There's a saying that "anyone who preaches on the Trinity for more than three minutes will likely lapse into heresy." And this because the Trinity is a mystery we can name - but cannot fully comprehend. As soon as we begin speaking about the Trinity, human language, inadequate for revealing let alone explaining this mystery, opens us to making statements that are neither true nor reflective of more than 2,000 years of faith and Church teaching.
Our Lutheran friends have produced a short, lighthearted and entertaining video that explains this quite well. If you follow the link here - be sure to watch until the end!
If a video doesn't appear below, click here!
So I've decided not to risk writing an heretical prayer for Trinity Sunday! Instead, I offer you a prayer by theologian Karl Rahner. You'll see that in his prayerful question he names neither the Trinity nor the Persons in it. You'll recognize, nonetheless, the Father, Son and Spirit in his words. Wisely, Rahner does not answer his own question - apart from finally naming our triune God as Love - as we find so eloquently stated in 1 John 4.
Here, then, is Rahner's prayer:
What can I say to you, my God?
Shall I collect together all the words
that praise your holy Name?
Shall I give you all the names of this world
—you, the Unnameable?
Shall I call you
"God of my life,
meaning of my existence,
hallowing of my acts,
my journey's end,
my journey's end,
bitterness of my bitter hours,
home of my loneliness,
home of my loneliness,
you my most treasured happiness"?
Shall I say:
"Creator, Sustainer, Pardoner,
Near One, Distant One, Incomprehensible One,
God both of flowers and stars,
God of the gentle wind and of terrible battles,
Wisdom, Power, Loyalty, and Truthfulness,
Eternity and Infinity, you the All-merciful,
you the Just One,
Near One, Distant One, Incomprehensible One,
God both of flowers and stars,
God of the gentle wind and of terrible battles,
Wisdom, Power, Loyalty, and Truthfulness,
Eternity and Infinity, you the All-merciful,
you the Just One,
you - Love itself?"
Be with me, God of Love, Father, Son and Spirit,
as you are one, be one with me,
most Holy Trinity.
Amen.
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Here's Rachmaninoff's Glory to the Trinity where, I believe,
he succeeds in not lapsing into heresy! This powerful peace ends
with intercessory prayer.
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