Musings about Faith

I want to give attribution right off for some of the information that I am going to share today – the Feast of the Holy Trinity.   At the conference I attended in Minneapolis I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Diana Butler Bass speak and it is to her that I owe some of these thoughts, along with Dr. Marcus Borg (his new book "Speaking Christian"). When I was serving at a previous congregation, before coming to Peace, I had a member of the congregation tell me once that every time she said the creed she crossed her fingers behind her back.   Why, I asked.   Well, the creeds were all about the Trinity and how could she say she believed something that she didn’t understand. Hmmm – well.   So, is that what the creed is? Is the creed just series of statements to which we are to assent and affirm as if we were going down a list? Trinity is ultimately a mystery, as are several other things mentioned in the creed, including the Resurrection, the descent into hell (or “t...

One of my all time favorite shows has become "Dancing with the Stars." Now as someone who is fairly musical and has very good rhythm I nevertheless am a lousy dancer (just ask my dance partner from "Die Fledermaus"), so why does this show hold my interest so much. I think it is because of two things - first, the hope that even the bad dancers (who I relate to) actually can learn to do a pretty good job and can be acceptable. And second, because of the shear beauty of the dances themselves. What is required of course is complete coordination and communication. Which the more I think about it, reminds me of the Holy Trinity! Many of us approach Trinity Sunday with some nervousness. The Trinity is one of those complicated doctrines of our church which we accept and believe and which we regularly affirm – every week in either the Apostle’s or Nicene Creed. But, one which may give us a headache if we try to think about it to much. It is complicated and it is ha...