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Tracking the Trinity

Matthew 28:16-20

May 22, 2005

1. Today is Trinity Sunday. "Trinity," as every except me might immediately think, refers to the number three. I, on the other hand, might think ‘two’ or maybe ‘four.’ [This is a reference to my mistakenly calling a hexagon a pentagon last Sunday]. The word "Trinity" never appears it the Bible. You didn’t hear it in any of the scripture readings, did you? It is simply the best word Christians have coined to talk about the three ways God seems to work throughout history. The Church often uses a triangle, with one side representing God the Father, one side God the Son, and one side God the Holy Spirit. Arguing over which way the triangle should stand split the Church about one thousand years ago. Should it be like this – God at the top and Jesus and the Holy Spirit flowing out of God, or like this – God and Jesus equally at the top, with the Holy Spirit somehow less than they. Even now, some churches seem to worship God the Father, some seem to worship Jesus the Son, and others worship the Holy Spirit – almost like there were three different gods, rather than One God with three very recognizable "persons" or facets or ways of being.

2. We Christians have developed several metaphors over the years in an effort to describe this mystery, none of which really do the job. One that people love is "Three-in-One Oil," a product that lubricates, cleans and polishes all in one can. But you cannot tell one oil from the other when the three get mixed together. Another is a clover, but that doesn’t really work, either. Although each leaf keeps its identity, there’s no way to tell one leaf from the other – the same problem we have with a triangle. My favorite is thinking of the Trinity as H2O – H2O in liquid form represents God: uncontainable, uncontrollable, essential for life. H2O in solid form represents Jesus: keeps living matter from rotting, can be picked up and moved from place to place. H2O in steam form represents the Holy Spirit: power just waiting to be harnessed, incredible energy, energy enough to move huge engines. Same substance, H2O, but very different forms, each very recognizable, each with a different job to do, different function.

2. In the final analysis, though, how we try to explain the Trinity is not as important acknowledging it. What IS important is tracking the Trinity in each Christian’s life. Important, but not very easy. Trying to track the Trinity is our lives is a bit like tracking a hurricane across the ocean. Have you ever tracked a hurricane? I didn’t pay much attention to them until 11 years ago, when my daughter married and moved to the southeastern coast of the United States. The first time a hurricane took aim at Pensacola, I glued myself to the weather station. By now my daughter and her family have experienced 6 direct hits by a hurricane. And with each one, I have become a more experienced hurricane tracker. So let’s spend the next few minutes tracking a hurricane across the ocean, and tracking the Trinity through a life.

3. A hurricane often begins far across the ocean, usually just off the western coast of Africa. We are totally unaware it has even formed – a stiff breeze hooks up with some water under the right conditions, spin around until the water and the wind are one. It grows and grows, and then one day a hurricane appears on radar. Mother Nature at work. The same thing is true of a human life. Nobody knows the exact moment of conception. Two living cells hook up under the right conditions, they multiply quickly until you cannot tell when two s were the original cells. And then one day a fetus appears on ultrasound x-ray. God at work!

4. Meanwhile, back across the ocean, a hurricane makes its way toward its target. Nobody, not even a trained and experienced meteorologist, knows where it will eventually make landfall. From time it changes directions, or slows down, or speeds up. Some hurricanes fizzle out altogether, because the conditions are not right. Tracking a hurricane is not an exact science! Tracking the Trinity is not very exact, either. Not even the best obstetrician can know if a pregnancy will go full term. And even if birth happens, there is no guarantee that baby will make it through childhood, much less become a grandparent.

5. Meteorologists will often show us radar pictures of the hurricane as it moves north-northwest, then west, then north, until it reaches landfall. That is the moment of its biggest impact. Trees bow down to the ground, and even snap under the force of the wind; roofs blow right off the homes they protected just moments before. It is only after a hurricane has gone by that people can assess the scope of the disaster. Life for those people is never, ever the same. They begin to measure time by that hurricane event –"Lemme see, that happened before the hurricane." Or "Well, that happened right after the hurricane, so it must have been sometime in August of 2001."

6. When any "person" of the Trinity reaches a person, similar things happen. It is a life-changing event, and its impact can fully be felt only after the fact. Has that happened to you? Have you ever had an overwhelming awareness that God was speaking directly to you? Or known a person who was the very epitome of Jesus and showed you how to live in wholeness? Or may had an incredible idea for making life better, and felt an energy you never had before? If you have, you have known God.

7. Now, once a hurricane reaches land, it may go on for days bringing wind and rain far inland. It may be "downgraded" to a tropical storm, but it’s still essentially the same storm system. So it is with God in Three Persons. We can track the effect God has had on our lives by watching what happens. And this, of course, is where the metaphor breaks down. Hurricanes are destructive; the Trinity is constructive. Hurricanes wreak havoc on life; God heals life.

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