Dance of the Trinity

It is Trinity Sunday and one of the most difficult to preach. We try to explain this God in three persons and we tend to lose sight of what this all about. The first time I heard something that made sense to me about the Trinity was in seminary. We were reading about the Greek word perichoresis and what it meant, I believe it was Don Saliers who described it as a dance. This is when it took on deeper meaning and beauty because I can imagine a dance.

Now I don’t dance. I’m not even close to being good. So at first it may sound intimidating this dance of the Trinity. This morning I want to challenge how we look at this though. There is an example of this dance in the church itself. 

This week I asked our lectionary study about how the mission of the church is wrapped up in this Trinitarian dance. They had no idea what I was asking. This is because it is hard for us to think of this in new ways. When the church is creative about programs, mission, and the direction it is taking with the community around it we are utilizing Creator God powers. Now we may not be comfortable with this because we are not God. We are created in the image of God as we see in today’s text (Genesis 1:26). So if we were created this way wouldn’t it follow that our creative insights are part of co-creating with God?

Then when the programs are in place we have people run them. Whether it’s a food pantry, the way we greet visitors, or open our doors to those who are cold we are tangibly being Christ to the community. We are the Christ that people meet. We represent to them what Christ would do if he were here with us on earth. We know the stories of him sitting and talking with outcasts, healing them, feeding them so we are familiar with what it is to be Christ-like to others.

Over these two rests the Holy Spirit. We can’t engage our creativity unless the breath of divine inspiration is in it. We can’t be Christ’s hands and feet to the world unless the Holy Spirit guides us because some days it becomes hard to do. We can’t notice, when we are serving others, Christ standing in front of us unless the Holy Spirit prompts us to see it.

So here is the dance of the Trinity. It is a beautiful weaving together of our good news to the community. The only question left is will you join the dance?