With Christmas so close, I thought I would take some time to comment on the hope and grace we have in Jesus Christ. My friend Ben Felder wrote a great little article on the Holy Trinity on his blog, http://www.benlori.blogspot.com/. Ben, commenting on what Robert Jensen has written on the Trinity, "the Trinity is the scripture in a nutshell." What a statement. I think this is most clear in the movement of the Holy Trinity, facing in and moving out. The Holy Trinity, that is, Father, Son, and Spirit, faces in relationship with one another and moves out to effect the transforming grace in the world.
A relationship with the Other is most difinitively expressed vis a' vis, face to face. Not present or absent, but in the face to face. The Trinity faces in, the visage of each person of God facing the Wholly Other visage of each person of God. This is a model of relationship within the church. We must face each other, come together, be present to one another despite our absence. We must congregate, purposefully to model the Trinity (worship, fellowship, community). This is our calling to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Deuteronomy 6:5 NRSV.
A relationship with the Other is fulfilled in the action beyond/ignighted by/necessitated by facing in. The Trinity does not stop at the mere facing in (expressed by some deistic models of God as well as a simple "unmoved mover" model), the Holy Trinity moves beyond him/herself. The Trinity moves out into the world to bring blessing, effect grace, and love in the perfect act of reconnecting God and man. In the same way, we must move out into the world, bringing blessing to the other, reflecting God's grace, and making disciples (compassion, disciple-making). This is our calling to "Love your neighbour as yourself." Leviticus 19:18.
By this, we can see that "the Trinity is scripture in a nutshell." To model the Trinity is the Great Commission!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment