Love, Love, Love

GospelJohn 16:12-15 
Jesus said:
‘I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself
but will say only what he has learnt;
and he will tell you of the things to come.
He will glorify me,
since all he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
All he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.’

There are many challenges to Faith. Some of them come from outside; from those whose only faith is in what can be proved; scientifically, mathematically, logically. 

But the challenges within are even stronger; the challenge not to rely on science, mathematics or logic. To have faith; to believe in a God that contains all that but is beyond all that; who made us in His image but who cannot be imagined. An explainable God is really not a God at all.

A God who named himself ‘I am’ (himself/herself – even our language conspires against us) and left us to imagine an Almighty Father, Creator of the Universe God ruling over us, who loved his people from some distant Paradise; an ancient Presence seemingly unconcerned with the minutiae of our lives; until Jesus....

And here we have God; a son; a brother; a friend; a storyteller; a healer. A man who loves so deeply that he will die for the least of us; who loves his Father so much that he willingly surrenders to the need for this sacrifice. A God who, having risen from a cruel death and the knowledge of the betrayal by his friends, still cannot bear to be parted from us; until the Spirit....

God alive in the world but undefined by it; except in words of fire, water and air. A God that brings gifts of Grace and Wisdom. A God that gets in your hair; in your lungs; under your skin and fills the world with Her joy and creative power. This is the God that Jesus, the storyteller, speaks to us about. God that we call the Trinity.

But wouldn’t it be as easy to believe that we were mistaken? That there isn’t just one God; that we belong to a Family of God – a mother, father and child God; it was certainly easier for the early civilisations to do this – to create even more gods to rule the elements, the hills, the trees and the waters.

Yet Jesus states clearly ‘the Father and I are One,’ that the Spirit comes through him. That the Trinity is One God; and the One God needs to be Triune. Because the One God is all about Love.Imagine God with a single face. Where would Love have come from? Self-love is dangerous; the alternative even worse. To create humanity out of loneliness is somewhat pathetic; to create humanity so as to love God is selfish and manipulative; and ill conceived - especially as we are not very good at it. 

Give God two faces and love becomes imaginable. The delightful memory for those who have been there – looking into the eyes of the One, the grace of knowing that you are also the One; a love that mirrors itself; basking in its perfection. Complete in themselves; a God with two faces would have had no need for us; no time to even consider creating distractions such as ourselves. God with three faces always has somewhere else to look; another image to gaze upon with wonder and awe; Love that grows and strains to find more to love. A love that is drawn from one to another in a pattern, a dance of Grace. This God is able to look at each other and say ‘this Love needs to be shared’. 

And so us, as children invited to the dance; to take our place, joyfully, in the mystery of faith. And to be glad that it is so big, so beyond us, that it must be God.

wordinthehand2013

Comments

Lynda said…
Yes, God "is so big, so beyond us" but too often we lose our wonder and awe and put God in a box. Too often we don't let God be Godself. This amazing God cannot be contained - this God of the dance. Thanks for this uplifting message.
25 May 2013 at 04:21
Barbara In Caneyhead said…
I found your words, your expressions here truly beautiful! Our God is an Awesome God! And I am so grateful that He does exist in Three Persons! Each One touches a place for us, that ministers to a need in us, that we don't even grasp that we have until we have felt His Presence there - then we cannot imagine ourselves without That Presence. - Barbara
Life & Faith in Caneyhead
25 May 2013 at 09:42
Mairie said…
Thank you both - a mystery of Love that we cannot live without
25 May 2013 at 13:52
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