Trinity Sunday – June 14, 2025
During the time of Oliver Cromwell, thousands of stained-glass windows in English churches were destroyed, because the English puritans objected to objects of veneration, which they called ‘abused images’. Of those stained-glass windows that did survive, few were undamaged, and there was an irreplaceable loss of priceless English church heritage. Amongst the windows that were damaged but survived is a unique medieval roundel that may be found above the north door of Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford, Suffolk.
That unique roundel depicts three hares chasing each other in a circle. The three hare’s motif has been found in Europe, the Sinai Peninsula, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and China, but it is most commonly found in churches in Devon, England, where it is often called the ‘tinners’ rabbits.
If you look closely, you will see that the three hares only have three ears between them instead of the six you would expect. In a clever optical illusion, each hare shares an ear with each of the other hares. The hares are distinct and cannot be confused with each other, yet together they comprise a unity that cannot be divided. It should therefore come as no surprise that the three hares motif has come to represent the Trinity.
Today is Trinity Sunday, one of our principal feast days, a day when we celebrate the doctrine of God as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the word Trinity occurs nowhere in the Bible, there are places where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present together. They are distinct and unable to be confused with each other, yet they present a unity that cannot be divided.
In the accounts of Jesus baptism in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all recall that when Jesus had just been baptized, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him and that a voice came from heaven saying: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”. (Mark 1:11b). Jesus is later quoted in Matthew’s gospel as instructing his disciples to: “… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. (Matthew 28:19b).
So today on Trinity Sunday we traditionally think of the Trinity. Now trying to explain the Trinity can be difficult to explain to those who may be new to Christianity, but it can also be a good reminder for those who have been Christians for a while.
We believe – do we not? – that there is one God; and yet we also believe that God exists in community as three persons – three in one and one in three; one God, one substance, one essence, yet existing in a mutual relationship of love and three equal and distinct persons – all of them God! Got all of that?
The other morning, I had a bit of an epiphany, as we often do in the shower. When I picked up the shower gel, I noticed that it said, “three in one body wash: for body, face, and hair.” It made me think of the trinity: three activities, yet one substance. I have mentioned this in a sort of creative attempt to try and explain the trinity but there are no illustrations that really work, because God as Trinity is beyond our understanding and beyond explanation. It is a paradox. It is a truth that exists in tension. So, I don’t expect anyone to have a light bulb moment and be able to say, “Now I get it!”
The book and now a film “The Shack” by William Paul Young doesn’t try to explain the Trinity yet it has a good go at exploring the relationships that exist within God as a loving triune of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are times when it feels uncomfortable in the way that the Shack presents the Trinity but then I remind myself it is primarily a novel exploring issues of suffering. It wrestles with other issues, and I believe it is ultimately a heart-warming, faith-inspiring story.
I have heard and read of preachers say that God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a bit like the way in which water is always water, but it can be found as ice, water, and steam. If only it were that simple, but it is not! The Christian faith does not profess that sometimes God exists as Father, sometimes exists as the Son and sometimes as the Spirit depending on circumstances. It’s a nice try, it perhaps points us towards the triune God, but it also falls short.
Another well used illustration of the Trinity is the one that St. Patrick used of a three-leaf clover (a Shamrock). Some clever people don’t like it and say it doesn’t work; but bear with me for a moment. By way of an illustration, a clover as a whole is a bit like the Trinity. The first leaf is not the second leaf is not the third leaf, but the clover is each leaf. Without each leaf it wouldn’t be a clover! Each leaf has the exact same essence – it is the clover. Similarly, each leaf must be attached to the others for it to be a clover – one clover leaf by itself is not a clover!
I could go on. An example I’ve used myself which doesn’t work either is the fact that I am one being but I function in different ways. I’m a Father, I’m a son and I’m a friend; but that doesn’t explain how God is three in one because it says nothing about the love that Father, Son and Holy Spirit have for each other.
So what does the Bible say? Surely it gives us a detailed text book answer? Well actually no, it doesn’t.
In Deuteronomy 6:4 Moses writes this to God’s people: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Yet here is the contradiction. The disciple Philip in John 14 v 8 says to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us”.
I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel that way about the Trinity!
There is only one God; but the Son – Jesus – is also equally God because he is in the Father and the Father is in him; and the Holy Spirit is God. He is the Counsellor and Comforter sent to us. He is God’s very presence and character and Spirit sent to fill us.
Another illustration I would like to share with you and is for the for the mathematicians among us is 1+1+1=3; but does that explain the Trinity? No it doesn’t . But if you imagine a three dimensional square – a cube – which has height, breadth and depth, we come closer to a mathematical picture of the Trinity because 1 x 1 x 1=1.
So now do we understand the Trinity? Well I don’t. Does it worry me? No it doesn’t, because I don’t fully understand the love that took Christ to the cross or the mystery of our faith – but I do know that the scriptures encourage us to live by faith not by sight.
The hard-to-understand Trinity gives us a picture of God’s love.
In Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make man in our image.” Plural! Let us… This was God at work in creation as Father, Son and Spirit.
In John 5:19 Jesus says, “Whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” Books have been written about the love that is shared with the community of the Trinity.
The Bible says in 1 John 4:16, “God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him”.
In 1 John 5:7 we read, “There are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.”
Still with me? Where does that leave us?
Well, it leaves us with a God who exists in a perfect community of love, and that must challenge and shape our love for one another. It leaves us with a clear route to get to know God. If you want to know God better, get to know Jesus and be open to the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit of truth. It leaves us with a God in whom there is unity, and diversity, all within a loving community.
Ever one, Sacred three, Holy God the Trinity
God for us, we call You Father; lead us forward to pray,
God alongside us, we call You Jesus; teach us gently to pray,
God within us, we call You Holy Spirit; still our hearts to pray.
You are the Eternal Mystery
that enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
even us, and even me.
You create and sustain all things,
but only by the power of self-giving love
O God beyond us, give us faith.
O Christ beside us, give us peace.
O Spirit within us, give us life
Ever One, sacred Three, Holy God the Trinity.
Every name falls short of your
Goodness and Greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing.
As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be. Amen.