Trinity Sunday
Prov. 8:1-4, 22-31 • Ps. 8 or Cant. 13 or Cant. 2 • Rom. 5:1-5 • John 16:12-15
Before the formless earth and the dark depths of unrestrained seas, the first of all creation, Wisdom, came into being. She is a witness to what follows: the emergence of creation from the font of all being. God sets the heavens and draws a circle over the deep and establishes streams and limits the seas and makes the land secure over foundations. She looks and delights. God transforms mud and breath into a being bearing the divine stamp. Wisdom rejoices in the human race and every living thing (Prov. 8:31)
She deigns to stay with creation after the ancient disasters. Amid human evil and nature’s torment, she calls and cries from the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads, near the gate, at the portals of the city. She witnesses to a majestic name, whispers of heaven’s glory, haunts the world with the hope of God.
Standing on the threshold of divine sufficiency and divine creating, she sees creation’s wonder and the Creator’s majesty. She speaks to the children of Adam and Eve, saying: “I was brought forth, I was there, I saw creation come into being and I stood near Being Itself whose mystery is love and love’s outpouring and love’s returning. The majestic name of God, the mystery of God before the time-space broke forth, is pronounced Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” There is no greater wisdom than this name. The Wisdom of God calls and raises her voice, pleading for a hymn to the creator.
In the mud, breath, and blood of human life stained with failure and sin, a triune work is at work. To this as well Wisdom is a witness. God creates from love, and yet more wondrous still is God’s love for a fallen world in sending the gift of his Son. “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Pet. 3:18) Undeserving and in the grip of addicting evil, humanity seems lost and without hope. Yet God moves decisively in the Incarnate Son. “He rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his Son” (Col. 1:13). And he brings us to the kingdom fully alive, fully forgiven, fully transformed. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11).
The Trinity is omnipresent, before time and in time. There was not a time when the Trinity was not. Love is and love flows and love returns. Like the double helix of DNA, the Father and Son move in a spiral dance of affection, round and round, forever and ever. Energy binds the font of being and being’s outpouring, the love and light and fire called the Holy Spirit. All is full of love. The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. Love loves the Father and the Son.
In the fullness of time, that is to say, the brokenness of time, God sent his Son to rescue us from sin and death. Having risen from the dead, Jesus disappeared into the clouds of heaven, but not before promising the gift of his Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Son rescues by bearing and defeating death. The Spirit communicates the Son’s life, which is the vessel of the Father’s unreserved outpouring.
Think above and beyond time, and the Trinity will dazzle and amaze. Look to earth and feel the power of love sending, love rescuing, love infusing.
Look It Up: Read the Nicene Creed.
Think About It: This is love’s freedom.
