But Does It Matter?
Matthew 28:16-20

May 26, 2002

IN NOMINE PATRIS. ET FILII. ET SPIRITU SANCTU.

MY FRIENDS AND I GREW UP IN A “LEAVE IT TO BEAVER” KIND OF NEIGHBOURHOOD IN WHAT IS NOW CALLED NORTH-CENTRAL REGINA, DURING THE ‘50’s AND EARLY 60’S. WE WENT TO THE ANGLICAN CHURCH AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, AND I SUPPOSE WERE DEVELOPING SOME SORT OF RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDING, AND A SENSE OF ECUMENICISM, MOSTLY BECAUSE OF OUR CATHOLIC, BY WHICH WE MEANT OUR ROMAN CATHOLIC FRIENDS.

WHATEVER THE REASONS WERE, WE CERTAINLY KNEW THAT MYSTERIOUS, MYSTICAL LATIN PHRASE, WHICH WE HELD IN A SENSE OF REVERENCE. BUT TO US WHO WERE GROWING UP IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH, THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THAT RESONATING PHRASE OPENED DOORS TO US, TO WONDER, TO IMAGINATION, TO POWER, TO METAPHYSICS, TO FAITH:

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER..AND OF THE SON...AND OF THE HOLY GHOST!

MY BEST FRIEND AND I, GROWING UP, WERE VERY MUCH A PART OF OUR CHURCH - WE WERE CUBS THERE, WE “SHOWED OFF” IN VARIETY NIGHT PROGRAMS THERE; WE SANG IN THE JUNIOR CHOIR - ALTHOUGH THERE WAS THAT DARK PERIOD WHEN THE CHOIR DIRECTOR , ECHOING THE EXPRESSED FEARS OF MY GRADE ONE TEACHER YEARS BEFORE, WONDERED OUT LOUD HOW TO MANAGE MY ENTHUSIASM, WITH HIS NEED TO HAVE ME SING ON KEY! - WE WENT TO SUNDAY SCHOOL UNTIL WE WERE FINISHED GRADE 9! BUT, ABOVE ALL ELSE, WE WERE ALTAR BOYS, OR AS WE WERE KNOWN THERE, MEMBERS IN THE “GUILD OF THE SERVERS OF THE SANCTUARY.” WE ALWAYS THOUGHT, IN THOSE EARLY YEARS THAT THE CHURCH WOULD FIGURE LARGELY IN OUR LIVES - AND FOR BOTH OF US IT HAS, IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

THE POINT IS WE WERE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THOSE WORDS “IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST” - WE HEARD THEM EACH AND EVERY WEEK, AND USUALLY MORE OFTEN. IN FACT, MY FRIEND AND I WOULD OFTEN PRACTICE “CELEBRATING THE COMMUNION” SERVICE IN THE PLAYROOM IN HIS HOUSE, ALTERNATING THE ROLES OF PRIEST AND SERVER SO THAT WE COULD PRACTICE RECITING THESE AND THE OTHER WONDERFUL WORDS OF THE LITURGY. I REMEMBER THAT WE BOTH FELT IN AWE OF THOSE WORDS- WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT THEY MEANT ENTIRELY. THEY HELD THAT POWER, THEN AND HOLD IT NOW.

THE TRIUNE NATURE OF OUR GOD, REPRESENTED FOR US AS THE THREE PARTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY, IS A CONCEPT GIVEN TO US WHICH CAPTURES BOTH OUR EXPERIENCE AND OUR EXPECTATIONS OF OUR GOD. BECAUSE IT UNITES AS EQUALS, THE THREE PHASES OR MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD IN WHICH WE ARE CALLED TO BELIEVE, THE TRINITY DISTINGUISHES CHRISTIANITY FROM OTHER RELIGIONS WHICH DO NOT PROFESS SUCH A COMPLEX, INTERACTIVE GOD. PARADOXICALLY, THE TRINITY IS AN ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE OF OUR FAITH, AND AT THE SAME TIME THE ESSENTIAL EXPRESSION OF THAT FAITH. THE REVEREND PETER GOMES, HOWARD UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF RELIGION SAYS THAT TO TALK ABOUT THE TRINITY IS AN INVITATION, AS HE SAYS “TO THINK ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AS HAVING A CONTENT THAT FORCES YOU NOT SIMPLY TO ACT, WHICH IS EASY, NOR TO FEEL, WHICH IS EVEN EASIER, BUT TO THINK; THAT IS TO SAY , TO OPEN YOUR MINDS, AND USE YOUR IMAGINATIONS, AND WRESTLE WITH THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT YOU FIND, AS YOU THINK ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD.”

ALTHOUGH IT DID NOT START THERE, THE CONCEPT OF THE TRINITY AS A DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH BEGAN TO DEVELOP AS THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, AFTER HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION, BEGAN THE WORK OF BUILDING THE CHURCH, GATHERING THE STORIES, BAPTIZING, PREACHING AND FORMALIZING THE COMMON THREADS OF THEIR BELIEF. THE CENTRALITY OF THE TRINITY AS A PRINCIPLE OF OUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WAS NOT RESOLVED UNTIL SOME CENTURIES LATER - AND AFTER CONTROVERSIAL DEBATE BETWEEN SEVERAL FACTIONS OF THE CHURCH. THE WORD TRINITY ITSELF DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

BUT, IN THE VERY LAST WORDS OF MATTHEW’S GOSPEL, WHICH GARTH READ FOR US THIS MORNING, IT IS RECORDED THAT, AT HIS LAST APPEARANCE, JESUS CAME TO THE DISCIPLES AND SAID TO THEM ‘ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH.....GO, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY GHOST, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.’

IT IS THIS SHORT REFERENCE, IN WHICH JESUS ESTABLISHES HIS STATUS IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM, DELIVERS WHAT IS SOMETIMES CALLED THE GREAT COMMISSION, AND PROMISES HIS ETERNAL PRESENCE WITH US, WHICH IS TAKEN TO BE HIS CLEAREST STATEMENT OF THE TRINITARIAN NATURE OF GOD.

THE FIRST APOSTOLIC REFERENCE TO THE TRINITY APPEARS AS PAUL’S CLOSING WORDS TO THE SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS. AFTER ENCOURAGING THESE STRUGGLING NEW CHRISTIANS TO STRIVE TO ‘BE PERFECT, BE OF GOOD COMFORT, BE OF ONE MIND, AND LIVE IN PEACE’, HE CLOSES WITH THIS PRAYER, ENFOLDING THEM AND US IN THE BLESSING OF A TRIUNE GOD: ‘THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE LOVE OF GOD, AND THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY GHOST BE WITH YOU ALL.’

AS THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS GREW, AND PRACTICE BECAME POLICY, AND WORSHIP BECAME THEOLOGY, ONE OF THE MAJOR CONTROVERSIES THAT AROSE CONCERNED THIS VERY THING - THE NATURE OF JESUS, AND HIS CONNECTION TO GOD. THIS ARGUMENT TOOK PLACE OVER CENTURIES, AND IS STILL WRITTEN ABOUT, AND IN SOME QUARTERS, WORRIED ABOUT TODAY. IN MY VERY LIMITED CAPACITY AS A THEOLOGIAN, I CAN ONLY BRIEFLY MENTION IT THIS MORNING!

A DEACON OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, NAMED ARIUS, HELD TO THE VIEW THAT AS THE SON OF GOD, JESUS COULD NOT BE GOD, ANY MORE THAN ANY OTHER PERSON IS THEIR PARENT. HE ARGUED WITH CONSTANTINE, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR OF ROME, SUPPORTING THE VIEW OF A UNIFIED GOD, THAT DID NOT ENCOMPASS CHRIST AS PART OF THE GODHEAD. TO HIM, AND I QUOTE “ONLY THE FATHER EXISTS FROM ALL ETERNITY.” FROM THAT WOULD FLOW ALL THE LIMITING IMPLICATION S OF BELIEVING CHRIST NOT TO BE DIVINE.

THE COUNTER VIEW, THAT JESUS IS INDEED A PART OF THE UNITY OF GOD, ALONG WITH THE HOLY GHOST, WAS DEBATED AND ACCEPTED ON BEHALF OF THE CHURCH, BY THE COUNCIL OF NICEA IN A.D. 325, AND ARIUS’ PERSPECTIVE WAS REJECTED. THE SURVIVING STATEMENT OF BELIEFS IS ARTICULATED IN THE NICENE CREED, WHICH CLEARLY ESTABLISHES THE TENET OF THE UNITY OF THE THREE ASPECTS OF GOD IN THE WORDS: “I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH; AND OF ALL THINGS, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE…AND IN ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER BEFORE ALL WORLDS; GOD, OF GOD; LIGHT, OF LIGHT; VERY GOD, OF VERY GOD; BEGOTTEN NOT MADE; BEING OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER”.....AND A LITTLE LATER ON ....AND I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST, THE LORD, THE GIVER OF LIFE, WHO PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON”.

ACCEPTED AS PART OF THE CANON OF THE UNITED CHURCH, IN THE ARTICLES OF UNION WRITTEN IN 1908, THE NICENE CREED, IN A VERSION WRITTEN IN 1988, APPEARS IN VOICES UNITED ON PAGE 920. AS WRITTEN IN THE 1958 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH, I HEARD THE WORDS OF THIS CREED WEEKLY IN MY YOUTH, AND CARRIED THEM IN MY MEMORY AS AT VARIOUS TIMES, AN INTELLECTUAL PUZZLE, AN EXPRESSION OF FAITH, AND A SOURCE OF COMFORT. WELL, WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF ALL THIS?

THROUGH THE READINGS WE HAVE CONSIDERED TODAY, IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WORDS OF THE NICENE CREED I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO LIFT UP FOR US CHRIST’S OWN SENSE OF BEING IN PART GOD, AND IN PART SPIRIT; TO TRACE THROUGH VERY BRIEFLY THE AFFIRMATIONS OF THE EARLY CHURCH AS DEVELOPING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF THE TRINITY, AND TO CONFIRM THAT CONCEPT AS A TENET OF OUR FAITH.

WHAT, THEN, IS THE FUNDAMENTAL ESSENCE OF GOD, WHICH REFLECTS THROUGH THESE THREE ASPECTS OF GOD’S NATURE?

OUR OLD TESTAMENT READING, FOR TODAY, THE CREATION STORY, SEEMS HISTORICALLY DISTANT FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT. BUT WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE THIS STORY TO BE - MYTH OR ALLEGORY OR FACT- BY WHATEVER PROCESS GOD CAUSED THE BOOK OF GENESIS TO BE WRITTEN, ITS HEBREW WRITERS ASCRIBED TO GOD, AND THUS IN SOME WAYS RECORDED THAT THE PURPOSE OF GOD, AS EXPRESSED THROUGH CREATION, WAS, IN A WORD, “GOODNESS.” WE ARE REMINDED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGH THIS STORY THAT GOD’S GOODNESS WAS EXPRESSED IN THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THAT IN EVERY DETAIL IT WAS MADE TO MEET THAT STANDARD. FOR EXAMPLE, VERSE 31 TELLS US THAT “GOD SAW EVERYTHING THAT HE HAD MADE, AND INDEED IT WAS VERY GOOD.”

THIS ‘GOODNESS’, AS I SEE IT, IS NOT ONLY EXPRESSED THROUGH GOD’S ACTS OF CREATION, BUT THROUGH THE GIFT OF THE LIFE AND SACRIFICE OF CHRIST, AND THE PROMISE OF OUR OWN POTENTIAL FOR ETERNAL LIFE, AND THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS SUSTAINER AND COMFORTER.

BUT IT IS NOT SIMPLY ABOUT GOODNESS. AS PASTOR GOMES POINTS OUT " IF THAT IS ALL WE SEE IN THIS WE HAVE MISSED THE BIG PICTURE, FOR THE POINT THAT GIVES GOODNESS ITS VALIDITY, AND MAKES OF IT A HOPEFUL ENTERPRISE, IS THAT GOD IS ETERNAL , THAT IS , FOREVER THE SOVEREIGN LORD OF ALL THAT WAS , THAT IS, AND THAT IS TO BE" GOD IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.

THE EARLY WORDS OF GENESIS WE HEARD THIS MORNING, “IN THE BEGINNING, GOD,” AND CHRIST’S LAST WORDS IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL:’LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD’ ECHO THIS THOUGHT, IN EXPANDING OUR HORIZONS BEYOND TIME. TAKEN TOGETHER, THE GOODNESS OF GOD, AND ITS CAPACITY TO ENCOMPASS TIME AND TO INCLUDE US IS LINKED TOGETHER THROUGH GOD, AND THE GIFTS OF GOD, JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.

“SUCH A PICTURE OF GOD” GOMES GOES ON, "NEARLY DEFIES IMAGINATION, BUT IT IS ONLY IMAGINATION THAT WILL ALLOW US TO GROW AND BE ABLE TO SEE SOMETHING OF THAT PICTURE. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IS NOT TO REDUCE INCOMPREHENSIBILITIES TO OUR SMALL SIZE, BUT TO MAKE US GROW UP IN SOME SMALL DEGREE TO THE CAPACITY OF THE SUBJECT".

“THE TRINITY,” GOMES CONCLUDES, "IS THE EXPRESSION OF OUR ULTIMATE OPTIMISM IN THE FACE OF OUR PROVISIONAL PESSIMISM. THE TRINITY ALLOWS US TO IMAGINE, EXPERIENCE, ANTICIPATE AND CELEBRATE THE WHOLENESS AND UNITY OF GOD"

BUT, DOES IT MATTER? THE TRINITY OF GOD EXPLAINS FOR ME THE ALWAYS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FACES OF GOD THAT ARE BEFORE AND AROUND ME AND WITHIN ME ALL THE TIME , EXPRESSLY CALLED UPON BY ME, OR "JUST THERE". THE TRINITY EXPLAINS FOR ME THE INTERACTIVE NATURE OF THE POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS I HAVE WITH GOD, HIS MANY GIFTS, HIS EXPECTATIONS OF ME, AND HIS SURROUNDING LOVE. OF COURSE IT MATTERS. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF WE EVER REALLY FIGURE IT OUT,.PERHAPS WE WON’T BE ABLE TO , IN THIS LIFETIME.......WHAT MATTERS IS......THIS IS OUR GOD.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY GHOST. AMEN!

Preached by Thomas D. Stickland
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan