When mr pastasmissus was applying to train as a pastor, he had to fill out some rather detailed forms. One of them asked for "short notes explaining your understanding of..." There was then enough space for about 3 sentences. The things they wanted you to explain included "the trinity".
We had some fun with that. My initial suggestion of "God is 3 and God is 1, and, no, I don't understand that either" may have been honest but was dismissed as not quite having the right tone. So I tried again "the tripartite unity of the Godhead is a paradox beyond human comprehension". That got dismissed as too pretentious!
I am always intrigued by how different people see God. For me, Jesus, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have always been quite distinct. That's not saying I think they're separate, just that I react and interact slightly differently to each. And it's different again for God the trinity.
A consequence of this is that I am very careful when I pray, to know who I am addressing. I know that many other people I have spoken to about this can't understand why it matters - after all, it's all the same God. (Although, oddly enough, if you then suggest praying to the Holy Spirit, the same people often get very upset and start telling you why this is wrong - and the comment "it's all the same God" does NOT go down well ;-) ) But it does mean I have a mental disconnect when I hear communion prayers that start off "Father God" and then say "thankyou for dying on the cross" - I want to stand up and shout that he didn't....
It probably all stems from the image of God I had as a child - the critical parent/ teacher in the sky, who was big and scary and powerful, sitting on a cloud, armed with thunderbolts, just waiting to zap me if I did something wrong. Jesus, in contrast, was much more approachable, and on the side of the victims. At that stage the Holy Spirit was a rather unknown concept (never mind person). I'm not saying this is good theology, it's just where I started from.
When I hit problems with my faith, it all got blamed on God the Father. He was the one who could have stopped stuff from happening, but hadn't. Therefore He was the bad guy. I couldn't do that to Jesus - he had already suffered so much, I didn't want to add to it. And anyway, he knew what it was like to feel helpless and abandoned and let down by God. So even when I was having major issues with 'God', I was still committed to Jesus.
My understanding of God has changed alot since then and has become more integrated. But I am still very careful with who I am addressing when I pray.
Weight For It!
8 hours ago
Another good post. You are SO right about the prayers being offered at the communion table. Maybe it is because so many of our deacons [bless 'em] haven't done much real theological thinking. When it happened here, Bob took time out to make sure they understood what they were saying. Many now bring pre-prepared prayers to the table. OK, perhaps some find that a little stilted [after all we ARE nonconformists and don't go in for that liturgy stuff all written down] but actually it's meant some super, just as heartfelt, prayers.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of The Shack?
I cried, but there was something about the way it was written that I just found intensely irritating - like an itch right in the middle of your back, where you just can't quite reach...
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of it?
Like The Curate's egg - it was good in parts...some bits irritatingly predictable, other bits were good at challenging preconceptions - I was saddened by the way reviews on many blogs were polarised - either uncritically adoring 'This is the next Pilgrim's progress' or terrifyingly hateful 'this is utter heresy' - a sort of Marmite reaction.
ReplyDeleteI must read it again so I can answer you properly I think!
nb, since I started typing this, i have actually developed a strange itch in the middle of my back!!!