It is Trinity Sunday. Preachers respond in many different ways to this occasion. Some shy away because the Trinity is too complicated and mysterious to speak about in a short sermon. Some attempt to explain the Trinity and usually fall into some form of modalism by using analogies like an apple, a clover leaf, or the properties of water.
If you would rather not address the topic of Trinity directly, then it might be a good opportunity to speak to the graduates in your congregation, or focus on the launch of the summer season. You could also focus on the creation stories of Genesis and Psalm 8. No one will fault you.
If you want to tackle the Trinity, remember this: any time humans talk about the nature of God…it is inherently wrong. How can a finite creature understand, let alone explain, the infinite creator? We simply can’t. We must maintain a humble balance between apophatic and kataphatic theology.
Apophatic means there is nothing we can say about God that is accurate, so we should say nothing.
Kataphatic means there is something we can say about God and we should talk about God, even if what we say isn’t completely accurate.
My theologizing about the Trinity tries to find the balance between these two ways of thinking. Click HERE to jump to the section of my Trinity video where I discuss this.
