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March 9

All of God in the Grace of Salvation

While we tend to speak of God the Father as the Creator, God the Son as the Savior, and the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier, in the great mutuality of the community of God each of the persons of the Trinity is involved in the work of the other.

In the references in Scripture to worship, baptism, and benediction, we see the beginnings of the later church’s formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. Clearly, here are the foundational references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

This doctrine was never meant to be an arid formulation of mystery. Instead, it was meant to safeguard the divinity of each of the “persons” in the Godhead and to highlight the great love, mutuality, and cooperation between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Julian of Norwich highlights this theme of cooperation. She writes, “The whole Trinity was involved in the passion of Christ, giving us an abundance of virtue and grace by him, though only the maiden’s Son suffered.”68

This mutuality and cooperation, without blurring distinctions, says much about the wonderful nature of God. The members of the Trinity are wholly there for each other. What a picture of unity and diversity.

This mirrors what could be possible amongst us. The church as icon of the Trinity means a church in communion with people being there for each other in love and service. And so should our world be. Communities of cooperation and love, rather than communities and societies based on exclusion and distrust, could swim into view.

Thought

Maybe the Trinity can point us to a whole new world.