June 6, 2004; Trinity Sunday Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8; Revelation 4:1-11; John 16:12-15; Psalm 29.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Trinity For The Heart What does it mean for you to say that you believe in the Trinity? What does it mean for you if you say that you are not sure about the Trinity? Thought, belief, debate about God as Trinity can engage both our heart and mind. Most often, however, talk of the Trinity is talk about the concept—the doctrine. Books about the doctrine of the Trinity fill many library shelves. It took centuries of debate for the church to reach a conclusion about the doctrine of God as Trinity. As important as the doctrine of the Trinity is, the idea of God as Trinity did not start as an intellectual argument. The knowledge of God as Trinity comes from the earliest days of the church’s life. The first Christians experienced God as three persons in their lives, in their prayers, and in their religious rituals. Later doctrine developed from the spirituality and the experiences of the first followers of Jesus. As the first Christians grew in their knowledge and love of the Lord, God was known to them in three distinct and, yet, related ways. As we consider the Trinity, we might also consider the essential purpose of theology. The purpose of theology is intimately related to why we come to church. Why do we? Why do we pray? What is the aim of religion? Essentially the purpose of religion is to nurture our relationship with God. All of our ministries flow out of our relationship with God. Religion that loses sight of the relationship fast becomes limited. The danger of focusing on doctrine apart from our lives is that talk of God can become abstract. We can do theology using both our minds and our hearts. We can do theology using the context of our lives as the arena of God’s activity. The doctrine of the Trinity is an excellent topic with which to start practicing this type of holistic theology. Mark McIntosh, in his book Mysteries of the Faith, states that, "theology deals in mystery because most of what it ponders is not a ‘thing’ that can be seen (The New Church’s Teaching Series vol.8, Boston: Cowley, 2000, p.1). He defines mystery as, "the deep dimension of life where meaning dwells (Ibid, p. 2)." In doing theology, in considering the Trinity, we seek out and listen to that meaning (Ibid). We seek out and listen to that meaning in the deep dimensions of our lives. What does doing theology in this way look like? Can anyone do it? I think of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She engaged the mystery that entered her life, and she sought to know its meaning. How did she seek to know the meaning? She welcomed the unexpected events of life. She received information. What did she do with that information? She pondered it in her heart. Remember in Luke’s Gospel, the shepherds report to Mary that an angel told them that her baby is the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord. Then we hear: "Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart." We could say that Mary was the first Christian theologian. She considered prayerfully the meaning of these words for her and what it might mean for others. She was leaving room for God to reveal truth. This would be the truth that she would know with her whole being—in time. The doctrine of the Trinity is with us today because the first Christians experienced God as three distinct persons and yet one God. They pondered their experiences, and passed on to us their rituals that expressed this experience of God. The God they called Father was the God that they, as Jews, had always known. This was Isaiah’s experience of God as holy, holy, holy...whose glory filled the whole earth. Then there was Jesus—God-with-us. God was visible in his compassion; visible in his love; visible in his quest for truth and justice; visible in the resurrection. He was their friend; he was their leader; he was God. The first Christians knew God as the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. This was the experience of God as ever-present guide. This was the experience of God that led a frightened group of people to continue the ministry of Jesus. This was the ongoing of experience of God in the gathered community. In moments of sharing the bread and the wine, and in times of prayer, they experienced the presence of God. God continues to be known to us in the deep dimensions of our lives. We are called to ponder these mysteries in our hearts. Amen.