TRINITY

Dear Parishioners,

Although we were taught as Christians, to believe in one God in three divine persons, the actual practice of our faith sometimes suggests that for many, God is an old man in a white beard, who judges, punishes, and keeps a record of every mistake we make. This God is to be feared, appeased, and at best approached with great caution.

God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, have some how gotten side tracked from our every day lives. That is not to say that we do not believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but miss the important connection they have with God the Father. This lack of connection can leave our spiritual practices devoid of joy, laughter, and a sort of playfulness.

Our failure to see the Trinity as a dynamic expression of giving and receiving love prevents us from experiencing the true nature of God, who is love. In his interactions with people Jesus expresses God’s desire, that we might have a more abundant life. Jesus becomes for those who seek him, a source of healing and mercy. He is the presence of God’s tender love. This echoes back to the words of the prophet, “it is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.”

This great expression of God’s love can be found in the Hebrew Scripture’s, “The Song of Songs.” Can there ever be found a more loving, tender, out-pouring expression of who God is?

In Richard Rohr’s book, The Divine Dance, he describes God’s love, as a dance. God dances with us, and interacts with us and constantly invites us into a relationship. In Jesus this relationship encompasses every human emotion and life experience, even the experience of death. God also shares with us his Holy Spirit. Through this sharing we are caught up in the God who is love, and we become a part of God’s very nature, which is love.

When we enter the Divine Dance, we return to that garden, where our first parents lived in a state of original goodness. Like David, who danced before the Ark of the Covenant, may we be inspired to dance before God’s presence the world.

May our prayer reflect our belief in the holy presence of God, whose son once became flesh, and who still is becoming flesh, and his Holy Spirit who hovered over the abyss, and who continues to dance upon the earth. So we pray, so we believe, and so we live, in the joyful expectation of his coming again.

O Most Blessed Trinity, increase faith, increase our hope, and increase our love. Amen

Father Gagne