"Tongue
Tied by Three Zeros"
By
The Rev. Robert L. Boettner, OSL
The
First Sunday after Pentecost
Trinity
Sunday
May
26, 2002
Leonia
United Methodist Church, NJ
Hebrew
Lesson Genesis 1:1 – 2, 4a
Epistle
Lesson II Corinthians
13:11-14
Gospel
Lesson St. Matthew 28:16-20
In the Name of the Creator, Redeemer, and
Sanctifier
Some
here were born in The Fifties. Eisenhower. The Cold War. Fallout
shelters. Opportunity abounding. Hula Hoops. Drive-in movies. Ozzie and
Harriet. These were The Fifties, an easily definable segment of time
commencing January 1, 1950, ending as midnight on December 31, 1959.
Then,
The Sixties. Another readily recognizable ten-year block of time.
Vietnam War protestors. Hippies. Assassinations. JFK. Texas School Book
Depository. Martin Luther King. Memphis. Robert Kennedy. Los Angeles.
Apollo 11. Neil and Buzz strolling on the lunar surface. These were The
Sixties.
And
so on. The Seventies. The Eighties. The Nineties. And then, a couple of
years ago we hit the big triple zero. 2-0-0-0. Fear of computer
melt-down.
Now,
I have a question. What will we call the decade between 2000 and 2009?
Think hard. There’s no apparent answer. Perplexing, this dilemma of
the three zeros. Historians are tongue-tied. Some have suggested, “The
Hundreds.” Admittedly, it has a certain flow. Sixties, Seventies,
Eighties, Nineties, Hundreds. It flows but, surely we can do better.
How
about, “The Ohs?” Can we imagine, fifty years from now, our
grandkids talking nostalgically to their grandkids? “I remember
growing up way back in the Oh’s.”
Somehow
I don’t think so.
Well
then, how about, “The Double-Ohs?” Still no? “The Triple Oh’s?”
Some
would avoid all those pesky zeros, suggesting “The Zilches.” Too
flippant? Perhaps we prefer “The Zips?” Too postal? How about “The
Pre-teens?” Too sociological?
No
doubt about it, three zeros are confusing. Two were confusing enough. At
the turn of the last century a satisfying name for the first decade of
the 20th century never caught on. Yale’s class of 1900 liked to call
themselves “The Class of Aughty Aught.” Does that mean the class of
2000 should be the “Class of Aughty Aught Aught?”
Well,
enough of this quandary. Suffice it to say that historians have a
nomenclature problem with respect to the three zeros. I point this out
to introduce the fact that theologians have a nomenclature problem of
their own when it comes to the threefold nature of God, “The Three
Holies.”
Generally,
when speaking of the nature of God, theologians use easily defined
segments of thought. God is Holy. God is Just. God is Omnipotent. God is
Merciful. God is Love. Think of these as the theological equivalent of
The Fifties, The Sixties, The Seventies, etc. But when it comes to
God’s tri-personality, theologians are tongue-tied. It’s the
theologian’s “Triple 0" problem, or better, the “Triple
Holy” problem. Holy, Holy, Holy. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Creator, Redeemer, Sancitifier. Three persons--one God. One God--three
persons. And we call it “The Trinity.”
Not
bad. Nice ring to it. It’s not a Biblical term, of course.
Nevertheless, it has a long history, being the preferred name by which
the Church has historically defined God’s nature. “The Trinity” is
easy to say, but not readily definable. As far as attempts at
explanation go, confusing and baffling language is the norm. Seems we
need one Sunday each year to grapple with the dilemma. “Trinity
Sunday.” Today is that day. Welcome. I’ve heard that more pastors
call in sick on Trinity Sunday than any other Sunday. I suppose pastors
don’t relish attempts at explaining the unexplainable. Our
illustrations seem somehow to hobble timidly into a corner spouting a
thousand apologies for even bringing the subject up.
You’ve
heard some of the illustrations I’ve used to explain the Trinity. When
I stood back to look at them, they sound as inadequate as “The Double
Oh’s” or “The Zilches” or “The Aughty Aught Aughts.”
There’s
St. Patrick’s cloverleaf image of the Trinity. One clover--three
leaves.
Then
there’s the egg: one egg, three parts--shell, white, yolk.
Then
there’s the H˛0 analogy. Water in three states--liquid, frozen, and
steam.
And
who can forget the person in three roles analogy? One can be a son at
the same time he is a father and a grandfather.
Here
are the words of the 1549 Westminster Confession: “In the unity of the
Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power and eternity;
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of
none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of
the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the
Son.”
Say
what? “Neither begotten nor proceeding?” “Eternally begotten?”
“Eternally proceeding?” Is this talk confusing? I know, lay folk
tend to hear such talk and think, “Well, I don’t understand it, but
there are professional theologians, well-equipped for such matters.
These words leave me confused, but I’m confident they can grasp this
‘Triple Holy’ problem.”
Yeah,
right! Let me assure you theologians are just as confused by this
chatter as we are. These words show the theologian stumped and
tongue-tied in the matter of the Triune God. How, after all, does one
comprehend the incomprehensible?
“Picture
God as a mountain with a cloud around the summit,” says Dr. Donald
Strobe. “There is mystery behind the cloud . . . If we are to know
anything at all about God, it is only because God chooses to reveal
Himself . . . It will be only because God has chosen to ‘lift the
cloud’ a tad and allow us to see something of God’s glory . . .
“Theology
is the art or science of trying to lift that cloud, to discover what God
is in Himself. Now, that’s an ambitious undertaking. Unfortunately . .
. There are a lot of preachers and theologians who seem quite prepared
to tackle the task. I doubt that any of us can do it. God is Mystery . .
. what theologians call the mysterium tremendum, and in those
Latin words one can almost hear the thundering of Mt. Sinai. Therefore,
if we are to know God, God must reveal himself to us.”
That
saint of the Methodists, John Wesley, preached a sermon on the Trinity
in May of 1775. He concluded that “all who endeavored to explain (The
Trinity) at all, have utterly lost their way . . . and have hurt the
cause they intended to promote . . .
I insist,” said Wesley, “upon no explication at all; no, not
even on the best I ever saw.”
To
the Jew, our Christian doctrine of the Trinity sounds suspiciously
polytheistic. The Jew recognizes the “Shema” (Deuteronomy 6:4) as
foundational to a proper understanding of God’s nature. “Hear, 0
Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord.” Talk of a co-equal Trinity
seems somehow to violate that cardinal doctrine. Yet, even in the Old
Testament there is talk of God’s Spirit, as well as of a mysterious
“angel of the Lord,” who seems to exhibit divine characteristics.
Are these Old Testament clues tantalizing hints of a tri-fold nature of
the Godhead?
Even
the New Testament provides no clear declaration of the Trinity. True, we
have strong ritual hints of it in the New Testament. We are to baptize
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). St.
Paul’s benediction blessing cited in our Epistle for today reads like
this: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:
13). Still, these formulas fall very short of being a theological
treatment of the doctrine.
In
a Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty steps up to the store counter.
“Yes, sir, I need some school supplies: some pencils, some paper, a
loose-leaf binder and some answers. I need lots of answers.” Perhaps
we feel a little like Peppermint Patty on Trinity Sunday. We need
answers! Lots of answers!
Or,
do we? A Chinese proverb says, “The bird does not sing because he has
an answer. He sings because he has a song.” We may not have all the
answers we need but we do have a song.
Is
there anyone in this room who has not experienced the grace of Jesus
Christ? Anyone here who has not bathed himself or herself in the love of
God? Anyone who has never been comforted by the communion of the Holy
Spirit?
We
may not be able to contain the majesty of the triune God in our little
box of brains, but there is a knowing that is at least as real--and many
times more powerful--than intellectual reasoning. It is the Christ who
dwells within our hearts. It is the Spirit that bear witness to our
spirits. It is the God whose hand of providence brings into our lives
blessings beyond description.
Comedian
Jay Leno tells about his mother who was an immigrant to this country.
His mother lived in constant fear of deportation. Her fear can be traced
back to the day she took the test to become a citizen of this country.
You could miss up to four questions on the citizenship test, and Jay’s
Mom missed five. The question she flunked on was: “What is the
Constitution of the United States?”
Mrs.
Leno’s answer was: “A boat.” Which wasn’t entirely wrong! The
USS Constitution was docked in Boston. But the judge instantly denied
her citizenship.
Leno’s
father stormed up to the judge. “What is this? Let me see the test!
She’s not wrong, the Constitution is a boat!”
The
judge rolled his eyes and said, “No, the Constitution is our basic
governing . .”
“It’s
also a boat in Boston!” protested Leno’s dad. “The Constitution!
Same thing! Come on!”
The
judge finally couldn’t take any more. He said, “Fine. She’s a
citizen. Now get out of here!”
Leno’s
father said to his mom, “You passed!”
“No,
I didn’t pass,” she whimpered. “They’re going to come after
me!”
From
then on, says Leno, any time his mother was even in the proximity of a
policeman, she quaked with fear. When he took her to Scotland in 1983,
she asked him, “Will I be able to get back in?”
“Ma!”
said Leno, “Don’t worry! That was 50 years ago!”
“It
never ended,” reports Jay Leno. His Mom still lives in fear she
didn’t get it right.
Well,
technically the Constitution is a boat as well as a document. And God is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But, thankfully, nobody’s going to give
us a test on it. It’s a confusing doctrine. Like finding a proper name
for the decade of the aughts. But here’s the good news. Relax. We’re
in.
S
H A L O M
For more on the subject of The Triune God go to
these links. The
Father, The
Son, The
Holy Spirit.
Or, try this site for . Additionally,
try these links for information on T
and