The Trinity and the End

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The Trinity and the End

This is the third in a series on The Trinity and the Christian Life. Exploring how thinking and speaking of God as Triune impacts the way we approach central aspects of the Christian life. In this post, The End.

While employing a range of visual imagery and literary form, our readings share similarities in the overarching nature of the end they await. Each, in their way, stresses the intimacy and fullness with which we will be swept up in the life of God. Whether it is resting in the very house of God, living in a city in which God is its light, temple, and fellow resident who we will see face-to-face, or the promise that God will in some way be fully in all things – all these texts point to an intimate experience with the full, unveiled Triune God. They point to life with (even in) God.

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The Trinity and Mission

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The Trinity and Mission

This is the second in a series on The Trinity and the Christian Life. Exploring how thinking and speaking of God as Triune impacts the way we approach central aspects of the Christian life. In this post, Mission.

Revelation reflects God’s missionary nature - it has a purposive and reconciling quality - revealing God’s turn toward us, God’s being for and with humanity. God is the one who reveals, and in doing so reveals Godself as being committed to the establishment of a people and the flourishing of the world. The Trinity is a missionary God.

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The Trinity and Redemption

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The Trinity and Redemption

This is the first in a series on The Trinity and the Christian Life. Exploring how thinking and speaking of God as Triune impacts the way we approach central aspects of the Christian life. In this post, Redemption.

Just as the Triune God is known as Creator and Sustainer of all things, so the Triune God is the one who redeems. The redemptive activity of God is part of who God is, as Triune. So rather than salvation being solely the activity of the Son at Calvary – Scripture testifies to the ongoing redemptive work of God expressed as companionship, deliverance from evil, restoration, forgiveness of sins, and the establishment of a new community in which the work of God continues.

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All the Way Down (a Good Friday sermon)

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All the Way Down (a Good Friday sermon)

This is no performance; these are the real feelings of a man gripped by grief and fear. And, surprisingly, this is where we find the good news. The crucifixion of Christ, including Jesus’ own cry of dereliction, show that the Incarnation goes the whole way down; down to the very depths of the human experience. Jesus lives and dies in solidarity with all who are in desolation and dereliction, all who are abandoned and alone, all who have felt the sting of betrayal, all who have wondered if God cares about them at all. Jesus is a victim alongside all the world’s victims. And that is good news because Jesus is also the eternal Son, Jesus is the one who conquers the powers of Sin and Death, and is still present with us today. And because of that we can proclaim this word of comfort with full confidence.

Image: Käthe Kollwitz, Mothers (1919)

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A Locating Prayer

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A Locating Prayer

What is the point of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples?

What will be achieved in Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension is here proclaimed and passed on to us as unconquerable truth, we have been put on common and holy ground with the Son, “The Messiah has made us insiders”; not to a club, but to the very life of the Triune God - to the loving heartbeat of the source of all that is!

We aren’t taught to pray to Jesus’ Father, but to “our Father” signifying our relocation. This sermon was delivered at Warnervale Uniting Church on Feb 03, 2019.

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