Today is Trinity Sunday and I provide a reflection on the notion of a triune God, drawing particularly on Proverbs 8, as well as Genesis 1 and Romans 5. The crux of it is that relationality is central to the being of God – the three-in-oneness of God. Therefore, the core of human life also is relationality. We need to invest in relationships, and we need to give particular attention to those relationships that are struggling or fragile.
Watch the video below of this 42-minute message. Yes, much longer than usual! I’m sorry about that, but it is – I think – worth the time, as a close reading of John 20:19-29 sheds to much light on Jesus’ character, his relationship with the disciples and his work as the Son of God. My notes are available below the video
Verses 19, 26 Both times Jesus “stood right in the middle of them”
Christ is the centre – not the priest, Bible, APB – only the person Christ
Christ-centred church
1, 19, 26 Easter Sunday morning – Jesus appears to Mary
Easter Sunday evening – Jesus appears in the upper room
Following Sunday (today) – Jesus appears again, to Thomas
19, 21, 26 Peace be with you – Shalom alechem x3
Easter Sunday – Christ made peace between us and God
Forgiveness of sins – done, paid for, wiped clean, forgotten, cast the deep
Everything is good. It’s all okay
Easter is the Great Forgiveness!
20 He showed them his hands and side
Emphasis on bodily resurrection, reconnected to his people
Not just some spiritual, esoteric thing
He is fully embodied, albeit with some unusual capacities
20 He could have come back healed, but doesn’t. Why?
His identification with us, solidarity with our pain & suffering
He remains the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (4-5):
He took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
20 The disciples were overjoyed – full of joy
Joy (chara) & grace/gift (charis) – joy is a gift of God – because Jesus is back
21 “As the father has sent me, I am sending you”
We are to continue God’s work. We are sent, just as Christ was sent
Jn 3:16/7 “God so loved the world that he gave [sent] his one and only Son … For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it”
Every Christian is sent – not just clergy or evangelists
22 He breathed on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”
Hebrew for spirit & breath are both? Ruach
Gen 1:2: Spirit of God hovering
22 Gen 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”
To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is to be made a new living being
22 To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is a grace/gift (charis)
As the Spirit/breath was active in the creation of earth and humanity
2 Cor 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.”
22 Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost: Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost
23 Forgive anyone’s sin
The gift of HS is not so much miraculous signs, etc.
Instead the central commission – sending – is to forgive
And to warn that to not repent = no forgiveness
The Great Forgiveness!
24 Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Where was he? He should have been in church! We should be in church!
27 Touch, see
V20. Jesus showed them his hands and side.
Thomas wants what the others got – to see. But also to touch
Our Eucharist is a see and touch moment
– receive the body of Christ broken for you (not receive this bread)
– receive the blood of Christ (not receive this wine)
Not clear if Thomas did actually touch: “Thomas answered and said…”
Perhaps seeing and the invitation to touch was enough for him
27 Stop doubting and believe. Be a believer!!
Accept the small and periodic signs of God and believe into him
28 My Lord and my God!
Hebrew: Yahweh & Elohim – names for God
Greek: Kyrie & Theos – names for God
The only place in the Gospels where Jesus is referred to as God – A profound statement of faith – perhaps the most
Watch the video recording of today’s 16-minute message here at YouTube.
We focus a lot on Jesus’ love, generosity, healing, and forgiveness – and so we should. But emphasising these gentle qualities of Jesus can sometimes lead us to diminish him – gentle Jesus, meek and mild. The transfiguration, in Luke 9, reminds the disciples and us that Jesus is the Son of God, a divine being, creator of all that is, and our God. It is a sober reminder that we are accountable to God, who is both demanding of holiness and generous with forgiveness. We must live in that space between these two qualities of Jesus Christ.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 17-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts around 25 minutes into the recording) – for this sermon, the video is much better than just the audio – you need to see it. Or read the text summary below (photos included below).
Today we celebrate Christ’s baptism, which inaugurates his ministry. John the Baptist had been preaching a Gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, made tangible through baptism. And Jesus came to him to be baptised, even though Jesus was without sin.
As Jesus comes up out of the water, the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This is the only place in the Bible where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are tangibly present at the same time. This is an expression of the Epiphany, which is the season we’re currently in – Epiphany being all about God’s revelation of God’s self to the world. And this scene is certainly a great revelation of the triune God!
We could also think about this moment as an incarnation not only of Christ himself, but of all three persons of the Trinity – Jesus is there in the flesh, the Holy Spirit comes in bodily form like a dove, and God’s voice is audible to human ears (sound waves moving through the air). Father, Son and Spirit all materialise in the human world in that brief moment. This conveys the sense that the triune God works together for the salvation of humankind.
In our service, I invited three people to create a tableaux of the Father, the Spirit and the Son, similar to the paintings of Jesus’ baptism (see picture below). They are standing with their arms outstretched in love. This is an image of the triune God: three persons working in perfect harmony to pour out God’s love and salvation on humanity.
This expression of the triune God is flooded with love. Today’s first testament reading from Isaiah 43:1-7 contains these words from God: I created you, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, I will be with you, I love you, I am with you, I will bring you, I will gather you, I formed you, I made you. And in Luke 3:22, we hear God saying, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. We hear in these words the great enduring love that God has for his son and for us. And this is expressed through the incarnation and through the epiphany. It reminds us that love is the central characteristic of God – the foundation on which God engages within the triune Godhead and on which God engages with us.
We are encouraged, therefore, to rest into the great and generous love that God lavishes on us, which we see so clearly in the baptism of Christ.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 22-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 24 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
The Trinity (the three-in-one God) is a central belief for Christians, even though the term is not in the Bible and there are few explicit statements about a three-in-one God in the Bible. But there are hints and clues all over the place, e.g., in today’s readings with have:
Jews and Muslims share with us Christians the First Testament, and so it can be argued (though not all will agree) that we all worship the same God, whether by the name of Jehovah, Allah or God our Father. And all recognise Jesus as a significant person, though Jews see him as a Rabbi and Muslims as a Prophet, while we see him as God the Son. They do not recognise God as three-in-one; indeed, it sounds to them like we have three Gods. For Jews and Muslims, God is a single, male ruler – a King. They follow a pattern of a single line of authority, similar to how the military is structured. There is only One God.
For Christians, by contrast, God is plural, diverse and relational. But this plurality in the Godhead, however we might understand it, is characterised by harmony and concord. There is no conflict, competition or divergence in the triune Godhead. This is a very different conception of God.
Do we understand God’s three-in-oneness? Can we rationalise it and explain it? No, not really. It is hard enough to understand a single human being; how much harder is it to explain God, let alone a triune God! We can, should and do think about the Trinity – we theologise and theorise how God be both three and one. But ultimately, we do not find fully satisfying explanations and understandings. We often come up with analogies to explain God’s three-in-oneness: states of water, an egg, a clover, family, etc. But all of these lead us into one or other heresy about the nature of God.
We are well advised to discard all these analogies and simply gaze upon the mystery of the Godhead. We should apprehend God, not analyse or dissect God. All we can really conclude with any confidence is that God is inherently relational – there are relationships within the centre of the Godhead; relationships characterised by immense, enduring and steadfast love. Let us hold to this beautiful mystery.
So, God is not a monarch, but a cooperative, and that leads me to think about words starting with co- and com-
These co-/com- words emphasise the relational quality that is central to the being of God. And because these are central to who God is, they are central to the world that God has created. And they are central to how we live our lives. Everything that God does is relational and we are part of this relational mix. Our readings today provide important examples of this:
The key implication for us worshiping a triune, collective God is to develop collective thinking and behaving. Relationships are primary to God and primary to us.
Featured image from https://www.stpaulscalgary.ca/podcasts/media/2020-06-07-trinity-sunday
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 28-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts about 25 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Today (28 May – this post is going out a bit late – sorry) is Pentecost, where we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit of God. We talk a lot in church about God the Father and God the Son, but much less about God the Holy Spirit. So, today I thought to share 10 fun facts about Holy Spirit, so that we have a better understanding and appreciation of who s/he is. Let’s call it “Pneumatology 101”! Are you ready? Here we go!
It is my hope that these ideas, which you may agree with more or less, will stimulate your interest in Holy Spirit, learning more about her and getting to know her better.
Featured image from https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/holy-spirit.jpg
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 17-minute message. Or watch the video recording on Facebook here (the message starts at about 24 minutes).
The concept of the Trinity can be hard to get one’s head around. But when we get down to the basics, it is the understanding that the one God comprises three persons – Farther, Son and Spirit. The theology to explain how this works is hard to grasp. Eventually, we are invited to gaze upon and appreciate the mystery of God who is three-in-one.
In today’s message, I suggest there three key practical implications of worshipping a triune God:
Even if we cannot theologise the triune God, the Trinity, we can understand that God works in a collaborative and purposeful way to build healthy human relationships, to protect and nourish the earth and to accomplish God’s mission. We as the church are called to work in the same way.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 15-minute message. Or watch the video on Facebook here (the message starts at about 22 minutes into the video).
We live in a world that is fraught with challenges and unpredictabilities. We think of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the continued challenges of the people of Palestine and the various conflicts in Africa. We think in South Africa of increasing unemployment, rising inflation, the upcoming petrol price hike. We think of loadshedding and the ongoing challenges of Covid. We think of the water crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay and the devastation of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. The world is unpredictable. Our lives are often unpredictable. Sometimes, we may feel disoriented and anxious because of the many challenges that we face at personal, national and global levels.
In these times, it is reassuring to recognise that while life may be unpredictable, God is consistent. God persists. God has always, continues to and will always engage with us. When life feels chaotic, we have a God we can rely on.
Today’s reading from John 14:23-27 is particularly strong in reassuring us of God’s continuity. Jesus starts in v23 with himself: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” And then he immediately continues, “My Father will love them.” Here is the first affirmation of consistency – between God the Son and God the Father. Jesus draws the immediate and strong link between himself, his Father and us – rooted in love – our love for Christ and the Father’s love for us. And he continues with these amazing words, “and we will come to them and make our home with them”. I love this use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ – here Jesus is referring to himself and his Father as operating together, as a partnership, and of coming dwell with us as a partnership. What a great reassurance of the continuity between the Father and the Son. And Jesus continues further, “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” – yet further reassurance of continuity and consistency between God the Father and God the Son.
Jesus then continues, introducing the Holy Spirit as “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name”. In this short phrase we have Father, Son and Holy Spirit, collaborating together – the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name. And the role of the Holy Spirit will be to “teach you all things and [to] remind you of everything I have said to you”. Here again, we have continuity and consistency – Holy Spirit does not start a new work in us, but rather continues the work of the Son, by reinforcing his teachings in us.
The result of all of this continuity from the Father of the Old Testament, the Son of the Gospels and the Spirit of the New Testament church is peace. Peace! Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” We can breathe out, we can rest in God, we can trust that God has been consistently and persistently at work throughout history, from the creation until now and into the future. Do not be troubled. Do not be afraid. Be at peace.
And these reassurances of God’s continuity extend into the future. Revelation 21:10 and 21:22-22:5 paint a compelling image of the heaven. John is taken by the Spirit – the same Spirit Jesus has spoken about in John’s Gospel – and sees the new Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down out of heaven from God. It is a glorious sight! There is no temple there, because God (the Father) and the Lamb (the Son) are its temple. God’s light shines out brilliantly. The gates of the city are always open. There is a river running through the city, with the water of life, and the tree of life, with leaves for the healing of the nations. We can see God’s face.
John’s vision is a deep reassurance of God’s continuity – what have seen in the Father throughout the first Testament, what we have seen confirmed in the life of the Son in the Gospels, and what we have been promised and experienced in the coming of Holy Spirit in the early Church and continuing until today, will continue into the future, until the day Christ returns.
We can rest deeply into the continuity of God, into God’s steadfast faithfulness and persistence. We can hold onto a God who is faithful, even when our own faith is frail or when life’s burdens overwhelm or depress us. We can hold fast to God’s continuity.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 12-minute message. Or watch the video on Facebook here (the message starts at about 25 minutes).
Today we celebrate the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36), where Jesus reveals his divine nature to three of his disciples. This event, which in our church we celebrate with the colour white, falls after a period of ‘ordinary time’ in the church calendar, which we celebrate with green, and Lent, which we observe with purple. This celebration is thus well placed as a link between a period of ordinary growth in the church and period of intensive penitence and critical self-reflection.
Furthermore, the transfiguration is located in our church calendar almost exactly at the midpoint between Christmas (two months and two days ago) and Easter Sunday (10 days less than two months from now). Each of these events – the birth of Christ, the transfiguration of Christ and the resurrection of Christ – are moments of God’s self-reflection, or epiphanies. God shows God’s self for who God is, in these key moments in the life of Christ.
Christmas focuses on the incarnation of God the Son in the form of the human Jesus. It is God’s emptying of God’s self – the kenosis – in which God immerses God’s self into human life and comes to live among us as one of us. It is also a story of the birth of a child – of hope, of new life, of a baby. The Christmas self-revelation emphasises the light and life of God in our midst.
The transfiguration shows us that Jesus is more than ‘just’ a teacher, more than ‘just’ a healer or miracle worker. He is revealed in all his divine splendour, as the Son of God, even more, as God the Son. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus. Most of the time it is hidden from sight. But in the transfiguration, Jesus kind-of drops his human skin and reveals his divine nature to Peter, James and John. The transfiguration self-revelation emphasises the power and divine majesty of God in our midst.
Easter focuses on the discipline and love of Jesus for his Father, and for humanity, leading him to walk a path that he knows will lead to his humiliation, suffering and ultimately, his death. He knows this is a path of suffering, but he also knows that it is a path towards the salvation of all of humanity. Jesus’ Easter resurrection is God’s self-revelation of profound and reckless love for humanity.
These revelations of God’s self – of who the triune God truly is – as our focus as we enter Lent. God is the child that brings life and light. God is the divine being, filled with power and majesty. And God is our saviour, filled with love and compassion. It is into this God, this Christ, that we immerse ourselves during the coming period of Lent.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 19-minute message. Or watch the Facebook video (the message starts 27 minutes into the service). Or read the short text summary below – but this is really a message you need to watch or listen to as requires your active participation.
The church’s teaching on the Trinity (God as three persons in one being) is one of the most complex and difficult concepts for us to grasp. While 1+1+1=3, 1x1x1=1, and that’s kind of what we’re trying to get our minds around when we think about the Triune (three-in-one) God. God’s self-revelation to humankind was progressive: first, the world met only God the Father (in the First Testament); then later God the Son appeared (in the Gospels) and there was a gradual realisation that Jesus was not just a prophet or teacher, not even just the Son of God, but in fact God the Son; and still later (at Pentecost most clearly) God the Holy Spirit appeared (in Acts 2) and there was a gradual realisation that the Spirit was not a force or power, but also God.
The early church was now faced with the challenge of three divine persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) yet still holding to the believe that there is but one God, one divine being or essence. Gradually, over the first centuries after Christ’s earthly ministry, the church come to settle on the Nicene Creed that sets out the orthodox theology of a triune God: three divine persons somehow blended together in one divine being.
Many metaphors are used to make sense of God as 3-in-1: the three states of H2O, the egg, a clover leaf, a man, etc. All of these diminish God and tend towards the heresy of modalism – the idea that there is one God who manifests in three modes, ways of presenting to us or masks/faces. In other words, they tend to over-emphasise the oneness of God at the expense of three distinct persons. Modalism contradicts what we see in Scripture, particularly in Jesus’ words, where he clearly and repeatedly refers to the Father and the Spirit as being separate persons from himself and persons with whom he as a relationship.
It is, therefore, more aligned with the facts as we have them to start with the three persons of the Trinity and try to figure out how the three might be one being. In the recording of the sermon (particularly the video recording) you will see an exercise I do with the congregation to consider this three in one, the challenges of it, and the potential ‘solution’ to it (as much as one can hope for a solution).
We have to imagine what might be powerful enough to bind three distinct persons together into one being, and the only force powerful that I can imagine is love. A love that is so extreme, so fiery, so consuming, so utterly self-giving, so passionate, so deep in its joining, yet also so delighted in diversity and distinctness, that it welds the three persons together into one being. Love is thus the centre of the experience of the Godhead. And it is not that God was three and then become one; no! Rather, God has eternally been three persons in one being, joined together by ultimate love.
This itself is almost unimaginable, so the best we can do is to simply gaze upon a love so amazing, so divine, that three are one. And appreciate the depth and expansiveness of this love. And delight in the fact that this is what drove God to create everything that is – to share that love with us, so that we might share it among each other, and with God. We are therefore, most human and most divine and most in the image of God, when we live in relationships characterised by ultimate love. That is the centre of God. And that explains why Jesus is always going on and on about Love. It is the quintessential character trait of the triune God.
For those interested in reading up more about this, search for the terms perichorsesis and social model of the Trinity (or social trinitarianism). I’ve here provided Wikipedia links, which provide a good brief introduction to the formal theology that underlies this sermon. Beyond these, there are numerous volumes written on this.
Reflections of God's Love 
