I was introduced, to a concept about the trinity that I had never heard before. (maybe I ducked during that class, I don’t know.) A man can be “Father, Brother, and Son” – all at once. A woman can be “Mother, Daughter, Sister”. One can be “Nephew, Uncle, Cousin;” or “Niece, Aunt, Friend.” These are kinds of words which describe how we are connected to one another, how we relate to each other and what the bonds are that exist between us. None of them exhaust the mystery of who we are. None of them completely capture the complexity of whose we are. And if that is true of us as human beings, isn’t it also true of our experience of the Triune God. Different names, different descriptors, different ways of trying to understand this mystery we call the Trinity, yet, it is the same God we experience. Some call God – Father, Son and Spirit; others relate as Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; still others as Source, Mediator and Summit. We can use all kinds of words to try and frame our experience of that mystery. Yet, when all is done, our words can only help to peel back the mystery in a small way…
But, isn’t it also true that beyond the words, we all have our experiences of God? There are events in our daily lives that pull back the veil just a bit and help us understand the nature of God. And though we each may have our favorite images and icons that help us grasp the mystery, let me suggest three from the common experience of a wedding, that may unpack something of who we know as God. Let me use the most recent wedding of some kids I have known from CFC to unpack the mystery.
1) There is that long walk down the aisle for the Father (and sometimes Mother) of the bride with their daughter. And then that all so brief moment, when daddy’s little girl is no longer his little girl to care for. I always watch that moment – this time there were a few words to Dan, the groom, a kiss on the forehead and a gentle giving of his daughters hand into this ‘stranger’s arms’ in hope and fear and surrender. A little tear there. And I image God the father’s love for us when he allowed his son to be born of the virgin. Like every father of the bride, His Heart was full of hopes and dreams and fears and courage as He gave away His treasure into OUR hands. He gave away His treasure so that WE might know life. That is what we know in every wedding and every moment of our days – A God who loves us that way. And whether you call that experience – Father, or Creator or Maker or whatever other adjective works for you – we know one part of the truth of God for us.
The second two moments were nearly instantaneous.
Dan and Tracy had now made those few small steps from where Dad has handed her off, and are now before me, and the altar. There were a few moments while the music was still playing. So I invited them to do what I had given them as a penance when they each went to confession the night before –to just breathe. Just arrive HERE, NOW – to let the music wash over them, and to be present to this grace and this hour and this opportunity of response, of saying a yes to whatever God has in store for them both. And they both did – a visible relaxation. A visible surrender to what the moment would hold for them and the promise they would make. A nod of their heads in assent. And in that moment, I knew a son’s love, who, in his moments of centering in the garden, only knew how to say ‘yes’ in response to the love that had called him to life. Son, Redeemer, Obedient one; Savior – regardless of the words, we know what it means for us to say that same yes, because we were redeemed by His yes.
Finally, still there in front of the altar, we let the music, fit for an ordination, just surround us in this lovely, 4 part harmony, for all of mass, but particularly, at that moment. And this refrain kept repeating. The Lord is my light…The lord is my light. Filling us with grace and blessing. Allowing the empty places and the fearful places, and all that was unredeemed, and all that was not yet “yes’ to God be ‘spirited’ away. And that was all you heard in the entire church – no coughing or baby’s cry or shuffling – just this music that surrounded and sustained and sanctified and recreated us – the promised gift of the Spirit of God – so present, so real. And I knew in that moment the Spirit’s power – ready to renew the face of the earth in each of us.
Father, Son and Spirit. Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. Source, Mediator, Summit. It matters less the words we choose, but more, our decision to let that experience of God wash over us – shaping us and molding us into that love of God for all the world to experience…