The Holy Trinity has so much meaning for me. as someone who is quickly irritated by ‘Control Stuff’, I just love the understanding I find in the Trinity, that God is relational rather than controlling. other than that, it’s a tricky concept to get your head round, so wonder if this has a special meaning for anyone else?
oh, I forgot to say, posted this as apparently it was Trinity Sunday. am not usually in touch with church festivals, so make the most of it
By: subo on June 8, 2009
at 6:47 pm
I like the way that the trinity is presented in ‘The Shack’ (you either love it or hate it! I loved it!) I find it a mysterious idea/concept/reality but am attracted to it! Have had interesting discussions with Muslims who find it very weird – which is understandable!
I find the metaphors that people use don’t quite work (e.g. – water = ice, vapour, liquid… or a person = self, ‘father’, ‘son’) so I am resigned to the notion of trinity as mystery!
I have to keep it in my box marked ‘mystery’ as, for example, on one hand I love the idea of God the Father sending Jesus the son as the redemption plan (what love – I couldn’t give my kids!) – But then I don’t think it is quite as ’separate’ as this would imply – e.g. ‘God was in Christ redeeming the world to himself’ and at the bitter end we read… ‘ he gave up his Spirit’ – so all three were involved at Calvary – mind blowing and beyond me!
Deep stuff Su! dave
By: Dave on June 9, 2009
at 10:02 pm
yep, too right, mind blowing, and I am partly with the Muslims you chatted to – just plain confusing
and yet, this excites me, the images of God painted in The Shack is vibrant and living. The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as ‘brooding over the water’ in Creation, and giving skill and inspiration to the crafts folk who built the temple
I’ve got no patients with the notion that Christ’s brutal death makes the Father a child abuser, and yet I understand the crucifixion is beyond any horror I can cope with imagining.
yet somehow it’s the crucifixion that connects us with God, by transcending the divide of almighty and alien, holy and shamed, sovereign and subjugated
We have a God who lives in communion within the Trinity, inviting us into communion, a purposeful God, bring his plan of reconciliation into place, letting us chip in as hopeful, wannabe peacemakers
perhaps it’s the very complexity that awakens our imagination, as well as the nature of God, longing to fill us with love and freedom, ready to play imaginatively in response
By: subo on June 9, 2009
at 11:27 pm
So well put Su – agree completely with your comments. Does raise powerful questions about our own role in world – e.g. ‘as the Father sent me so I send you’…. ‘Bear in the body always the death of the Lord Jesus that the life also may be made manifest’…. etc guess it underlines the powerful meaning of ‘communion’ – e.g. unity, close association, spiritual union, relationship… and something we do together to identify with and remember Jesus!
Am getting tram lines in my hair for Glasto this year – Celtic symbol of trinity! dave
By: Dave on June 10, 2009
at 9:28 am
just a thought… only this moment occurred to me. in the trinity we find the three things we need in life.
1. a significant other. creator and maker of the
universe, provider of all that sustains us and more.
2. a living, human, blood and bones example of how to live and how to relate to each other and the creator and his creations.
3. spirit… life, creativity, imagination. enabling us to
clearly above is an over-simplification, but i wonder whether trinity is a way of expressing what we all naturally feel or know to be true. i’ve never quite thought about how the idea of trinity relates to the way i experience life and what my needs are. i shall have to think some more.
hope the above makes sense… i know what i mean.
By: jonbirch on June 12, 2009
at 7:11 pm
Like it a lot Jon, breath, life and mystery, – and am very much aware of how my current, loving, flesh and blood brothers have debunked the power of my childhood tormentors
By: subo on June 12, 2009
at 10:56 pm
think it makes sense Jon – also connects to id, ego and super ego for me and mind, body and soul… three for the price of one – bargain!! happy saturday – dave
By: Dave on June 13, 2009
at 11:40 am
i’m glad it wasn’t just me it made sense to.
By: jonbirch on June 25, 2009
at 1:58 am