Donna Putney

This past Sunday was Holy Trinity Sunday or we could say, God Sunday. This is the only Sunday in the church calendar that marks a concept, not a person or event. Three in one and one in three. 

This is a day when we can ask all the “wh” questions. Who is God? Why does God exist? Where is God? What does God do for me? When did God come into being, and when will I meet God?

In the Lutheran Church, we have a doctrine that attempts to answer all of these questions, but there is actually no definitive answer. This is the day that we attempt to understand how God is in the world. To make our best effort to give words to our experiences of God in our lives and in the lives of others. 

In John 16:12 we read, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

Maybe this is the heart of the Trinity. A heart that knows that as much as we try, the Trinity will never be easy and no matter how many times Jesus answers his disciples’ question about what is going to happen when he leaves them, the mystery will remain. It is simply more than the disciples or we can comprehend. A heart that knows that even our most earnest attempts can never fully explain the Trinity. A heart that knows how much we need to be reminded of our failures and frailty when it comes to even adequate expressions of who God is.

When we speak of God, we should speak of love, tenderness, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness because God is all these things. The only way we are going to be able to bear what is to come will depend on our faith in an unexplainable presence and power of God known as parent and creator, as the word made flesh, and as our life-giving breath.

The Spirit of Truth (also known as Advocate, Holy Ghost, Friend, Companion, etc.) will guide us in all truths, will speak the words heard from God, will proclaim to us what is to come, and will glorify Jesus.

The spirit will gently guide us to truth in the future, our friend will give us the words that we need to hear at that moment. The word will fit the needs of our community. The words will reflect how the world has changed and how we need to change with it.

Have you ever been around someone who will argue a point by saying, “Well the Bible says ...” The majority of the times that I have heard this statement is when someone is attempting to alienate others from the community of God. What we need to be doing when we attempt to interpret the Bible into our own words, is remember what God has commanded us to love. To live a life lived in faith and acted out in love. In Romans, Paul tells us that with God there is peace, love, and hope.

The Trinity is our way of life made possible by God! Both the known and the unknown. Maybe we should consider spending a little less time thinking about those “wh” questions, and experience a lot more of God as God speaks God’s divine wisdom to the Holy Spirit, who knows just the right time to entrust this divine wisdom onto us.

Amen!

(Donna Putney is the pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Powell.)