The last sentence of the Gospel this evening led us to spend time in our sermon discussion talking all about the Trinity… the Trinity… that wonderful, sacred mystery that we seem to know so deeply… yet seems so far from understanding.
Here is what we heard, from Mark 9:36-37:
36Then he (Jesus) took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
If we welcome a little child in the name of Jesus, we are welcoming God the Creator. This got us to thinking about the relationship between Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit… how we experience the three members of the Trinity in our lives.
The question that generated some interesting discussion was this, “Which member of the trinity to you feel closest to at this time in your life?” Here are some thoughts from some of those who were gathered about how they experience God:
God the Father/Creator
- the one with the game plan for the universe who can help us to understand the order and purpose for life
- continues to create us into more and more the people we were intended to be
- guides us along the paths that are right for us
- we can trust in completely
Jesus
- easiest for us to relate to/pray to/ access
- the one who joins us and comforts us when we suffer
- finds us and gives us comfort when we sense deep isolation in life
- forgives us and takes us back when we mess up
- ultimate example of what it means to sacrifice
- challenges us to do something in life worth making sacrifices
Holy Spirit
- God within us
- God within our friends and enemies alike
- hard to pin down and explain, but always present
- prompts us to draw nearer to God
- helps us pray
Our prayer this evening our time spent in prayer and spent contemplating the Trinity will make us more able to do one thing: to love.
