Trinitarian life

This is the Sunday that many preachers dread as it is a pitfall for those who want to try and explain the Trinity without dropping themselves into heresy. The latter is not really much regarded today but is still an ever present worry when confronted with this very complex and conflicted subject of our faith and its practice. In fact this base understanding of God within our faith is the thing that divides and creates challenges with other religions as they say How can you worship One God and yet you speak about Three? Surely, you are worshipping three Gods and are not truly monotheistic. Yet, if we think deeply about this we can see that plurality is an underlying trait within any singularity. Now, isn't that a real thought, how can this be?

Let us take a very straightforward and simple issue. My question is: What is One? Just think for a minute within the sphere of mathematics. Yes, I am aware that most people do not like thinking mathematically. One is a very unusual number as it is fully dependent on the understanding of its relation to and distinct from all other numbers. Let's put it another way one can only be as a result of a relationship with the other. It does not matter how you explain it the very fact that you have one means that there must be an other. In the case of Christian faith we suggest that the one can only be as a result of relationship, which we describe for the sake of description, as being Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28.19b). I say for the sake of description because we cannot fully describe God and our best analogy formulated at the early councils of the Church is this analogy. Yet, in this day and age we have to be ever mindful that the formulation to describe God in this manner is time dependent. What do I mean by this. Well, whilst we have all grown up and familiar with the analogy it is one that is governed by the discussions of people who only knew Greek philosophy thrown in to a Middle Eastern world view to describe something that is unfathomable. The question raised here is can we with modern philosophy and a modern world view describe the unfathomable in any better way and have we tried or are we sufficiently complacent to rest on our ancestors thoughts on the matter? This actually means that we have to set aside our previous thinking and start from the beginning. Now, that is a tough challenge.

Don't take me wrong, I fully endorse a Trinitarian viewpoint as the obvious outcome of such a view is the understanding that relationship above everything else is important when describing God as it puts on display the understanding of God as love. But, and there is always a but, must the mechanics of our understanding rest on the fragility and easily misunderstood formulations of our ancestors in faith. Should we not begin our understanding of God in the relationship of three as a continuance of God's love. This is in preference to the inherent division that we find in splitting into three identifiable parts as opposed to the coming together of the three identifiable parts into one. Our history is so tangled in division that we fail to see the unity that is crafted within the unity of the three. On this Sunday, each year, there is a consistent pattern of trying to explain the Trinity in terms of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or else fail dismally to tackle the issue. In doing this I suggest that we are consistently attempting to bring division into the understanding of G*d through our own bumbling efforts at analogous representations of deep Greek philosophical concepts describing G*d. It is not perhaps surprising that Radical Orthodox theologians of today are attempting to come to grips with this question from an entirely new perspective. Just some of the re-thinking is connecting current philosophical and scientific understandings within our faith understanding. No matter how we frame our own discourse on G*d if we are to think of one G*d then we must think in terms of relationships rather than an onerous and overbearing patriarchal Father who somehow combines with the Son and the Spirit.

Do we need the analogies of the past to describe relationship in love?

Our relational understanding of G*d must place us beyond both ancient formations of a singular G*d discoursed in terms of archaic philosophical thought. Yes, we praise and worship a G*d who can be conceived of as being relational in three without allowing us to divide that three into individuality. This means that we worship G*d who shows us how relationship is formed through the understanding of the three. A relationship that is based on love and the sharing of power/authority through communication. Something that we all need to embrace and understand as people who follow Christ in the way of G*d and love. This leads us into Trinitarian life lived in harmony and not dissension, lived in striving for peace not division, lived in communication not in ambiguity.