A response to Mike ... from a slightly different angle ( well what did you expect???)
The disciples are hiding out behind locked doors when Jesus comes among them, he engages with them on a deep level addressing their fears and confusion, he comes speaking peace- allowing them to see his wounds to see that he is real...
Their reaction is one of joy...
Jesus then calls them to action... as the Father sent me so I am sending you... and breathing on them he said, receive the Holy Spirit...here is acknowledgement of the Trinity somehow bound up in Christ/ represented by Christ in that room... the Father sending through the Son in the power of the Spirit...
The outflow of the disciples joy is to be mission- they to be a missionary people as they participate in the life of God... this is the call to the church throughout the ages...
God's mission through his Son and his Spirit continues in the life of the Church. The Church is Christ's body. We have been drawn into the life of God's kingdom; we are therefore a sign of its reality... (C. Cocksworth; Holy Holy Holy- 2004)
The challenge comes to us then to live this out and to express it; the problem is that we spend so much time tripping over our own explanations and reasoning that we fail to see the true relational reality that is God... three in one/ one in three?
How hard it is for us to embrace mystery... and probably unacceptable for us as far as writing essays goes... and yet can we truly escape that? What makes God relational- why does he seek to include and involve us in this relationship... love is a strange thing...
Blessèd and holy Three,
Glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, love, might;
Boundless as ocean’s tide
Rolling in fullest pride,
Through the world far and wide
Let there be light! - John Marriott.
Off the top of my head here Mike- will try to write stuff with a little more bite to it when I am not so brain dead!
