Just because we are told trying to understand God and the Trinity is all too hard and that we should just accept that it is a big mystery, is no reason why we shouldn’t give it a go.
The big problem seems to me that the churches talk about 3 persons in one God and that to me seems like the first big mistake. Treating God, a Divine Spirit who always was and who will be for all eternity, as if we were dealing with a human being, is a contradiction in terms. For instance, how can the Holy Spirit be seen as a person. It wasn’t a person who broke through the locked doors where the disciples were on Pentecost Sunday and filled them with enthusiasm.
After Jesus died, it wasn’t a person who appeared and disappeared through walls and locked doors. Jesus the man had died but The Divine Christ still had work to do in preparing the disciples for the roles they had to take on board.
Jesus promised His Spirit would be with them and us for all time. He also said He and The Father Creator were one together and He wanted us to be one with them as well. So, it seems much easier to understand if we see our God as a Divine part of the spirit world.
I like to refer to the presence of our God in our lives as a Divine Presence. We don’t need to look too far to see the Divine Presence in nature and the world around us. In a nutshell, the Divine Presence is our life, constantly available to us all.
This might be a big preamble to this story, but I like to think there can be simple solutions to what some might see as difficult problems. Sometimes all it takes is a little faith and trust in the Divine Presence.
Pete
THE 3 HATS
There was a lot of love in the family household that consisted of Mum, Dad and three school age children. Dad was a qualified mechanic and had started his own small business. Mum was helping-out with the family finances by working part time.
In their spare time, dad coached their sons under 12 football team and mum was the president of their daughter’s netball club. It could be said both mum and dad each wore 3 hats. A family hat, a work hat and a community support hat. Often, in juggling family, work and leisure priorities, it became necessary for mum and dad to find themselves wearing more than one hat at any one time.
Our God tends to be a bit like that family when we consider our relationship with the Divine Presence.
From what we read in the Good Book, our God also has 3 hats. That of creator, redeemer and life giver. We read how before us humans ever got to exist, the world and everything in it was created. Only then did God create the first man and it was God’s Spirit that breathed life into him.
Scripture also tells us that at this time, The Christ, referred to as ‘The Word’ also was in existence. “And The Word was with God, and The Word was God.” So, here we see how one spiritual God can have three major functions. That of Creator, Redeemer and Life Giver
When The Word became flesh, the Divine Christ became human and was given the name Jesus. He taught us about the Creator whom he called His Father in heaven and he also explained the role of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the comforter, our life support.
Hence, it would seem, our God also has three different hats and in handling our individual needs, is required to wear more than one hat at a time.
Perhaps a simple understanding the Trinity is not such a difficult task after all.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s how I feel.
(See THE TRINITY LOVE COMPANY – Organisation Chart)