COME, JOIN THE DANCE

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday—the only day of the church year dedicated to a theological teaching not associated with the life of Jesus. Furthermore, it contains the word “trinity,” which is not a biblical word but a theological concept developed about 300 years after Jesus’ death. A strange church day, to be sure.

But I’m totally into it. I know I’m an exception to the norm as I was brought up wholly immersed in the life of the church. I distinctly remember riding my tricycle around the garage on days it was too cold to trike outside. And as I made my circles, I would recite the Apostle’s Creed. Round and round I would go until I was both an excellent triker and an excellent mini theologian. I was able to wrap my mind around the doctrine of the Trinity even before I graduated to two wheels. Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a church nerd.

Yes, we celebrate the triune nature of God today. For those of you who might not be full-blown church nerds, what does this mean?

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the chosen people understood that God one God and was the only God. This was quite different from their cultural context where people carved lots of “gods” out of stone or cast them in metal and told stories of how these gods fought with each other endlessly—always staking out their supernatural turf. No, when the father of the faith, Abraham set forth from Ur to follow God’s command to go to the land of Caanan, he knew that there was just one God—and an all-powerful God that must be obeyed even if it was inconvenient. Moses knew this one God too, and saw God’s power unleashed in Egypt as God freed the enslaved and lead them forth to the Promised Land. The prophets continued to speak out about this one God who was holy and above all knowing.

Then, Jesus came into the picture and the new religious movement of Christians began to speak not only of God, but of the Son of God and of the Holy Spirit that was still moving among them. Yet, they declared that all these were still one God. No wonder people got confused and frustrated by this new understanding. It IS difficult to understand God.

Saint Augustine often puzzled about the whole idea of describing God as a Trinity. He described an incident in which he was walking along the beach and observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine asked, "What are you doing?" The boy replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole." It suddenly occurred to Augustine that just as this boy was pursuing the ridiculous goal of putting the whole ocean into the hole, he was pursuing an equally ridiculous goal: trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind. We, with our very limited brains (in comparison to God’s wisdom), have come up with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity—the belief that God is expressed in three parts as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we must recognize, as Augustine did, that we could never fully understand God—we could never fully capture God’s entire essence with a doctrine.

Yet we do have this doctrine and it can give us a peephole into the divine. What is this triune God like? Well, the Athanasian Creed puts it this way: “In this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.” Jesus explained it similarly when he said: "Do you not know that the Father is in me and I in the Father?" And of the Spirit, Jesus said: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” These three, equal persons of God work together in community as one, unified God. Some theologians insist that what is most important about belief in a triune God is not that we see God in three ways, but that we understand God as dynamic community. God, you see, is a like a committee...that actually works.

What is unique about Trinitarian theology, is that it explains that there is an inner relational energy within the three forms of God. John of Damascus, an eighth-century theologian, described the Trinity with the Greek word "perichoresis." This word comes from the same root as the word "choreography." It suggests that there is a movement, a graceful dance within the internal life of God. It is a dance of inclusion, equality and most of all, love.

God, the great "I AM," whom we can never fully understand gives us a major clue to help us understand. We see that God is not alone, God is—at the very core—relationship. This is completely different from those Greek gods of old who were constantly fighting with one another. Not so for our God. In the Trinity we find a beautiful and caring relationship. God is united and loving and dancing together seamlessly.

Amazing! And yet what is even more amazing is that we have been invited into the dance too. God could have danced in peace apart from our world and all its selfish ambition. Instead, God chooses to redeem us and to be together with God and one another in the dance of life.

We all know the pain of not being invited, not being included. We humans do this to each other all the time, and it hurts. God does just the opposite: God invites all to the table. No one is an outsider in God’s eyes. Everyone is beloved and vitally important. Remember that when Jesus was baptized, the father God said to him: "You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased." Well, when we are baptized, God says the same thing to us: "You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased."
We are invited into the Trinity of God in our baptism. We become part of the dance—adopted by God the father, redeemed by God the Son and sealed with God the Holy Spirit. What have we to fear, then? If God has brought us into the harmonious community, then we can live in unspeakable joy. We are beloved, each called by name, each more important than we ever thought we could be. This is a dance we can dig.

Now you can see that the doctrine of the Trinity is not just a fancy theory—it is the reality in which we live each day of our lives. We are part of the community and we are free to dance with God. How, then, should we dance?

In a very popular passage from 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul explained that we need to respond to this amazing love by being loving ourselves. Love, he said, is not a gushy feeling but an action. Love is patient. It is kind. It is not jealous or self-serving. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. Love is the more excellent way. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never ends.

That’s the kind of dance we need. As I visit with people both inside and outside the congregation, I am chronically aware of this need. So many people feel hurt, lonely, isolated, rejected. There is pain that burns secretly within. It is like baggage too heavy to carry. They don’t know where to go or what to do to turn that around. They do not see themselves as beloved. They do not realize that they could be dancing with God.

We, who have been claimed as God’s beloved have an obligation to these people. We are to be the hands and feet of this triune God and make sure they understand that they are beloved. They are precious and God is pleased with them. They are invited into the dance where there is healing and joy. What more can we be doing to make sure that invitation is conveyed?

There is one God, who is relationship, who is dancing with equity and love. Can’t you see why I get excited about Holy Trinity Sunday? Whether you are a church nerd or not, you can see that it is worth celebrating! We are called to live and move and have our being in the Trinity’s love. This is the more excellent way. May we open our eyes to see our community as God does and say to them: Come, join the dance. Amen.


And now, may the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2010 Laura E. Gentry