The Trinity Part 2

As soon as I typed that title I felt compelled to make this a 3-parter! It only seems right since we are talking about the Trinity. This last week has further actualized God's revelation of who He is in choosing to send His Son, to take the form of a helpless child, into the world with the eventual end with death on a cross, death for our sins, doing for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves, sacrifice in the name of washing our sins away and repairing our relationship with God.
I had the privilege of attending both a wedding and a funeral this weekend. Both were instances of great celebration. Such peace comes with assurance of who you are in Christ and where your eternal destination lies. It was said at the funeral that God always shows up. Sometimes it is in our loved ones, friends and family God has put around us to celebrate with us, grieve with us, encourage us, this is the body of Christ acting in accordance with how God has revealed Himself. In the case of Christmas, however God showed up as a baby in a manger. He showed up and walked through this world, he shares our hurt, our joy, our awe, our love, a love that is not self referenced, but comes from Him. He shows up when we cannot show up for ourselves.
Forgive my rambling but it also makes me think about how we fail one another when we do not "show up".
So many people have shown up for me, for Marten, for our girls. Without our church family, without the body of Christ, Marten would not know our God today. It does "take a village"! God's Spirit, the great Counselor that came freely to us upon Christ's ascension, is working through and in that village. We must only pay attention and be obedient!

Trinity, Community, the body

The Trinity has been on my mind a lot lately. Can't tell you why exactly, I guess I need to pay attention. The Trinity is a hard thing to wrap your mind around, much less try to explain to someone. Many a children's book has been written about it and many an analogy has been made. Maybe you have heard the water, vapor, ice one or the apple peel, flesh, and seed? The concept of how God has revealed Himself through scripture and through history has tripped people up for centuries. It was one of the reasons for a split in the early church between the east and the west. Did the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son or from the Father alone? How do we describe this one form three essences? One essence three forms? Anyway the explaining is diffficult. The experience makes a difference.

You see the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit exist in a state of constantly giving selflessly, one to the other a constant giving of self flowing from one to the next. This is the model for the body of Christ, the church universal, God's people in the world, constantly giving of self, one to the other. If you are always giving, never expecting in return, BUT the next person is giving, etc., etc. what kind of world would this be?

I can honestly say I have experienced the Triune God through His people in varying degrees. that is what has really been on my mind. The more I experience it the more I grow to be part of it. More about that next time...

My brain hurts but my heart is full...

So, I am sitting here working on one of my final papers for my Anthropology for Christian Mission class. It's finals week and I have completed my work for two classes but have two more to go. I'm tired. I want to be done. I want to veg and watch Christmas movies. My brain hurts. BUT, my heart is so full of all I have learned over these last months. On the outside things might be and look hard but on the inside God is doing amazing things. Some days I hardly recognize myself anymore. Most days I wonder how I got here and what could I possibly have to do in this role that has been cast for me. I feel like such an understudy, occasionally allowed to play the role, then sink back into anonymity.
I was thinking today about the last year and a half of seminary and what I have really learned. For the most part what I think has happened is that an excavation has been done. All of the dirt and garbage from this world and all of its yuck has been removed. But not removed never to be seen again, removed in order to be used to provide fertile soil for sowing seeds, redeeming the junk and using it for God's glory. It has been as well a process, and continues to be, of figuring out who God really created me to be, what He wants, not what I want or anyone has told me to be. My heart is full because I know my God is working, refining, honing. Sometimes it hurts but so do many cures for the sick!
Back to work....

How big is your God?

Times are tough for some more than others. It's kind of a wake up call to some of us who easily come by the necessities in life. Others know what it is like to not have basic needs met on a pretty regular basis. Where is God in all that? Well this is the way I see things...

I believe that God is a God of abundance! I do not believe there is a limit on what He can do and provide. I believe that as a planet and as a people we have been given everything we need, but I also know that some of us have better means and circumstances to access resources to meet those needs. I also believe that to those whom God has gifted in place and in circumstance a greater responsibility is given.

We have all we need. God has been partnering with man since the beginning of time, it is in His nature to continue to do so. God's resources are unlimited. Yet so many of us don't live like that. We hang on to what we have and fear giving it away because what might tomorrow bring? It makes me think of the Israelites in the desert, collecting the manna, even though God had told them not to, only to find it had rotted the next day.

Do you believe that God will meet your needs? Maybe you are hanging on to something that you don't need right now but someone else does. Give generously. Trust that God will provide. Love one another.