One of the foundational truths of our faith is the “one God in three Persons: Father all-powerful, Christ Lord and Savior, Spirit of love.” How do we understand the Trinity? We don’t! God, by definition, is ineffable, beyond conceptualization, beyond imagination, beyond language. The Christian belief that God is a trinity helps underscore how rich the mystery of God is and how our experience of God is always richer than our concepts and language about God.

We can reason our way into knowledge of the existence of God, but we would never know of God as Trinity if it were not revealed to us. There is much else about God that has been revealed: about God as giver of life, land, and food; about God as liberator and protector, etc… None of this comes from reason, although it does not contradict reason. Most of what we know about God we know because God has revealed it to us. On this Trinity Sunday, it would be good to reflect on the God of our faith and worship. Do we honor the God of revelation, or do we honor a god of our own making? Do we honor the vengeful god of a merciless world, or do we honor “the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity?”