The Dance of the Triune God
Today we celebrate another feast day in the Christian liturgical year – it is The Holy Trinity Sunday. We observe this day in recognition of the foundational doctrine of the Church that teaches that God is “the eternal Three-in-One” and “the majestic One-in Three”, as we prayed at the beginning of this service.
This Sunday of the Holy Trinity is a day of holy mystery and wonder and awe, as we consider what it means for us today, that we believe in and worship in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three persons who are distinct from each other and yet are in perfect unity; who have unique characteristics yet flow together – dance together – weave together – for the wellbeing of all creation.
We can describe the Holy Trinity (Triune God) in many ways; using a variety of phrases and images to help us ponder the mystery of God, the mystery which we as humans can never fully understand no matter how hard we try.
Today I’m going to be speaking about the dance of the Triune God (the Trinity), as a way to help us imagine God in new ways.
We get a glimpse of the dance of the Triune God, Creator, Word, and Spirit, in the creation story as told in the first book of Genesis. You know this story…listen again…
1 When God began to create the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good..
From the beginning, God is in relationship with God’s whole self – the wind blows (Spirit), God speaks (the Word that is, Jesus), and new life happens. This dance of creation continues for six days, as God continues to blow through the cosmos, speaking new life into being.
God goes on to create the dome (which God called Sky) to separate the waters (the second day); and the dry land called Earth and the waters gathered together called Sea and fruit and plants and trees (the third day); and the two great lights in the Sky, for signs and seasons and days and years (the fourth day); and swarms of living creatures and birds and every living creature that moves (the fifth day).
Then, finally, on the sixth day of creation, we hear God say…
…“Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Did you catch what God is being and saying and doing through these words?
Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness…
[We might say – God’s pronouns are they/them!]
In the context of this creation story, God’s words reflect the multiplicity of God’s being; the “divine plurality”, as one commentator calls it; “the eternal Three-in-One” and “the majestic One-in Three”. God’s essence flows – dances – and creates life within and between and through and among this identity of the Triune God, this image of Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery.
This is the likeness in which humans are made. Created by God in God’s own mysterious and holy and sacred image, we are made to be male and female (not male OR female). All the beauty and sacredness of our humanness, reflecting the image of God’s being and saying and doing, dances within and between and through and among this identity. We, too, are part of the divine plurality. God is with us and in us and around us; calling us into being, leading us into truth, making us whole and complete through our likeness with the Mother, Child, and Friend.
Through the intimacy of the relationship of the Holy Trinity, the Triune God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, we are filled from the beginning of time with love and life and energy.
31 God saw everything that (they) had made, and indeed, it was very good.
Indeed, this is good news, my siblings in Christ.
This is good news that we are created in the divine image of the One God, Sovereign, Savior, and Shelter. This is good news that we are created to dance with God, individually in our our unique and wonderful and quirky and (perhaps) flamboyant ways and collectively as the full expression of the body of Christ, with all its many connected members and diverse gifts.
Even today – especially today – Creator, Word and Breath of God is alive and well and dancing within and among us in this community of faith; this community that has been gathered by the Holy Spirit in this time and in this place, called by God to follow the example of Jesus and build community with diverse people and to nurture creation (that is, to have dominion; to take care of all that God has created and entrusted to humankind).
Even today – especially today – we hear Jesus say to us in this time and in this place, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
This is the dance, the ongoing work of creation, that we are given to do by God, the Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver –
Go….out into all the world that God has created
Make disciples….tell the story of Jesus
Baptize…in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Teach and obey…listen to the Word of God that sustains and gives life to all God’s people
With these words, Jesus is commissioning us – sending us out to do God’s work in the world.
This is who we are…people created by God in God’s own image and likeness and in our own unique ways; created in love and grace and communion to share God’s love and name and power with all the world….so that we may dance with the Triune God – Creator, Healer, and Peacemaker – and co-create a world where God dwells among all people and all nations, where death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more (Rev 21:4) and all people will have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
In doing this work we are given to do, we hear again the words from Genesis as the wind blows over the water…
31 God saw everything that (they) had made, and indeed, it was very good.