Spirit of Unity and Diversity
Spirit of Unity and Diversity
Proverbs 8: 22 – 31
John 17: 20 – 23
Ephesians 4: 1 – 16
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
This pithy quote is often attributed to Aristotle – but it turns out, this is not exactly what Aristotle said.
Maybe like me, this is one thing you need to “unlearn” this week.
But it is still a valuable truth – that somehow, elements combine to render something greater than the individual elements.
This week, we explore the idea that the Trinity – Father, Son, Spirit or Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer – offer us something “more.” And invite us into that “more.” They invite us into a relationship that renders unity and is comprised of diversity.
I want to begin this exploration by noting that it is impossible to extract a full understanding of the relationship of the Trinity from scripture alone. It is something that we have to experience, and we have to process others’ experience over time to begin to understand the bigness, the impact, the importance of these three in relationship, these three as one.
Words can’t fully describe how the Trinity exists, moves, functions….because God is just too big and complicated and vast for words on a page.
And that showed up in our scriptures for this week – each one suggests something bigger in all of this interrelatedness between the creator God and the Father God and the son of God and the Spirit…but none of them painted a picture that was complete.
This week, in the 45th chapter (!!) of We Make the Road by Walking, Brian McLaren takes on some of this complexity.
And sometimes I find I need more than one explanation and so today, rather than trying to interpret Brian McLaren, I want to offer Richard Rohr’s insights about this complex relationship into which we are invited and drawn.
Rohr’s work on this influences McLaren and his writing. Many thanks to The Work of the People and to the Center for Action and Contemplation – this is one of 15 videos in a series exploring “the Divine Dance”:
Last week, we talked a bit about wisdom – and I define wisdom as the intersection of our lived experience, our understanding of the rules, the workings of the world around us, and the nudge of the Holy Spirit.
When we engage wisdom and grow wisdom to understand the complexity of the three in one nature of God, we see God’s work in ways that are so much more complicated and powerful and fascinating than words can possibly describe.
That expansiveness does not stop.
As we grow and become and explore, so does the ways we recognize and reflect God’s movement in the world. We take our place at the table with the three in one and become part of that movement. We participate in God’s movement in that way.
As McLaren says, “To join the movement of the Spirit is to let our Trinitarian tradition continue to live, learn and grow…so the hostile one-versus-otherness of Earth can become more like the hospitable one-anotherness of heaven. From beginning to end, the Spirit leads us into vibrant diversity and joyful unity in beautiful harmony.” (p 229)
May it be so.
Amen.
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