A couple of weeks ago, a parishioner asked me about the preacher’s use of the word “person” in relation to the Holy Spirit, thinking a word such as “entity” would have been preferable. I replied that “person” is the theological term that comes from the early Christian tradition when theologians, out of the Greek culture of philosophy, were trying to get a handle on the concept of the Trinity, to explain it in terms that people in their milieu would understand. How can God be one, when God is experienced as three? The ancients concluded that the three were One in substance, essence, being, yet the One may be present and active in three “persons,” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Their arguments and apologies tend to appear as head games to most of us. Today we think of “persons” as separate individuals so the concept of three-in-one doesn’t compute in our rational minds. For me, the Trinity boils down to heart knowledge rather than head knowledge. I trust that when one of the members of the Holy Trinity shows up in my life, all three are present, working on my behalf. Because God meets us where we are, as we are, we may experience God as Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit, or Creator, or Redeemer, or Sanctifier to use the classic terms. Depending on the circumstances of our lives, our needs, our readiness to receive what God has to offer, we know from scripture that may experience God as healer, comforter, leader, guide, companion, refuge, encourager, sustainer, nurturer, abba/amma, the transforming one, the embracing one, the inspiring one, among other things. We might also recognize God’s presence as light, truth, wisdom, breath, fire, wind, word, rock, love. The New Zealand Prayer Book describes God in yet more different terms as “Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain Bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all.” As I have said so many times, there is no end to all the creative ways that God may use to reach us and draw us into relationship with the Three-in-One, the One-in-Three, the Trinity of love and power who blesses us beyond what we can begin to imagine whether we understand the doctrine of the Trinity or not. To celebrate this day, I offer you this Trinitarian blessing from the New Zealand Prayer Book: May God whom Jesus called Abba embrace you with love for ever; May God the Servant bear your burdens with you; May God the Paraclete grant you life in one another; So may the blessing of God, Abba, Servant, Paraclete, be with you always. Amen.