Recently, I watched a video of the beginning of a professor’s class on quantum mechanics. You know, as you do…I’m a nerd.

Anyway, in case you don’t remember, quantum mechanics is the study of atoms and sub-atomic particles. Quantum mechanics is different than classical mechanics (Newtonian physics) when you get into this scale of tiny things. These tiny parts of our material world do not behave the way that big things move and behave. When things get small enough, everything gets very weird and understanding of the basic laws of matter no longer apply.  

Quantum mechanics is weird. Even Einstein called quantum entanglement “spooky.” So, this professor in the video started his class by saying that he had bad news and good news for his class. The bad news was that quantum mechanics is a subject that’s hard to follow intuitively. The good news is that no one can follow it intuitively and no one really understands it, even quantum physicists. It’s good news because these students don’t have the pressure to “get it,” because they won’t. They could just begin their study of quantum mechanics knowing that they’ll be confused and dissatisfied on a rational, analytical level. The pressure is off…sort of.

I say sort of because quantum mechanics provides the backbone of our modern technology. All our new-fangled technologies, like fluorescent lighting, lasers, and MRI machines, is based on the use of quantum mechanics. So, even if no one really understands it, it’s critical that physicists in training understand how to use it.

This is, oddly enough, similar to our understanding of God.

We can both not really understand what we mean by declaring that God is the Trinity even as we rely on God as the very foundation of being. And for those of us who do go to seminary for our extra theological education, we also still do not understand the Trinity on an analytical, rational level. We are more taught how to imagine God, how to live as if the Trinitarian understanding of God reflects reality, even if we don’t really get it. If anything, what we are taught in seminary about preaching on the Trinity is to not try to explain it, because we don’t get it ourselves. So, when I watched this little video clip of the beginning of this class on quantum mechanics, I thought it sounded just like a preacher on Trinity Sunday. Bad news, you won’t intuitively understand the Trinity. Good news, no one else does either. And yet it’s still a powerful and necessary part of our faith and our world.

Who knew we had so much in common with quantum physicists!?

Indeed, it seems we share the experience of having a mystery at the core of our realities that we can’t really understand. And yet, whether we are physicists or people of faith (or both), we can put that mystery into action in our lives in powerful ways.

The trinitarian nature of God is a mystery and perhaps because it is weird and inexplicable we don’t spend a lot of time talking it or even about the nature of God. And yet, it is quite important. After all, our idea of who God is and how God acts has huge influence on how we understand who we are and how we should engage in the world.

If we believe, for example, that God is a dude out there who is watching us, waiting for us to break the rules so that he can throw a lightning bolt as punishment, we might believe:

1. That our job is to do the right things to stay in God’s good graces.
2. That we need to measure up and only then can we relax.
3. And that we should also interact with one another (and ourselves) by watching, judging, and casting stones and shame when folks (or ourselves) mess us.

Does that sound familiar, maybe?

We can certainly find examples of this sort of relationship with God in the Bible. But this isn’t the only imagine of God in the Bible. Far from it. But it is a simple version, and it is a version we can readily replicate in our lives. We all sort of understand a reality where there are rules, retribution, and control. We can all understand the temptation of treating ourselves and each other in this way of judgement and condemnation.

If our imagination of God requires God’s condemnation and retribution, then behaving in ways that are condemning, retributive, and dominating are not necessarily wrong but may actually be justified and even holy. With this imagination of God, we can feel righteous in exacting punishment, believing that God is on our side or that we are even acting on God’s behalf as a means of God’s vengeance and judgement in the world.

That’s one general idea of God. In that understanding, we can see how Jesus fits. He comes along to protect us from God, to absorb God’s anger, and mediate a reconciliation for us with God. Lots of people understand God to be like this.

Another idea of God is the Trinity. This is a complex notion of God that we don’t really understand. How are we supposed to understand that God is three distinct persons or manifestations of the Divine (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who are also unified in essence and substance? What does this mean to us? Why would this make a difference?

Well, I think we’re still figuring this out in some ways. And for sure, you won’t leave here thinking you will now understand the Trinity. So, take that pressure off of your shoulders. Just like the physics professor, I can say that this is the good news and the bad news. The Trinity is not a reality that sits well with our analytical minds, but it is a theology that works. It is practical. And it is full of the gospel kind of Good News.

And the Good News is that God is not a dude out there with a big white beard and a lightning bolt. God is greater than all that is, encompassing all that is seen and unseen. God is what is yet to be created and holds all that is created in time. Unchanging and good. God the Father.

God is also in this world. Jesus Christ is God incarnate; God made flesh, God with us. We often say that Christ is in me. Christ is in you. This world, our very selves and all of creation is soaked in the wonder and reality of Christ. God is here, Emmanuel.

And God is moving, nudging, inspiring, whispering into our hearts and our minds. God is in action, showing up as a wind to blow away all that really should go, to burn up the evil, and to soothe the aches caused by this wild reality we live in. God, the Holy Spirit.

In our text, Jesus tells us that God the Father is in him, with him and is also with us along with the Spirit of God. We are included. We are adopted. In this movement of the Trinity, we are gathered in and included. We are held, nudged, enlivened, and part of all that is.

This is a very different imagination of who God is. With this image, we wouldn’t imagine God sitting back and waiting in judgement in order to smite us at the right time. Or bless us at the right time. It’s much more like a family. Or a party. Or a dance that everyone gets to be included in.

Like quantum mechanics, this is complicated. It may not make easy sense. And sometimes it is confusing. Do you pray to Jesus? Is he the same as Christ? Or how about the Holy Spirit? Does she listen to prayers? Who’s exactly doing what and when? Sometimes I think I’d like to get the exact job descriptions of the members of the Trinity.

But we don’t know the job descriptions. We don’t know exactly how all this works. That said, I’m not sure our lack of crystalline clarity on the “structure” of God matters because we can put what we do know into action and see if it works. Just like quantum mechanics.

With this image of God, we can extrapolate that:

1. Everyone matters. You’re here. You were made as you are and that’s enough. You do not need to achieve anything, be anything, do anything in order to be included in the dance of life. The gift is given. There’s no God up there judging with lightning bolts at the ready. Rather, there is a God who loves us and includes us into God’s own being.
2. We are connected. If God loves us by including us and connecting us to themselves, then we are all connected in God. We are all one in Christ. My wellbeing is connected to your wellbeing and vice versa. This is one creation and each of us are entangled with one another and all that is.
3. We are held and supported by God. God is greater than all that is. God imbues all that is, including us. And God moves through, between, and in us all. We all have stories of God’s support and action in our lives or our loved one’s lives to know that this is true.

We don’t have to understand the inner details and all the machinations of God to get God right in our lives. God is not out there, but here. God is not separate, waiting in judgement, but including us, wooing us into ever deeper relationship. God connects us.

With that imagination of God, the teachings of Jesus flow. The invitation is for us to flow with the Trinity, as well. Thankfully, this imagination of God is something we can try, even if we don’t quite understand it. Just like quantum mechanics, it works. It’s practical.

We can act as if this understanding of God is totally and wholly true and see what happens. Wherever condemnation shows up in your life, it may be worth wondering if this is what your trinitarian God would have you do or think? Which imagination of God are you holding on to? This contemplation of God’s nature may just be a way of transformation for you and our world as our experience of faith, love, and hope blossoms into greater reality. For that promise of goodness, we say…

AMEN