Going straight?

I must clarify from the start that this is not about living within the law or about sexuality.  It's about the direction of a journey.  When travelling, people usually prefer to go the quickest route possible.  That's why we have spent millions in making motorways so we can get from one place to another more directly.  We tunnel through mountains to save having to travel all the way around them.  We build bridges as a quicker way over waterways in order to cut the time of a journey.  And this is understandable.  Time is of the essence.  We just want to get to our destination without the hassle of actually travelling there.  


When people refer to 'the scenic route' it implies a rather round about way of getting to the same place and taking much longer to arrive.  The truth that we often miss is that it really is the scenic route.  The motorways, tunnels and bridges are for the most part just mile after mile of the same.  The scenic route however, possibly because of more twists and turns of the country roads, are usually more interesting.  We go through small villages and are able to refresh ourselves at some quaint country pub instead of the motorway service station.  There's usually less traffic also but as we know, this takes time and we don't always have the time to spare.  And that can seem a shame.


In comparison, when God does something, he takes great delight in not using straight lines.  Could you imagine a tree with straight branches and diamond-shaped leaves?  The only tree with straight branches I have seen is a one humans make of their family tree.  Or where is there a river that doesn't meander its way to the sea?  When we want to make a waterway we tend to dig straight down and as directly as possible between two points, using locks to move up or down along the stretch of the canal.  The twists and turns of nature is often breathtaking as we turn a corner and are confronted with some beauty of creation.  What a shame to miss that because we are in a hurry to reach our destination.  Many going on holiday try to think of the journey as part of the holiday and endeavour to find ways of enjoying it as such instead of getting over stressed by the actual travelling to get to the destination.


It's the same in life.  When I was younger, I had my future all planned out.  Then life happened!  Looking back it seems that my plans went right out of the window.  But if I'm honest I've had some wonderful experiences that I hadn't planned so I'm so glad that things didn't work out exactly as I thought they would or should.  We like things to go ahead as we plan without any complications or setbacks.  We have a goal and want to achieve it as soon as possible.  By being so intense on doing so we run the risk of missing an awful lot of wonderful experiences.  We are so focused on the end goal that we miss the 'now' moment.  When life has its twists and turns, I guess we should really think of it as God's way of doing things.  Doing things His way might mean living with the unexpected, having twists and turns, changing direction, travelling off the beaten track but so much more interesting and fulfilling.  

Happy Christmas

2014

Dear family and friends

Home grown strawberries

After the storms of last winter, we had a very wet spring but a glorious summer before the autumn colours began showing.  It seems that because of the wet spring, we had quite a harvest of berries in the garden – strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.  It is a good feeling to eat things that we have grown fresh from the garden.

Ayers Rock

In August, Diego and I had a very pleasant few days break in the Isle of Wight.  Martin and his partner Lisa, meanwhile had a 3 month break travelling in a campervan in Australia.  When they arrived back we were able to share in watching so many lovely photos.  They left their jobs (in IT and managing a Charity Drop-in centre respectively) in order to do the trip and Martin is now back in the same office in Cheshire but opted to work only 3 days a week so that he can also  spend some time volunteering for a charity.  Diego had a part time job but then found himself out of work for a short while and is now employed again in a warehouse.  We are all keeping well (as long as I keep taking the tablets!). 

Shanklin Old Town Isle of Wight

Martin and Lisa will be joining us for a few days before Christmas and we will be celebrating by eating both Argentinian (empanadas, milanesas de pollo a la Napolitana and alfajores) and the traditional English roast turkey – not all at the same time!  Christmas Day will be spent quietly just Diego and I together chilling out and enjoying a relaxing time.

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas

and a Blessed New Year

Mavis and family

Feliz Navidad

2014

Queridos familia y amig@s

Frutillas de nuestro jardín

Después de las tormentas del invierno pasado tuvimos una  primavera muy lluviosa pero un verano  glorioso antes de que empezaron a aparecer los colores hermosos del otoño.  Parece que por la primavera tan mojada tuvimos una buena cosecha de frambuesas, zarzas y frutillas en el jardín.  Le da a uno una buena sensación al poder comer cosas frescas que nosotors mismos hemos cultivado en nuestro jardín. 

Martin y Lisa en Australia

En agosto, Diego y yo pasamos unos días muy lindos en la Isla de Wight (a la costa sur de Inglaterra).  Martin y su amiga Lisa mientras tanto pasaron 3 meses viajando por Australia.  Al llegar de vuelta pudimos disfrutar mirar a tantas fotos tan hermosas.  Dejaron sus trabajos para poder ir de viaje y Martin ahora está de vuelta en la misma oficina en Cheshire pero eligió trabar solamente 3 días por semana porque quería tener tiempo para ayudar voluntariamente a una sociedad benéfica..  Diego tuvo un trabajo de 3 días por semana pero se encontró por un tiempito sin trabajo pero ahora está trabajando en un almacén.  Estamos todos con buena salud (¡con tal que yo siga tomando los remedios!)

Pueblo antiguo de Shanklin, Isla de Wight

Martin y Lisa estarán con nosotros por unos días antes de Navidad y estaremos celebrando por comer comida Argentina (empanadas, milanesas de pollo a la Napolitana y alfajores) y también la comida tradicional inglesa de pavo al horno - ¡pero no todos al mismo tiempo!  El día de Navidad Diego y yo lo pasaremos tranquilos juntos los dos y disfrutaremos un tiempo de descanso.

Deseamos que tengan una Navidad muy 

Feliz y un Año Nuevo lleno de Bendición.

Mavis y familia

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go.  Shops have had their festive decorations up for quite some time.  Every time you go into town you can see people carrying boxes, wrapping paper and all things to do with the Christmas season.  As far as I am concerned, the cards have been bought and written - well most of them anyway.  Some need to be posted early to go abroad, others to different parts of the UK and others I can deliver by hand locally.  Presents are either bought or ordered.  Some are already wrapped but still quite a lot to do.  Tomorrow (Sunday) is the first Sunday of Advent.  The last day of November is when I usually sort out the tree and decorations ready to be in place for the 1st of December.  So I guess you could say 'it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas'.  Or is it?  At least it's like what we in the west have made it become.

It's actually nothing like the very first Christmas.  How different!  There was no tinsel or decorations, no turkey dinner with family, no relaxing and being entertained.  The King of Kings was not surrounded by servants or lived in a palace with all the comforts of the hierarchical, rich lifestyle of those in authority.  Paul in his letter to the Philippians describes it as God emptying himself into the physical, human presence of his son.  This emptying was expressed by being born illegitimately to a young teenager in a place that was kept for the animals.  No family or friends to visit and celebrate.  Instead he was visited by lowly workers doing the night shift and foreigners who probably didn't even speak the same language as Mary and Joesph.  The subsequent years of his infancy were spent as a refugee, an asylum seeker, an immigrant in a foreign land.  He knew from experience what it was like to be hungry and a stranger and to be fed and accepted and taken in.  He had lived life in the lowly margins of society.  He emptied himself until there was no more to give.  

Having said all that, I do love Christmas and I love to celebrate as we do now with decorations, great food and exchanging of presents with loved ones.  And I don't suggest for one minute that we should stop doing that.  Be happy, enjoy time with family and friends, taste the good food, relax and enjoy the break but spare a thought for those who maybe have to work over the holidays.  Be thankful for what we have but remember that there are some who don't have a place to stay or family to share Christmas dinner with.  Some people now, instead of sending and posting Christmas cards, are giving the money they would have spent on that to a charity in order to help feed the hungry or give a bed to the homeless.  I must admit that I haven't done that, (I like the idea of greeting friends with a card) but I admire those who do. 

An activity that many engage in over the months leading up to Christmas is the filling of a shoebox with goodies to send to a child in some far away place.  This week I read of a young Filipino girl who 14 years ago received a shoebox at Christmas sent from a young boy in America through the very well known Operation Christmas Child scheme.  She was so grateful for that gift that she later tried to contact the boy to thank him.  She was unsuccessful but later in life, she was able through the social media to make contact with him .  Their friendship grew until recently they got married and for wedding presents they requested that people donate shoeboxes for the charity to continue the work that had brought them together.  You can read the full story here.

I guess that to make it really look like Christmas, we should enjoy the festivities but also give something of ourselves, empty out a little of the much that we have in order to help others, a kind of antidote to the madness of Black Friday.  That is the real message of Christmas and what God meant Christmas to look like.  'Insomuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.'  Emmanuel - God emptying himself into every walk of life for all people everywhere.  That really is something to celebrate!


   

Culture Club

This week began, Sunday 12th October, with a day that is commemorated in many parts of the world.  It remembers the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus set foot on soil across the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Hispaniola.  Until now, in Spain and the Americas, the day has been celebrated as a day of victory and conquest of the Spaniards over the indigenous peoples they encountered, being a national holiday with parades, ceremonies and speeches.  Recently, however there has been a move to recognize, although not officially, that it should be remembered as a day of the indigenous minority and how they suffered near extinction at the hands of the conquistadors.  Two completely different cultures and religions collided with catastrophic results.



This week in parliament there has been a vote to recognize Palestine as a state in its own right.  There has been conflict between Palestinians and Israel almost without a break ever since the Israeli Declaration of Independence, signed 14th May 1948 that recognized Israel's national home in Palestine.  Since then, Israel has celebrated the day with a holiday for all its citizens.  Again there is a similarity that one nation celebrates a victory and take-over of the land of another nation, leaving them virtually without a land they can call their national home.  The differences based on religious grounds seem insurmountable.  And so we could go throughout the world finding tribe fighting tribe, nation fighting nation because they infringe on 'their territory'.


The problem seems to be that people of a specific culture are so often intolerant of people of another culture, looking on them as evil and needing to be got rid of however that may be.   Within most religions of the world there are different sects that interpret their sacred writings in a particular way.  We are aware of how much animosity there is between Sunni and Shi'ite, noting that terrorists have mercilessly executed Muslims who are not from their particular brand of Islam.  There are other groups of Muslims that differ because of the culture of where they are living.  The same can be said of Jews, depending on whether they are European or Oriental in origin.  Oriental Jews have in the past been persecuted by other Jews but recently have become accepted by the mainstream of their religion.  Of course the same thing applies to Christians.  The differences within the same religion, let alone differences with other religions is often due to the cultural differences of where people live.  Their customs as a nation often colour their perspective on their particular religion and their interpretation of sacred writings, causing different views and practices depending on which part of the world they live in.  If I had been born and raised in India, would I be an evangelical Christian or maybe Hindu?  If I had been born in Saudi Arabia, would I be Muslim?  If so, which strand of Islam would I follow?  Is it any wonder that non-religious people blame religion for most of the wars in the world?

  
 Thinking of different cultures, I was interested to discover that the members of the successful 80s band Culture Club have a very valuable lesson to teach us.  When they first got together to form the band, they realized just what a mixed bag they were.  The lead singer Boy George was an Irish transvestite, the bass player Mikey Craig was a black Briton, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards was Anglo-Saxon and drummer and percussionist Jon Moss was Jewish.  (Taken from Wikipedia)  Each one of them came from a completely different cultural background and so they decided to reflect this in their name - they were a club of different cultures making harmony together.  Religious people might have considered them out on the fringes of society, outrageous in their dress sense, sexuality and behaviour but if we have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand, we can learn a very valuable lesson from their example. 

We need to ask ourselves which club of culture are we in, recognizing that our outlook and way of living is very much influenced by and reflects the culture of where we are living and how we have been brought up.  Wouldn't it be nice if different cultures could join together in harmony instead of killing and persecuting each other?  I might not be in a position of power to change things on a national scale or have any influence in an international debate but I can make a difference where I am.  I can live in the spirit of Culture Club, accepting others, not as wrong but just being different, making harmony instead of discord with people who might have a different idea of God from me or have different ways of.living and outlook on life.  Let's make heavenly music - together!

  

The Way I See It

The two people were chatting while waiting at the bus stop when suddenly the younger one, focusing on a young girl passing by said in a low voice, 'Just look at that!  What a mess!  She looks awful!'  The older woman smiled and replied, 'When anyone criticizes what you wear, you always say that people should feel free to wear what they like.  So obviously she's wearing what she likes.'  The younger one conceded with a smile, saying that she wouldn't wear it but then she has a different fashion sense.  We might think someone looks nice or not because of what they are wearing, while they might see it differently.  As the saying goes, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'.  


On a less flippant note, my nephew's young son often likes to play at role reversal - his father/grandmother being him and he being them.  He really is rather good at remembering things that they have said or done and playing them back to them as he sees it, reliving situations and conversations.  It really is an eye-opener on just how he sees them and how he interprets what they say.  Children so often manage to encompass in their playing what sometimes goes unnoticed to us.  Things that we don't give a second thought about might come across to them as something they take notice of and remember sometimes in great detail to the point that we can wonder, 'Am I really like that? Is that how I said that?'.  Children have an innocence that penetrates through all social etiquette and niceties to reveal just how things really are, at least as they appear to them.


We all see things differently, simply because we are all different, unique.  We cherish our uniqueness yet at the same time struggle to accept another person's different approach and opinion.  Often when someone says, 'The way I see it ...' they really mean that they think the other person is wrong and they will tell them exactly how it is and what is the right way.  We can become quite intolerant of those who don't do or think as we do, thinking smugly, 'They really don't have a clue and they are just so wrong'.  There is a built-in sort of arrogance that we can't be wrong, it must be them.  Is there not just a possibility that both are right - in their own eyes?  It all depends on how you see things.  This often can depend on your circumstances, your cultural background, your emotions and feelings at a given moment.  It seems strange that restaurants. shops, the entertainment business and so on cater for our different views and tastes in food, clothing, holidays, home decor, hobbies/interests and TV viewing so why, oh why, is it so difficult for us to accept that people just might have a different spiritual opinion from us?  When it comes to God, it seems, we are always and totally right as though somehow we are in the privileged position of having a monopoly of the truth!


I remember one holiday in Scotland when we climbed up a hill through some woodland.  Every so often there was a gap in the trees and a seat where you could rest awhile and take in the scenery.  What we discovered was that we saw different things at different stopping points.  Some objects became hidden from view while others became clearer.  The overall picture was constantly changing depending on where we were on the hill.  That has always remained with me over the years as an important life lesson.  People are different, each one unique, as we so often like to say.  So why is it so hard to accept another's point of view, another way of looking at things, another angle, another's belief system or spiritual leaning?  God has an overall view while, as the apostle Paul says, we only see in part.  In the same passage, Paul says that as a child he thought and acted in a certain way but as he grew, his thoughts changed.  We are constantly changing as our view on life changes, as we experience different situations. 

So let's show a little more tolerance and acceptance of others.  At least, that's the way I see it. (Maybe someone will tell me I'm wrong!).   

Thoughts From Down Under

Earlier this week, my elder son Martin and his partner Lisa came to visit for a few days.  They have recently returned from 3 months travelling around Australia, from Melbourne up the east coast past Cairns and then across and down from Darwin through Alice Springs, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and back to Melbourne.  We were able to share in their adventure through their many photos and stories of their travels.  I found particularly interesting the stories of the aborigines and their beliefs.  They are an ancient race having lived on that land for over 40,000 years and so their stories of creation and other spiritual beliefs go back way beyond anything we as Christians may have.  We consider their stories to be just that - stories, myths and legends - not necessarily literally true but they cling on to their beliefs that have been handed down orally over thousands of years.  

A model of a coracle type of ark as on the ancient tablet

I also watched this week a programme about 'The Real Noah's Ark' where a professor and associates reconstructed a boat according to information on an ancient clay tablet.  It was a story of a flood with instructions on how to build a boat to save a man, his family and animals.  The instructions also interestingly said that the animals were to go in 'two by two'.  This particular tablet predated our biblical story of Noah by over 1000 years.  The boat to be built was actually round, more like a coracle than the ark we think of.  Archaeologists have discovered that in that region of the Tigris/Euphrates rivers there were many such great floods in ancient times and many would indeed make super-sized coracles to save their families and belongings.  It is thought that the Hebrew exile in Babylon was greatly influenced by such stories and maybe had some effect on stories that they also handed down to their descendants.  

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is a sacred Aboriginal site but so many
lack respect for the religious views and beliefs of others as
this notice and undeterred climbers show.

We look at other spiritual traditions and think of them as fables, myths and not fact while other religions often look at our holy book in the same way.  So it seems to beg the question -  how many of our Bible stories are just that, stories that have been told and handed down over generations in order to teach some spiritual truth.  Knowing how Jesus himself was a great story teller, it seems quite possible that much of holy writings, beliefs and spiritual stories (of many different religions) are just a way of trying to explain some truth that is often difficult to put into words but are not really to be taken literally.  (I can almost sense the fundamentalists putting their heads in their hands, gasping in horror and  declaring that I have surely 'lost my faith'!)  But why do we condescendingly smile at aboriginal stories and yet are offended if others do the same to us?  Who are we to go bulldozing our way in and telling someone whose tradition is over 40,000 years old that he is wrong and we are right?  The arrogance of such an empire spirit never ceases to amaze me.

The first plane that started the Flying Doctor Service

Another interesting story that Martin and Lisa told was of Rev John Flynn.  He had been appointed to minister in the outback.  In 1912 he established the Australian Inland Mission in order to attend to the spiritual, medical and social needs of those living in the outback.  He built hospitals but is mostly remembered for implementing with a friend what has become known as The Flying Doctor Service.  His concern was that people were so isolated and his greatest desire was to help people to connect.with others.  Over the years he managed to get an aeroplane and a pilot but the problem was how people could access this service.  Another associate invented a pedal radio and so in 1929 people could call on the Flying Doctor Service.  Later transistor radios replaced the pedal kind and people were then able to contact their 'neighbours' many miles away and families were once again in touch with each other.  John Flynn was a Presbyterian minister but rather than trying to get people to travel in order to gather in one building to worship together, he saw their need and tried to meet that need right where they were.  He cared for aborigines as well as white settlers whether they accepted his Christian beliefs or not.  That is why he is remembered to this day.  That seems like a Jesus thing to do - not being consumed with the idea of getting people to meet on the Sabbath/Sunday in the synagogue/temple/church building but rather seeing a need and working to meet that need.

Mmm!  Thank you Australia for the lessons you share.  Much to ponder.    

Holiday

This post is a little later than usual as this past week my son Diego and I have been away on the Isle of Wight.  We got back after 9 pm last night because of a delay on the ferry crossing.  This morning has been about sorting out cases, washing and shopping for those fresh essentials that don't go in the fridge or freezer.

We have never been to the Isle of Wight before and I have often thought about going but never made it until now.  We had a lovely few days being driven around by our very helpful and good-natured South West Coaches driver.  Now I no longer drive we look for alternative ways to have days out and holidays and found the coach company very good.  It's nice for someone else to do the driving.  It means that I can enjoy the passing countryside as well as being less tired and stressed by traffic.  

I took a few ebooks with me with the intention of spending some time reading and thinking but that didn't happen.  Instead I enjoyed the conversation of people I hadn't met before and was able to soak up all the new experiences and what was going on around me.  We visited some very interesting places and saw some historic sites and some new innovations .  I didn't go looking for some deep meaning or mini-sermon in situations.  God is everywhere but we don't need to go looking for some spiritual lesson.  I worshipped and sensed God's presence just by simply enjoying the things I saw and living fully in the moment of what was happening.  

So this week I just want to share some photos from those few days away.

Osborne House - the summer retreat of royalty

excellent indoor show of fountains 'dancing' to music

The model village - this is where we had a drink in the real Griffin Hotel
but discovered it was the most expensive in the town!

the model village at Godshill

the model village

Diego in the model village

in the botanical gardens

in the botanical gardens

in the botanical gardens

me beside the fountain in the botanical gardens

the steam train that took us on an hour's journey along the country track 

Shanklin old town

Shanklin old town

tea rooms in Shanklin old town where we had a very nice cream tea
with apple and ginger scones - very yummie!

Preparations

This past week I have started my preparations for Christmas.  First of all there are countless lists!  Lists of meals depending on who will be here and when and lists of ingredients for said meals.  As I have the luxury and time to shop around, I have different lists for each shop I go to - the cheap shop, the freezer shop, the supermarket, the family butcher, lists of extras, just in case, the shop that has that special something I can't get anywhere else... ...   I keep adding to the lists as I remember things I need to get.  That's my own coping mechanism - I'd be lost without my lists!  Then of course there are the to do list, the wish lists, both given to family and received from family so that we all get more or less the things that we really want, hopefully avoiding recycling of presents or putting them in a drawer to be forgotten.

Apart from the shopping for food and presents there are of course other preparations.  The Christmas tree and decorations are down from the loft, thanks to my son, and are ready for tomorrow the 1st of December.  The usual ornaments have been put away to make room for the Christmas ones.  Christmas cards and newsletter have been written and ready to post.  Some for abroad were posted earlier this week.  And of course there is the list of people I send cards to each year so I don't forget anyone.  Some meals I like to prepare from fresh ingredients and freeze ahead of time ready just to take out and defrost when needed so the freezer is gradually being stocked up.  I am also pleased that I live in the northern hemisphere where there is less to do in the garden at this time of year so I can set my attention to other things while still enjoying the blooms on my Christmas Cactus.  It seems that even the house plants are preparing for Christmas.  People who are involved in a play or pantomime, carol service or concert have already been preparing and practicing for some weeks even months ready for the big day when they do it for the public. 

 Of course Christmas is not just about eating, a day off work and receiving presents.  That happens to be the way that we like to celebrate a special occasion.  Christians prepare for Christmas throughout the time of Advent.  The original Advent Calendar where we open the window each day to reveal an aspect of the Christmas story, was a good reminder of the other face of Christmas - the reason behind the celebration.  Nowadays a very popular Advent Calendar is the one where each day on opening the window you get some chocolate goodie.  Now I like the idea of having a little bit of chocolate each day but I have decided this year to make my own sort of Advent Calendar.  As I was reminded this week that our American friends celebrated Thanksgiving, I decided to make my own Advent Calendar of Thanksgiving.  It's a list really where each day I think of something for which I am particularly thankful. 

That just about sums up my preparations really - enjoy all the busyness, the little chocolate treats, the giving and receiving but be reminded of why I'm doing it all and be thankful to God.

Relationship

This past week a nephew and his wife, who live in Argentina, have been visiting the Iguazú waterfalls (pronounced ee-gwa-soo, emphasising the last syllable) that are on the border between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.  It is wonderful to see the falls that form part of the jungle of the very northern tip of Argentina.  I have had such a privilege twice and both times have been moved by the spectacle.  The name Iguazú comes from the two Guaraní (native Indian) words ‘I’ meaning big and ‘guazú’ meaning water – big water.  It has been so nice to see their photos and remembering the times I spent there, seeing the multitude of huge multi-coloured butterflies and the birds flying in and out of the water to the nests they have made behind the falls to protect their chicks against predators.  When you break it down there is nothing that spectacular about water and a mountainside in the jungle, but when you put the two together and see how the relationship and interaction between the two work, that is spectacular.

As I said last week I have been putting various seeds into small pots with compost in the hope that later in the year we can enjoy the produce.  I have watered them carefully and put them in a warm place and they are just beginning to show their tiny shoots.  When the shoots are big enough and strong enough I will transfer them to larger pots or plant outside.  Again the seed and the compost are nothing special in themselves but when they are put together with water, heat and protection against the unfavourable elements outside, that interaction and interdependence is what produces the wonder of a plant growing from such a tiny seed.

We can see many cookery programmes on the TV.  To take the same analogy into the sphere of cookery, you could put all the ingredients into a bowl – some flour, sugar, margarine, egg and flavouring and nothing will happen.  You will simply have a bowl of flour, sugar, margarine, egg and flavouring.  It’s when you mix them all together and surround them with heat for a specified time that they result in a tasty cake.

What set me off thinking along these lines is some meditations from Richard Rohr that I received earlier this week about the Trinity.  I think his words are better than mine:

In our attempts to explain the Trinitarian Mystery in the past, we overemphasized the individual qualities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but not so much the relationships between them. It is in the relationships themselves where all the power is! This is where all the meaning is! We can name them all with masculine words (as we have done up to now), we can name them with feminine or neutered words if you wish, but in both cases you can miss the precise way that they relate to one another—and thus miss the major point.  The Mystery of God as Trinity invites us into a dynamism, a flow, a relationship, a waterwheel of love, or a “fountain fullness of love” as Bonaventure put it. Trinity says that God is a verb much more than a noun, an energy and action more than a concept.

We tend to think of the Trinity as three, separate beings but it is in their three-in-oneness that makes the Godhead so wonderful – the three equal in power and importance and totally interactive and interdependent on each other.  As Jesus said, ‘I and the Father am one.’  We can meet together and often there is one who is ‘above’ or more important than the others, where the many are dependent on the one and we really miss the point of the Trinity.  Jesus prayed that we should be one as He and the Father are one.  It is the relationship, interaction and interdependence that show His awesome power at work.  Again I quote Richard Rohr:

 Paul says, “God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25). That awesome line gives us a key into the Mystery of Trinity. I would describe human strength as self-sufficiency or autonomy. God’s weakness I would describe as Interbeing or shared intimacy.

Human strength admires holding on. Human weakness is about letting go into the Other, handing over the self to another and receiving your self from another. Human strength admires personal independence. But God’s Mystery is total mutual dependence and interdependence. We like control more than surrendering. God loves vulnerability. We admire needing no one. The Trinity is total intercommunion with all things and all Being. We are practiced at hiding and protecting ourselves. God seems to be in some kind of total disclosure for the sake of creating and loving the other.

Our strength, we think, is in asserting and protecting our boundaries. God is into dissolving boundaries between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet finding them anew in that very outpouring! The space created by outpouring is automatically filled up by infilling.

I can have an ocean of water and a whole range of mountains but if the two never meet there will never be a waterfall.  I can have a whole bag of flour but if I don’t mix it with other ingredients, the result will still only be a whole bag of flour.  On its own it will never be a cake.  Each ingredient is equally important and totally interdependent.   And so it is in relationship with others and with God.  I can be part of a huge crowd, all wanting the same experience but if there is no interaction and no mutual interdependence with each other and God, there will be no end product - we will simply be people.  I could go to a pop concert and have a great night out with other like-minded people but come out being exactly the same person as I was when I went in.  The experience was enjoyable but hasn’t made any difference to my life.  It’s not about the getting together, whatever form that might take; it is about the relationship within that togetherness that makes the difference.