The Most Holy Trinity and the Call to Christian Unity

On Trinity Sunday, the County Ecumenical Officer reminds us that the Church seeks unity because God himself is unity

Among all the feasts and solemnities of the Christian year, Trinity Sunday has always been one of my favourites.  Partly because it invites us to contemplate one of the deepest mysteries of our faith, but also because it reminds us that Christianity is ultimately centred upon God rather than ourselves.  In a world that often encourages us to look inward, Trinity Sunday directs our attention towards the God we worship: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There is another reason why I am particularly fond of this solemnity that reflects the foundational Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  Whenever I find myself gathering alongside Christians from different traditions, I especially enjoy it when we conclude with the words of St Paul:
 

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all”.

Of course, these familiar words from the end of the second letter to the Corinthians are known and cherished across much of the Christian world.  Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Orthodox Christians, members of the United Reformed Church, the Salvation Army, and many others can pray them together with complete sincerity.

Whenever I hear or pray those words in an ecumenical gathering, I’m struck by the fact that we are doing something far more significant than simply reciting a blessing.  We are together professing one of the deepest convictions of the Christian faith.  Whatever differences may remain between us, we stand united in worship of the same Triune God.   For a few moments at least, our attention is lifted beyond denominational identities and directed towards the God who calls us all into communion with himself.

Indeed, belief in the Holy Trinity is so fundamental that it forms a core part of the basis of membership for Churches Together in England (CTE).  So, before we even start to discuss ecclesiology, ministry, sacraments, authority or church structures, we begin with a shared confession of faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  For me, that is no small thing.

When Christians think about unity, we often begin by looking at ourselves.  In my experience, we tend to focus on disagreements, divisions, historical disputes and the theological questions that remain unresolved.  I have no doubt that these issues matter – they certainly matter to me.  However, Trinity Sunday invites us to begin somewhere else; namely, to begin with God.  

When we do, I think something really important becomes apparent and, dare I say, really obvious; the Christian God is not solitary.  The Father eternally loves the Son.  The Son eternally receives and returns that love to the Father.  The Holy Spirit proceeds as the bond of love and communion between them.  While the mystery of the Trinity ultimately exceeds the limits of our human understanding, the Church has always insisted that God is not an isolated individual, but a communion of persons united in perfect love.

This matters because it means that relationship lies at the very heart of reality itself.  In other words, communion is not an optional extra within Christianity, no, it belongs to the very being of God.
As Christians, we believe that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God.  If God is a communion of love, therefore, then human beings are likewise created for relationship, fellowship and communion.  We discover who we truly are not in isolation but through loving relationships with God and, crucially, with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

For me, this has fundamental implications for Christian unity.  If Christians are baptised into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then division can never be regarded as our natural state.  Historical wounds may remain and serious theological disagreements certainly continue, however, separation cannot be the final word.  This is because Christians are called into the life of a God whose very nature is communion.

This is why I have increasingly come to believe that the Church seeks (or ought to seek) unity because God himself is unity.  That simple insight has helped shape much of my own understanding of ecumenism over recent years.

One of the common misunderstandings surrounding Christian unity is the assumption that unity requires uniformity.  As I keep pointing out, some imagine that Christians can only become one by becoming identical.  The doctrine of the Trinity, however, suggests something rather different: the Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the Father.  There is genuine distinction within the Trinity without division; that is, difference exists without separation and diversity exists within perfect communion.

Like me, I hope you find that both encouraging and illuminating.  The goal of ecumenism is (thus) not to erase every legitimate difference between Christian traditions.  Rather, it is to ensure that difference does not become division and separatism.  This is one reason why I have always appreciated the late and dear Pope Francis’s description of Christian unity as “reconciled diversity”.   Genuine unity does not flatten distinctions or suppress particular traditions.  Instead, it enables Christians to recognise one another in the same spiritual family of Christ while continuing to engage honestly (and openly) with areas of disagreement.

Over the past three years as County Ecumenical Officer for Norfolk and Waveney, I have witnessed something of this reality on many occasions when praying and gathering alongside Christians from other traditions.  What continues to amaze me is how often the Holy Spirit appears at work drawing Christians together.  Not by erasing denominational identities, or demanding that Christians abandon deeply held convictions, but by fostering friendship, trust, understanding and mutual recognition.

This should not surprise us.  The Holy Spirit is, after all, the Spirit of communion.  The same Spirit who unites believers to Christ also draws believers towards one another to create fellowship across historic denominational boundaries.

This is the reason why Trinity Sunday fills me with hope for ecumenism.  At its deepest level, Christian unity is grounded in the very life of God himself.  The Father continues to draw humanity towards himself.  The Son continues to pray that his followers may be one.  And the Holy Spirit continues to create communion where separation once existed.

Whenever, therefore, I hear St Paul’s beautiful blessing, I hear more than a familiar liturgical formula. I hear a reminder of who God is and, at the same time, a reminder of what the Church is called to become; namely, a people whose life together reflects, however imperfectly, the communion of love that has existed eternally between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

For me, that vision remains one of the most compelling and hopeful gifts Christianity has to offer.  For if God himself is communion, then every movement towards Christian unity is ultimately a movement towards the very heart of God.

Concept and Article by Dr Ian Watson whose lay thoughts are his alone.

Image generated by OpenAI

Ian has written two other articles that the reader may be interested in.  Both are published on the following websites:

Network Norfolk – NWCT web page – on the Holy Trinity and Unity

Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia (rcdea) – on the Holy Spirit and Unity  - part of his regular Unity Corner reflections
 
 
 
 

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