The Trinity is a difficult doctrine to get our minds around. (Well, maybe I should just speak for myself.) Just how is it that God can be one person and three people? At the same time?

For centuries, people have tried to find metaphors to make the Trinity easier to grasp. Water, for example, can be liquid, solid, or gas. But a molecule of water cannot be all of these at the same time.

Another metaphor I've heard used, one near and dear to those of us who live in wine country, is to say that the Trinity is like a bottle of wine: The wine itself is liquid, but the aroma and taste each have a separate personality all their own. But the aroma and taste of wine don't exist independently of the wine they come from.

The Trinity is a mystery, and like most mysteries, it is better experienced than understood. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers a bit about how they will experience him through the Holy Spirit. "I have much more to tell you," he says, "but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth."

The Spirit will, for followers of Jesus Christ, be the means of the ongoing experience of Christ's teachings. Another way to say this is that all that we learn and embrace about Jesus Christ comes from the Holy Spirit.

"Everything that the Father has is mine," Jesus continues, "for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you." God gives all things to Jesus, and Jesus imparts the truth to us through the Holy Spirit. Again, I'm not saying I understand either the reason or the workings of this division of labor, but it suggests something that I think should have a significant impact on all of us.

The Trinity tells us that at the heart of God there is not an individual but a community. If our one God is indeed three people, then apparently the universe is managed by a committee and not a single CEO. If God is a community, then it would suggest that we who are made in his image might take more seriously the call to live and be a genuine community as well. If God is a community, then you and I who are called to be the Body of Christ in this world must be more than a collection of independent agents that share a creed and a building.

In this country, we are good at independence. We even have a holiday to celebrate it every year. Independence frees us to take care of ourselves, and our political system has legislated this prerogative down to the smallest detail. Independence may be the American way, but it is not the way, the truth and the life. We are called not to just take care of ourselves but also to take care of each other, serve one another, and enjoy one another.

This requires a commitment to our brothers and sisters that makes community more than a matter of membership. It is not easy, and it is certainly not natural in our society. But it is very Christian.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.