Looking Forward to June 15, 2014 -- Trinity Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20

The Sermon title is1+1+1=1?

Early Thoughts:  It is about how we understand God.  And yes it makes no sense, logically speaking.

I remember many years ago reading a story about a gentleman who rarely went to church on Easter Sunday but always went on Trinity Sunday. Why? Because he knew that most preachers could do a passable job of the Resurrection but always wanted to see how the preacher could explain the totally unexplainable (or incomprehensible) doctrine of the Trinity.

How about some graphical help...

Got this one here

Got this one here

 Does that sort it all out???

No??

It is my reading of history that one of , if not THE key areas of "discussion" in the church just after Constantine Christianized the empire was that of how the various aspects of God related to each other.  Out of those (sometimes heated and violent) discussions came what we now know as the doctrine of the Trinity.  The irony of course is that because of those heated discussions it is almost impossible to explain the Trinity without slipping into some statement or analogy that is heretical, as this video attempt to prove...


So what do we do with the Trinity?

I think it is really asking how do we experience God.  That's why we have multiple ways of expressing the Trinity.  That's why we struggle with the doctrine be cause in our hearts we know that any way we try to put our understanding of God into words falls short.

Which doesn't really help me know what I am going to say on Sunday....
--Gord

PS: Here is another video, which comes from a video we have (on VHS) at home.  The video includes a tortured attempt to describe the Trinity as being like an egg (shell, white and yolk)