POTLUCK AT THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA [Sun, 6-8-25]

BEYOND WINTER: The Irrelevant Theological Complaints of An Old Man—POTLUCK AT THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA [Sun, 6-8-25]

 

I’ve written this before, but it’s one of my favorite stories…

When daughter Katie started dating Patrick, the man who became her husband, he was totally ignorant of Protestantism. It wasn’t willful ignorance. It was just that he’d lived in a totally Roman Catholic environment—family, friends, church, school. But suddenly he was dealing with not only a Protestant, but the daughter of a Methodist preacher.

He asked her, “What do you have to do to be a Methodist?” She replied, “You have to believe in God, and have a 9x13 pan.” [1]

That sums up Christian faith perfectly. Except for the theologians… They just can’t help messing with perfection.

Blame it on Augustine. The doctrine of the Trinity, that is. He just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

There is God for creation. There is Christ for salvation. There is the continuing [resurrected] presence of Christ [Holy Ghost] for guidance.

 

Who cares how they relate to each other? That’s a family matter. It’s none of your business. God is the Alpha and the Omega. Isn’t that enough? Just sing “He Lives” and get with it. But, no…

 

The doctrine of the Trinity caused so much confusion and furor among bishops and the like that Emperor Constantine had to call a conference to try to iron it all out. By that time he was probably saying to himself, “Why did I say it was okay to be a Christian back in 313? These idiots can’t even agree on what it means to be a Christian.”

He called everybody together at Nicaea, in 325, exactly 1700 years ago, and told them to come up with a creed everyone would agree on. It was a very successful conference. It produced that creed. And we’re still arguing about the same stuff 1700 years later.

The Trinity is okay for theologians to argue about, but has anyone ever been saved by winning a theological argument?

Is God three Persons or one? What’s a Person? Are God and Christ compacted together in hypostatic union? Is the Trinity like 3 in 1 oil? Is you is or is you ain’t filioque? [feel lee okay] [Try it; it’s fun to sing.] [2]

 

Who cares? What difference does it make? People need God, not overly parsed thoughts about God. “God is not found at the end of an argument.” Indeed, I maintain that too much talk about God takes us further from God. And I have a doctorate in talking about God!

I should not be too hard on Augustine, though. He wasn’t the only Trinitarian, just the most prolific writer.

And he also said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” That, I think, is true. It’s just that we don’t find that rest by arguing about the nature of God.

Nicaea would have been a lot better if it had been a potluck instead of a theological conference.

So what now? Trust God, and put something into your 9x13 pan to share with others.

 

John Robert McFarland

1] For those of you too young to recall the days of constant church potlucks, 9x13 is the size of a potluck pan—meat, vegetable, dessert, they all require a 9x13 pan.

2] Filioque means “…and the son…” and is part of the Nicene Creed, added to get everybody on the same page about the Trinity. But we continued to argue about it for 724 years. We couldn’t agree on three little words, and so that in 1054, those three little words caused The Great Schism, between Western [Roman] and Eastern [Orthodox] Churches.