I have just started reading a Eugene Peterson [of 'The Message' fame] book on ’spiritual theology’ called Christ Plays in Ten Thousand places. To be honest, I find Peterson’s books quite hard to read - I think it is because he has long chapters. I read a brief section today on the Trinity. It captured my imagination a little.

Peterson says: “Perichoresis is the greek word for dance and was used by the Greek fathers as a metaphor for the trinity. The theologian Karl Barth said “perichoresis asserts that the divine modes of existence condition and permeate one another mutually with such perfection, that one is as invariably in the other two as the other two are in the one”.” Peterson goes on to compare it to a folk dance with three people moving and intertwining to such a pace that it is hard to track the individual movements or actions within it.

The trinity is a mystery. It is supposed to be. I had heard the metaphor of a dance before but not really taken it seriously. Perichoresis I think is better described as ‘interpenetration’ - very much as the Barth quote indicates. But it reminded me of the Celtic Trinitarian symbols - three ‘points’ but clearly one line [see the picture]. If you add the idea of a dynamic dance to that picture - like lines indicating the ‘path’ of the ‘persons’ of the trinity, you get a very dynamic picture of God.

One of the things I have thought something about is what it means for God to be outside of time. It sounds so static - how do you ‘persuade’ a god like that to break out and do something. But the understanding there is faulty. The great “I AM” is God in the eternal present, everything that God is, worked out, the totality of being and action is taking place in the eternal present. And it is in our present, our ‘now’, that we connect and engage with that God. Add to that this picture of the Trinitarian dance, a dynamic interpenetration, and we begin to get the concept that God is not static and distant, but a working, moving, loving community. A working, moving, loving community that we also can participate in as we are drawn into the dance, into the life of God, through the Son and by means of the Spirit.

Can we live in that reality? This life of the Trinitarian community is our life source. It is the crucial basis of our understanding of the God we call upon to act in our lives and in the world. Right now, in the present.

I have just started reading a Eugene Peterson [of 'The Message' fame] book on ’spiritual theology’ called Christ Plays in Ten Thousand places. To be honest, I find Peterson’s books quite hard to read - I think it is because he has long chapters. I read a brief section today on the Trinity. It captured my imagination a little.

Peterson says: “Perichoresis is the greek word for dance and was used by the Greek fathers as a metaphor for the trinity. The theologian Karl Barth said “perichoresis asserts that the divine modes of existence condition and permeate one another mutually with such perfection, that one is as invariably in the other two as the other two are in the one”.” Peterson goes on to compare it to a folk dance with three people moving and intertwining to such a pace that it is hard to track the individual movements or actions within it.

The trinity is a mystery. It is supposed to be. I had heard the metaphor of a dance before but not really taken it seriously. Perichoresis I think is better described as ‘interpenetration’ - very much as the Barth quote indicates. But it reminded me of the Celtic Trinitarian symbols - three ‘points’ but clearly one line [see the picture]. If you add the idea of a dynamic dance to that picture - like lines indicating the ‘path’ of the ‘persons’ of the trinity, you get a very dynamic picture of God.

One of the things I have thought something about is what it means for God to be outside of time. It sounds so static - how do you ‘persuade’ a god like that to break out and do something. But the understanding there is faulty. The great “I AM” is God in the eternal present, everything that God is, worked out, the totality of being and action is taking place in the eternal present. And it is in our present, our ‘now’, that we connect and engage with that God. Add to that this picture of the Trinitarian dance, a dynamic interpenetration, and we begin to get the concept that God is not static and distant, but a working, moving, loving community. A working, moving, loving community that we also can participate in as we are drawn into the dance, into the life of God, through the Son and by means of the Spirit.

Can we live in that reality? This life of the Trinitarian community is our life source. It is the crucial basis of our understanding of the God we call upon to act in our lives and in the world. Right now, in the present.

I have just started reading a Eugene Peterson [of 'The Message' fame] book on ’spiritual theology’ called Christ Plays in Ten Thousand places. To be honest, I find Peterson’s books quite hard to read - I think it is because he has long chapters. I read a brief section today on the Trinity. It captured my imagination a little.

Peterson says: “Perichoresis is the greek word for dance and was used by the Greek fathers as a metaphor for the trinity. The theologian Karl Barth said “perichoresis asserts that the divine modes of existence condition and permeate one another mutually with such perfection, that one is as invariably in the other two as the other two are in the one”.” Peterson goes on to compare it to a folk dance with three people moving and intertwining to such a pace that it is hard to track the individual movements or actions within it.

The trinity is a mystery. It is supposed to be. I had heard the metaphor of a dance before but not really taken it seriously. Perichoresis I think is better described as ‘interpenetration’ - very much as the Barth quote indicates. But it reminded me of the Celtic Trinitarian symbols - three ‘points’ but clearly one line [see the picture]. If you add the idea of a dynamic dance to that picture - like lines indicating the ‘path’ of the ‘persons’ of the trinity, you get a very dynamic picture of God.

One of the things I have thought something about is what it means for God to be outside of time. It sounds so static - how do you ‘persuade’ a god like that to break out and do something. But the understanding there is faulty. The great “I AM” is God in the eternal present, everything that God is, worked out, the totality of being and action is taking place in the eternal present. And it is in our present, our ‘now’, that we connect and engage with that God. Add to that this picture of the Trinitarian dance, a dynamic interpenetration, and we begin to get the concept that God is not static and distant, but a working, moving, loving community. A working, moving, loving community that we also can participate in as we are drawn into the dance, into the life of God, through the Son and by means of the Spirit.

Can we live in that reality? This life of the Trinitarian community is our life source. It is the crucial basis of our understanding of the God we call upon to act in our lives and in the world. Right now, in the present.

I have spent time with 3 interesting challenging sets of people over the last week:

1) A friend of mine who is planting a church amongst asylum seekers and refugees in Derby. They have amazing opportunities to help and bless people in nightmare situations. There have also been some amazing opportunity through a community arts project to help refugees and asylum seekers express themselves through art, including art festivals, that they have been heavily involved in. They have looked into opening a community cafe, and have just been offered a building from the council for use as a cafe at a low rent in the area they are working into. These guys challenge me greatly on their pursuing of everything that God has for them, and their trust and faith that God will provide along the way.

2) Another friend of mine from Derby has pretty much decided to take his family to Uganda to work at an orphanage there [his kids are 5 and 3]. They want to up sticks and go [whilst raising funding of £1000 per month]. I find this hugely exciting. I find it hugely challenging. How quickly is it possible to settle down into an existence that removes the radical call of God from our expectations?

3) More friends who are relocating to New Zealand, cos they feel God has said it. They leave in 4 weeks and there are so many unknowns on houses, schools, culture change, leaving family [some of which they know they will never see again...]. Again the singular focus of obedience to God, the constant ear open to God’s leading and moving. The belief that they can be part of the mission of God.

These three encounters unsettle me. Partly because I too am desperate to see my life in service of God for the glory of his kingdom. Partly because I am constantly evaluating whether my ears are open to hear anything from God. Partly because in two cases I am loosing close friends.

But let me say this. I believe in the church being involved in the nations. I believe that is God’s heart. I believe that our involvement at many levels is crucial to remove our parochialism, our focus on the here and now of our ‘hard lives’ and lift them up to God’s worldwide purpose, the big picture, our ability to get excited what God might even do through one of us. I don’t care what the ‘excuse’ is, what has to justify it - we must be involved we must put our small offering on the altar of God’s great purposes in the world. Let me tell you there are people out there in many parts of the world making a huge difference for the people around them and for the kingdom. Could that be you?

I have spent time with 3 interesting challenging sets of people over the last week:

1) A friend of mine who is planting a church amongst asylum seekers and refugees in Derby. They have amazing opportunities to help and bless people in nightmare situations. There have also been some amazing opportunity through a community arts project to help refugees and asylum seekers express themselves through art, including art festivals, that they have been heavily involved in. They have looked into opening a community cafe, and have just been offered a building from the council for use as a cafe at a low rent in the area they are working into. These guys challenge me greatly on their pursuing of everything that God has for them, and their trust and faith that God will provide along the way.

2) Another friend of mine from Derby has pretty much decided to take his family to Uganda to work at an orphanage there [his kids are 5 and 3]. They want to up sticks and go [whilst raising funding of £1000 per month]. I find this hugely exciting. I find it hugely challenging. How quickly is it possible to settle down into an existence that removes the radical call of God from our expectations?

3) More friends who are relocating to New Zealand, cos they feel God has said it. They leave in 4 weeks and there are so many unknowns on houses, schools, culture change, leaving family [some of which they know they will never see again...]. Again the singular focus of obedience to God, the constant ear open to God’s leading and moving. The belief that they can be part of the mission of God.

These three encounters unsettle me. Partly because I too am desperate to see my life in service of God for the glory of his kingdom. Partly because I am constantly evaluating whether my ears are open to hear anything from God. Partly because in two cases I am loosing close friends.

But let me say this. I believe in the church being involved in the nations. I believe that is God’s heart. I believe that our involvement at many levels is crucial to remove our parochialism, our focus on the here and now of our ‘hard lives’ and lift them up to God’s worldwide purpose, the big picture, our ability to get excited what God might even do through one of us. I don’t care what the ‘excuse’ is, what has to justify it - we must be involved we must put our small offering on the altar of God’s great purposes in the world. Let me tell you there are people out there in many parts of the world making a huge difference for the people around them and for the kingdom. Could that be you?