IMAGINE THE TRINITY

 

June 15 is Trinity Sunday, and many homilies will focus on explaining a mystery.

This "mystery" was discussed, debated, and formulated around the 4th century by mostly privileged, propertied, and powerful Christian men. It is no wonder that if you ask people to imagine the Trinity, most will conjure up three male figures--usually all white! The doctrine has been retrojected into biblical texts, including Sunday's Gospel Reading. 

Many of us grew up with centuries-old, androcentric doctrines that make our heads hurt. Many of us grew up with doctrines that do not make sense; that create walls instead of bridges; that separate people instead of bringing them together; that make our faiths, our beliefs, our skin color, our sexual orientation, our class, our way of life sinful, less human, and outright wrong!

There are those--quoting scripture no less--who sincerely proclaim that all rulers--including tyrants, dictators, and children of tyrants and dictators--are God's chosen. Even Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa declared recently that he is guided by the Holy Spirit. Then there are those who insist that the Bible is their exclusive "land title" and have killed, dispossessed, disenfranchised, and displaced peoples in its name. 

June 15 is Trinity Sunday, and many homilies will focus on explaining a mystery. Maybe some homilies will focus on the female imagery for the divine. Sunday's lection may challenge us to imagine the Spirit as a woman, giving birth, nursing her children. 

Friends, maybe Sunday's lection challenges us to imagine God beyond the boxes, even the texts, we have created to contain God. Maybe the Trinity is a fellowship of nursing mothers, a family of sisters, a discipleship of equals, a circle of life. 

Maybe it is better to imagine God as a "they" instead of a "she" or a "he" or a "s/he." 

*Art, "Trinity" by Kelly Latimore (2016). Available from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library Art Galleries.