 13:11-13). Both
passages are really about the ‘commissioning’ or blessing the followers to go forth
into ministry.
That was not why our Christian forebears discerned the doctrine of the
Trinity to be an important teaching for all Christians to take to heart. That was not
the reason why our Christian forebears quite literally risked their lives, and over
several centuries, to arrive at this confession of the Trinity. They did it because
they believed this doctrine (teaching) would reflect the Trinitarian pattern of how
3
God was revealed to humanity in the New Testament. They were profoundly
moved by how God would reach out and engage his children. It would become a
teaching that says our God is about profound relationship.
One Presbyterian theologian (P.C.U.S.A.) puts the doctrine (teaching) of the
Trinity in this manner:
“The love of God comes originally from the one called ‘Father,’ is humanly
enacted for the world in the sacrificial love of the one called ‘Son,’ and becomes a
present and vital reality in Christian life by the one called ‘Spirit,’”1
In other words, ‘the Trinity’ is basically a biblical story of how God came to
the world in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit; by virtue of coming into this world,
‘the Trinity’ is about how God graciously engages the humanity, including you and
me today!
This is how Christians from the beginning of the Church came to experience
and know God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, “One God
in three Persons, blessed Trinity”.
What the early Christians experienced, and what later Christians put to
words through the doctrine of the Trinity was “a profoundly relational and
communal view both of God and of life created and redeemed by God.”2
So what does this for us? It speaks of God not holding anything back and
entering into a relationship with the world, a world of deprivation, suffering, and
death, because that’s how God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has always
existed, in a mutual, self-surrendering love for one another. God was also like that
with His creation.
1
2
Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 60.
Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 70.
4
The sum total of Scripture, and especially the Gospel stories, is a witness to
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: From the compassion of Jesus for the
sick, his solidarity with the outcasts, all his teachings, and his passion and
resurrection. This, in a nutshell, has been summarized in a view of understanding
called, the Trinity. And when the Church teaches it, it is referred to as the Doctrine
of the Trinity.
But where and how should this important teaching of our Church reside with
us today? Should we merely walk away from this service with a head-knowledge
of what God is like? Or should we merely file it as one of many models of God?
Our faith in the Trinity really ought to result in worship, praise, and
adoration, first and foremost. Additionally, we could also take the relationship
between the three Persons of the Trinity – that self-giving love, mutual
respect…etc. – as an example for the Christian community (all communities for
that matter)! In other words, we should and could build a radically democratic
communities where self-giving is the norm and power-sharing is realized!
‘Inclusivity’ and ‘mutuality’ should be and could be our way of life!
If you are not too enthralled with the word, ‘model,’ I invite you to look at
this teaching as an invitation from Scripture. This teaching of our church is also an
invitation to avail ourselves to the energy of mutual love that overflows from our
Triune God. It is about daring to get caught up with God who is tender and just,
loving and chastening, wooing and distant – all at the same time!
Yes, we are celebrating this important doctrine, the Trinity, on this particular
Sunday. As we do so, may you discover Scripture’s invitation to dare to imagine
our God in three Persons; may you then celebrate the possibilities of lives and
communities that could be shaped/changed if only the contagion of self-giving,
5
mutual love as demonstrated by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (the
Trinity) was allowed to inspire us.
~Amen.
6