Unchanged was their basic creed, called the Shema, partly read in tonight's passage from Deuteronomy, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."^[1] The Creator is identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Holy One who brought the Hebrew people out of Egyptian slavery. The Shema (meaning, "hear") also mentions the Jews' obligation to serve God in love and to carry out his commandments. From this article of faith, all other creeds among Jews, Christians, and Muslims are elaborations.

One of the early church's tasks was to gather the most basic writings which best represented the heart and mind of their beloved Jesus, even though he himself had left nothing in writing. Along with their Hebrew Scriptures, the newly selected writings were to continue their Jewish heritage, proclaim Jesus as Risen Lord and Messiah, and offer guidance in Christian living for the new age. There were many writings from which to select. With all the disagreements among the many compilers, they faithfully differentiated between thought patterns of writings originating outside Jesus' circle and the writings faithful to his way of thinking. Aramaic, with its distinctive Semitic outlook, was his spoken language. The compilers carefully excluded the writings of those Jews and others who were nurtured within the significantly different non-Aramaic contexts. And, so, within the first four hundred years of the fledgling Christian movement, versions of the New Testament came into being, and scores of other writings and groups were categorized as less helpful or even erroneous. ^[2]

Equipped with the Hebrew Bible and their new sacred writings, Christian leaders formulated the first version of the Apostles' Creed. This creed was initially provided as a liturgical declaration recited by those about to be baptized, but it was not finalized until the fourth century, the same era that produced the more complicated Nicene Creed. However, at variance with Old and New Testament writings, some non-biblical notions were introduced into the Creeds. The first theologians, educated in Greek and similar philosophies, tried to blend biblical and alien elements as they attempted to put the Christian experience into words. For example, they took New Testament words, such as "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit" and tried to fuse them with forms of Greek philosophy. They elaborated on the Shema and tried to determine just where Jesus fit within their evolving belief system.

Faithful Christians invented a complex doctrine of the Trinity that fit well within Greek (or "Hellenistic") philosophy, but was not developed in the Bible.^[3] I will not attempt to explain this doctrine now. Frankly, I doubt that Jesus and his friends would have recognized the results of the 4th century Trinity and later scholarly efforts as having anything to do with their lives and ministries. The Semitic Christians closest to Jesus were not at all concerned with God's inner essence or substance, but with what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in their history. With Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, they trusted the one God whose acts include the Father creating and loving, the Son Jesus revealing divine purposes and embracing us in the New Covenant, and the Holy Spirit comforting, healing, and inspiring. This threefold understanding of God's activity is clearly biblical, though not comprehensive doctrine. Yet, it was the more elaborate doctrine of the Trinity proclaimed at Greek-thinking Councils that was made official, and other trinitarian interpretations were declared as inadequate or heretical. While the classical doctrine made sense to its formulators and to those few who continue to grasp the fine points of Greek philosophy, the approved doctrine of the Trinity makes little or no sense to us today. Consequently, among the many studies being published today are books on the doctrine of the Trinity. Many doctrinal versions and proposals are surfacing from devoted Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Protestant theologians.

Although some theologians and other church folks are truly satisfied with the traditional fourth century interpretation of the Trinity, many today are unconvinced, even after extensive study. A Roman Catholic nun, who is a fine university theologian, commented at a private scholarly discussion that she understands the orthodox doctrine, but that it just does not make any sense to her. Some who are dissatisfied have to remain silent, or they would lose their jobs or be otherwise harmed. However, unlike any other time in history, most faithful Christians are now in a position of declaring their criticisms constructively, even publicly. They will not be burned at the stake, lose their employment, or be excommunicated for carefully and tactfully challenging beliefs. Moreover, a thorough look at history indicates that virtually all doctrines evolve over the centuries. To expect a fourth century formulation to remain static is unrealistic.

It is very important for us to keep foremost in our minds that all interpretations of human experiences are developed within the contexts of various cultures and historical periods, each with its own ways of thinking, its own emphases and priorities. We may reasonably expect the threefold Christian experience of God, labeled "The Trinity," to undergo varied explanations at diverse times and in various cultures. None of the explanations is God or the actual experience! The reality of one God remains firm as does the basic corporate, biblical experience of God. However, human formulations of that divine reality and experience will continue to evolve. We might find it helpful to affirm the Trinity in any of its insightful versions as a poetic symbol pointing to the God we worship, the one God of the Shema who cannot be completely explained in precise human categories.

Therefore, if you find the Trinity as sung in our hymns, spoken in our prayers, and gestured with our hands as strange and puzzling, you are among the majority of Christians since the 4^th century. Whenever clarity about the Trinity eludes us, we might remember that we do not worship doctrines, anymore than we worship artists' portraits of cherished persons. Our personal and corporate relationship with the God of Abraham and Jesus does not depend on a finalized blueprint of God's own self-existence, his supposed three-fold inwardness. Rather, with an assortment of imperfect symbols always evolving, you and I poetically express our loving loyalty to the majestic, personal God of the Shema experienced by the historic Christian community as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

[This address is more of a short lecture than a sermon; it might be useful to re-read it at your leisure.]