Category: CHRISTianity

Posted on

Is Your Jesus At The Bottom Of A Well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXS9IZnvzPI

The historical movement known as the first quest for the historical Jesus was destroyed by Albert Schweitzer when he pointed out the obvious fact that the “historical Jesus” that these “questers” was describing looked almost exactly like the “questers” themselves. That seemed very convenient. Schweitzer illustrated this with a story that may have been first used by George Tyrell and was surely influenced by the poet Robert Frost. Anyhow Schweitzer said that these “questers” had looked down at the dark, cloudy water at the bottom of a well, saw their own ambiguous reflection, and declared it to be Christ. It is always nice to convince yourself that the Messiah you claim to serve looks exactly like you. That means other people need to change rather you needing to change. That’s nice and comfortable.

Of course, it is also idolatry.

The quote “God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman, returned the favor” is often attributed to Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. While I don’t know who really made the statement I see proof of its truth all around me and unfortunately also sometimes within my own life. Far too often I have shaped Jesus to look a great deal like my own image rather than being transformed into His image. The latter should be the goal of all who claim to be disciples of Christ. We should be striving, begging, yearning to be shaped each day a little more into His image. While Jesus became one of us through the Incarnation He is still wholly other (a term Karl Barth liked for describing God’s transcendent nature) and thereby different from us. We must become like Him because He is the end/goal of life. Reducing Him to being in our image won’t work because we are broken and He is life. Making Him a Republican, Democratic, Independent or any other political system Messiah produces a false god that can’t bring us life. That false image, our dark reflection at the bottom of the well, simply isn’t adequate to bring true hope.

That’s why the above video (that I saw from two friends at the same time – ht Joy & Scott) makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Hearing those words come out of the mouth of an actor portraying Jesus stands in strong contrast to the words of Jesus I see in scripture. I laugh because I catch the incongruity between the image and the words. I cry because I see the truth of this incongruity actually happening in my culture and faith. If I can’t imagine my words being said by the Jesus conveyed in scripture and I claim to be His follower, then I need to change my words (and actions) quick, or just admit that my faith is not what really defines me.

I’ll use another video to further explain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtLJfIGbowg

I have been a fan of Duck Commander, and thereby Duck Dynasty somewhat too, since I started duck hunting five years ago. I was introduced to them by Andy Lickel and soon learned to like their duck calls. I’ve enjoyed the show because while it is incredibly cheesy I believe that a real family love is still strongly conveyed through the show. So I’ve been with them through their various controversies. Sometimes this was because I agreed with them (though maybe not with the manner in which they said it) or sometimes because my affection for them was enough to just blow off what they said. Then this past week Phil Robertson made the following quote in endorsing Ted Cruz. Robertson said:

“I’ve never run upon a true conservative who was not a godly man or at least a God-conscious man, And by the same token, I’ve never run up on a godly man who wasn’t a true conservative.”

This is so disturbing to me. Not the endorsement of Ted Cruz but the implication of the use of the word “godly”. The term “godly” (the highest compliment I believe a follower of Christ can receive) has been connected by Robertson with certain political ideology and Jesus is thought to look like a conservative. Why? Well because we have looked down in into the bottom of a well, seen our own dark and muddy reflection, and declared it to be Christ. When this happens we no longer need to repent and allow God to shape us, to remove some aspects and add others, so that we look a little more like His son. There is no need for change because “Jesus” looks exactly like us because we have made god in our image instead of being made in His. I know godly people of many different political persuasions. They are focused on the kingdom of God and that kingdom shapes what they do and how they respond to the politics of their country. I would never associate being conservative with being godly anymore than I would associate being progressive with being godly. After all Jesus came to declare that the kingdom of God was at hand, not that the world was about to receive democratic capitalism.

Don’t get me wrong this isn’t just a a conservative problem. It happens just as much on the progressive side. In fact, Schweitzer’s original use of the well reflection analogy was in response to liberal protestant theologians. Finding “Christ” in our own reflection is an equal opportunity form of idolatry. It is equally destructive to all who will give into it.

I hope the image that shapes me comes from looking toward the real Christ, rather than my own dark and muddy reflection seen from a far.

Posted on

Scott's Post on Immigration

 

There are friends you make that stay with you for life. Scott Hicks is such a friend. We became friends in college, he was one of my roommates my Senior year, and he was kind of an usher at Pam and my wedding (I say kind of because he became violently sick at the wedding). He is also an immigration lawyer and a pastor. As a lawyer he has a great analytical mind. As a pastor he has a heart of compassion. It is a great combination for an immigration lawyer and especially for speaking reason into some of the madness going on concerning whether or not Syrian refugees should be allowed in the US.

Yesterday he wrote a brilliant Facebook post concerning the vetting process for refugees. Several of us friends have been chatting on Facebook the past two days (while FB has its negatives chats such as the one we have had are one of best things about FB) as his post has been swapped around (213,489 shares at the moment) and he has started to get some opportunities to speak truth and compassion as a result. Today a few weird things started happening with his post on Facebook. While we all generally think it is Facebook just coping with the mad rush for his post – Facebook doesn’t usually expect a guy 394 FB friends to have something shared this often – we also suspect someone may have been upset by what he said and flagged it as inappropriate. As a result we discussed that his post should be saved somewhere else. I asked about sharing it on my blog. Thankfully Scott said “yes”.

Here are my friend’s profound words.

Most of my friends know I practice Immigration law. As such, I have worked with the refugee community for over two decades. This post is long, but if you want actual information about the process, keep reading.

I can not tell you how frustrating it is to see the misinformation and outright lies that are being perpetuated about the refugee process and the Syrian refugees. So, here is a bit of information from the real world of someone who actually works and deals with this issue.

The refugee screening process is multi-layered and is very difficult to get through. Most people languish in temporary camps for months to years while their story is evaluated and checked.

First, you do not get to choose what country you might be resettled into. If you already have family (legal) in a country, that makes it more likely that you will go there to be with family, but other than that it is random. So, you can not simply walk into a refugee camp, show a document, and say, I want to go to America. Instead, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees) works with the local authorities to try to take care of basic needs. Once the person/family is registered to receive basic necessities, they can be processed for resettlement. Many people are not interested in resettlement as they hope to return to their country and are hoping that the turmoil they fled will be resolved soon. In fact, most refugees in refugee events never resettle to a third country. Those that do want to resettle have to go through an extensive process.

Resettlement in the U.S. is a long process and takes many steps. The Refugee Admissions Program is jointly administered by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) in the Department of State, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and offices within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within DHS conducts refugee interviews and determines individual eligibility for refugee status in the United States.

We evaluate refugees on a tiered system with three levels of priority.

First Priority are people who have suffered compelling persecution or for whom no other durable solution exists. These individuals are referred to the United States by UNHCR, or they are identified by the U.S. embassy or a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Second priority are groups of “special concern” to the United States. The Department of State determines these groups, with input from USCIS, UNHCR, and designated NGOs. At present, we prioritize certain persons from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Iran, Burma, and Bhutan.

Third priority are relatives of refugees (parents, spouses, and unmarried children under 21) who are already settled in the United States may be admitted as refugees. The U.S.-based relative must file an Affidavit of Relationship (AOR) and must be processed by DHS.

Before being allowed to come to the United States, each refugee must undergo an extensive interviewing, screening, and security clearance process conducted by Regional Refugee Coordinators and overseas Resettlement Support Centers (RSCs). Individuals generally must not already be firmly resettled (a legal term of art that would be a separate article). Just because one falls into the three priorities above does not guarantee admission to the United States.

The Immigration laws require that the individuals prove that they have a “well-founded fear,” (another legal term which would be a book.) This fear must be proved regardless of the person’s country, circumstance, or classification in a priority category. There are multiple interviews and people are challenged on discrepancies. I had a client who was not telling the truth on her age and the agency challenged her on it. Refugees are not simply admitted because they have a well founded fear. They still must show that they are not subject to exclusion under Section 212(a) of the INA. These grounds include serious health matters, moral or criminal matters, as well as security issues. In addition, they can be excluded for such things as polygamy, misrepresentation of facts on visa applications, smuggling, or previous deportations. Under some circumstances, the person may be eligible to have the ground waived.

At this point, a refugee can be conditionally accepted for resettlement. Then, the RSC sends a request for assurance of placement to the United States, and the Refugee Processing Center (RPC) works with private voluntary agencies (VOLAG) to determine where the refugee will live. If the refugee does have family in the U.S., efforts will be made to resettle close to that family.

Every person accepted as a refugee for planned admission to the United States is conditional upon passing a medical examination and passing all security checks. Frankly, there is more screening of refugees than ever happens to get on an airplane. Of course, yes, no system can be 100% foolproof. But if that is your standard, then you better shut down the entire airline industry, close the borders, and stop all international commerce and shipping. Every one of those has been the source of entry of people and are much easier ways to gain access to the U.S. Only upon passing all of these checks (which involve basically every agency of the government involved in terrorist identification) can the person actually be approved to travel.

Before departing, refugees sign a promissory note to repay the United States for their travel costs. This travel loan is an interest-free loan that refugees begin to pay back six months after arriving in the country.

Once the VOLAG is notified of the travel plans, it must arrange for the reception of refugees at the airport and transportation to their housing at their final destination.
This process from start to finish averages 18 to 24 months, but I have seen it take years.

The reality is that about half of the refugees are children, another quarter are elderly. Almost all of the adults are either moms or couples coming with children. Each year the President, in consultation with Congress, determines the numerical ceiling for refugee admissions. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, the proposed ceiling is 85,000. We have been averaging about 70,000 a year for the last number of years. (Source: Refugee Processing Center)

Over one-third of all refugee arrivals (35.1 percent, or 24,579) in FY 2015 came from the Near East/South Asia—a region that includes Iraq, Iran, Bhutan, and Afghanistan.
Another third of all refugee arrivals (32.1 percent, or 22,472) in FY 2015 came from Africa.
Over a quarter of all refugee arrivals (26.4 percent, or 18,469) in FY 2015 came from East Asia — a region that includes China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. (Source: Refugee Processing Center)

Finally, the process in Europe is different. I would be much more concerned that terrorists are infiltrating the European system because they are not nearly so extensive and thorough in their process.

 Here’s a link to the original post.
Posted on

31 Days/2 – Scared of Love

Before I do anything else let me say that I will never be able to adequately express how thankful I am for the family and friends who helped my family to grieve over the past two weeks. On top of all the other acts of service my family arrived home Wednesday night to discover that either a “thread” or a neighbor had graciously raked our yard (I think “thread” since Sunday during the message at Tapestry I mentioned the frustration of raking the yard one day and it being covered again the next day, but our neighbors are just as awesome so I’m not sure). You are all wonderful and I am honored to know you and be loved by you.

Now on to the post.

http://radiofreebabylon.com/Comics/CoffeeWithJesus.php

I adore Coffee with Jesus. I think it is one of the best things on the internet. The artist remains consistent rather than simply picking the conservative or progressive side on a subject. I believe this typically leads to Coffee with Jesus ticking off both sides. The comic strips consistently challenge me.

Anyhow this blog post isn’t about Coffee with Jesus. Instead it is concerning the word “love” and I thought the above comic strip was a good way to start the post.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the comment thread below on a friend’s Facebook page.

love

The second comment really gets me because … well … to be honest whenever I see a professed Christian saying that they automatically become suspicious when they see someone quoting “love your neighbor as yourself,” I … errr … well … I become suspicious of that professed Christian.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” should be the knee jerk reaction of a follower of Christ to any situation. It should be our first, second, third, and fourth reaction. It should even be behind our behavior when our response isn’t necessarily positive but instead calls for followers of Christ to fight for someone or against something. After all, God’s discipline comes out of love (Revelation 3:19).

Why should it be our knee jerk reaction? Well, because Jesus said it is that important. Remember the context of when Jesus made the statement. He was answering the question of an expert in the law concerning what was the greatest commandment (Luke 22:34-40). Jesus’s answer to what was the greatest commandment was: 1a, love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (and strength in the Gospel According to Mark), and 1b love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus even went so far as to say that 1b was “like” 1a. That’s a strong word. The Greek word used in the verse that we translate as “like” is ὁμοία and can also be translated as “resembles”. When we love our neighbor as ourselves it resembles loving God.

I understand the guy’s fear. I believe it to be an honest comment and I respect that, though it still makes me sad. He says “‘Love’ doesn’t seem to mean what it used to.” I understand his fear, though I also believe that some of the change to our understanding of loving your neighbor is a good thing. That’s a subject for another blog post. You see the Spirit that God fills His people with isn’t a “spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV) but of power, love, and self-discipline. The Spirit pushes us to respond in love not fear. If someone starts defining the concept of “loving your neighbor as yourself” in a manner that isn’t biblical, then we have to reclaim the phrase, rather than becoming suspicious of the phrase and turning our backs on it. The bible shows the word “love” to be closely connected with the word “sacrifice” (John 15:13). Fear leads to us holing up and trying to protect ourselves. Fear leads to us turning our backs on our neighbors. Love does the opposite. Love leads to us sacrificing ourselves like Christ. After all, such behavior resembles loving God and needs to be reclaimed rather than mistrusted.

I hope those of us who claim to be followers of Christ will respond to everything around us by sacrificing as Jesus does, rather than just trying to protect ourselves. So many of you did this for me and my family this past week. You sacrificed your time, energy, and emotional strength for us and thereby loved us. Thank you.

Posted on

31 Days/2 – Follow Up On Why

Today at Tapestry I encouraged everyone to ask “why do we do what we do”. While doing so I showed part of a video and briefly told the story of Robert Raikes and the founding of Sunday School as an act of social justice. Since I only briefly mentioned these two things I thought I would include two links.

First, here’s a link for a fuller story on the development of Sunday School by Robert Raikes. The effectiveness of Sunday School can easily be debated now but their development was an amazing act of faith in taking care of “the least of these.” So many of the actions and programs in our churches that we no longer ask “why” concerning, started out as acts of justice. We need to start more actions and programs that will so influence our culture that in the future we will no longer see the need for them.

The second link is to the full video from Simon Sinek. I only referenced a small part of this video but the who thing is worth watch.

Posted on

31 Days/2 – Friend of Sinners

“Friend” is not an official title, or a role we have to play, or a function in society. We have our brothers and sisters in the nature of things, and have to live with them. But friendships grow up out of free encounter. Friendship is a personal relationship between people who like one another. Friendship combines affection with respect.

Combining affection with respect does not mean wanting to serve the other person, or having to help him, or making use of him. It means simply liking someone for themselves, just as they are. The affection has to do with the being of other people, the respect has to do with their freedom. Friendship is the opposite of appropriation or the desire to possess. If we become aware of any such intention, we are put off, and the friendship withers. In friendship we sense that there is a wide space of freedom in which we can expand, because we are trusted and can lay aside the protective mechanism of mistrust.

Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life, p. 255.

I am finishing reading “The Spirit of Life” and loved this quote. I love his description of friendship. All the more interesting when you consider that apparently Jesus’s enemies said the following concerning Him.

 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds. (Matthew 11:19)

I think that is consistent with the picture of Jesus presented in the New Testament. He loved people. He loved being around people, no matter their state of being. This doesn’t mean that He didn’t call everyone to repentance, He just also respected people’s freedom of will (sorry my Calvinist friends).

Posted on

31 Days/2 – The Santa Claus God Quote

Just me and my bud Miroslav hanging out with each other. 🙂

A while back I read “Free of Charge” by Miroslav Volf. I believe I have mentioned in the past that I love Volf’s writing and speaking. He is wonderful. Here’s a quote from “Free of Charge” that I really enjoy.

God is an inexhaustibly fertile source of everything. But is it true that God demands nothing? If it were true, how could Jesus urge us, as he does in the Sermon on the Mount, to be perfect as God is? Here is what we do as worshipers of a Santa Claus God: We embrace the conviction that God is an infinitely generous source of all good, but conveniently forget that we were created in God’s image to be in some significant sense like God – not like God in God’s divinity, for we are human and not divine, but like God “in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24), like God in loving enemies (Matthew 5:44). To live well as a human being is to live in sync with who God is and how God acts.

“Free of Charge”, p. 26.

I bear the image of God. Therefore, I need to be like Him in His holiness yes, but also in His justice, His mercy, His grace, His generosity, His sacrifice, His suffering, His love. To bear the Imago Dei is a powerful demand and a powerful thing. To believe in a generous God should lead to us understanding and acting on the truth that we were created in the image of that generous God. The image we are created bearing is supposed to shape who we are and how we act.

That’s the problem with a Santa Claus god. Santa Claus doesn’t serve as a challenge to us to live in generosity and sacrifice (though the story of the real St. Nick should do just that). Nope Santa is culturally someone who just gives to us, supposedly when we are nice and not naughty, but usually no matter what. But a truly generous God Whose image we are created bearing, well that’s another thing all together. Being created in the image of that generous God calls us to live that image out. It calls us to give as God gives, to all who were created in His image.

In addition since there are traces of the Imago Dei (these traces are known as the vestigia Dei) all around us, we, as image bearers, should be drawn to and respond to those traces. While the saying may be that “Opposites attract” the reality is that we are drawn to things and people with which we have similarities. For an odd example consider the report that has been recently released by the Federal Reserve Board suggesting that people with similar credit scores tend to have more successful committed relationships. We connect more strongly with people and things with which we have a common resonance. Like attracts like.

Jürgen Moltmann writes that early Christians often preferred eros to the word agape when referring to our response to God’s love, because eros is a surrendering to attraction and desire, while agape reflects a self’s decision. Eros has God as the initiator and us as those who respond out of desire. If (and when I say “if” I mean “since”) there are traces of God’s image in the people (and creation) all around us, no matter how distorted those traces are, we should still be driven to love them because of the attraction we have to the traces of God’s image in them. The Imago Dei in us can’t help but be attracted to the Imago Dei we see in others. We are driven by the desire of “like attracting like” to love our neighbor because of the desire we have been created with to love God. Like a teenager who can’t stand to be away from her first crush, our desire for God should pull us.

 

Posted on

One Church Liturgy

This morning Tapestry joined around a thousand other churches across the U.S. in a joint responsive reading to declare we stand with our brothers and sisters in Charleston and look to our Lord for comfort and strength. I thought the liturgy was very meaningful and moving.  Therefore, I asked one of the authors of the One Church Liturgy (thanks Leroy Barber) if I could post reading to my blog to share with any thread who couldn’t be at Washington Elementary School this morning.

A CALL TO WORSHIP FOR THE TRAGEDY IN CHARLESTON

[Leader]
We stand before you today, oh Lord
Hearts broken, eyes weeping, heads spinning
Our brothers and sisters have died
They gathered and prayed and then were no more
The prayer soaked walls of the church are spattered with blood
The enemy at the table turned on them in violence
While they were turning to you in prayer

[All]
We stand with our sisters
We stand with our brothers
We stand with their families
We stand to bear their burden in Jesus’ name

[Leader]
We cry out to you, oh Lord
Our hearts breaking, eyes weeping, heads spinning
The violence in our streets has come into your house
The hatred in our cities has crept into your sanctuary
The brokenness in our lives has broken into your temple
The dividing wall of hostility has crushed our brothers and sisters
We cry out to you, May your Kingdom come, may it be on earth as it is in heaven

[All]
We cry out for our sisters
We cry out for our brothers
We cry out for their families
We cry out for peace in Jesus’ name

[Leader]
We pray to you today, oh Lord
Our hearts breaking, eyes weeping, souls stirring
We pray for our enemies, we pray for those who persecute us
We pray to the God of all Comfort to comfort our brothers and sisters in their mourning
We pray that you would bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes
We pray that you would give them the oil of joy instead of mourning
We pray that you would give them a garment of praise in place of a spirit of despair

[All]
We pray for our sisters
We pray for our brothers
We pray for their families
We pray for their comfort in Jesus’ name

[Leader]
We declare together, oh Lord
With hearts breaking, eyes weeping and souls stirring
We will continue to stand and cry and weep with our brothers and sisters
We will continue to make a place of peace for even the enemies at our table
We will continue to open our doors and our hearts to those who enter them
We will continue to seek to forgive as we have been forgiven
We will continue to love in Jesus’ name because you taught us that love conquers all

[All]
We declare our love for you, our Sisters
We declare our love for you, our Brothers
We declare our love for you, their families
We declare our love as one body, one Lord, one faith, one baptism
We declare they do not grieve alone today

Amen

Posted on

God As Word For Those With Language Disorders

Just a random thought so not a real post but, technically, an aside. Pam and I keep talking through the idea of whether or not people with language disorders understand the biblical idea of God doing so much through speaking and God the Son being described as the Word differently than those who do not have such language disorders. God speaking and being the Word are major themes that are found throughout the Bible. God speaks and creation happens. Jesus speaks and a man who is paralyzed is healed even though he is far away. God’s language is so much a part of Him that one of Jesus’s title is the Word, the Logos.

How is the realization of that truth affected by language disorders? Certain communication disorder affect a person’s very ability to understand language. i.e. language disorders. I don’t mean issues of fluency, articulation, and voice problems, which are speech issues. Language issues are a different matter and Pam and I find ourselves wonder how these language disorders affect the way people with them perceive and understand the God who speaks and is the Word.

Hopefully, if I post enough about this she will do some research concerning the question. 😉 She has the opportunity to do some really cool research to present to ASHA and other organizations.

Posted on

Strangers Our Neighbors & Our Neighbors Strangers

I’m presently reading Man: Christian Anthropology in the Conflicts of the Present by Jurgen Moltmann and I am amazed by something Dr. Moltmann wrote when this book was published in 1971. Here’s the quote that I have been sharing with quite a few people recently:

“A new collective or expansive consciousness is brought about through television. Man becomes a contemporary of men who are far distant and takes part in their sufferings. A new consciousness arises through constant participation in culture, economics, and politics. One becomes a participant in ever widening circles. An unbounded consciousness of solidarity arises from this. The most distant become neighbours, although often at the same time one’s neighbours become unknown strangers.” p. 24.

The italics are mine to emphasize what I think is so amazing. As I write this I sit in the middle of Emy J’s coffee shop, surrounded by people I know, respect, enjoy, and love. People who I spend a lot of time listening to and talking with. HOWEVER I could just as easily use the internet to be involved in the lives of people all around the world that I will never meet and basically sit solitary in the midst of this coffee shop. What Dr. Susan Turkle calls “Alone Together.” The quote from Dr. Moltmann sounds like it could have been written yesterday regarding “social” media and the influence it has in our society right now. “Knowing” people all over the world without knowing the people who live next door to us.

There is a ton of good that can come from social media. I used it today to spread the word concerning Tapestry providing the meal at the Place of Peace this week. It is a very effective method for me to be able to connect with others so that together we can be engaged in our community with the love of Christ. At the same time, just as their is a ton of good that can come from social media, there is also just as much bad that can come with it. It enables us to become best “friends” with people who we will never actually meet in real life, while ingoring the people around us who are actually physically a part of our lives. Social media can allow us to disenage with the people around us who “just don’t get it” because they don’t agree with us, while engaging with an ever shrinking group of people who completely agree with us (and that group shrinks each time we realize that someone doesn’t think the exact same as you or I – wait I just realized you don’t like basset hounds as much as I do. I’m sorry you are no longer a part of the group.).

So is the media in your life bringing your closer to those both far away and close to you, or do you find that you are caring more and more for people who you will never meet, while simultaneously caring less and less for the people you actually physically are around?

Posted on

Theology Thursday – The Trinity

Last week I mentioned that I was going start posting every now and then on Thursdays concerning theology and what I see as some practical ways such theology affects our lives. This is either the first or the second of those posts (it depends upon whether you consider the intro post a post on theology in and of itself or not). I thought I would start with my personal favorite theology – the theology of the Trinity.

I have to say that I find this icon of the Trinity a little freaky.

The traditional understanding of God as Trinity is that there is one God in three persons. The persons are distinct from one another, while being one in essence. The Trinity is the central mystery of God that I believe everything else comes out of. It is paradoxical and doesn’t make sense within the created universe BUT I am certain that it is also true. The Trinity means that God is singular and multiple at the exact same time. God as Trinitarian means that God is the he that is they, the them that are him. Basically it means that in and of himself God is community. He is His own community and needs1 no other. I believe this is why 1 John 4:8 says “God is love”. God is the Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Spirit, the Spirit loving the Father, and on and on in a “big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey“… mess of interactions.

But my goal for these posts isn’t an explanation of the doctrines. There are plenty of really good books for that. Alister McGrath`s Theology: The Basics is an excellent little entry level primer on the core doctrines of the Christian faith. You can go much further with McGrath if you like that book (he is one of my favorites). As for a good book on the Trinity I would recommend Stanley Grenz’s Theology for the Community of God. I believe Grenz does a great job of explaining the social aspect of the Trinity. Those authors and others do a much better job than I could on examining the biblical nature of the Trinity. What I am hoping to do with this post is to talk about how the Trinity should affect our daily lives.

IF (and by “if: I mean “since”) God’s nature is communitarian (i.e. Trinitarian)2  and we have been called into His divine nature (1 Peter 2:4) that we might know His love that surpasses knowledge and thereby be filled with filled “to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19) THEN this truth should affect how we live.3 In other words, we are most like God when we too are loving in such a way that we (those of us who are believers and followers of Christ) become one. Such love take lots of distinct persons and makes them one in being (or Who we receive our being from). Still distinct persons, with differences, opinions, and even disagreements, yet one in purpose and Lord. This is why Jesus tells His followers that others will know that they are His disciples if they love one another (John 13:34-35).  In other words, we literally look most like Jesus when we love each other in such a way that we are one. Why? Well because God is Trinity – the three who are one, the one who is three.  We bear His image when we are in our nature what He is in His nature. I believe this is also why Jesus responds with two answers when He is asked “which is the greatest commandment” (Mark 12:28-31). Us loving God (Mark 12:29-30) naturally involves loving others (Mark 12:31) because that is God’s nature. You can’t really love a God Who is community in and of Himself and then not like community in your own life.4

As someone who is proclaiming to be a Christian what I do should come out of the nature of God. We are called to be hospitable (Romans 12:13) because God is community in and of Himself and He seeks to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) (i.e. the fellowship we were all original destined for with Him and with each other). Our hospitality comes from His nature. How can allow someone else to be forsaken and alone when I claim to love the God Who is never alone because He is three Who are one? The same goes for so much else. What is the danger of sin? The rebellion of it separates us from God and from others. Just look at the Eden story (Genesis 3), Adam & Eve are separated from God and from one another. Evil breaks apart the fellowship that comes from being in union with God. Why do we share the good news of the kingdom of God? Because God longs for others to be a part of the fellowship of His nature. God longs for none to be separate (1 Timothy 3:3-4 & 2 Peter 3:9) so we must seek to bring others into His fellowship.  Heck, God even gives us a description of the new heaven and new earth as being without a sea (Revelation 21:1). Why won’t there be a sea? Well because large bodies of water seriously separate people in the Ancient Near East.

I know this is a rather long post but I hope I am getting one very specific point across. That point is that God cares deeply about us being connected to Him and us being a part of connecting others to Him, because in and of Himself God is true community. He can’t help but desire for His nature to be spread because inviting others in displays the love each member of the Trinity have for each other. Just because the Trinity is a mystery and a paradox doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t direct how we live out the lives God has given us. The Trinity shows God as love. Love so great that is connects in an unbreakable manner. That is what God offers to us and expects us to offer to others. That fellowship that takes many and makes them one is His very nature. He is Trinity and He wants His followers to live in such a way that reflects that nature. So go and live out that type of love. It won’t be easy but no one ever said imitating God’s very nature would be. If it is easy then it probably isn’t the nature of the uncreated God.

Here’s a video of a basset hound running for those of you who made it all the way to end of this post.

  1. I stress needs here because while I believe that God does not need a relationship with us, He does invite us into relationship with Him. That invitation is important because if He needs us in order to be in relationship then God is no longer omnipotent. [↩]
  2. which explains why Jesus’s only cry recorded during the passion of His crucifixion was from separation. Nails in His body, not a peep, but forshakeness and He cries out – Matthew 27:46 – separation goes against His very nature [↩]
  3. In my opinion IF/THEN is a good way to look at theology, because IF something is true THEN it should affect life. [↩]
  4. And you can’t truly worship the God Who is trinitarian when you are separated from your brother or sister – Matthew 5:23-24. [↩]