John 3:1-17
“Three in One/One in Three”
May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday
Three little pigs, the Three Tenors, My Three Sons, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a Priest, a Minister and a Rabbi go into a bar, the Three Stooges, the Three Musketeers
– so many examples of the rule of three which is a theory in writing that says that three characters are much more effective, satisfying and funny than other numbers.
Today is Trinity Sunday where we’re going to wrestle with God as Three in One or One in Three. Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Creator, Redeemer, Comforter. Unlike so many special days that we celebrate together where we’re noting a special event in the life of Jesus or the church, Trinity Sunday is the celebration of an idea.
Today we are diving into one of the ideas that bind us together but which is really challenging to everything we know.
Trinity is meant to give some kind of voice and substance and explanation of the great mystery that is God. We know God is beyond our imagining and yet we keep trying. Nicodemus, under cover of night, comes to Jesus and truly tries to understand what Jesus is about and he’s faced with an ever-present God, a savior Jesus and a Spirit that is birthing a new world order.
Why is it that God needs three identities?
How can God be both one and three?
Lots of times scripture just adds to the confusion by making it sound like they each operate separate from each other.
Jesus is going to the one that sent him.
How can God the Father also be his own son?
The Spirit that Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that he’s to be born of leaves Nicodemus scratching his head and asking, “How can these things be?”
If you can relate to Nicodemus in his confusion, know that you are not alone.
All of these descriptions of God and especially the big 3, are very human attempts at describing the nature of God which is beyond anything our brains will be able to come up with.
Soul, do you feel a tinge of awe?
Praise the Holy One, who is.
Do you feel the balm of an unseen companion?
Thank the Son, who is present.
Do you feel the courage, the rising of love?
Honor the Holy Spirit, who breathes in you.
Soul, do you sense the mystery that can’t be sensed,
the giving that is a gift,
the Beyond that is within you?
Bow down and leap up,
for the Holy Trinity
has found space to rest and dance in you.
Deep Blessings,
Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
May 28, 2021