Psalm 8:1-9
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

John 16:12-15
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Simplify Your Mind, Simplify Your Life

Trinity Sunday
Following the lectionary leads us to study many different aspects of Christian tradition. We are in the Season after Pentecost now, sometimes called Ordinary Time. This is the period between Pentecost and Thanksgiving. Ordinary Time just means that it’s not a church holiday. It’s not Lent or Easter, it’s not Advent or Christmas. These weeks during the summer are traditionally a time for reflecting on Jesus’ teachings.

We begin Ordinary Time with Trinity Sunday. So this morning we’ll talk about the Trinity. The history of the Trinity is quite interesting. We’ll take a look at that. And beyond the history, I want to look at the Trinity itself as a spiritual concept and think about what is going on here.

In general, it’s good to know what our own intentions are in spiritual life. What are you trying to accomplish? What do you need? What do you want? What are the questions you are asking? Are you looking for peace? Are you looking for answers? Are you looking for healing?

Theology is God Talk

The Trinity is not easy to understand. I’m not sure anyone really understands it. The Trinity is a way of trying to describe God. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is One in Three Persons. Let’s remember that when we are talking about the Trinity, we are speaking the language of theology. And theology means “God talk.” Theology is talk about God. And attempts to talk about God are fraught with problems. To really get a sense of the problems involved in talking about God, I want to digress a bit and take us on a side trip into neuroscience. My reasons for this will become clear as we go along.

A Side Trip into Brain Science

Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist. In 1996, Dr. Taylor was a researcher in a Harvard neuroscience lab. One morning, getting ready to go to work, she had a stroke in the left side of her brain. The stroke shut down her ability to speak. And at the same time, she was able to observe her own experience as the stroke progressed. She nearly died on the way to the hospital, and it took eight years for her to recover. She tells about this experience in a fascinating lecture recorded in 2012. I have included a link to her video in my text here, and I think you will enjoy it.

At one point in her talk, Dr. Taylor holds an actual human brain in her hands. She shows the audience how the brain is divided into two halves, the right brain and the left brain, connected only at one point in the center, a bridge structure called the corpus callosum. She explains that the left brain is responsible for language, speech, and abstract thinking, while the right brain is responsible for images and spatial experience. As Taylor puts it, “Our right hemisphere is all about right here, right now.” The right hemisphere experiences the collage of the present moment, sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and we, as a human family, share the experience of this present moment through the right hemisphere of our brains. The left hemisphere, on the other hand, is linear, analytic, and methodical. The left hemisphere calculates and analyzes as a separate individual.

When Bolte had a stroke, she lost the analytical, linear, speech part of her brain. She was aware of the experience as it was happening, but she was unable to talk about it. I hope you will watch the video because it will illustrate what I’m trying to say here. Now, let’s talk about the Trinity, and you will see why I am bringing up this discussion of brain science.

Words Describing the Trinity

You are probably most familiar with the Trinity from the words of Nicaean Creed.

“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again, in fulfillment of the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

The 4th Century Debates

Now, as Congregationalists, we do not necessarily rely on creedal statements. The reasons for this go back to the series of church upheavals in the 16th and 17th century collectively called “The Protestant Reformation.” However, many of you come from churches that do recite the creeds, and so in the past, you read the Nicaean creed, as well as the Apostle’s creed, in previous churches you attended. These are statements of church doctrine that date back to the early church councils beginning in 325AD. The early bishops of the church got together and tried to figure out exactly what was meant by “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” For centuries, the creeds were the subjects of debate, argument, fighting, revision, more argument, more revision, ugly letter writing, slander, and insult. You get the picture.

Getting Stuck in Theology

And why? Why did this little paragraph of words cause so many problems? Because language, by its very nature, is problematic. Words are tricky, and people understand words differently. So the early church councils were huge arguments about words and the meaning of these words.
In our reading from John 16 this morning, we read some words that suggest a Trinity in the Bible, a Three person-in-One structure of God. But the Trinity is not explicitly stated as such in the Bible. We read in various places about God the Father, and Jesus the Son. Jesus mentions both God the Father and the Spirit of truth. But it was not until the 4th century that the specifics of these things were hammered out in language.

In the 4th century, the bishops were asking question like, “Are God and Jesus equal? If so, does that mean we have two Gods? But that would be like the pagans who have multiple gods. We say that there is only one God. And if Jesus is God’s son, does that mean that Jesus is lower in rank? Is Jesus God? And how does this work? Jesus is fully God, and God the Father is fully God, and yet how can both be God? And then, to make it even more complicated, what is this business about the Holy Spirit? Is that yet another God? And so, you can see how this was all very difficult, and it caused many, many arguments.

Problems Inherent in Language

My point here is not to go into an analysis of the creed, or the history of the arguments that shaped it, but rather, it is to show what happens with language. As Jill Bolte Taylor shows us in her presentation, we humans have basically two different ways of experiencing reality. One is conceptually and intellectually through language. And the other is we experience the present moment as a whole and complete collage of energy, a present moment gestalt of Being which is beyond language expression. The early bishops, debating about God, trying to define God in terms of a Trinity, got stuck in the language of God, stuck in analysis, concepts and intellect. They were stuck in theology, that is, stuck in “God talk.” And what we continue to observe, and what I continue to preach about here on Sunday mornings, is that God is beyond description and definition. Our experience of God is beyond any words we have to describe God.

Language as a Source of Conflict

When Jill Taylor had a stroke, she could not find any words to describe what was happening to her because the language center in her brain was hemorrhaging. And yet, she was aware of her experience, and later, after her recovery, she was able to talk about it. Her stroke made it very clear that these two things are quite separate, that is, the experience itself, and the talking about it. When we talk about things, that is not the same as our experience of what is happening right now. And talking, using words and language to try to communicate, is a huge problem because we can always find ways to disagree. Talking is a left-brain, analytical, conceptual event. But talking about an experience is not the same as actually having the experience itself.

So, one way to put this is that talking about God, trying to solidify definitions of God in the “God talk” language of theology, is like trying to grab a handful of space. It’s impossible. And yet, we keep trying to do it, and that is why there is so much conflict, so many schisms, reformations, and reformulations within this thing called Christianity.

Three Approaches to the Trinity

So, how are we to understand the Trinity? I think there are three possibilities. First, we could simply accept the Triune God as described in the Trinitarian statement of the creeds. We say, “This is a statement of the truth as proclaimed by the Holy Catholic Church, and I accept it as such.” This is, of course, perfectly fine to do. In fact, it takes all the anxiety out of our thoughts about God. This is what God is, this is how I can talk about God, and this is what I believe. Many people find peace in this position, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

But for many Congregationalists, this approach goes against the spirit of the Reformation. The 16th century reformers rebelled against the authority of Catholic church as precisely expressed in creeds and edicts. They wanted to think for themselves and understand God and the Bible on their own, without being told how.

The second option is to look at the creedal statements about the Trinity as human attempts to describe a divine mystery. They are imperfect and problematic, but they can also be helpful because of the paradox involved. Contemplating a paradox throws us out of our analytical mind. And so this can be a powerful meditation to bring us into a direct and immediate experience of God right here and now.

And thirdly, we could simply ignore the whole discussion. Just let it go. We could say, “It’s an interesting historical development, but it doesn’t really help me in my spiritual life in any practical sort of way right now.” And, really, I think this is perfectly ok, too.

However, I would avoid the deep dive. What I mean is, in any case, whatever your approach, what I would not recommend is that anyone do what I did while studying this in seminary, namely, go off the deep end with worry about the Trinity, trying to figure it all out, sorting through all the philosophical dilemmas it brings up. It will give you a headache, and you’ll never get to the bottom of the questions. Remember that trying to define God is ultimately impossible because language is inadequate. And this, in itself, is difficult enough to accept. God, is, after all, just a word. It’s perfectly fine to say, “I don’t know.” In fact, this may be the closest description available. Instead of trying to define God, let us look into our own experience, seeking a direct experience of God, one that is beyond description.

Our Experience of God is Right Here

We will find this right in front of our nose, if we are really looking for it. And to this end, I offer here a poem, one of my favorites. It speaks of simplifying our thoughts, simplifying our minds and experiencing life in this moment, just as it is. It goes like this:

In spring, hundreds of flowers;
In autumn, a harvest moon.
In summer, a refreshing breeze;
In winter, snow will accompany you.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is good for you.

Amen? Amen.