With divine mystery everything is up for grabs and too deep to measure. Nevertheless . . . the early Christians discerned a Divinity they called 3 in 1 and 1 in 3. Easy peasy, right? They experienced the ONE God as cosmic, close, and connected—all at once. This they called Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and turned it into a doctrine about the triune nature of God. There followed creeds and liturgies and fights. Holy Writ was born—and a formula of blessing for all things holy.
Over time calcification set in and the original experience was robbed of its brilliance. But not entirely. Wondering people, great and small, continued to come up with bright ideas for the Mystery we do not understand and for which we are grateful.
St. Augustine Lover, Beloved, and Love itself.
God loves everyone as if each were all
Bernard of Clairvaux Love of self for self’s sake
Love of God for self’s sake
Love of God for God’s sake
Love of self for God’s sake
Jesus “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. . .
the Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth . . . (John 16: 12-15)
Emily Dickinson Tell all the truth but tell it slant -
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
Douglas Witte, organist and music director, St. John’s Episcopal, Charlestown
“The three section ‘Piece d’Orgue’ is Bach’s meditation on the idea of the Trinity. The first section consists of a single voice executing a fleet series of three note figures. This represents God, three persons in one, and the non-stop nature of the section is omnipresence.”
Lyn G. Brakeman, priest and author
Author, Book, Readers.
The Author has a grand idea deep within;
She muses upon it, ripens it, and writes it down in a Book;
Readers read the book, digest it, and spread the idea, according to their own styles
The author dies, the book goes out of print, readers forget. The Idea lives on.
