"Profound Mutuality"

“Profound Mutuality”
Trinity Sunday, June 4, 2023
 
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RWCP
Ex 34: 4-6, 8-9; Ps. 104; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; John: 3: 16-17; Mt 27: 50-56
 
           The other day I saw a little humorous post on the internet that observed that God was the original user of They/Them pronouns. Which is kind of a cool way to say that this person’s opinion was that God understands people for whom gender is not binary, that there are more than just he and she to human existence. But it’s also a fresh take on the concept of the Trinity. It’s a new way of thinking about our God, who shares everything, even existence. God’s essence is to be in relationship—relationship to the other members of Godself, and to us, and all creatures. Communion with Godself and with us is the way of being for God.
           The concept of God is beyond the capacity of any human to completely understand. But there are many comparisons in the Bible, among other literature, to help us understand what God is like. In the Psalms, for example, God is described as a protector who keeps her children safe as they travel; also as a shepherd who guides his sheep; even as water that relieves thirst, or forms a powerful, cooling waterfall. To Elijah, waiting in the cave for the voice of God, it was not in the fire, or the storm, or the earthquake, but it was in a tiny, whispering wind. In Jesus’ parables, God is compared to a forgiving parent, a woman adding yeast to bread dough, an investor seeking good returns, and a farmer planting seeds. Always images of relating, of care, of love for us, of helping, of support.
           The idea of the Trinity can be very confusing—how can 3 persons be in one person?—but it can also be very revealing. Three persons existing as one Person. God the Creator, the Human Incarnation of God, and the Spirit of God that resides in each of us and all the world. Over the centuries, there have been some very destructive interpretations of the Trinity, such as the monarchal image, in which God is a king, from which the other members of the Trinity proceed. Or the patriarchal interpretation, in which God is a father, and the other members are all male too. But we can move beyond these negative interpretations to the essence of the Trinity idea—that God is loving and seeks at all times to relate to us and all beings in love. In the Trinity, God exists as three equal persons related in profound mutuality. This is a very feminist concept, when you think about it. All three components of Godself are equal—none existed before the others, none proceeds one from another.
          As Elizabeth Johnson expresses it, in her book Quest for the Living God, “The living God is an overflowing communion of self-giving love.” Which tells us that if we wish to answer Jesus’ call to love as God loves, we also must relate to others as equals, in self-giving love, which builds communion with other people and with God as well. It also gives us guidance in our task of helping to recreate and reform the church. Of the church, Johnson says, “Only a community of equal persons related in profound mutuality, pouring out praise of God and care for the world in need, only such a church corresponds to the triune God it purports to serve.”
          During this Pride month, maybe we can make a point of being sensitive to the personal pronouns people prefer to use, and to learning more about the beautiful spectrum which is human gender. Maybe we can also take time to reflect on God’s unselfishness, even to the point of very existence, and the example that provides for us.