Side-stepping God

In some Christian denominations and churches, yesterday was designated as "Trinity Sunday."  If my worship experience was at all typical, whole services were wasted as preachers went through contortions and gyrations to "explain" the "significance" of the "doctrine" that God exists as three "persons,"  the "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

To me, placing such emphasis on descriptors that complicate one's perception of God is at best vain, and at worst idolatrous.  Check out this definition of the "The Trinity:" 

God is a trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the same person as the Son, the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as the Father. They are not three gods and not three beings. They are three distinct persons, yet, they are all the one God. Each has a will, can speak, can love, etc. These are demonstrations of personhood. They are in absolute perfect harmony consisting of one substance. They are coeternal, coequal, and copowerful. If any one of the three were removed, there would be no God. (written by Matt Slick on the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry website)

Charts have been devised that show instances in which the Bible refers to God as one or the other or the other of the three components of the "Godhead."

Of course, for some believers, the Holy Spirit only arrived after Jesus was crucified, ignoring numerous instances in the Hebrew Scriptures of Holy Spirit-like adventures and occurrences.  Those who cling to the notion that God is "Father" forget what happened "In the beginning"-- "So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."  (Genesis 1:27, NRSV)  So, it would appear that God has female qualities.

Just a little reminder that "The Trinity" hovers dangerously close to being an anti-Semitic and patriarchal "doctrine."  But maybe that shouldn't be very surprising.

In the culminating activity of my seminary days, known as the ORAL EXAM, I stated that "The Trinity" was not a biblical concept.  Yes, there are various means in scripture by which people described and understood the working, presence, and essence of God, but the Bible as a whole never lands on a single, agreed-upon way to understand God.  As an aside, think of the dozens of images used to describe Jesus and what he was all about, or the very words of Jesus himself when he described the Holy Spirit (Come on, you can look them up!)

Of the three professors tasked with "pouring their derision upon everything we did, exposing every weakness" as the then-fairly-current Pink Floyd snippet from The Happiest Days of our Lives song on The Wall album phrased it, two were from my very own faith tradition which held the exact position I expressed.  (In fact, one of our primary forebears in the faith tradition expunged "The Trinity" from the beloved hymn Holy, Holy, Holy!) The third spat, "Oh, I am so sick of that canard!"  I think mainly he was attempting to unnerve me, as was the pattern in those exams, but he probably bought into the doctrine, at least somewhat.

In any case, when I think of "The Trinity" as an entity (which is rarely) it brings to mind the same image I carry around of modern councils of church potentates -- a bunch of old men with appropriate beards sitting around gigantic oval-shaped conference tables in wood-paneled rooms, wearing flowing robes, vestments, academic hoods, medallions and over-sized crosses while considering 400-page white papers detailing why Christians of diverse backgrounds cannot recognize the validity of one another's baptisms or sanction the qualifications of one another's clergy.  Each stridently defends the purity of his tradition.

Meanwhile, on the street, the homicide rates skyrocket in many of our major cities; bigotry is more and more blatant; police and minorities are at war; family values champions and clergy are caught up in salacious scandals; youth are addicted to electronic stimuli and become more and more isolated as genuine human interaction is replaced by virtual life; irrational anger, insults and bullying comprise the fallback position when someone unique appears on the scene, or when one does not get his or her way; terrorism on both domestic and international fronts are daily occurrences...fill in the blank yourself.

To me Christianity is much more than tradition, doctrines, statements of beliefs, and the like.  Clearly, it seems to me that too much time, effort, and brainpower are wasted on codifying and explaining God's various "heads."  (Fareed Zakaria of CNN had a guest on his show yesterday, supposedly an expert in Islam and the Koran, who stated that the text about martyrs for the faith reaching heaven where "72 virgins" await them has been misinterpreted.  The word thought to represent "virgins" in this particular passage is more correctly understood to be "raisins.")

Long and short -- NONE OF US FULLY KNOW OR UNDERSTAND GOD -- despite our pretensions.

If there is anything that seems at all clear to me about God, from my reading and study of scripture over the past 40 years, it would be two related assumptions:

1.  We are completely and utterly dependent upon God for all things; and,

2.  God makes all things new.

Keep your doctrines.  Keep your arrogance about your self-serving God.  Keep your canards.  Keep your learned behaviors about how you play church.

Just help me and the rest of the world come to grips with how I/we can be transformed by the knowledge of God's love and provision, and renewed by God's will and promise of life made new.

A Questionable Icon

Recently, the gun used by George Zimmerman when he murdered Trayvon Martin -- a crime for which he was acquitted -- was put up for auction.  According to Zimmerman, the gun is an
"historical icon."  The last time I heard about it, bids reached $65 million, with several days of bidding left.  What the final outcome was, I don't know.  I was so shocked and disgusted, I never followed up on learning what eventually happened.

For some reason, this brought to mind the time I interviewed with a congregation seeking a pastor.  It was more than twenty years ago by now.   The church was located near where I lived at the time, and I will admit from the outset my enthusiasm for the job was not at 100%.  But I applied, and they called me in to talk.

When I arrived and saw who was on the search committee, I braced myself for a question I knew was coming.  After a few minutes of the usual flirting, the woman with the loaded question unloaded:  "Do you believe that the Bible is the inspired inerrant Word of God?"

Interview over.

When I said, "No," I could see the color drain from behind the frozen smile on her face.  I went on to say that I thought people had to be careful in interpreting scripture, that differences in language, culture, worldview, and so forth were to be taken into account.  I suggested that the scriptures represented the witness of people of faith during the times in which they lived, and that the Bible evolved (how about that for a description of the Bible when arguing with a fundamentalist?) over centuries, gradually being pieced together as councils of religious authorities sorted through spiritual writings, including some, rejecting many, so on and so on, blah, blah, blah.

After a few more perfunctory questions and responses, the chair of the committee showed me around the facility.  At one point I asked him to let me know when the search committee decided anything pertaining to further discussion with me regarding the position.  I admit this was a tweak, since I already knew their decision was made, but I also said it because search committees, at least in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), are notorious for just casting aside rejected candidates without letting them know one way or the other where they stood in the process.

As expected, the letter I received from them relieved me of any further dialogic obligation.

Also as expected, that particular congregation went through a lot of dissension, conflict, and upheaval as the Bible Wars played out over the ensuing years.  It, like so many others, is a mere shell of what it once was in terms of membership, strength, and ministry, sitting there on a huge plot of land in the middle of the county seat.  It appears there will not be any Family Life Center or gymnasium or great cathedral or whatever the monumental visions and plans were at the time the property was purchased.  Just a lot of grass to mow  in the summer and a long driveway to plow in the winter.

So, what is the correlation between Zimmerman's iconic murder weapon and the church barely on life-support?

How about this -- when church people worship the Bible instead of seeking to discern its relevance for life in the world now, today, as we experience it, they -- we -- are going to miss out on the message of scripture with all of its truth, hope, and yes, guidance.

And this -- when people of faith miss out on the message of scripture as it relates to today's world and times, they -- we -- will have no relevant witness to offer to those around us.

And this -- when there is a lack of relevance in what the church proclaims and does (or, does NOT do, since it lacks a relevant witness), those on the outside will clearly see the self-centeredness, judgmental attitudes, exclusivity, intolerance, ignorance, and just plain FEAR that exist within so many church communities.

And this -- when the church fails, it is dismissed.

And this -- when the church, and consequently, the "faith" it proclaims are dismissed, the witness of scripture for the reconciliation of all of Creation within itself and with God goes unheard.

And this -- when the call to reconciliation is not heard, it is not embraced or suffered for or seen in all of its hopeful promise.

And this (I could go on much longer, but let's cut to the chase here) -- human division, animosity, injustice, greed, and violence will continue not only to occur, but also continue to be accepted as appropriate - and even necessary - for "survival," when all along a better path is revealed.

It is a path ignored, not believed, and even hidden by those who have it all at hand in the dusty book that is supposedly so important to them.