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SERMONS Sean Gilbert — Trinity Sunday 2008 We often begin at the wrong place when it comes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Given that its development had its roots in the adoration and thanksgiving of early Christian communities, it more rightly needs to be understood as a doxological (words of glory) confession of faith, rather than an all too complex and impossible statement of belief. This experiential, albeit poetical approach, has, I believe, the potential to do a number of positive things for the contemporary church. Firstly, it might relieve us of an unnecessary avoidance or suspicion of the doctrine itself. Second, by a renewed sense of participation within the Divine life, the highly relational vision of Trinity may more clearly act as inspiration to the challenging ways empathic love and compassion. The great Rhineland Pastor, Johannes Tauler once suggested that although such a sublime vision can render us speechless, some words of content are still necessary. He also said, “To experience the working of the Trinity is better than to talk about it.” Perhaps, then, by way of a path between the two approaches, I’ll share something of my own surprising encounter with God rather than dive head long into well-reasoned (and researched) theory. When I travelled to New England in the late Summer of 1993 to pursue post-gradate studies, I did so with a clear agenda in mind. That being to re-enforce my belief in the essential humanity of Jesus and from there arrive at an accessible model for my own life and for ministry in general. It was, on reflection, a consciously liberal agenda. Indeed, it represented a critique of so much that I thought was outdated at best, and unhelpful to the Christian Church at worst; Jesus being God and all that ‘impossible’, supernatural stuff. As often happens in life, my convictions and assumptions were quickly – yet gently – challenged by a truly great teacher, Fr Brian Daley, SJ. And like all good teachers, Brian modelled something of his subject by way of a knowledge, love and respect for the Christian tradition in its breadth, therefore a working understanding as to why such key doctrines as Incarnation and Trinity arose and then stayed. In short, what he and others helped me to grasp, was the needed place of enduring mystery, and that this of it self was transformative. That somehow in the sacred meeting place between divinity and humanity (heaven and earth), symbolised by The Holy Trinity, we were embraced, made whole and renewed with a heart and mind of compassion. In the words of Paul Tillich, without such an experience of Transcendence, self-transcendence remains but an impossibility. To be clear then, this wasn’t merely an intellectual exercise for me, although it demanded much in terms of reading and writing. Because in the end, such a relational encounter with God offered, and continues to offer, grace and acceptance in the deepest, almost unmentionable places of my being. Maybe a bit like the creation command, “Let there be light” when previously there was just a formless void. Or perhaps that confusing sense of darkness and incompleteness, into which the creativity and re-creativity of God generously speaks an active message of love and hope. So I trust you’ll excuse my dismay when, particularly in a liberal or progressive context, Trinity is neglected, disparaged, or brazenly cast aside because of its seeming complexity. So much richness of thought, prayer and lived experience ignored, passed over and even trodden on by virtue of a so-called rationality; yet arguably but dust-dry and utilitarian by comparison. For as another wonderful teacher of mine, Catherine LaCugna once said, “Trinitarian life is not just the life of God. It is our life as well.” That being, if we prayerfully live out of the communal love and empathy that draws and holds this sacred symbol together, we, in our own unique ways, become the very expressions of the One we have given our hearts and minds over to; Those who do care for the earth and its creatures in the way of St. Francis, and those who do seek to help make visible, folk the world would rather us not see. Those who do consciously listen before they speak and those who do not presume their particular perspective on life (and faith) is but another word for truth. This is a deep and enduring humility for life, in other words. One born of the earth and lived out for the sake of the earth and its ultimate recreation. So, wonder, praise, encounter, transformation and healing. All the human elements needed, I would contend, to take both an impossible and strange belief and turn into a dynamic symbol to passionately live by, and even to die with, in the assurance that all will be well, all manner of things will be well. For within the Trinity, we are welcomed, held and sent forth, simultaneously and yet over and over and over again. This then is a feast day to gladly celebrate. A day to pause and ponder the vitality that is God’s love in Christ, in and through the friendship and peace of the Holy Spirit. Deo Gratias! Amen.
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