The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
June 7, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 22

Everything But...
           Adverbs are not always there when you need them. Many languages are adverb-poor and do not have special words to describe more fully a verb or an adjective. “Very” is not as common as you would think. Instead, the strategy is to repeat the adjective - “good good” - in order to emphasize the characteristic. It’s not hard to get the idea.
          But we really like to do is to triple the phrase. “Hip hip hooray” performed properly is repeated three times. Once is enough to put across the concept, twice makes sure you have heard it, three times tells you this is something superlative.
          Even the angels repeat things three times as in Isaiah’s vision of the throne of God. “Holy, Holy, Holy” they call out and we’ll be angels of sorts as we sing Reginald Huber’s nearly 200 year old hymn at the beginning of worship. And we will conclude worship with the three-fold Amen. Isn’t one Amen enough? For that matter, once you are holy, can you become any holier?
          Three keeps being our number for completeness and wholeness. A pun off the bygone TV sitcom, “Three’s Company,” not a crowd. The First Sunday after Pentecost has acquired the designation of Trinity Sunday, the only day of the church year not devoted to an historical event, but to an idea or characteristic. Trinity is an adjective.
          For many Christians, the Trinity still defies our imagination. One God in Three Persons is not mathematical; it doesn’t add up. The Trinity, is a human approximation and of how we understand the nature of God, and among all other world religions is The Christian Idea, a unique way of thinking that sets us apart, three times holy.