Reconciliation: Trinity Sunday

Katie and I took a long walk this afternoon. This pond is behind the New Harmony Inn and these two swans are permanent residents. They swim in this pond and then through a series of canals running east to another pond. You can't really tell from this picture but they are big birds! I think the male swan probably weighs 30 pounds and maybe more. Katie is curious but she is not going to get too close...I'm sure papa swan could do some damage with his beak.

Sunday we celebrate the Trinity. My favorite image of the Trinity is Rublev's icon of the Trinity (pictured below). I love the notion that these three "persons" seem to be seated at a table and there is room at the table for me. It is one of the most prevalent images that comes to my mind when I am meditating and praying. Just to feel myself seated in the rich presence of holiness quietens my spirit. I am going to preach on the lesson from Proverbs (Chapter 8). The author writes: "Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice?" I believe that the Holy Spirit is Lady Wisdom, or as Eugene Peterson calls her in The Message, "Madam Insight". This "wise woman" image of the Spirit makes recognizing her work in us so important. We bring our greatest concerns and deepest needs before the Spirit because without ever uttering a word those intimate needs and concerns are already known by the Spirit who dwells in us. Not a hurt or a care goes unnoticed by this insightful Spirit. I read once that the Holy Spirit can be called our "baggage handler." Each heavy burden is borne by God's own presence in us, even those burdens which we cannot yet articulate.