The Good News for the Day, May 26, 2024
Trinity Sunday (165)
The eleven closest followers of Jesus traveled up to Galilee, to the mountain where He had directed them to go.
When they all saw him there, they showed him due honor—but still had some doubts about him.
Then Jesus came to them to say, “All authority in the realms of heaven and earth has been given me.
Spread out, now, and make inspired followers – disciples – of people everywhere, baptizing them into the family of the Father, Child, and Holy Spirit, helping them to learn how to do everything I have told you about.
And , now look, I am going to be staying with you to the end.” (Matthew 28)
“But had been doubting him.”
It seems strange – almost hilariously strange – that here is Jesus risen from the dead and the reporter, the evangelist, reports that they had doubts! It is ambiguous in the original language whether these doubts were previous – or current.
Reflection and prayer suggest that we do not leave this tangle of faith and doubt alone but ask ourselves what is in it for me – for us – for eternal life?
The mention of doubt reminds us that the mere fact of resurrection from the dead is not significant enough – not sufficient – to change our way of life, our faith in God, our moral compass, or a commitment to the love of God. Real faith is not a toggle switch – did he arise from the dead or not? – but a commitment of our heart, an act of dependence on someone’s care.
It takes a readiness on our part to understand that the living Jesus is now part of our life. Note that this gospel lacks an Ascension into heaven – but the contrary – that Jesus is always here. This presence leads us to consider the Trinity.
This Trinity is so often a toggle switch of—do you believe it or not? I see the three persons as descriptive of the three dimensions of everyone’s life – not a prescriptive dogma to believe. My faith is my gratitude to the Creator of the universe, behaving with mutual love for our Jesus-like fellow humans in our world and our time – and doing so with a hidden, interior, and wordless Spirit of creativity, generosity, conscience, and truthfulness within our own hearts. The creator, the human, and our interior life describe the three dimensions of faith –
- Appreciation,
- Love, and
- Authentic Reflection and Creativity.
The Good News here is not to “believe” the doctrine, or mystery, of the Trinity, but to find the joy of exploration, of incompleteness, and even of doubt in living a full and happy life in all its different ways.
Sunday, May 26, 2024
The Trinity
Adult Faith Acknowledges the Trinity – Maybe without Knowing It.
The child lives in one dimensioned space –
A timeless hunk of unreflective mind,
More quivering electron in a race
Than we mature adults who pause to find
This bill to pay, some reason for our living,
A spouse to love, the cost of bread, age-pain,
Some grief, some joy, vacations, and some giving:
Responsibilities that rise and wane.
The Trinity
The threefold realm of world, What’s out there,
Our human internet of friends and foes
My inner spirit. These signs of care –
This nurturing and fostering – God knows
Us these three ways of blood, mind, faith, and “thou.” –
They trust us – they provide lifetimes to plow.
jorisheise 