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Trinitarian Spirituality In response to my friend D.G. Hollums very good question in the prior post I wanted to elaborate a bit on what I mean by Trinitarian spirituality an idea whose theological depth is matched only by its practical wisdom (God's idea of course) DG wants to know how these ideas connect to real life and experience.
We only know about Trinity because of the Story. God has not been revealed to us in a conceptual framework but in a narrative unfolding or unveiling. And within Trinity is the very essence of mission-- self giving love. So Trinity becomes the key to an understanding of worship that includes and yet extends well beyond weekly gatherings. We wanted to teach our worship team about Trinity so instead of reading books and giving lectures we went out to a ropes course where we were led in initiatives that made us work together in ways that were profoundly communal and collaborative.
Our mission in the world will go nowhere until Trinity has reconstructed our notion of relationship of personhood and of community. I have grown up in a religious milieu that has rightly convinced me that a personal relationship with Jesus is the measure of the Christian faith. And yet I have grown up in a cultural and ideological matrix that has equated the notion of personhood with the idea of being individuated or being an individual. And so my primary notion of a personal relationship with Jesus is an individual one. I have been formed by the church and the culture to understand that I have a personal relationship with God that should have some corporate implications. (it’s what has enabled thousands of churches to actually split up over preferences in worship style.) Now when you add to this brand of rugged individualism a Christian reform movement built on protest you get 22,000 denominations. And that’s not to mention the cauldrons of protest and internal schisms brewing inside each one of those 22,000. For Jesus prayer to begin to be realized means I must come to this understanding: I have a communal relationship with God that is intimately personal. Jesus prayer reveals—indeed the whole of the Scriptures reveal-- that at the heart of all eternity and consequently of reality is not the idea of individuality but the reality of relationship; a community of three divine persons: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are not defined primarily as individuals but by virtue of their inter-relatedness. Their very names Father—Son reveal this. Unity is the story of relationship revealed to us by Jesus.
i'm not sure if these ideas are landing together in a way that makes sense-- that' what blogs are for though. getting there. posted by John David Walt | at 11/03/2005 10:00:00 PM
Today...
4 Comments:
This understanding of relationship with God being corporate and personal (instead of private and individual) is something I've been mulling over for quite some time. Where I am now is that I (the individual person) am "saved" inasmuch as I am a member of the people of God who are being saved.
I think the Exodus story is a good hermeneutical lens for NT salvation through Jesus, picking up on the salvific theme of deliverance and imagery of Jesus as the pascal lamb. With the major act of OT salvation in view, we can look upon the cross and resurrection with the image of "salvation" entailing joining the community inside under the safety of the lamb's blood on the doorpost. I imagine someone outside who hears another call from inside the house, both urging and welcoming them inside to the community who is being saved by the God who has claimed them on account of his love, grace, and promise.
Plus, God seems to raise up individual persons for special leadership, but the point is always to have a people to be called by his name and to be his agent as a corporate body.
JD, God is so leading you on this. So beautiful to watch it all unfold. Keep going.
- we're coming home, and all are one.
I can see the reality of a Trinity Spirituality, and how it relates in the world we live in! I love the thought that you brought up so well that it is centered and focused on relationship! The key and center of living this ultimate "God" reality is relationship. Just as God is in relationship with God's self (i.e. Father, Son, Holy Spirit) so also God in his amzing insight shares this relationship with us his very own creation! And calls each of us who have a relationship with Him to share it with those who have not experienced true relationship!
Words can not convey what this means to me and others...and how important it is that we have a much better understanding of community in relationship with the "relationship" God we serve and grow to know deeper! (Instead of a personal relationship with God and never entering the whole understanding of communal relationship with God....in our worship lifestyles, families, bars, street corners, Starbucks, and malls.
As Erwin McManus says, we must love t olive, and live to love! (and love requires relationship!) (but what is amazing to me everyday...is that grace does not)
So now how do we live out this community centered on relationships? I just got back from a greenhouse intensive conference that Neil Cole and paul Kaak put on in Dayton and I loved this statement, "We need to lower the bar of doing church and raise the standards of discipleship." how can the community and the Oikos of te cmmunity start being the key to being, and not a model of doing?
Thank you for your insights JD! If you want to know more about the Greenhouse and te insights I gained please go to The Waters blog:
http://www.th3waters.com
Take care and God bless ya and your family!
dgh,
thanks for the link to the3waters.com....great insight from the greenhouse conference.
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