WEBVTT STYLE ::cue { color: #ffffff; } 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:01.710 And God said, 00:00:01.859 --> 00:00:04.074 Let us make man in our image 00:00:04.202 --> 00:00:05.950 according to our likeness. 00:00:07.490 --> 00:00:10.506 75 years ago or so in her essay 00:00:10.618 --> 00:00:12.682 The Dogma Is the Drama, 00:00:12.826 --> 00:00:15.022 Dorothy Sayers' included a 00:00:15.076 --> 00:00:18.202 hypothetical exam paper testing 00:00:18.266 --> 00:00:20.154 the average Englishman's 00:00:20.202 --> 00:00:22.074 knowledge of basic Christian 00:00:22.122 --> 00:00:23.070 doctrine. 00:00:23.570 --> 00:00:25.478 After a question and answer, 00:00:25.564 --> 00:00:26.898 each about the Father, 00:00:26.994 --> 00:00:29.446 Son and Holy Ghost comes to 00:00:29.468 --> 00:00:32.966 fourth question what is the 00:00:32.988 --> 00:00:34.310 doctrine of the Trinity? 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:37.058 Answer the Father 00:00:37.154 --> 00:00:38.434 incomprehensible, 00:00:38.562 --> 00:00:40.662 the Son incomprehensible, 00:00:40.806 --> 00:00:41.850 and the whole thing 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:43.210 incomprehensible. 00:00:43.870 --> 00:00:46.454 Something put in by theologians 00:00:46.502 --> 00:00:48.060 to make it more difficult, 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:50.346 nothing to do with daily 00:00:50.378 --> 00:00:51.710 life or ethics. 00:00:53.250 --> 00:00:55.770 With her characteristic wit, 00:00:55.850 --> 00:00:58.522 Sayers decried the remarkable 00:00:58.586 --> 00:01:00.842 ignorance of Christian teaching 00:01:00.906 --> 00:01:03.086 in a supposedly Christian 00:01:03.118 --> 00:01:03.810 nation. 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:05.682 And we all know that such 00:01:05.736 --> 00:01:07.710 ignorance has only grown. 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:08.750 Indeed, 00:01:08.910 --> 00:01:11.150 I suppose it's not inconceivable 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:13.746 that similar exam results could 00:01:13.768 --> 00:01:15.002 appear on a seminary 00:01:15.086 --> 00:01:16.280 entrance test, 00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:19.554 even if not openly expressed. 00:01:19.682 --> 00:01:21.478 The sentiment is certainly 00:01:21.564 --> 00:01:23.158 there for most people, 00:01:23.244 --> 00:01:24.342 even Christian people. 00:01:24.396 --> 00:01:26.582 The doctrine of the Trinity is 00:01:26.636 --> 00:01:29.334 not only baffling but mostly 00:01:29.382 --> 00:01:31.642 irrelevant. One God, 00:01:31.776 --> 00:01:33.638 and yet three persons. 00:01:33.814 --> 00:01:35.174 There's nothing logical, 00:01:35.302 --> 00:01:37.302 reasonable or practical 00:01:37.366 --> 00:01:38.202 about it. 00:01:38.336 --> 00:01:41.550 It is all just incomprehensible. 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:44.846 Have you felt the sense of 00:01:44.948 --> 00:01:47.386 foreboding and bewildered awe 00:01:47.418 --> 00:01:48.974 that emanates from the 00:01:49.012 --> 00:01:51.214 congregation each spring when 00:01:51.252 --> 00:01:53.362 the Athenation Creed gets 00:01:53.416 --> 00:01:55.202 dutifully rolled out for its 00:01:55.256 --> 00:01:57.410 annual command performance? 00:01:57.830 --> 00:02:00.274 The perplexity is matched only 00:02:00.312 --> 00:02:01.922 by the relief after 00:02:01.976 --> 00:02:03.314 the deed is done, 00:02:03.512 --> 00:02:06.134 and rare is the parishioner who 00:02:06.172 --> 00:02:08.214 will dare to say much about it 00:02:08.252 --> 00:02:10.294 for fear of exposing his 00:02:10.332 --> 00:02:12.086 ignorance or confusion and 00:02:12.108 --> 00:02:13.702 giving others reason to question 00:02:13.756 --> 00:02:17.078 his orthodoxy over some odd but 00:02:17.164 --> 00:02:18.490 apparently important 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:20.090 point of doctrine. 00:02:21.470 --> 00:02:22.966 Given the obvious difficulty 00:02:22.998 --> 00:02:23.654 of the doctrine, 00:02:23.702 --> 00:02:25.382 it is no wonder that religious 00:02:25.446 --> 00:02:27.722 people like Joseph Smith and 00:02:27.776 --> 00:02:29.974 Charles Tayes Russell saw the 00:02:30.032 --> 00:02:31.374 doctrine of the Trinity as an 00:02:31.412 --> 00:02:33.514 impediment to faith and declared 00:02:33.562 --> 00:02:35.710 it a concocted teaching, 00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:37.658 which is ironic, 00:02:37.754 --> 00:02:39.834 considering the wanton creation 00:02:39.882 --> 00:02:42.074 of unique doctrine common among 00:02:42.122 --> 00:02:43.946 both their Latter day Saints 00:02:43.978 --> 00:02:45.950 and Jehovah's Witnesses. 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:48.640 Yet, whether easy or difficult, 00:02:49.010 --> 00:02:52.494 orthodox believers confess one 00:02:52.532 --> 00:02:54.414 God in Trinity and 00:02:54.452 --> 00:02:55.842 Trinity in unity, 00:02:55.986 --> 00:02:57.666 neither confusing the persons 00:02:57.698 --> 00:02:59.010 nor dividing the substance. 00:03:00.170 --> 00:03:01.150 We confess 00:03:02.210 --> 00:03:05.150 what we do not and cannot 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:06.240 understand. 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:09.280 And that's just fine, 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.990 because faith is not predicated 00:03:13.490 --> 00:03:16.414 on understanding. In fact, 00:03:16.532 --> 00:03:19.630 faith demands the opposite. 00:03:20.450 --> 00:03:23.150 Faith demands ignorance. 00:03:24.290 --> 00:03:26.166 But that doesn't sound 00:03:26.268 --> 00:03:27.240 quite right, 00:03:27.690 --> 00:03:29.270 especially not in a place 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:30.546 committed to imparting 00:03:30.578 --> 00:03:31.800 knowledge about God. 00:03:32.329 --> 00:03:34.326 Maybe we should say it this way 00:03:34.508 --> 00:03:37.510 our goal is to make Christians 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:39.274 not who understand. 00:03:39.472 --> 00:03:41.126 Our goal is to make Christians 00:03:41.158 --> 00:03:44.341 who don't know. Our goal, 00:03:44.406 --> 00:03:45.146 in other words, 00:03:45.248 --> 00:03:47.610 is to make Christian agnostics. 00:03:49.310 --> 00:03:50.990 That sounds even worse. 00:03:52.290 --> 00:03:53.454 See, the thing is, though, 00:03:53.492 --> 00:03:55.760 that no matter how it sounds, 00:03:56.610 --> 00:03:57.840 it's true. 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:02.110 Gnosis is not the goal. 00:04:02.550 --> 00:04:06.450 Knowing is not the objective. 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:09.122 To require knowing and 00:04:09.176 --> 00:04:11.678 understanding is to thwart 00:04:11.774 --> 00:04:13.570 and kill faith. 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:15.293 St. 00:04:15.352 --> 00:04:17.014 Augustine made the same point 00:04:17.132 --> 00:04:19.159 some 15 centuries ago. 00:04:19.769 --> 00:04:20.882 What then, brethren, 00:04:20.946 --> 00:04:22.360 shall we say of God? 00:04:22.890 --> 00:04:24.742 For if you have been able to 00:04:24.796 --> 00:04:26.214 comprehend what you 00:04:26.252 --> 00:04:27.400 wanted to say, 00:04:28.010 --> 00:04:29.340 it is not God. 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:30.874 If you have been able 00:04:30.912 --> 00:04:32.042 to comprehend it, 00:04:32.096 --> 00:04:33.738 you have comprehended something 00:04:33.824 --> 00:04:35.834 else instead of God. 00:04:36.032 --> 00:04:37.433 If you have been able to 00:04:37.472 --> 00:04:39.226 comprehend Him as you think, 00:04:39.328 --> 00:04:40.170 by so thinking, 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:41.680 you have deceived yourself. 00:04:42.690 --> 00:04:43.294 This, then, 00:04:43.332 --> 00:04:45.022 is not God if you have 00:04:45.076 --> 00:04:46.110 comprehended it. 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:47.406 But if it is God, 00:04:47.508 --> 00:04:49.646 you have not comprehended it. 00:04:49.828 --> 00:04:51.018 How, therefore, 00:04:51.194 --> 00:04:53.102 would you speak of that which 00:04:53.156 --> 00:04:54.590 you cannot comprehend? 00:04:56.070 --> 00:04:59.102 So it is that at the very core 00:04:59.166 --> 00:05:00.702 of our Christian faith, 00:05:00.846 --> 00:05:02.946 the foundation and bedrock of 00:05:02.968 --> 00:05:06.470 our lives is a mystery we 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:09.350 cannot ever comprehend. 00:05:10.090 --> 00:05:11.286 You cannot wrap your 00:05:11.308 --> 00:05:12.680 mind around God. 00:05:13.210 --> 00:05:14.919 It simply can't be done. 00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:17.014 Augustine reminds us of the 00:05:17.052 --> 00:05:19.494 truth implicit in every Trinity 00:05:19.542 --> 00:05:20.566 Sunday. Indeed, 00:05:20.598 --> 00:05:22.262 in every trinitarian, 00:05:22.326 --> 00:05:24.522 invocation benediction or 00:05:24.576 --> 00:05:27.846 doxology. God is ineffable, 00:05:28.038 --> 00:05:29.398 incomprehensible, 00:05:29.494 --> 00:05:31.782 and beyond all human capacity. 00:05:31.926 --> 00:05:32.474 Or, 00:05:32.592 --> 00:05:34.062 as Hauerwas and his 00:05:34.116 --> 00:05:36.798 typically pithy prose puts it 00:05:36.964 --> 00:05:39.433 theology is a discipline whose 00:05:39.482 --> 00:05:41.614 subject should always put in 00:05:41.652 --> 00:05:43.933 doubt the very idea that those 00:05:43.972 --> 00:05:45.645 who practice it know what 00:05:45.668 --> 00:05:46.640 they are doing. 00:05:47.650 --> 00:05:49.834 It is the first and abiding 00:05:49.882 --> 00:05:51.470 lesson of all theology 00:05:52.530 --> 00:05:55.640 God is God, and you are not it. 00:05:56.250 --> 00:05:59.380 Stop trying to figure God 00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:00.720 out. 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:04.686 But if confessing the 00:06:04.708 --> 00:06:06.174 Trinity is hard, 00:06:06.372 --> 00:06:08.654 it's probably even harder to 00:06:08.692 --> 00:06:11.390 resist trying to figure out 00:06:11.460 --> 00:06:13.120 this trinitarian God. 00:06:13.490 --> 00:06:15.354 Ever since our first parents 00:06:15.402 --> 00:06:17.182 reached for the fruit and tried 00:06:17.236 --> 00:06:18.874 to grab hold of divinity 00:06:18.922 --> 00:06:19.678 for themselves, 00:06:19.844 --> 00:06:21.226 we have all been prone 00:06:21.258 --> 00:06:22.510 to follow suit. 00:06:22.850 --> 00:06:25.574 We don't like being limited it. 00:06:25.692 --> 00:06:28.162 We don't like being ignorant. 00:06:28.306 --> 00:06:30.646 We don't like being told there 00:06:30.668 --> 00:06:33.350 are things we can't know because 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:35.302 we cannot ever understand them. 00:06:35.356 --> 00:06:37.094 We're incapable of it. 00:06:37.212 --> 00:06:39.334 We don't like being limited 00:06:39.382 --> 00:06:40.460 to being human. 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:43.722 The inclination to grasp and 00:06:43.776 --> 00:06:45.722 conquer the truth of God is not 00:06:45.776 --> 00:06:48.182 only the sin of rationalist 00:06:48.246 --> 00:06:50.766 Aryan heretics like Smith and 00:06:50.788 --> 00:06:53.310 Russell and all their followers 00:06:53.650 --> 00:06:55.674 and it's not just the unique 00:06:55.722 --> 00:06:57.898 temptation of the rarefied 00:06:57.994 --> 00:07:00.234 handful of exceedingly brilliant 00:07:00.282 --> 00:07:02.538 human beings who contemplate the 00:07:02.564 --> 00:07:03.986 truths of existence in this 00:07:04.008 --> 00:07:05.982 universe and reach conclusions 00:07:06.046 --> 00:07:08.530 about what God must or must not 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:10.500 be like based on their thinking. 00:07:11.190 --> 00:07:14.270 No, even the most ordinary, 00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:16.614 down to earth, common sense, 00:07:16.732 --> 00:07:19.462 loving human beings are all 00:07:19.516 --> 00:07:22.134 prone to think about God and 00:07:22.172 --> 00:07:24.120 reach conclusions about God 00:07:24.650 --> 00:07:27.030 based on what seems 00:07:27.180 --> 00:07:28.700 right to them. 00:07:29.790 --> 00:07:31.100 You do it too. 00:07:31.870 --> 00:07:34.582 When God does things or allows 00:07:34.646 --> 00:07:37.114 things that don't line up with 00:07:37.152 --> 00:07:39.754 your sense of justice or your 00:07:39.792 --> 00:07:41.550 ideas about goodness. 00:07:42.610 --> 00:07:44.159 You'd like to know why. 00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:47.678 You want to understand this God 00:07:47.764 --> 00:07:49.854 who's not doing what you 00:07:49.892 --> 00:07:52.080 believe God should do. 00:07:52.870 --> 00:07:55.010 You want God to meet your 00:07:55.080 --> 00:07:57.602 expectations and live up to your 00:07:57.656 --> 00:07:59.361 standards of rights and 00:07:59.416 --> 00:08:01.570 wrong and compassion. 00:08:02.070 --> 00:08:04.433 You want God to do what you know 00:08:04.632 --> 00:08:06.360 God is supposed to do. 00:08:07.930 --> 00:08:09.400 God, though, is God. 00:08:09.850 --> 00:08:11.366 You are not going to get your 00:08:11.388 --> 00:08:13.490 mind around his reality. 00:08:13.650 --> 00:08:15.030 You can't figure Him out 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:16.645 or comprehend Him. 00:08:16.828 --> 00:08:18.426 You can't know all there is to 00:08:18.448 --> 00:08:20.154 know about his being or his 00:08:20.192 --> 00:08:22.780 truth. And when you try, 00:08:23.789 --> 00:08:24.890 you sin. 00:08:26.270 --> 00:08:28.361 You don't need to know why 00:08:28.416 --> 00:08:30.154 God does what he does. 00:08:30.352 --> 00:08:32.126 You don't need to know how he 00:08:32.148 --> 00:08:33.385 can be three persons 00:08:33.418 --> 00:08:34.717 and yet one God. 00:08:34.884 --> 00:08:36.813 You don't need to know how a God 00:08:36.852 --> 00:08:38.462 who is complete and self 00:08:38.515 --> 00:08:40.542 sufficient and unchanging can 00:08:40.596 --> 00:08:43.294 act in time and respond to 00:08:43.332 --> 00:08:44.960 creatures he has made. 00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:46.254 You don't need to know 00:08:46.292 --> 00:08:47.280 any of this. 00:08:47.810 --> 00:08:49.134 You don't need to know the 00:08:49.172 --> 00:08:51.086 answers to the mysteries of the 00:08:51.108 --> 00:08:52.762 universe or the secrets 00:08:52.826 --> 00:08:54.190 of its creator. 00:08:54.610 --> 00:08:57.142 You you only need to know what 00:08:57.196 --> 00:08:59.240 God wants you to know. 00:09:00.170 --> 00:09:02.014 Only need to know the part of 00:09:02.052 --> 00:09:03.742 the story that he has told 00:09:03.796 --> 00:09:05.920 you and shown you. 00:09:06.690 --> 00:09:08.558 You don't need the God of the 00:09:08.564 --> 00:09:11.166 heretics or the rationalists or 00:09:11.188 --> 00:09:12.894 the philosophers or even the 00:09:12.932 --> 00:09:14.574 theologians who just end up 00:09:14.612 --> 00:09:15.534 worshipping their own 00:09:15.572 --> 00:09:16.554 understanding. 00:09:16.682 --> 00:09:19.358 You just need the God 00:09:19.524 --> 00:09:20.720 of the story. 00:09:21.330 --> 00:09:24.062 You just need the God who 00:09:24.116 --> 00:09:27.320 reveals him self in his work. 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:32.982 The God who simply is speaks and 00:09:33.036 --> 00:09:35.750 light flashes into existence. 00:09:36.170 --> 00:09:39.174 He speaks again and space opens 00:09:39.222 --> 00:09:40.714 up in his new world. 00:09:40.912 --> 00:09:43.146 He speaks another time and 00:09:43.168 --> 00:09:45.206 there's dry land and then stars 00:09:45.238 --> 00:09:47.526 and planets and birds and fish 00:09:47.638 --> 00:09:50.262 and a best zoo ever 00:09:50.336 --> 00:09:52.074 Jurassic park jammed 00:09:52.122 --> 00:09:53.390 full of animals. 00:09:53.810 --> 00:09:55.774 He does all of that 00:09:55.972 --> 00:09:57.600 just by speaking. 00:09:58.370 --> 00:10:00.814 All of that just by the 00:10:00.852 --> 00:10:02.320 power of His Word. 00:10:03.110 --> 00:10:05.780 And then the God who simply is 00:10:06.230 --> 00:10:08.066 does a remarkable thing. 00:10:08.248 --> 00:10:10.802 He reaches into the world he has 00:10:10.856 --> 00:10:14.302 made digs into the dust and mud 00:10:14.446 --> 00:10:17.750 crafts a body breathes into 00:10:17.819 --> 00:10:20.034 that body his spirits, 00:10:20.162 --> 00:10:23.319 his wack and makes a man 00:10:24.410 --> 00:10:25.800 the Lord God. 00:10:26.170 --> 00:10:29.450 God's eternal word and his 00:10:29.520 --> 00:10:33.100 eternal spirits make man. 00:10:34.190 --> 00:10:36.300 He makes you. 00:10:37.470 --> 00:10:39.100 That's what God does. 00:10:39.890 --> 00:10:41.680 That's the God who is. 00:10:42.290 --> 00:10:44.542 You don't need a God that 00:10:44.596 --> 00:10:46.622 straddles the heights of your 00:10:46.676 --> 00:10:48.414 greatest thoughts or who 00:10:48.452 --> 00:10:50.538 conforms to your understanding. 00:10:50.634 --> 00:10:50.894 No. 00:10:50.932 --> 00:10:53.634 You need the only true God who 00:10:53.672 --> 00:10:55.838 does whatever he chooses, 00:10:55.934 --> 00:10:57.710 however he chooses. 00:10:57.870 --> 00:11:00.590 You need the one God who creates 00:11:00.670 --> 00:11:02.574 and engages and loves 00:11:02.622 --> 00:11:03.790 his creation. 00:11:03.950 --> 00:11:07.814 This is the God you can know the 00:11:07.852 --> 00:11:11.270 One who has made Himself known. 00:11:11.930 --> 00:11:13.640 You need this God. 00:11:14.010 --> 00:11:15.782 You need the only God who 00:11:15.836 --> 00:11:16.994 creates and cares. 00:11:17.042 --> 00:11:19.882 Because when you make a mess of 00:11:19.936 --> 00:11:22.860 being a creature and you will 00:11:23.390 --> 00:11:26.362 you need the God who alone is 00:11:26.415 --> 00:11:28.380 able to make you right again. 00:11:29.390 --> 00:11:31.870 You need the God who did even 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.430 more than stoop down to form 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:35.950 you out of the mud. 00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:38.400 You need the God who actually 00:11:38.930 --> 00:11:42.110 joined himself to his creation 00:11:42.610 --> 00:11:45.550 by becoming just as 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:47.200 human as you are. 00:11:48.450 --> 00:11:51.920 That is a truth that no human 00:11:52.290 --> 00:11:53.870 could ever conjure. 00:11:54.210 --> 00:11:57.478 That the only true God who is 00:11:57.564 --> 00:11:59.540 creator and Lord of all. 00:12:00.170 --> 00:12:02.174 Would enter fully into 00:12:02.292 --> 00:12:03.610 his creation, 00:12:03.770 --> 00:12:05.582 would become part 00:12:05.716 --> 00:12:07.114 of his creation. 00:12:07.242 --> 00:12:09.502 It is an idea even more 00:12:09.556 --> 00:12:10.586 inconceivable, 00:12:10.698 --> 00:12:13.630 incomprehensible than one God 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:15.390 who is three persons. 00:12:17.010 --> 00:12:18.618 Doctrine of the Trinity 00:12:18.794 --> 00:12:19.886 not easy. 00:12:20.068 --> 00:12:22.190 It might seem esoteric and 00:12:22.260 --> 00:12:23.930 unnecessarily confusing, 00:12:24.010 --> 00:12:26.006 like a trick played by someone 00:12:26.108 --> 00:12:27.800 trying to make things difficult. 00:12:28.810 --> 00:12:30.534 But the complexity or the 00:12:30.572 --> 00:12:32.706 sublimity of the doctrine 00:12:32.898 --> 00:12:34.280 is not the point. 00:12:34.810 --> 00:12:36.310 Whether or not God makes 00:12:36.380 --> 00:12:39.354 sense is not the point. 00:12:39.552 --> 00:12:41.642 Whether or not God does what we 00:12:41.696 --> 00:12:43.514 think he should do 00:12:43.712 --> 00:12:45.260 is not the point. 00:12:45.950 --> 00:12:49.290 The point is for you to confess 00:12:49.630 --> 00:12:53.054 the one God who acts in time and 00:12:53.092 --> 00:12:55.578 space, the God who creates, 00:12:55.674 --> 00:12:58.218 who loves, who sacrifices, 00:12:58.314 --> 00:13:00.714 who redeems, who dies, 00:13:00.842 --> 00:13:03.780 and who rises for you. 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:06.180 That's the point. 00:13:07.030 --> 00:13:09.730 You confess the Trinity because 00:13:09.800 --> 00:13:11.602 that is the reality that God 00:13:11.656 --> 00:13:13.394 has made known to you. 00:13:13.592 --> 00:13:15.534 It is the truth declared by 00:13:15.592 --> 00:13:17.890 Jesus. God the Father, 00:13:18.050 --> 00:13:19.190 God the Son, 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:20.994 and God the Holy Spirit, 00:13:21.122 --> 00:13:23.494 created you, redeemed you, 00:13:23.612 --> 00:13:26.120 and will raise and glorify you. 00:13:26.650 --> 00:13:29.020 He is the only God you need. 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:31.914 Today you celebrate the 00:13:31.952 --> 00:13:33.386 only God you need. 00:13:33.568 --> 00:13:35.354 The festival of the Trinity is 00:13:35.392 --> 00:13:36.890 not a celebration of the 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.626 ineffable or the sublime or the 00:13:39.648 --> 00:13:41.706 God of philosophers or kitchen 00:13:41.738 --> 00:13:43.018 table thinkers. 00:13:43.194 --> 00:13:45.006 The festival of the Trinity is 00:13:45.028 --> 00:13:47.214 the celebration of the God who 00:13:47.332 --> 00:13:50.378 is, who makes Himself known, 00:13:50.554 --> 00:13:51.082 known, 00:13:51.146 --> 00:13:53.714 in and with and for 00:13:53.752 --> 00:13:54.850 his creation. 00:13:55.670 --> 00:13:57.874 You do not need to understand 00:13:57.992 --> 00:13:59.806 or figure out the Trinity. 00:13:59.998 --> 00:14:01.438 You just need to receive 00:14:01.534 --> 00:14:03.060 the truth he gives you. 00:14:04.150 --> 00:14:05.702 Celebrating the Trinity means 00:14:05.756 --> 00:14:06.774 there's nothing to 00:14:06.812 --> 00:14:07.926 be figured out. 00:14:08.028 --> 00:14:10.294 There's just God's glory to 00:14:10.332 --> 00:14:12.306 praise and God's gifts 00:14:12.338 --> 00:14:13.270 to receive. 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:15.925 To be trinitarian is not a 00:14:15.948 --> 00:14:18.226 matter of knowing or explaining. 00:14:18.338 --> 00:14:20.246 To be trinitarian is simply to 00:14:20.268 --> 00:14:23.046 live and tell God's story the 00:14:23.068 --> 00:14:25.240 way that he has unfolded it. 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:28.614 That true story is the only one 00:14:28.652 --> 00:14:30.782 you need. That true 00:14:30.836 --> 00:14:33.600 God is the only one you need. 00:14:34.370 --> 00:14:35.310 Amen.