Do You Have Faith In The Trinity?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday was Trinity Sunday and the devotion I offered, was about a trinity of bees (queens, drones and workers living in community). I do hope in reading it and today’s that the mystery of the Trinity is revealed to you and manifested in a strong and practical relationship with God. Do You Have Faith In The Trinity?
Scripture: Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 (NRSV)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:16-18 (NRSV)
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:20-26 (NRSV)
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)
Message: Today we look for the Creator, Sustainer and the Redeemer in scripture and in our daily life in the communities in which we live and work, in the hope of being of one accord. We see this hope of unity perhaps most clearly through the commandment of Christ that we love one another. Pentecost gives us another clear communication of the hope for unity that we be made into one. But our examples of a human unity on a personal and collective basis seem so imperfect. The Trinity, however, is a divine unity, the one and only perfect unity, of how three distinct Persons are together as One. Now most would like to simplify the explanation of the Trinity as a “do under others as you would have them do unto you” model of theology, but that is too simple. Our experience of God is more complicated than a walk on the beach at sunset. There is a vast ocean of experiences awaiting us and we need help in navigating them. That help comes in a better understanding of how life is woven together with understanding the Trinity in a more complete way. Even though we recite the creed every week that states our belief in the Trinity we too often deny the process. It is however a very practical chart for our course based on scripture and the experiences of thousands of people who have come before. Thinking about our voyage, through the eyes of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can be helpful in our relationships. So today we think about the Trinity as a model for community…of men and women and children in relationship on a ship. Paul who had experience with ship wrecks, tells us how we come into alignment with God and stay off the rocks. It is through Christ’s grace that we can stand before God the Father as justified. It is through the Holy Spirit, that this grace is applied into our lives and perhaps most vividly when as Christians we fight for justice and for human rights, for a compassionate and caring society. When we do that, we are acting in the name of the Trinity. Here faith in the Trinitarian God, in the God of personal interrelationship and shared love, commits us to struggle with all our strength against poverty, exploitation, oppression and disease. Precisely because we know that God is three-in-one, we cannot remain indifferent to any suffering, by any humans, in any part of the world. In community, we learn the divine nature, that the Father does nothing by Himself in which the Son does not take part, and that the Son does not act separately in anything without the Spirit; but every activity
in community that extends from God to the creation. . . starts from the Father and goes forth through the Son and is completed in the Holy Spirit. The transformation of human communities into a life of Trinitarian mutuality, communion, collaboration and collective impact is very difficult. God’s grace is needed in abundance, to be sure, yet even then the challenge is daunting. We need good servant leaders who know the waters and the chart as well as a willing crew. Then human communities begin to be transfigured into the likeness of the Holy Trinity.
Pray our logic, our hearts and our actions are in unity and pure with God’s will. Pray we be a Body of believers in whose consciousness we live, move and have our very being. Pray we recognize the divine presence in three dimensions. Pray we surrender to the hidden purposes of the divine. Pray we realize that we are useless unless we are going somewhere. Pray we realize that we are dependent on the winds of the Spirit and a Captain to steer, and a crew to properly set the sails. Pray we realize that the Captain of the ship keeps a log. Pray we see beyond the Spirit in the Sails, the Maker in the Ship and Christ in the Captain. Pray we see the Three as One and the One as Three in the communities in which we live.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 