Take your pick. There are a lot of concepts of God out there and you can choose the one that's right for you. Of course, the logic of this does not escape most of us. If there are a lot of God concepts, and if they are all quite opposed to each other (which they are), then one obvious conclusion is that none of them are true and we can jettison the whole project of deciding which God is real. None are.

However, churches all around the world claim that not only is God real, but that he can be understood and described in a way that is helpful to all people. (In other words, although we can't know everything about God by a very, very long shot, we can know enough.) The core of the Christian understanding of God is that he is three persons, three, tri-, a tri-unity or Trinity. This is why, for example, we see many churches named "Trinity." A church just down the street from me is called Trinity United. (Actually, it's closed, and although that's important, it isn't for this article.)

I think that understanding God as Trinity matters.

But just before I elaborate on that, let me dwell a little longer on my opening sentences: Yes, there are a lot of concepts of God. In competition with the understanding of Trinity, for example, the Muslim understanding is that God is radically one. The Qur'an heaps criticism on those who believe God is somehow three. Actually, the Qur'an has a notion of the Trinity that Christians find bizarre. It assumes that by "Trinity" Christians mean God, Jesus and Mary, the mother of Jesus. And Christians, along with Muslims, don't abide by that understanding of the Trinity.

But in addition to the Muslim understanding of God as one, there are many other God options. Native spiritual leaders have ideas of God, emphasizing God as creator. Madein- the-U.S.A. religions such as Mormonism, Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses and many others have their own understandings of God. Celebrity spiritualites such as Oprah's have certain assumptions about God that would not necessarily fit well with the God concepts of others.

Does seeing God as Trinity, however, offer a way of cutting through the many options, ending up with one that at a deep level, "feels right" to people? I think it does.

First of all, the Trinity is a community. God is certainly one, but one what? At the risk of oversimplifying, I am going to state that God is one community. One. One community of three persons. (Some readers may want me to support what I'm saying by quoting the Bible. If you are one of those, just write me and I'll provide that. I need to keep this short.)

But how exactly is it helpful that God is a community? In two ways. First, God as a community supports the human experience that we are here to be community. I forget if it was Sartre or Camus who said, "Hell is other people." Perhaps he was having a bad decade or feeling mischievous. In any event, he was mistaken. Our origin is rooted in a creator who is himself a community. This is no small matter because it properly relativizes our other urges to out-compete our neighbours or leave them twisting in the wind when they get in trouble. The Trinity delegitimizes violence and means the end of war. It deeply validates the pursuit of fair and just societies. Treat everyone well. No spitting on referees. The Trinity needs to be announced to everyone.

Second, each of the three persons of the Trinity contributes to a balanced understanding of life and the world. Consider God as Creator (or Father). To see God as Creator helps us in seeing the unity of all things living and (apparently) lifeless. There is a oneness, a unity, a continuity in the fabric of the created world. This helps us value the planetary environment and gives us the goal of caring for all the world to the best of our ability. For obvious reasons this needs to be announced in today's world.

Consider Jesus as God. This helps us work through something else. Yes, there is unity in the created world. But there is also disruption, breakdown, injustice or, in two words, sin and evil. This double-headed problem runs very deep. To address this problem, Jesus was born, actively taught, was executed and was raised from the dead (there's a lot more to this story, but again, space considerations). Jesus is God addressing an ugly situation.

All is not well with the world or with us. We need forgiveness, healing and restoration. The work of God as Jesus Christ provides a way forward where human beings can live with confidence before God, experience restoration and look forward to the day when that restoration will be complete.

Finally, consider God as Holy Spirit. This brings us into another area, the area of renewed life. While Jesus Christ carved out a path of restoration and re-union with the Creator Father, the Holy Spirit, also God, freely distributes a whole lot of good stuff. These include courage, trust, faith, hope and, above all, love. They also include healings and miracles. If you listen to the stories of Christians, you will often hear accounts of prayers being answered concretely and impressively. And you will find many instances of people living purposeful lives that spread healing and hope to those with whom they have contact. The Spirit is God without borders. He is everywhere, opening people to God and renewing life wherever God is welcomed — and even in some places where he is not.
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