Trinity in Unity in Community

Quotes from "Holy Trinity, Perfect Community" (Leonardo Boff)

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in reciprocal communion.  The exist from all eternity; none is before or after, or superior or inferior, to the other.  Each person enwraps the others; all permeate one another and live in one another.  This is the reality of trinitarian communion, so infinite and deep that the divine Three are united are therefore one sole God.  The divine unity is communitarian because each Person is in communion with the other two.

I often find myself struggling with the way people talk about the Trinity... it seems either to veer toward Modalism (e.g. steam, water and ice), or as progressing from one another...  with the sense of The Father as supreme God, then the Son and the Spirit as an agent of Christ on earth... So when we say God, we refer to the Father etc.... a hierarchy I suppose... the latter seems to be the reality of how a lot of Christians express the Trinity, whether they would give that definition when asked specifically or not.  For example we attribute (and I do this too) the Father with Creation (for example we often describe the Three as Creator, Redeemer and Comforter in a way which implies sole responsibility)  yet John 1 and Genesis 1 describe Creation as being an act within which all Three are active and intrinsic...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men - John 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. - Genesis 1

Creation is a community act; Father, Son (Word) and Spirit... all are involved and all are intrinsic.  As therefore all are involved in and intrinsic to re-creation!  Salvation/re-creation is not simply an act/responsibility of the Son... the Trinity is woven through all ongoing creation and re-creation... we where created, we have been re-created and we are being constantly created... one cannot attribute one part solely to Father, one to Son and one to Spirit, creation is ongoing and dynamic and the work of the whole Godhead.  My growing sense of the Trinity is most like the Ecclesiastes picture of "A cord of three strands" - the Trinity woven in and out, tightly together - when one acts all act - as Boff writes enwrapping and permeating one another.  So it isn't a hierarchical community - with three "levels" but as Boff also writes one which is radically mutual... which is in complete communion.

Incidentally, one of the "dangers" of Modalism as I see it is that we can end up adding a fourth mode of God... Father, Son, Spirit and Scripture... but that's another post for another day ;-) However what is relevant to this (now) is that how we "see" the Trinity has serious implications for how we do/are church/community...

What does it mean to say God is in communion and therefore Trinity?  Only persons can be in communion.  It means one is in the presence of the other, different from the other but open in a radical mutuality.  For there to be true communion there must be direct and immediate relationships: eye to eye, face to face, heart-to-heart.  The result of mutual surrender and reciprocal community.  Community results from personal relationships in which each is accepted as he or she is, each opens to the other and gives the best of himself or herself

This "picture"/understanding of the Trinity is one which fundamentally challenges our understanding of community... radical mutuality, mutual surrender, reciprocal, open and universal acceptance of the real "me", always giving the best of oneself, never holding anything back nor hiding ones gifts etc. heart-to-heart... All very difficult and uncomfortable... we know because this is what we dream of, this is what we are stripping ourselves back to become... this is something of the ongoing re-creation, the "somethings afoot" I spoke of a while back... and for me it is about discovering who I really am, in order that I can give my true self to the community, so that I know who God made me to be... and rather than seeing that as human pride or arrogance or even self-centredness it is about delighting in the God who created and is re-creating me and what/who God calls me to be... but, we're English (and Irish) so it's tough going at times ;-) especially for me.

Technorati Tags: Community: Emerging Church: new-monasticism: Spirituality: theology

Comments

[Greg the Explorer]

At least you not picking the easy topics to post about! The Trinity is one of those really abstract and difficult concepts to get out head around - and anyone who says they understand the trinity is kidding themselves (IMHO). I love Rublevs Icon - and have found several good discussions on it - http://www.myspace.com/reloc.cfm?c=2&id=01e67ca5-f10d-4384-88bd-01b6a3a9dddc is a good one. I like the imagery of the trinity who are in communion with each other drawing us, via the empty space at the table, into communion as well. Excellent post Mark

[Greg the Explorer]

forget that link I posted up there - I siply pasted a link I'd copied previously without copying the link I actually wanted to post - HERE is the link I actually wanted to post to the Rublev Icon discussion http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/rublevs_icon/

[arthur stewart]

this book is on my "to read" bookshelf, so glad for your thought. I am intrigued and convinced of the theological impetus for community coming from the Trinity. Seems an important reality for those of living in neo-monastic communities, particularly to deepen our own understanding of what God is doing in our midst. Also wondering if diving into this truth might actually help us live together better?