Holy Trinity Sunday, which we celebrate on the Sunday after Pentecost, is in our church calendar to celebrate our God who we know as Creator, Redeemer, and Counselor or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity was famously illustrated with a shamrock by St. Patrick in Ireland. Many of our churches are decorated with triangles and shamrocks because triangles have three sides that together make a united structure. While they are good representations of the Trinity, I would like to share two other things that help me understand the Trinity better.

The first is a Moebius Strip. You can read more about Moebius here. It’s easy to make one – take a strip of paper about 1″ wide and 11″ long, give it a half twist and tape it together (watch the WikiHow). When you take a pencil and start drawing along the length of the loop, you will discover that you will eventually end up where you started. A Moebius strip is an infinite loop. There is no beginning and no end, yet we know that we started with a single 2-sided sheet of paper. Like the Moebius strip, God – creator, redeemer and counselor – is infinite and yet has had a physical presence.

The second model of the Trinity that I like is the molecule H2O. Two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen come together to form one of the base molecules for life, water. One of the reasons that water is key is that it can exist in three different states – ice, water, and steam depending on the surrounding temperature.

God exists in three – Creator, Redeemer, and Counselor. God our creator is with us in every moment of life from the beginning of the universe to wherever we end up. Our Redeemer, Jesus, was present in human form at a specific time and place. The Holy Spirit, our counselor, is with us in our hearts and minds, guiding us on our continual journey of life.

I am grateful that the Moebius Strip, a mathematical construct, and the water molecule, a physical construct have helped me understand a little more about God. I hope it has helped you a little too.