The Trinity Steps on the Pitch

Trinity Sunday

Jun 15, 2014

Christian Hawley

Gen 1:1-2:4a

2Cor 13:11-13

Matt 28:16-20

So I’m going to try to convince us today that if we want to understand the Trinity better, we need to be watching the World Cup, the largest sporting event in the world that is going on right now in Brazil.

I want to begin by saying that too often when we talk about the Trinity we get bogged down in all the bad math. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to either extract three from one or cram three into one. And consequently the images we use to imagine the Trinity reflect our obsession with ones and threes. We have a triangle and a three-leafed clover and celtic knot and three bearded dudes sitting at a table (if you’re a Rublev icon fan). In all our obsession with numbers, we miss out on one of the most important revelations of Trinity which is that God, in God’s fullest expression, is a relationship.

The radical power of the Trinity asks us to set aside our conception of God as a singular being or even as a singular force manifesting in three persons, and instead to imagine God as a perfect relationship.

I don’t think we can represent a perfect relationship here on earth with static, geometric drawings. Our imaginings of the Trinity need to be creative, dynamic, and passionate, and for me, really well played soccer approaches those elements of a perfect relationship.

However, if soccer is not your thing, there are some other images that work really well as dynamic examples – a theater company, a jazz band, and a dance troupe have all been utilized by other Christians. The kind of players can vary, because it is the creative, dynamic, passionate relationship that is the critical piece. But for now I’m going to ask us to strap on our metaphysical cleats and go find the Trinity in the World Cup.

Having grown up playing and watching soccer all over the world, I’ve developed an appreciation for really good soccer. And you can always recognize the really brilliant teams by how they function as a single unit that flows up and down a field. In recent years Spain has been the epitome of this kind of soccer (however on Friday they got smoked by a Dutch team that might be the new exemplar).

What’s stands out about all the great teams, regardless of nationality, is that everyone knows their roles, fullbacks, midfielders, and strikers, but that doesn’t keep them boxed in to fixed spaces. With the great teams sometimes fullbacks will carry the ball all the way up the field and a midfielder will roll back to take their place in the defense. Or sometimes a striker will drop back to help defend a corner kick, and a midfielder will roll up to lead the counterattack. In any case, there is this creative and responsive movement that takes place, and it works because the players know each other so well and because they love the game so fully.

There are times when I watch the Spaniards, or the Brazilians, or English play that it seems as if all eleven players are operating from the same consciousness. There is this miraculous sense of plurality and unity dynamically working toward the singular goal of creating something beautiful. Let me say that last bit again, There is this miraculous sense of plurality and unity that is dynamically working toward a singular goal of creating something beautiful. Which also happens to be exactly what is going on in our Genesis reading today.

Now some of you might be wandering why in the world we even have this marathon reading from Genesis today. The usual Trinitarian formula of father, son, and holy spirit is no where to be found. We get the Father as the creator piece coming through loud and clear, but what about the Spirit and the Son? Well, my friends, follow me down the exegetical rabbit hole, and I will show you the Trinity in a handful of dust.

Pull out your bulletins and let’s take a closer look at the genesis reading. In verse two there is a clause that reads, “while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The word for wind there in Hebrew is ruach, and in Greek it is pneuma. Curiously enough, in both languages, those words can also mean Spirit. So in many translations that clause reads, “while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.”

So we have God the Father in verse 1, God the Spirit in verse 2, and in verse 3 we get God the Son, although it took John’s Gospel for us to realize the Son was there. Verse 3 starts with, “Then God said,” and it is really important for us to notice that God creates the world by speaking it into existence. So from the very beginning God said Let there be light, and God said Let there be a dome, etc, etc. and that’s how the world was created, this speaking action.

Then John comes along and in Chapter 1 of his Gospel and reveals to us that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. So all that creating God is doing through speaking in Chapter 1 of genesis is happening through the Word, which is Jesus, hence in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, not one thing came into being without him. So the Father was speaking through the Son and sweeping with Spirit to create the world. From the very beginning the perfect relationship that is the Trinity was dynamically creating something beautiful, something worthy of being called Good.

That same Trinitarian pattern of relationship responds with a surprisingly versatile and creative love over-and-over again throughout history. When humanity fails to enter the same kind of relationship, the Trinity responds by recreating through baptism. Again the Spirit sweeps over the waters of the Jordan River, the Father speaks from above, and humanity is recreated through the incarnated Word that is Jesus of Nazareth. We baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and through those sacramental waters we reenter that Trinitarian relationship of creative, dynamic love.

The Trinity is not a doctrine to ponder; it is a relationship to be entered into and a pattern for us to participate in. All our relationships with God and our neighbor, to include all parts of creation, should be characterized by creativity, flexibility, and love, and they should be oriented toward creating something beautiful and good.

Sometimes that kind of Trinitarian relationship becomes visible in a soccer team, or a jazz band, but more often it becomes visible in a mission team or a local parish. I caught a glimpse of the Trinity in Fr Rob and Mark Sander’s pictures from last week. I have no doubt I’ll experience the Trinity in some relationships over the next couple of weeks in Bolivia (especially since we ‘ll be working with La Trinidad). And there have been many days I’ve stood up here at the Eucharist and felt like I was participating with all of you in the Trinitarian life.

Over the next few months our parish will be going through a lot of changes. Clergy will be coming and going, a new youth director will hopefully be arriving, we will be going to three services, we will be changing how we do Rally Day and Sunday School and all these changes will test our relationships. When we are not sure how to proceed or how to respond let’s take a moment to reconnect with the Trinity, and then move forward with creativity, flexibility, and love. And when we continue down that path together, I have no doubt the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit will be with us all. Thanks be to God for that relationship.