The Parable of God the Holy Trinity

I remember several months ago when we were picking the dates for the intergenerational services at St Philip's, I thought to myself - Trinity Sunday - that would be a great day to do with the children and youth! Over the course of preparing my reflection for the day, I have regretted that thought many times. How can I explain such a complex and mind boggling theological concept in a way that is accessible and authentic for people of all ages? Kind of a challenge. It was only when I was attending Ask & Imagine recently that I came up with the ideas behind this homily. 

In our homiletics lecture, we were taught about the value of parables and writing our own parables as a part of our preaching. We also used Godly Play (a personal favourite) during our worship at Ask & Imagine. At this point, I had already decided I would teach a song with three parts to the group in my sermon, but I didn't know how to do this in a way that connected to the trinity (without being heretical). 

For some reason, since becoming friends with many Eastern Christians, I have become far more concerned with not speaking heresies about the Trinity. I mean I don't want to cause yet another schism (not that they think we are actually in communion or anything, that would also be heresy). So much heresy, so little time! This handy infographic explains all the heresies one must try and avoid when speaking about the Trinity (and by one I mean me and by must I mean might):

In the end, I decided that the way we were singing the song in three parts could be seen as a parable for God the Holy Trinity and I love the way parables are introduced in Godly Play. I put these things together with a little bit of wondering, some rhythm and this is what happened. I am not sure if it passes muster as not heretical, but since it is a parable and isn't actually directly saying anything about the Trinity, I think I avoid heresy. Feel free to let me know what you think (or if you want to know where the psalm is from).

Pick up the gold box and examine it from all sides. Turn around in the middle of the congregation so that everyone can see the box.   When you mention the box being closed, knock on the top of the box. When you are talking about the parable being a present, you hold the box out toward the people like you are giving it to them. Pause. Reflect on the need to be ready to open a parable and to keep from breaking it. When everyone is ready, begin. Peek inside the box to see what is there and then look puzzled and remove the lid completely. Show the empty box to the people so that they can see it. When you talk about the space inside, but your hand inside the box to show where things could go. Respond to people’s wondering about the space. When you talk about the air in the box, breathe it in through your mouth and out through your nose. Respond to people’s wondering about the air.   Make the rhythm for the song by tapping on the bottom of the box. Listen carefully to the repeating rhythm. When you talk about making the rhythm, demonstrate it by clapping and tapping. Lead everyone in making the rhythm together. Enjoy the rhythm that the group is making together. Teach the group on the lectern side the first melody. Indicate who is part of this group clearly with your hands and sing the melody first, having them repeat it with you several times afterwards. Teach the group that will be at the front  the second melody. Indicate the second Teach the group on the pulpit side the third melody. Start the rhythm with all the people, then add in each part along with the rhythm. Repeat several times and enjoy the rhythm and melodies together. Gradually bring everything to a close. Close the box and put it back in its place.

Look! It is the colour gold. Something inside must be precious like gold. Perhaps there is a parable inside. Parables are even more valuable than gold, so maybe there is one inside. The box is also closed. There is a lid. Maybe there is a parable inside. Sometimes, even if we are ready, we can’t enter a parable. Parables are like that. Sometimes they stay closed. The box looks like a present. Parables were given to you long ago as presents. Even if you don’t know what a parable is. The parable is already yours. You don’t have to take them, or buy them, or get them in any way. They already belong to you. You need to be ready to find out if there is a parable inside. It is easy to break parables. What is hard to do is go inside. This parable is about God the Holy Trinity. I have an idea. Let’s look inside and see what’s there! It looks like there is nothing in this box. But wait, there are a few things in the box that we can’t see: there is space inside – space where we could put many different things. I wonder what we could put in this space for God the Holy Trinity. There is also air inside the box, even though we can’t see it, it is there. We can breathe it in and move through it and it helps us live. I wonder what else we can do with air. When air moves quickly it makes sound which many people can hear with their ears or if it is loud enough, we can feel it in our bodies. That’s another thing that we can find in this parable box, we can find a rhythm made out of sounds. Like the air, the rhythm can move through us. We can make the rhythm ourselves, by clapping or tapping. We can also make the rhythm together. We can make the rhythm and we can hear it in others. We can also make different melodies with the air that moves through us, with our voices. Let’s see what melodies we can make. “justice, kindness, walk humbly with our God.” “to seek justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.” “What does our God require of us? What does our God require of us?”