Worshipping the Trinity

Eleventh Thursday after Pentecost

"Glory to God, Source of all.

Eternal Word and Holy Spirit.

One God, Holy and blessed Trinity.

Who is now, ever was, and ever shall be for endless ages."

                                               Gloria, from the Order of St. Luke Daily Office

I say these words every day as a part of the Daily Office. OSL has two options. The other is the familiar Gloria Patri, which we sang each week (BC--Before Coronavirus) in the 11 O'clock service at University UMC. I like this Gloria better, perhaps because I've just been tired of the Gloria Patri for so many years. Some of you will quickly note that this Gloria, unlike the Gloria Patri, has no gender specific language. Both Glorias are Trinitarian, but this Gloria is more directly so, specifically naming the Trinity.

Have you read the controversial book The Shack, by William Paul Young, or seen the movie? About ten years ago it stayed number one on the New York Times fiction best-seller list for months. On first reading I had a lot of reservations about the book, principally because there is no church or reference to church in it. My reservations were overcome as I thought more and more about the book, and then, as I saw the movie, which is a remarkably faithful rendition of the book. 

I won't review the book or go into the plot. I just want to talk about its beautiful representation of the Trinity. God is in three persons. God is not a father figure, but a mother figure, an African-American woman at that. Many TV viewers were already familiar with the female African-American God (Della Reese)  from the TV show, "Touched by an Angel." I loved that show, too. In The Shack Jesus is a young, hard working Caucasian male. I remember him working on a boat with fishing nets at the edge of the lake near the Shack. The Holy Spirit is a lithe Asian-American woman. The three talk to a very sad man, Mack, who goes back to the Shack, a year after the death of his very young daughter following a kidnapping at this same lake. This Trinity helps Mack through his grief and into a recovery. They do it with some really solid theology.

Here's an aside. It's good for me to write. I just came to this thought right now. Maybe the Shack is the Church. Only a thought. Back to the business at hand. 

Years ago in the church and pastor circles I run in, I often heard it said that the Holy Spirit is the forgotten person of the Trinity. No more. The Holy Spirit seems to everywhere now (double meaning intended). More books, articles, workshops, retreats, etc. on the Holy Spirit have come out or happened over the last ten years than the rest of my life put together. I might argue that now the forgotten person of the Trinity is the Trinity, Trinity-self (how's that for being gender neutral). 

Over the last 1900 years, many thousands of books have been written about the Trinity, trying to explain it. Some are philosophically and theologically deeply complex. I think of St. Augustine's De Trintate or the brilliant work of the Cappadocian Fathers in the fourth and fifth centuries. Some are absurdly simple (and wrong). There is nothing simple about the Theology of the Trinity. A pastor friend of mine once told me, "Don't ever try to explain the Trinity to your congregation. You'll end up saying one heresy or another." I won't try, but I can point you to some really good (and hard) books, if you're interested.

I think we, you and I, may do better to worship the Trinity than to try to explain the Trinity. Don't worry I'm not suggesting that you stop worshipping each individual person of the Trinity. Just try this once in a while. So here is a short home devotion prayer time you might try.

Begin by saying the Gloria which is at the beginning of this post.

Pray whatever is on your mind, but pray to the Trinity. You don't have to say the name of each person in the Trinity. Just say "Trinity."

Close with these words: "Blessed Trinity, You are the all in all. You made all. You came in the flesh and stayed in the Spirit. You are with me, in all your overwhelming fullness and completeness now. I am thankful that you are always with me and will be for endless ages. In the name of all that You are. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian