Trinitarian Voice
There are some folks in the congregation who have been asking me to write up my Sunday messages so they can have a copy. I have learned that saying yes to that request is much easier said than done. This Reflection is about a theological discovery I had during the process of converting a sermon to written form.
I have been working on my writing voice since seminary. More than a writing style, a writing voice is the way the reader hears the written word; like the writer is speaking to you. It takes a lot of writing to develop one’s voice and I’d like to think I am well on my way.
This past Monday, I was pleased to see that the technology worked and my sermon was converted into written form. I was pleased and utterly shocked – shocked that the technology actually worked and shocked at how different my preaching voice is from my written voice. I know the sermon well, and remember delivering it; but, in written form, it felt like it came from a different person. It made me wonder how I am able to have two different communication styles but remain the same person.
I have been pondering how a person can have two vastly different voices and remain the same person. Then, while I was talking with various business leaders in our community – some who I met for the first time and others I have been getting to know during my weekly business networking group – a light bulb turned on inside my head. It dawned on me that my conversational voice is different than my writing and preaching voice; vastly different. Yet, it’s all from the same person, like the Trinity.
One of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith is that of the Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Or, as found in Scripture – the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. This Trinity is one of the first things you hear at any Sunday service with words something like this: through Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
We believe two things: there is one God and God has three distinct personhoods, faces, identities and actions. Unlike polytheistic belief systems with a variety of gods that have a sort of push and pull relationship with one another, we have a monotheistic faith – one God. We believe the three distinctive images of God are in complete unity, synergy and relationship with one another.
After reading my preaching voice, I think I am a step closer to understanding the Trinity. I have three distinct voices – writing, preaching and conversational – but one personhood. Here’s another way to look at it. I have a friend, she holds a public office, and she is a lector at church. The “voice” she uses during a public meeting is different than the voice she uses at church and is different than the voice she uses when we’re relaxing at lunch. Yet, she’s the same person. She’s also a mom, a grandmother and a wife. I imagine those are different voices too, but, the same person that I call friend. This is how I see it with God – there are many voices, or personhoods of God, but there is one God. And, one of those voices I call friend.
-Rev. Dave
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