All of reality is a ‘circle dance’: On preaching the Trinity at a time of disconnection

Last updated on: July 12, 2022 at 1:22 pm by Tricia Gates Brown

All of reality is a ‘circle dance’: On preaching the Trinity at a time of disconnection 2022-07-12T13:22:40-07:00 Tricia Gates Brown

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It seems I’m always on the schedule to preach on Trinity Sunday no matter what church I’m in. Since I find the Trinity to be among the coolest insights of Christian theology, I appreciate this. It is something to be repeatedly reminded of. Every year, I deliver roughly the same sermon on Trinity Sunday for this reason: we need this reminding. The Trinity is often confusing to people (for decades, it was for me). Because we often don’t get it, we prefer not to talk about it. Yet when understood, the image can be quite helpful—perspective-altering even.

So, one God in three parts: God as Creator; God as the Christ (meaning, the incarnated presence of God dispersed throughout all of creation), and God as the imminent, ever-present, God-with-us Spirit. Like I said, for decades, Trinity seemed complicated to me. But then I learned of the 4th-century Christian theologians based in present-day Turkey, known as the “Cappadocian fathers and mothers.” Of all the ways of talking about God as Trinity, I have found their imagery and language most helpful. It’s a bit of theological genius, really—which is why it has stood out and remained strong for almost 2000 years.

{Photo by Agnieszka Mykieta for Scopio}

These early Christians called the Trinity a ‘circle dance’ (perichoresis). God as a three-partner, circular dance. Now try to imagine three dancers engaged in a complex dance—interlocking and cooperating in all of their movements, separating only momentarily to rejoin again in a pattern of complex beautiful choreography, depending on one another in each graceful configuration of bodies. Now note it’s impossible to imagine such a dance with just one of the dancers. You can’t do it. It is the interlocking circle, the relationship of the dance, that gives the dance its very character. The interrelationship of the dancers is the dance. This three-person circle dance is to me the best image Christian theologians have presented for explaining the Trinity.

Increasingly, theologians are noticing that this image of a relational, circular dance as the basis of all reality dovetails with what science increasingly shows us. Indeed, scientific insights help us appreciate the beauty of our tradition in imaging/symbolizing God as Trinity. What science demonstrates, particularly at the subatomic level, is that relationship is the very nature of reality: nothing exists apart from anything else. And what the theology of the Trinity has been trying to show us, what it intuited almost two thousand years before quantum physics is that relationship is also and has always been the very nature of God. (Note: other religions also intuited this millennia ago.)

Divine nature is all about relationship. The nature of reality, as science is discovering, can be seen as a reflection of Divine nature. God is relationship; this world of ours is relationship. Nothing exists apart from or autonomous from anything else. There is no one ‘Almighty’ within interlocking relationship. God is a beautiful ‘circle dance’ of equal partners, and so is this thing we call Life.

One of the features of our country at this time, which many observers are noting, is an increase in disconnectedness, un-rootedness, and loneliness. This combination leads to a plethora of social problems. It has historically, and it is today. Our theology of the Trinity, along with nature, show us how contrary to created order is disconnectedness. We need connection in order to thrive. We need to be rooted in others—in family, or communities that function like family, in shared universes of symbolism and story. A society of disconnected individuals quickly becomes sick, and we are seeing that all around us. The theology we have of the Trinity is a vivid reminder from our tradition that the fundamental nature of reality is connection, a cooperative dance. It is making one-ness out of more than one.

Trinity shows us, in a practical, beautiful way, who God is. Perhaps even more importantly, it shows us who we are.

WREN: Winner of a 2022 Independent Publishers Award Bronze Medal.

Previous Post

July 11, 2022

A mighty river making things right: On having hope amidst worrying trends

Next Post

July 13, 2022 So What? {Part One}

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Education Essay Excerpt Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz