Sunday, June 7, 2009

Trinity Sunday, 2009

MATTHEW 28:13-20
DO YOU REMEMBER THREE IN ONE OIL? FOR SOME REASON, I FIRST BECAME AWARE OF IT ABOUT THE TIME I BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THE TRINITY. IN THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM, THE TRINITY IS DESCRIBED AS THREE PERSONS IN ONE GOD, SO THREE IN ONE WASN'T A BIG LEAP. THE THREE THINGS, BY THE WAY, THAT THREE IN ONE OIL IS SUPPOSED TO DO IS TO LUBRICATE, TO PROTECT AGAINST RUST, AND TO CLEAN.
BUT THAT CONCEPTION OF GOD, THAT HE ACTS IN THREE DIFFERENT WAYS, AS CREATOR, REDEEMER, AND SANCTIFIER, IS A HERESY KNOWN AS MODALISM. IT IMPLIES THAT THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT ARE JUST MASKS THAT GOD PUTS ON IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES.
SAINT PATRICK, LEGEND HAS IT, COMPARED THE TRINITY TO A SHAMROCK – THREE LEAVES GROWING ON ONE STEM. BUT THAT SKATES CLOSE TO THE HERESY OF PARTIALISM: THE IDEA THAT THREE PERSONS TOGETHER MAKE UP GOD, IMPLYING THAT NONE OF THEM IS GOD BY HIMSELF.
OUR MOSLEM FRIENDS CONSIDER OUR TRINITY TO BE THE WORST KIND OF INSULT TO GOD'S ONE-NESS. HOW COULD GOD, WHO IS UNIQUE, HAVE A SON? GOD IS ONE, AND HAS NO PARTS, AND THERE IS NO WAY THAT GOD COULD HAVE PEERS. INTERESTINGLY, THE MOSLEMS WEREN'T THE FIRST ONES TO THINK ABOUT THIS; THE ARIAN HERESY STARTED FROM THE SAME IDEA, AND CONCLUDED THAT JESUS WAS AT MOST A LESSER, CREATED GOD – A BELIEF THAT SURVIVES TO THIS DAY AMONG THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES. IF YOU ARE COUNTING, THIS HERESY IS CALLED ADOPTIONISM; GOD ADOPTS JESUS AS HIS SON.
MORMONS, AS WE LEARNED DURING THE LAST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, SEEM TO HOLD WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS THAT THE FATHER, SON, AND SPIRIT ARE EACH GOD, BUT THEY ARE THREE BEINGS; AND AT SOME POINT, MOST HUMAN BEINGS WILL BECOME GODS AS WELL. THAT HERESY IS CALLED TRITHEISM – THREE GODS IN THE TRINITY.
WE TRINITARIAN CHRISTIANS SAY THAT GOD IS ONE, AND THERE ARE THREE PERSONS – AND A PERSON DIFFERS FROM A NON-PERSON IN THAT A PERSON CAN INITIATE ACTION, A NON-PERSON CAN ONLY BE ACTED UPON. WE SAY THAT THE FATHER IS NOT THE SON, AND THE SON IS NOT THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT IS NEITHER FATHER NOR SON. AND WE SAY THAT FROM ALL ETERNITY THE FATHER GENERATES THE SON, AND THE FATHER AND THE SON BREATHE FORTH THE SPIRIT. AND WE SAY THAT THE FATHER LOVES THE SON, THE PERFECT IMAGE OF HIMSELF, AND THE SON LOVES THE FATHER, WHO IS INFINITELY LOVEABLE; AND THE LOVE BETWEEN THEM IS THE SPIRIT. AND ANY OF THOSE SENTENCES ABOUT THE TRINITY, AND THERE ARE OTHERS, IS ENOUGH FOR A LIFETIME OF CONTEMPLATION. OUR HUMAN MINDS CAN'T FIND ANYTHING LIKE THE TRINITY IN NATURE OR OUR IMAGINATIONS. IN THE BIBLE, WE DON'T HEAR THE WORD, TRINITY. WE READ THAT JESUS SAID, “I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE” AND WE SEE THAT JESUS BREATHES THE SPIRIT UPON HIS DISCIPLES, GIVING THEM A POWER ONLY GOD HAS, TO FORGIVE SINS. AND THE EARLY CHURCH SOON REALIZED THAT IF JESUS REALLY COULD REDEEM US THROUGH HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION, HE HAD TO BE WHAT HE SAID HE WAS, THE SON OF GOD, TRULY GOD AND MAN. AND IF THE CHURCH REALLY WAS TO CARRY OUT HIS WORK, WHAT ANIMATED JESUS HAD TO ANIMATE THE CHURCH, NAMELY, THE SPIRIT.
BUT WE HOLD, IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, THAT GOD IS FUNDAMENTALLY ABOUT RELATIONSHIP; PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT JOHN THE APOSTLE MEANS WHEN HE SAYS THAT GOD IS LOVE AND HE WHO ABIDES IN LOVE ABIDES IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM. AND THAT IS WHERE THE TRINITY GETS DOWN TO BASICS.
IT TELLS US THAT IT IS IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS THAT WE COME TO KNOW GOD, NOT OFF BY OURSELVES. IT TELLS US THAT GOD IS IN COMMUNITY; GOD IS PRESENT AT THE FAMILY DINNER TABLE, IN A MEETING OF THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS OR THE ST. MARY'S GUILD. GOD IS PRESENT IN THE FAITH FORMATION CLASSES; AND GOD IS PRESENT HERE, WHEN WE WORSHIP TOGETHER. IF WE WANT TO GET TO HEAVEN, WE HAVE TO BE IN COMMUNITY. JESUS SAID AS MUCH; “WHAT YOU DO FOR THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS, YOU DO FOR ME.” WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, THERE I AM.” “WHOEVER DOES GOD'S WILL IS MY MOTHER AND MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER.” IT IS OUR EXPERIENCE OF COMMUNITY THAT REVEALS GOD TO US, AND WHEN WE ARE IN COMMUNITY, WE ARE IN GOD.
ST. PAUL RECOGNIZED THIS WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST; HOW WE ARE ALL GIVEN DIFFERENT GIFTS TO BUILD UP THE BODY; HOW WE ARE LIKE THE PARTS OF THE BODY.
THE EARLY CHURCH RECOGNIZED THIS. WHEREVER THE APOSTLES WENT, THEY FORMED COMMUNITIES. EVEN THE OLD HERMITS OF THE DESERT KNEW THEY COULD NOT BE ALONE FOREVER, BUT PERIODICALLY CAME TOGETHER WITH THEIR FELLOW HERMITS TO EXCHANGE IDEAS AND CELEBRATE EUCHARIST.
BEING IN COMMUNITY IS MORE THAN HAVING A MEMBERSHIP CARD. IT MEANS THAT WE RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF EACH OTHER SO THAT WE ALL CAN BE MORE OPEN TO GOD'S WORD. IT MEANS THAT WHEN WE SEE THINGS THAT THREATEN OUR COMMUNITY, WE ARE PEACEMAKERS, WE TRY TO STRENGTHEN THE BONDS THAT ARE UNDER THREAT. AND IT MEANS THAT WE CORRECT EACH OTHER, IN A POSITIVE WAY, SO THAT WE ALL BECOME TRANSFORMED INTO CHRIST. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE IS A PLACE FOR SOMETHING LIKE THREE IN ONE OIL IN OUR COMMUNITY – TO LUBRICATE, TO PRESERVE, AND TO CLEAN.
THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF GOD INSOFAR AS OUR HUMAN MINDS CAN IS NOT ONE OR ANOTHER HERESY ABOUT THE TRINITY. A PROPER THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING IS OF COURSE IMPORTANT, BUT NO ONE WILL GET TO HEAVEN BY PROPERLY UNDERSTANDING THE TRINITY. THE BIGGEST THREAT IS OUR MODERN INDIVIDUALISM, THAT CONS US INTO BELIEVING THAT WE ARE SELF SUFFICIENT, THAT WE CAN HAVE GOD WITHOUT DEALING WITH EACH OTHER. THE TRINITY SAYS THAT GOD IS IN HIS VERY NATURE COMMUNITY, AND ONLY BY OPENING OUR LIVES TO OUR VARIOUS COMMUNITIES CAN WE COME TO TRULY KNOW GOD.