Wednesday Lenten Service

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

 

            When we confess our faith, we confess faith in a God we know in three different ways:  traditionally expressed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each time we walk into church through the main doors we see a window reminding us of this Three-in-One God, when we see the three interconnected circles.  One God, yet also have different characteristics.

            Artists through the ages have attempted to show the Trinitarian nature of God.  These include the three circles, but there are other representations.  Some of them include:

1.      Three Inter-Connected Circles.

2.      Trefoil in St. Stephen’s Church, Mainz.

3.      Close-up of Trefoil.

4.      Shamrock and Triquetra – Legend of St. Patrick plucking shamrock to defend trinity.

5.      Triangle, Triangle in Circle, Fish Triangle – God as equally composed.

6.      El Greco – Father, Son, Spirit as Dove

7.      Dürer – Crucified Son, Father is Miter, Spirit as Dove

8.      Cranach – Son on Cross, Father with Crown, Dove

9.      Retable of the Trinity in the Byzantine style by E. Boyd,                         showing Trinity as 3 men.

One of the popular motifs for the "retablo" painter was the Holy Trinity "La Santisima Trinidad". This has always been a difficult subject for the artist to depict; the usual portrayal consists of the Father, the Son, and a dove representing the Holy Spirit. The version shown in this "retablo" originated in Byzantium. It portrays the Holy Trinity as three men. The Byzantine form was abandoned in Europe in 1745 because of a papal edict, but continued unchanged in Spanish America.

10.  Ego Sum 4 by William Congden

11.  Three Circles in our Window in Entrance

 

What can we say about all of these artistic representations of God as the Holy Three-In-One, the Trinity?

 

1. We are describing the indescribable:

                  I think of one of my favorite hymns:

                              Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

                              In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,

                              Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days

                              Almighty, victorious, they great name we praise.

 

                  When we deal with the holy we are venturing into territory with which we have limited experience, even those of us who attempt to maintain “holy” disciplines.  We are best off being very humble.

 

2. God is not simple.

                  The three in one tells us that God is not one-dimensional.

                  God comes to us in various ways.

                              As comforter…

                              As challenger…

                              As creator….

                              As redeemer…

                              As sanctifier…

                              As renewer…

                              As sustainer…

                              As parent…

                              As sibling…

                             

 

3.   In this Lenten season we especially relate to the paintings we have seen of the crucified Christ.

                  Here we see God the loving parent holding his son.  I think of the story Jesus told about the father who welcomed back his “prodigal” son.  Of course Jesus was no prodigal.  In fact, Jesus was obedient unto death.  In his death we see the truth of the biblical phrase:

 

John 15:13-17

¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants^ any longer, because the servant^ does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another