Trinity – Join In
How do you explain the Trinity? If I’m honest I just went along with all those Sunday School analogies until I went to do theology at college. There are many illustrations people dream up to try and explain it, but in the end none of them really work.
Much clarity was brought to my world when our theology lecturer explained the difference between the typically Eastern Orthodox, Rublev icon of the trinity and the alternative Western pictures of trinity. It is the space in front of the three persons in the Rublev icon, that grabs me – we are invited to join in.
I think that is what the passage in Matthew 28 this week is all about. Join in! Go and make disciples, baptise in the name of the triune God and invite others to join in too.
The Rublev icon seems to get everywhere these days and I can’t count the number of times other speakers have used that image as if it is something they discovered. I’ve already used it in church, so this is my simple and very inadequate attempt at a visual for Trinity Sunday.
And the Wikipedia entry on Trinity is quite interesting.
Not a fan of the “Nuns on the Run” explanation?
(If you’ve not seen it, Robbie Coltrane tells Eric Idle that the Trinity is like a shamrock, 3 leaves but also 1 leaf. Later on Eric is teaching a class, and tells them that the Trinity is like a shamrock “small, green and split 3 ways”)
an awesome reflection, indeed… in our own daily experiences we, sometimes, neglect God’s dynamic presence… chaotic world this days….