On Trinity Sunday, the focus is on celebrating the doctrine of the Trinity as a dynamic relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rather than a static concept. Deacon Jim Knipper explores the idea of God as a verb, emphasizing the flow of love and connection within the Trinity, inviting believers to join in this divine movement. The message encourages letting go of barriers and embracing the outpouring of God's love, highlighting the importance of being open and accepting this flow in one's life.

1. Deacon Jim Knipper Page 1
12 June 2022 Trinity Sunday Princeton, NJ
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday – which is one of the few Feasts of the Liturgical year that
celebrates a reality and a doctrine rather than an event. On Trinity Sunday we give glory and praise to
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – three divine and distinct beings and at the same time,
one true God. Interestingly, while all three persons are found throughout the bible, the word ‘Trinity’
never appears in either the New or Old Testament. Rather it was first coined in the late second century
by Tertullian and later instituted by Pope Gregory IX in 828. It took another 500 years before the
celebration of Trinity Sunday was made universal by Pope John XXII.
Indeed, throughout the centuries countless volumes have been written on this doctrine of three beings
in one God. Hindered by how language has its limitations, many have resorted to using metaphors –
such as St. Patrick’s classical shamrock, where the Trinity is like a 3 leaf clover – 3 leaves but one
stem. Or likening the Trinity to 3 distinct notes that one plays on an instrument which make up one
harmonic chord.
But what if we paused this evening… and stopped looking at God as a noun…and rather considered
God as a verb? And what I purpose is nothing original or heretical - actually it is rooted in our faith. It
proceeds from the Cappadocian Fathers of the third and fourth centuries and was adopted by later
Councils of the Church. Trinitarian theology says that God is a “circular” rotation known as perichoresis.
And the best translation of this Greek work is “dancing”. The way that the early Christians looked at the
three persons in God is a total outpouring and perfect receiving among three intimate partners. And that
whatever is going on in God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is like a dance and God is not the dancer –
rather God is the dance itself.
When I studied Organic Chemistry in college, we spent many lectures on the fact that besides the
inherent energy in atoms, there is a great amount of energy that exists between them – that is – that
the molecular energy comes from the dance or the flow between the atoms. So too, the Greek fathers
did not necessarily focus on the pyramidal Trinity that many of us grew up with – God at the top and
then the Son and the Holy Spirit – but their metaphor dealt with a circular sense of flow and movement
of love between Father who generates, the Son who is begotten and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.
And part of the reason God sent forth his son is so that we would know that we are all invited into this
divine flow. So rather than us banging our heads trying to explain this Trinitarian concept – why don’t
we just join in the flow? The same flow that starts at the very beginning of our Christian life when the
baptismal waters were poured over our head while the minister intones the Trinitarian blessing of
Father, Son and Spirit.
As a father and grandfather the best example I can give you for what the flow looks like or feels like – is
when you look into the face of an 18 month old toddler. For they have yet to reach the age of where
they begin to turn off the flow with the ‘no’s’ of the terrible 2’s – and thus all they know is flow. When
they look at you and make eye contact and smile at you – you can’t help but sense and feel God’s flow
through you. Perhaps that is why Christ said that we must be like children in order to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven – we have to let go of what we hold onto and take the sacred plunge and join in
God’s flow.

2. Deacon Jim Knipper Page 2
So how can we best be reminded of this flow? We do it all the time using a specific yoga movement. I
know that the word yoga has a number of connotations that come to our minds, but specifically and
literally it just means: “movements that unite”. We do this movement so often it has become
perfunctory. So, allow me to reintroduce this spiritual yoga so it can be a reminder of this Trinitarian
flow.
The movement starts at the head – where most of us spend our time – all in the thinking, rationalizing,
justifying, etc.- but then we move away from the head and we pull our hand down to our belly to our gut
– we flow across the chest, across our heart, across the life line, across God’s creation - and then we
cross it from one shoulder to another taking in all of ourselves and all of the variety that comes with our
individuality and we take our whole being and the God indwelling and wrap it all inside this body
movement of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Indeed, a most incredible prayer, using movement.
And what is most amazing about this Trinitarian flow that we mark on our bodies, is that it has nothing
to do with us – meaning that the flow is always there, filled with mercy, always present and available to
every one, without any exceptions – all we have to do is to be like the 18 month old toddler and to be
open and to allow it to happen by letting go and accepting this outpouring of God’s love.
For when Christ healed the lame, the sick, the sinner – there was no shame, no judgment, no
exclusions - he simply would ask – ‘Do you want to be healed?’ Do you want to be forgiven? – the
would answer – yes…he touched them…and the flow happened – freely given. It is when we try to
exclude others and ourselves through hatred, through deceit, through a cold spirit, through the barriers
we try to hide behind - that we block the flow, and the nature of sin is realized.
In her great tome on the Trinity, Catherine LaCugna wrote: “any notion of God as not giving, not
outpouring, not self-surrendering, not totally loving is a theological impossibility and absurdity. God only
and always loves. You cannot reverse, slow, or limit an overflowing waterwheel of divine compassion
and mercy and a love stronger than death. It goes in only one, constant, eternal direction—toward ever
more abundant and creative life!
So on this Trinity Sunday we can continue to try to understand that which is pure mystery or we can
simply let go and give thanks and praise to our God who loves us and is present to us and who invites
us to join in God’s dance, God’s love, God’s movement, God’s flow of Father, Son and Spirit. For we
are a people called to be a part of the flow….so that the flow can move through us, with us, in us and
shared with those around us.
Changing the image of God from nouns to verbs may change the viewpoint we have about the Trinity.
But changing the way we live our lives from being a spectator to one who takes that scared plunge to
join in God’s divine flow – that, my brothers and sisters, will change our lives – forever.