The story is told of the bishop preaching one Trinity Sunday in his cathedral, when suddenly the gentle crazy man who always sat in the front row (every church has one) jumped up and shouted, “Rubbish!” Then he sat down. The bishop composed himself and carried on. A few minutes later, the fellow leapt up and shouted, “Absolute rubbish!” and sat down again. The bishop looked at the dean, who motioned that he should carry on. After a deep breath, the bishop plunged on until the man once again got up and shouted “Complete and utter rubbish, I tell you!” Now completely flummoxed, the bishop asked the dean whether he should carry on. “Please do, Bishop,” said the Dean. “That’s the first time he’s ever made sense.”
There is a sense in which every explanation of the Trinity is rubbish.
The Trinity is often presented as an esoteric bit of theology that only a die-hard theologian could love. You know: “four relations, three Persons, two processions, One God.” Huh? The Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer is a bit too succinct:
Q. What is the Trinity?
A. The Trinity is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Creed?
Then there is the Athanasian Creed: “But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as…
