An former pastor of my church in Greensboro once told me a story about a run-in with a congregant. She was a lovely woman, heavily involved in the church, Sunday school teacher extraordinaire. She put together lessons from scratch that would make your head spin – references from parts of the Bible most people don’t even realize are in there. On this particular day, Roger was in his office about five minutes before the service – getting his robe on, following up with the liturgists, getting things together. It’s sort of a hectic time for clergy: 5 minutes until the service; can’t be late. And this woman pops her head in the door and says, “Roger, I’ve always found the doctrine of the Trinity kind of confusing. Would you explain it to me?”
When Roger told me this story, he was laughing hysterically. Here was this earnest woman who came into his office with a serious theological question. What she was really saying was, “In under five minutes, could you explain the great mystery of the Christian faith?” I don’t remember what he told her; I’m sure he explained something in brief and offered for her to come back later. But what he remembered, laughing to the point that he had tears in his eyes, was the enormity of the question.