As humans, we have an innate, almost instinctive desire for absolutes. We crave the final answer. We want to believe that someday -
someday soon - we'll understand everything. But at the back of our minds, there is always a persistent nagging which gently reminds us that there are few certainties in life. And yet, we continue to long for certainty. But sometimes, the more we know the less certain we feel about things. So how
do we talk about the Mystery of God?
St. Augustine once wrote that,
"When it is asked about the Trinity then the great poverty from which our language suffers becomes apparent." And the poverty of our language is never more apparent than on Trinity Sunday. But this is something that we should be thankful for. We should be thankful for the poverty of our language because if our speech
was adequate enough to fully explain the mystery of the Trinity then we would be guilty of relying on our
own resources, our
human answers, instead of watching closely and quietly for God's revelation in the world around us. But at the same time we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we know nothing about the Mystery of God. It is even
dangerous to say that we know nothing of God at all, as if nothing had ever been revealed to us; as if we had never experienced those fleeting moments where God might have been. And yet, it is equally dangerous to say that we have God fully captured, fully described, fully contained. So how
do we speak about the Mystery of God?
Come join us this Sunday at St. Peter's as we continue to worship and praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
