Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity. - From this Sunday's Collect
Each year, the first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday. The complicated language that is often used when talking about the Trinity (as demonstrated in our collect) can be confusing. "One in three and three in one." "One God in three persons." We confess that there is only one God, but yet we say that there are three aspects of that one God that each interact with us in completely different ways. How is this supposed to make sense? As a rational concept, it does not. The trinity can be troubling for people looking for explanations that make things simpler. It is rather an explanation that only makes things more complicated!
One of the things I appreciate with the Episcopal tradition most is that we don't get too caught up on doctrine and prescribing answers. Rather, we like to dance with the questions. By questioning and reasoning and praying and worshipping and reading, over time, we come to know this mysterious God of the trinity better every day, even though we know we can't ever fathom God's depths. We come to know the answers that God plants within us, even as those answers may evolve and change as our understandings continue to deepen. I love the image of the dancing trinity for this reason.
This Sunday we'll explore ways that 3 is a magic number in the realm of faith. I hope you'll be able to come and celebrate Trinity Sunday at St. James!