Mother’s Day and the Christian day of Pentecost fell together last Sunday – a rare coincidence, thanks to the same lunar calendar that this year gave us the earliest Easter any of us will see for the rest of our lives.
Pentecost commemorates the day when, according to the Book of Acts, the Spirit of God came on the small, huddled group of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem, igniting them to “be witnesses” and in effect launching the church. The day is often called the birthday of the church. (As with other holidays, calendars vary between Western and Eastern traditions; the Eastern Pentecost is June 15 this year.)
So I was baffled when I noticed how many church bulletins, advertisements and newsletters focused on moms more than on Pentecost.
Nothing against moms or Mother’s Day – some of my best friends are moms – but Pentecost is a big day, traditionally regarded as a major Christian celebration, on the same plane as Christmas and Easter. It seemed strange that churches would give more attention to a secular observance, even a worthy one, than to a meaningful Christian holiday.
The fact is that, besides a couple of really big holidays, many Christians and congregations don’t follow the traditional church or “liturgical” calendar. Some even track the civic calendar more closely. I remember that my boyhood church observed Labor Day and Flag Day – Flag Day! – but ignored Advent. We politely nodded hello to Pentecost but rolled out the red carpet for July Fourth.
But the church calendar, according to Pastor Jim Nipper of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, can provide structure to the church teaching, to help Christians learn what they believe through annual cycles of Scriptures and observances. “Having that order does lift up what’s important,” he said.
There’s tomorrow, for example – Trinity Sunday. It’s a minor celebration, but not a meaningless one. As the name implies, it focuses on the doctrine of the Trinity, one of the most confounding teachings of Christianity, which says that God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – “God in three persons, blessed Trinity,” to quote Reginald Heber’s hymn.
This teaching is “the Christian way of offering some definition of who God is, even though the Trinity is a mystery,” Nipper said. “It is a unique understanding of who God is. We don’t have three gods; we have one God who makes himself known in three ways. It’s the same person who wears three different hats.”
Trinity Sunday found its way onto the church agenda after the first major doctrinal dispute, the Arian heresy of the early fourth century. A church leader named Arius denied that God could have a son in any meaningful way, and thus concluded, contrary to church teaching, that Jesus was not of the same “substance” as God. As he gained followers, church leaders gathered to debate and then formulate orthodox expressions of the faith.
“The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God,” stated the Athanasian Creed, from the mid fourth century. “And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord.”
There’s more about this that I don’t understand than I do. It’s indeed a mystery, but one at the heart of the Christian faith. The doctrine of the Trinity sets Christianity apart from other religions.
Jews and Muslims may honor Jesus as a prophet and great teacher – but as equal, “one substance,” with God? That’s blasphemy. “God neither begets, nor is He begotten,” the Koran bluntly states. “The Lord our God is one,” declares the Hebrew Scriptures.
As much as these faiths share – including a basic belief in one God – they also are defined by their distinctive beliefs and practices, and it is good to understand them. Nipper doesn’t want to emphasize separation from other people, but “the doctrine of the Trinity binds Christians together.”
Considering how important these teachings and events are, a few days on the calendar doesn’t seem like much at all. Not even with honored parents in the room.
First published in the Johnson City (Tenn.) Press, 17 May 2008.
