Christians celebrate this Sunday as Trinity Sunday to honor the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all considered one God — a concept that is difficult to understand and one rebutted by different sects and denominations.
With a church named Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, who better to explain what has been called a "mystery concept" than its pastor of seven years, the Rev. Dwight E. Cook? Even though he has a doctorate from Drew University’s Theology School in New Jersey, Cook says he does not consider himself a Bible scholar, but a "biblical searcher" for about 40 years.
"I am absolutely, positively sure of two things: There is a God — and it’s not me!" he said with a laugh during an interview.
"It’s a difficult concept for a lot of people to grasp because we try to intellectually make sense of the Holy Trinity. One of the things about these mystery concepts is we have to embrace them with almost childlike faith. We have to approach it like, ‘God, I want to know you in some concrete, meaningful way in my life’; then these mysteries are revealed to us in ordinary ways.
"The tricky part comes when we must believe that they’re all equally God but have different functions. God is three persons in one nature. … God the Father created the heavens and the Earth; God the Son came to save the world, to save people from sin; and God the Holy Spirit came to empower, to give us power in our lives to carry out our talents and gifts."
Trinity Sunday is celebrated seven days after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus Christ’s disciples.
Cook said the Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father because he wanted to make sure his people stayed close to him after Jesus was crucified and ascended to heaven. Paraphrasing John 16:13, Jesus promised that once he left Earth, the Holy Spirit would "guide you unto all the truth," he said.
"It’s so important in our lives today. People need to start the day asking, How is God going to use me today? And if we pay attention, if we use our spiritual senses, we end up doing things God wants (us) to do," Cook said.
According to www. churchyear.net/trinitysunday.html, "The Trinity is a mystery … a reality above our human comprehension" which must experienced through worship, symbol and faith.
The Nicene Creed, which has defined Christian dogma since the fourth century, gave credence to the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, belief in the trinity nature of God "shows a loving God that is willing to become as we are (as Jesus did) so that we may become like Him. … As St. Athanasius was fond of saying … unless God truly became completely human, we could not be fully redeemed, because only God himself is capable of truly redeeming humanity," according to churchyear.net.
