Talk by Clare

Consider for a moment the world in which we live today: The issues we are all facing, and the difficulties faced by governments and organisations when they attempt to find solutions. Why is there so much conflict? Why is it so difficult to reach agreements? There are multiple answers to these questions, however there is one word which I believe lies at the Root of many of the issues that we face. That word is individualism! Putting ourselves at the heart of everything. Believing that our needs, our wants, are far more important than anybody else’s. The same goes for nations, with each nation putting themselves above others.

Now, I am not suggesting that individual needs are not important, or that it is not the job of governments to look after their own people, but I do believe that it is a question of balance. To take an extreme example, if I were to sit on my own at home and started shouting horrible things, whatever I said out loud would not impact anybody else; however, if I were to go into a crowded cinema or stadium, and start shouting the word ‘fire’, even if there were no fire, act of saying that word could have catastrophic consequences. I might even risk the lives of those around me if people panicked and raced for the exit. In this situation, my wish to say anything I wanted, is less important than the safety of others.

Even if you agree with the above, you might be wondering why I am raising this? It is because today is Trinity Sunday! Now you might be wondering what Trinity Sunday has to do with what I’ve been discussing? Please bear with me, and I will try to explain.

Today is known as Trinity Sunday because of the section of The Gospels that is traditionally read on this day. In today’s reading we have the one account within the gospel of Matthew in which he describes Jesus appearing to the 11 remaining Apostles. Jesus gives his followers an instruction (often known at ‘The Great Commission’) ‘To go out and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.’ In this account, we see what is unique, about the Christian faith: That whilst we believe there is only one God, we believe that the one God has three persons, God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity – Hence Trinity Sunday!

Understanding how The Trinity works, how The Trinity can be, has been a struggle for the very best minds within Christianity down the centuries, and I’m not going to try to explain here how the Trinity works, but instead focus upon what it means for us, and why we really should care about it today.

Often, when we try to explain what we believe as Christians, we focus upon the fact that we believe in one God, perhaps because this is an easy concept to get our heads around; or perhaps because from the earliest days of Christianity, as it spread around the globe, this was what distinguished us from many other faiths. We often also discuss in Church the different persons of the trinity, for example what we can learn from the teachings of Jesus (the Son), or how the Holy Spirit acts in our lives. But what we rarely do, is discuss the Trinity as a whole. That is what I want us to think about. Why does it matter that we believe

in the holy Trinity?

In the early church, once Christians had largely stopped being persecuted, and once they were able to discuss and debate openly the more specific details of what they believed, the question of who Jesus was, and therefore Jesus‘s relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, became central to discussions. The result of these debates was The Creeds. The Creeds that we still say in churches around the world today. The two key things about the Trinity that were decided at this time, and which we still describe in the creeds today, is that the persons of The Trinity are coequal; and coeternal. Basically, this is the belief that The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit have all existed forever, and none of them is greater or lesser than the others. They are equal!

Once the initial debate (which had caused violence and splits between Christians as they reached a decision) had calm down, The Trinity continued as part of faith, but often simply sat there in the background. However, in the late 19th and 20th centuries, Christians, and particularly theologians, began to really look at the Trinity once again. Why was this? Well, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the world was facing lots of problems, including individuals trying to take power for themselves, countries trying to take over parts of the world, and fierce competition between nations over resources – rather like many of the issues that we are facing today. Christian thinkers of the time were exploring these problems, and some focused upon The Trinity might highlight why these fights for power and wealth were wrong. That this is not how we as humanity are supposed to live.

The theologian Volf explained that because humans are created in the image of God, we should try to model ourselves on God as much as possible. Including trying to model ourselves upon The Trinity. Another writer, Catherine Lacugna explained that The Trinity is about life, and the truth about how we were meant to exist!

One of the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century was a man called Jürgen Maltman. He explained that instead of simply focusing upon the one God, and seeing that one God as being like an all-powerful King; by focusing upon the Trinity, and the relationships between the persons of the Trinity, earthly rulers, dictators, and tyrants ‘cease to find their justification’. By that, he meant that God does not act as a dictator, the persons of The Trinity act upon our lives together, and because we are created in the image of God, we should not act as dictators and tyrants either!

Just as the Father and the Son do not compete for who is the most powerful, we should not compete with each other. The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit do not operate in isolation, or each in a self-centred way, therefore we should not do so either. The three persons of the Trinity work together, they are equal: they each nurture relationship with humanity in different ways. As such we should each use our differences, our individual gifts, to work for the betterment of humanity as a whole, not to compete for power in a self-centred way.

There is so much more to explore about the trinity that I do not have time to consider here, but I believe that Trinity Sunday is an excellent opportunity for us to think again (or perhaps think for the first time), about what it means for each and every one of us to have been baptised, not simply in the name of the one God, but in the name of The Father, The Son and of The Holy Spirit; and what it means for us to be members of a Trinitarian Church!

Yours in Christ Rev Clare.