From the beginning.Proverbs Proverbs, book of the Bible. It is a collection of sayings, many of them moral maxims, in no special order. The teaching is of a practical nature; it does not dwell on the salvation-historical traditions of Israel, but is individual and universal based on the 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 At Pentecost, God revealed God's third "person": Spirit. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Proverbs, this Spirit was present from the beginning of creation: "Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the Earth" (Proverbs 8:23). According to Paul, the Spirit is the reason that we can afford to have hope, and "hope does not disappoint dis·ap·point v. dis·ap·point·ed, dis·ap·point·ing, dis·ap·points v.tr. 1. To fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of. 2. us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). For John, the Spirit is the instrument of truth: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears" (John 16:13). Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday, first Sunday after Pentecost, observed as a feast of the Trinity. It was an innovation in medieval England and spread through the Western Church in the 14th cent. The Sundays until Advent are counted from either Pentecost or Trinity. celebrates the belief in the incomprehensible mystery of God, not only as Spirit, but also as God creator and God incarnate in·car·nate adj. 1. a. Invested with bodily nature and form: an incarnate spirit. b. Embodied in human form; personified: a villain who is evil incarnate. . One being that is three equal, non-hierarchical persons, God reaches out to humanity in three different ways. We cannot hope to intellectually embrace the concept, which has been debated, probed, and studied for centuries without scratching the surface of what the Trinity really means. Our only real beginning point is the assurance that God has chosen three different ways to love us, not in thought or abstraction but in the tangibleness of history. As theologian Elizabeth Johnson explains: "Far from being literally descriptive, the trinitarian symbol ... is shorthand shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of the alphabet, were used in ancient times; the shorthand of Tiro, Cicero's amanuensis, was used for the dynamic, inexpressible Sophia-God of compassionate, liberating love who is involved in history in multifaceted mul·ti·fac·et·ed adj. Having many facets or aspects. See Synonyms at versatile. Adj. 1. multifaceted - having many aspects; "a many-sided subject"; "a multifaceted undertaking"; "multifarious interests"; "the multifarious ways." We are never, and have never been, alone--since the beginning of time. Through the ages God has sought to embrace us, as Yahweh, as the incarnate God walking with us, and as Spirit, moving among us and still inviting us to relationship. Our belief that God seeks us out, in human form, as creator, and as spirit, amidst the pains and joys of our humanity, gives us the courage and hope to pursue truth in our world. We need not understand the mystery of God's trinitarian existence to believe in it; we need not see it to act through it. |
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