This Sunday is what the church calls Trinity Sunday. For the last 180 days we have focused on God the Father and learned about his love and how he created all things. We have focused on God the Son, especially as he took on human flesh and blood and was born into the world as Jesus of Nazareth. We have learned about how, in his love, he gave himself for us on the cross and rose again to save us. A couple of Sundays ago we also saw how when his work on earth was done he ascended into heaven to take his place as King over all the creation. And then last week we focused on God the Holy Spirit who is the power of God present with us and in us. Next week we will go on for the next 173 days to focus on how this God calls us to live.
But before we move on to that, our wise church fathers and mothers dedicated this Sunday to making sure that we know we don’t have three Gods but only one. Trinity. “Three persons in one divine being.”
In 325 AD, church leaders met together in Nicea Greece and in 381AD in Constantinople to hammer out what we believe about the Trinity. The resulting Creed is called the Nicene Creed. We believe in God, the Father; one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son are worshiped and glorified.
Three persons perfectly united as one God – but not three gods.
Now to be honest, this is really hard for me to understand. I can visualize God as an apple with three parts, skin, flesh, seeds, but all being just one apple; as an egg with shell, white, yolk; as the sun being a ball of gas, rays, warmth. But every human analogy falls short. It is really hard to see inside the depths of God, especially since God is eternal, infinite, transcending, going beyond everything we can know with our senses or limited experience; certainly deeper than an apple.
So we are left with what the Bible reveals to us about God:
- One God. Monotheism. This is what set Jews apart from most every other nation and religion, the belief in one God. It was the substance of the first creed in the Old Testament: “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6:4).”
- This God loves. He lovingly creates a world and continues to work to bless and preserve it. “God is love (1 John 4:7,8).”
- This loving God gives. When his creation gets all messed up, he gives his Son to save and restore it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16).”
- This God sends. He sent the Holy Spirit to fill his disciples with faith and courage and power so that they could be sent out to bring his love to all the world. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
This, finally, is what is most important to know about God: God is. God loves you. God gave everything to be one with you as the Son and the Father are one. This God sends you and me out to love and bring his love to all the world.
This Trinity Sunday and through the rest of the year, we focus not on slicing up an apple, but on love, on God, on being like God who created us to be like him. To help people know God as they see God’s love reaching out to them through us.