Three
Trinitarian theology is rarely a good dinner table conversation topic--who wants to see all the guests asleep in their salads? But it is where I went as I went through my morning devotionals following the news of yet another senseless terrorist attack, this one in Manchester, England targeting kids and their parents going to a concert. I find peace, hope, and also a call within the Trinity that I want to share with you.
It began with reading a passage in Bonaventure (one of the iconic leaders of the Franciscans, the order of the current pope). Bonaventure sees the Trinity reflected in all life, written into the fabric of the cosmos itself. He does so because he defines the Persons of the Trinity a little differently than most of us have been taught to do. Instead of the traditional Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Bonaventure invokes--
FATHER
WORD
LOVE
What are the implications of such thinking?
First, FATHER lets us know assuredly of God as personal, engaged, and relational. God cares. Bonaventure invokes Father to remind us that the source of creation itself is love--the love a parent feels for their child. God can be approached. God will respond to our suffering. God will seek our healing. We are not random products of cosmic chaos, but intentional beings--children--brought into existence because God loved and wanted to give life to that which God loved.
So, even in the face of unspeakable human atrocity, there can be peace. We can settle ourselves. We can reach for God just like any frightened child reaching for her parents. You can see a child settle into peace as she crawls into her father's lap. The embrace of arms, the gentle thrum of the heartbeat, and the sense of dad's breath on her head all bring peace. God is that close. God is Father. In prayer, we enter the embrace of God. Allow God to hold you.
Second, WORD lets us know the intention and purpose of all God does among us--Christ is the Word made flesh. Christ is the embodiment of God's boundless compassion for all of God's children. Christ is the embodiment of God's welcome for any and all human beings. Christ reveals the extent to which God will go to free us of all that would break us--within us and outside us. Christ emptied himself to make us full. Christ always kept the person before him as his central priority. Christ listened, responded in mercy, and offered grace to all who cried to him. So, the Word is no less than Love--the other-centered, self-emptying compassion that forms the very being of God.
So, there can be healing and recovery even in the face of depthless tragedy. God gives all that God is to make it so. God spares nothing to bring it to fruition. In God, there can be resurrection. Even the most apparently irredeemable circumstance is not truly beyond all hope. Allow yourself the opportunity to trust it to be so.
Finally, LOVE calls us into action. As God is love; as Jesus embodied all the love that is God; so now God draws near, dwelling with us and within us as the Spirit, compelling us to love one another. Think of Jesus--as soon as the baptismal waters soaked his skin, the Spirit drove him out. God's claim on us is not a claim to sit still and do nothing, basking in grace; it is a vocation to go and do likewise as Jesus taught would-be disciples. Love is meant to shared as it is lived.
So, if healing and recovery are to be experienced in Manchester and all other places where there is suffering, it will come as the people of God follow God into the fray. We cannot lock ourselves away in cloisters away from the world around us. That is not the compassion revealed in Christ. No, we are to work for healing wherever we are. As with every story of atrocity, there come companion tales of neighbor rising to care for neighbor. It was so again in Manchester. Neighbor rose to offer solace, shelter, and companionship to folks hurting, terrified, and frozen in place.
That is living Bonaventure's Trinity--child rises to care for child in the presence of our Father; the Word is embodied in each act of compassion; and the Spirit--the Love of God with us--continues to deepen our response, strengthen our resolve, and heal the hurt through our hands, words, and hearts.
So, while Trinitarian theology is sometimes a really good sleep aid, today it is alive and present, comforting us, but also calling us into action.
It began with reading a passage in Bonaventure (one of the iconic leaders of the Franciscans, the order of the current pope). Bonaventure sees the Trinity reflected in all life, written into the fabric of the cosmos itself. He does so because he defines the Persons of the Trinity a little differently than most of us have been taught to do. Instead of the traditional Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Bonaventure invokes--
FATHER
WORD
LOVE
What are the implications of such thinking?
First, FATHER lets us know assuredly of God as personal, engaged, and relational. God cares. Bonaventure invokes Father to remind us that the source of creation itself is love--the love a parent feels for their child. God can be approached. God will respond to our suffering. God will seek our healing. We are not random products of cosmic chaos, but intentional beings--children--brought into existence because God loved and wanted to give life to that which God loved.
So, even in the face of unspeakable human atrocity, there can be peace. We can settle ourselves. We can reach for God just like any frightened child reaching for her parents. You can see a child settle into peace as she crawls into her father's lap. The embrace of arms, the gentle thrum of the heartbeat, and the sense of dad's breath on her head all bring peace. God is that close. God is Father. In prayer, we enter the embrace of God. Allow God to hold you.
Second, WORD lets us know the intention and purpose of all God does among us--Christ is the Word made flesh. Christ is the embodiment of God's boundless compassion for all of God's children. Christ is the embodiment of God's welcome for any and all human beings. Christ reveals the extent to which God will go to free us of all that would break us--within us and outside us. Christ emptied himself to make us full. Christ always kept the person before him as his central priority. Christ listened, responded in mercy, and offered grace to all who cried to him. So, the Word is no less than Love--the other-centered, self-emptying compassion that forms the very being of God.
So, there can be healing and recovery even in the face of depthless tragedy. God gives all that God is to make it so. God spares nothing to bring it to fruition. In God, there can be resurrection. Even the most apparently irredeemable circumstance is not truly beyond all hope. Allow yourself the opportunity to trust it to be so.
Finally, LOVE calls us into action. As God is love; as Jesus embodied all the love that is God; so now God draws near, dwelling with us and within us as the Spirit, compelling us to love one another. Think of Jesus--as soon as the baptismal waters soaked his skin, the Spirit drove him out. God's claim on us is not a claim to sit still and do nothing, basking in grace; it is a vocation to go and do likewise as Jesus taught would-be disciples. Love is meant to shared as it is lived.
So, if healing and recovery are to be experienced in Manchester and all other places where there is suffering, it will come as the people of God follow God into the fray. We cannot lock ourselves away in cloisters away from the world around us. That is not the compassion revealed in Christ. No, we are to work for healing wherever we are. As with every story of atrocity, there come companion tales of neighbor rising to care for neighbor. It was so again in Manchester. Neighbor rose to offer solace, shelter, and companionship to folks hurting, terrified, and frozen in place.
That is living Bonaventure's Trinity--child rises to care for child in the presence of our Father; the Word is embodied in each act of compassion; and the Spirit--the Love of God with us--continues to deepen our response, strengthen our resolve, and heal the hurt through our hands, words, and hearts.
So, while Trinitarian theology is sometimes a really good sleep aid, today it is alive and present, comforting us, but also calling us into action.
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