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Romans 8:15 – 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Deuteronomy 4:39 – 39 So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Matthew 28:20b – And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! This Sunday is Trinity Sunday – a day when we acknowledge the very powerful concept that God himself is community. God is Three Persons, yet One Being, Eternal and Almighty. God is Family, and God chose to make Family the format for life on Earth. We are Children of the Father, Siblings of The Son, and Heirs to The Holy Spirit.
Belovéd, those are some powerful words. If I did not believe them, they would be incredible – unbelievable, implausible, barely credible, inconceivable, far-fetched, and – by Worldly standards – absurd! I’m going to put them here again. Let’s read them together, slowly:
GOD HIMSELF IS COMMUNITY. GOD IS THREE PERSONS YET, ONE BEING, ETERNAL AND ALMIGHTY. GOD IS FAMILY, AND GOD CHOSE TO MAKE FAMILY THE FORMAT FOR LIFE ON EARTH. WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE FATHER, SIBLINGS OF THE SON, AND HEIRS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.
We have received a spirit of adoption by whose power we SHOUT “Abba! Father!” In the passage from Deuteronomy this Sunday, Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:34-38 – 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. 37 And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today.
God is Family. God created Family – in the beasts of the fields, the birds of the air, the fish of the deeps, and in the people he set in Eden. God’s Plan is for us to live in family, to work the earth in family, and to walk with him as family. He chose a specific group to be HIS Family, and through them – in his ineffable wisdom – ordained that every living Soul would be part of that Family if only each could accept the call of adoption as his sons and daughters through the Spirit.
In the verses immediately preceding today’s Gospel Key Verse (Matthew 28:18-19) we read, “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority* in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …”
* ἐξουσία (exousia) {ex-oo-see’-ah} – universal power through universal authority. Jesus’ Crown of Glory is the reward for his universal obedience and represents his authorization to rule over all of Creation for all of Time. Since Jesus has Universal Authority, he gives the Apostles – as well as we who are Disciples – a Universal Mission to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is possible only because the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. This is the Family to which we are called, the Family ordained in God’s Eternal Plan.
At Jesus’ Baptism, the whole Trinity was there. We interact daily with the whole Trinity, for whenever we pray to God we pray to God-in-Three-Persons. Even if we pray, “Loving Heavenly Father,” or “Jesus my Lord and my God,” or “Spirit of the Living God,” we pray to God-in-Three-Persons. God is the Whole of Divinity in One Being – he’s not “the force,” he’s not “the guy upstairs,” he’s not “the intelligent designer.” He is GOD – known by many names to be sure (see 818AFC050208), but still just GOD-in-Three-Persons – Blesséd Trinity. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of our Salvation. That salvation comes from Jesus who is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-17) and who is one with and in God (See John 14:10-20)
In revealing to us the Truth about the Trinity, God – El Shaddai-Olam, Almighty Everliving God in Three Persons – has given us another glimpse into the majestic mystery of his power and grace; he is that eager to have us know him intimately, personally, and mysteriously simply because We are Family (↔ Music Link and Lyrics).
You can also find more information about the Holy Trinity here. I will give you the last paragraph of the central theme which was based on the popular British nursery rhyme and cumulative tale “This is the House that Jack built.” You may find it fun to go to that post called “Whole in One” from May 29, 2015 to read what precedes this paragraph:
- This is your Eternal and Complete Joy in discovering that your Salvation through Jesus Christ is clearly explained to you by encountering God through His Word, the Bible, which is entirely the story and revelation of Jesus The Christ, the Son of God, who exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House built by the Eternal Triune God.
Belovéd, we have that House – The House of David, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the House of Many Mansions – as our permanent address if only we believe in our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord (See Romans 10:9) and that we are all in One Family to the end of the age and to Eternity beyond!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Belovéd!
Share-A-Prayer
Please, dear family, help me with the prayer list! I know many of you have your own prayer lists (and I am deeply grateful for those of you who have put me on one of those lists!), so perhaps you could just use the MBN Prayer or just when you pray say, “Heavenly Father, remember all the requests in the current MBN Prayer List, and in your Wisdom and Grace, grant each in accordance with your Will.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
