Friday, July 26, 2002
Friday, July 26, 2002
He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but
according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
It helps to remember what the early church meant when it spoke of "God in three persons."
The word "person" come from the Latin "persona," and originally referred to the mask worn on
the stage by actors in a play. Because of masks, actors in the Roman theater could play
several different roles. So God plays several different roles on the stage of human history. God
is Creator, God is Redeemer, God is Sustainer. We might say that the doctrine of the Trinity
describes God's progressive efforts to get closer and closer to us. Not content to be "above"
us, God came to walk beside us. Not even content with that, God now dwells within us. That is
what we mean when we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit, as Yale professor
Halford Luccock used to say, is "God in the Present Tense."
(Titus
3.5
NRSV)
As a Man, Jesus could only be in one place at one time. And that place was Palestine, a little
country some 50 x 150 miles, smaller than Massachusetts or New Jersey. Christians believe
the Holy Spirit universalized Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ is more alive to
millions more people today than He ever was in the first three decades of the first century.
Of course, the Trinity is a deep mystery. Theologians have spent lifetimes spraining their
brains trying to understand it.
Lord Jesus, thank you for bring God close to my heart. Amen.
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