Wool is really, really, amazing stuff. Cut from animals – sheep – alpacas, what else? Spun into strands Although a single strand is stronger when woven with other strands – say three.
A ball of wool is fun but there’s only so much you can do with it. 3 stranded wool (3 ply) really comes into it own when knitted, when bent and twisted, tied into knots. Then all sorts of things can be made. Imagine what? Jumpers, vests, cardigans!!!!
Why am I talking about wool? It’s the three strands woven into one stronger cable that I’m interested in. As a metaphor. Three into one. Where could I go with that?
God is so big! How do you get you’re your head around all there is to understand about God, without limiting God to what you do understand?
Really Really hard to describe the Trinity.
The Trinity is a unique way Christians understand God. You may have noticed that we are not overwhelmed with references to the Trinity in scripture. The strands are there but they are not woven together yet. We just heard from Matthew as his God talk has a threefold pattern. He names the three strands of peoples experiences of God in one phrase. Father, Son & Spirit. These strands of experience and understanding are right through the Bible. The faithful have gathered these three stands in prayer, thought, discussion & much thinking. These three strands have then been woven together to help in our understanding of God. A unique claim that God is one and yet there are three who are God.
God is so much more than any one part.
Creator/Father/Mother - bringing all to life
Spirit – making the connections
Jesus - making God accessible – God is in all ways Christlike.
Together everything is covered. It does hint that there is so much more to God that what we can ever understand at any given time in history.Trinity is a way of understanding the nature of God.Yet God is not to be contained. God is way beyond any containment we can create. God is not everything – As if God was everything – God becomes inaccessible and God is accessible –Jesus shows us that. Trinity holds that tension together. A very big God, not limited by us yet accessible to us.
Back to our metaphor. Metaphors are used to help us understand quite often
difficult ideas. With our metaphor of wool. Three strands woven together.
As God is three strands woven together as one.
As we are now officially in winter it’s a good time, if you are so inclined, to get out some wool. To Knit, Crochet or weave Tapestry. When active in such a task, reflect on the nature of our God.
One in Three – Trinity.