Into the reality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

During the past month or so I feel like God has been keeping the mystery and significance of the Trinity in the front of my thinking and that has spilled over into worship service thinking and planning.  A couple Sundays ago God affirmed this quite clearly through the last verses in the book of Matthew.  The translation I read often is an uncommon one called "The Complete Jewish Bible," I'm not Jewish but I've got a few good friends who are Messianic Jews, and they suggested this version to me in order to get more in touch with the Jewish roots of our Christian faith.  I really like the way this translation reads, it says 

"Therefore go and make people from all nations into talmidim (disciples), immersing them into the reality of the Father, Son and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.   And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20)

I could go on and on about how several years ago I was confused about the Trinity and what it all meant, I even have a page in my journal of spiritual thoughts that shows how confused I was. I believed in all the "persons" of God, but I wasn't comfortable with the term persons (as a result I wouldn't sing that line in "Holy, Holy, Holy").  I also wasn't sure whether they were all equal or not, and I was not settled in how it was possible that Jesus could be God and the Father could be God while Jesus came to earth, and still be One.

I can't say that I've got it all figured out, but I am now much more comfortable with the theology of the Trinity that is spelled out in the Apostles Creed, in reformed doctrines and the like.  Part of what has gotten me to this point is a little more study and prayer, as well as just walking with God longer, which always grows us.  Another thing that has strengthened my belief in Trinitarian understanding has been me getting caught up in the mystery of it and recognizing that the early church and ancient Israel had worship that spoke of and rejoiced in the mysteries of God.   We must embrace mystery, and worship is a great time and place to do that.  Unfortunately the Western church historically began to lose the mystery element that is so characteristic of the eastern church.  I can't explain in technical terms how God is One, and yet is three distinct manifestations, but He has told us that He is and has revealed Himself to be.  If we could understand and explain everything about God than He would fail to be God.  I know skeptics would call that a copout, but its true, and God himself has challenged people in the past to explain everything about Him and the things He has done, and those people were massively humbled afterwards.

So, I've been including songs that mention Father, Son and Holy Spirit more intentionally and been hoping that it will help us to remember that "reality" of who God is and how He has worked in creation thru all three persons.  May we all be immersed into the reality of the Trinity, and live and worship according to that reality, recognizing that the Spirit leads us in worship that is in Spirit and in truth, and the Father works in our worship thru the Spirit to mold us more into the life of Jesus.  We can come to the throne of the Father only because the Son made a way thru His incarnation, death and resurrection.  The Father's will worked out thru His hands and feet, the Spirit and Son, leads His creation back to a redeemed relationship with Him and a right worship of Him, and Him alone, like it was in the beginning.  I don't know about you, but I sure am excited to see what its like for heaven and earth to be a 100% theater of praise to our Lord.  And maybe a little bit more of the mystery of the Trinity will be understood then :)

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Depending on your denomination or leadership, your worship gatherings may tend to lack equality in remembering, acknowledging and seeking God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some churches focus most on Father.  Others focus mostly on Jesus the Son and Saviour, especially those that are teaching a me-centered gospel that only really sees Jesus' redemptive work as paying my debt so I don't go to hell.  Some churches have a strong emphasis on the Spirit though it is not always a very complete interacting with and understanding of the Spirit. For example they might just speak in tongues and be very emotional.

The reason I bring this up is that like I mentioned in my last post, our worship should strive to paint as full a picture of God's story as we humans can.  But along with that, we should worship God in His fullness as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet still as One (Deut. 6:4).  Remember, our worship should make it very clear who God is and how we relate to Him, otherwise its incomplete.  And if we're consistently missing important pieces in prayer, song, sermon, etc., I would think its pretty easy for people's faith to be incompletely built up and lived out.   And particularly where the Holy spirit is concerned, if the Spirit isn't leading our worship, which I fear happens very often in different congregations, it is entirely lacking and just a man made program rather than an authentic interaction with God.  It just reminds me of how dependent we are upon God.  He has to be the One that enables us and makes a way for us to worship Him, every time.  Which is why we need to call upon the Holy Spirit, every time we worship.

Reflecting upon all this I find that the Holy Spirit is not remembered or acknowledged a lot in my congregation's worship (funny how its the Holy Spirit Himself that revealed this).  Pay attention to your interactions with God, whether in private prayer, or in full corporate worship (or anywhere in between).  Are you and your local body of believers remembering and interacting with God in His fullness as the Trinity?  Be challenged to try to fill in the gaps and also to explore how Father, Son and Spirit have worked together for eternity and throughout the story of humanity.

Here's a prayer I found from St. Augustine of Hippo for our seeking the Holy Spirit, could be a great prayer for the beginning of each day.

"Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
Amen."