The Greatest (Reality / Story / Teaching)

Rick WrightChurch of the Nations

Trinity Sunday (B)

INTERSTELLAR

• We need to be able to see into a black hole…

• If a black hole is an oyster then the singularity is the pearl inside.

• We can’t, Coop.• There are some things

that aren’t meant to be known.

Isaiah 6

• In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

Trinity Sunday

• Only Christian holiday that emphasizes a teaching

• Yet teaching of God as Trinity based on events• Evangelical history = story of God in Bible (and

history)

Greatest teaching

• One God• Who is somehow three (distinct) Persons• Father… Son… Holy Spirit• Greatest teaching of the Christian faith• ~ Grand Unified Field Theory of physics• Supreme (divine) reality behind all things• God… sends his Son… who does everything with

the Holy Spirit (= economy)

Quantum data of God

• Hilary of Poitiers (4th century France)• For the first time we are able to see into the inner

life of God.• God is not alone• Invites us to share in the divine community

Where did it come from?

• Robert Louis Wilken• The Spirit of Early Christian Thought• Some say teaching (doctrine) of God as Trinity– Not until 4th century– From Greek philosophy– Contradicts Bible and early Christianity

• Whether someone agrees with God as Trinity or not… this is not correct

Teaching based on Bible + reality

• Christian church aware of God as Trinity from the beginning

• Did not know how to express this until 4th century

• Reflect upon reality of God in (1) Bible (2) experience (= of Christian church and its prayer + worship)

Back to Isaiah 6

1. Brokenness2. Encounter (with God)3. God is everywhere + rules the universe4. Cry + reaction5. Ritual act (= healing)6. Word from God7. Human response8. Sending (= mission)

Isaiah 6 in practice

• “To see every worship gathering, every time of prayer and Bible study, every fellowship, every activity and event and act of service and mission as an opportunity to encounter the Triune God such that we are transformed and (re)energized to participate in the divine mission to heal and redeem broken creation” (Rick Wright, March 2007)