Happy Trinity Sunday! Fire Spinning and Perichoresis (His Encouragement)

This post is part of the weekly series, “His Encouragement: Thursday Thoughts to Strengthen Your Soul.”  

Scripture:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).”

Happy Trinity Sunday!

At the beginning of time there was nothing but the void, formless chaos, and from “nothing,” God made all of creation from nothing. Did you ever wonder what your purpose was in life? Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I here?”
The answer can be found right in the beginning of God’s Holy Book. We worship a God who is relational. Before anything else existed, there was only God the Perfect Family. There was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Greek term for the relationship between the three persons of the trinity is Perichoresis. From the beginning, God has been a God of relationship, and God wants to be in relationship with you and I.

From the beginning, God extended God’s Holy Family to include the beauty of all creation. God made you and I because the essence of God is love. We were created to be in relationship with God and with one another. 

Have you ever made something with your hands? Perhaps painted a picture, written a poem, or beautiful music? Perhaps you’ve held your own child in your arms and felt the joy of being a parent. God is the ultimate artist and the author of the universe. These moments in our lives of joy in creation give us tiny glimpses of what God’s joy in making you and I is like.

 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

In the beginning, the breath of God moved across the face of the still waters. The Hebrew Term for the breath of God is ruach, and in our Christian understanding, we believe this breath of God is one way of defining the Holy Spirit. God breathed this same ruach into the first human. Every breath we take connects us to God, because we are God’s children.

Before anything else existed, there was The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:1-5).”
The world is very dark today. Each evening, I lie awake at night and pray fervently for my friends in Minneapolis and Washington D.C. I also worry and pray for all of those suffering from CVID-19, including the families who have lost loved ones and the medical professionals who continue to serve. My heart goes out to the people in hospitals and in nursing homes, who are not allowed visitors. I pray for our church family, and for all of those who live alone. Right now our world is so full of pain, injustice, and isolation, that my heart cries out with the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord?”

 

 

A Light in the Darkness

When people ask me my thoughts on the current situation—I genuinely don’t know what to say. Instead, I rely on Holy Scripture to answer for me: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).”
During my college years, a friend of mine threw a huge party to celebrate his graduation. He had a giant cookout and invited local musicians and entertainers to perform. As the evening drew to a close, a group of dancers who also performed at local carnivals did something amazing: they began to dance with fire! I watched with amazement as one young man juggled three burning torches so quickly that they became a circle of flame. I knew that he was holding three torches, but the only thing I could see was the beautiful circle of light dancing around him in the darkness.

 

Our faith is a stumbling block for the wise. It is also hope for the poor, the broken, the marginalized, and the oppressed. We don’t need to understand—we only need is to have faith. Even a tiny amount of faith the size of a mustard seed will do. All of us have doubts sometimes. What is important is that we place our small amount of faith in a HUGE God. For God, nothing is impossible.

I think that one of the best ways of describing the Holy Trinity is like a dance: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are perpetually in beautiful motion together. As they dance together, everything else falls into place and the world is filled with light. It is impossible to tell with our human eyes where one ends and another begins.

The trinity is like a dance— the flames of the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer are perpetually in motion. In this dark world, we especially need flames of hope dancing in the darkness.

My Friends, my prayer for us this week is that we will all open ourselves to the power of the Mystery of Faith. May we follow the light of God’s hope into a brighter future, and may we all be flames of hope for a hurting world.

Until Next Week,

-Rev. Rebecca

 

This post is part of the series, “His Encouragement: Thursday Thoughts to Strengthen Your Soul.”

Now, it’s your turn! What Scripture verse is inspiring you this week? Let me know in the comments below! I’m excited to join with a group of blogging friends in order to offer you a weekly devotional which will be posted every Thursday.

Please be sure to check out the other great bloggers involved in the His Encouragement weekly series! 

Andi @ Radiant Light

Leslie @ Words of Hope

Claudia @ By Claudia Moser