Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Marilyn. Pete has resigned.
Scott proposed that this week's discussion of the readings might all stem from a single word taken from the title of 3rd Year's chapter, "frontier." Placing that word at the center of a grid, we piled on content from our chapters that related directly, then associated those new items with others, until we'd filled the squares:
Nuno reminded us of what he said in an earlier week about time being represented in Spanish as a volume or quantity, not a length to measure. We explored the image of time as a space that we inhabit where past and present are all "present" together. Our exploration brought to mind the phrase "in the fullness of time" ("Dare I say, pregnancy?" Mariel asked), and these other pieces from our tradition:
Moses on top of the mountain – they couldn’t wait for him to come down! The God of Abraham and Isaac is a god of the living, not the dead, said Jesus. Alpha and Omega at the same time. Hymn: The Day Thou Gavest… The Day that never ends… Two different ideas of time – masculine (Psalm 90 – number our days) and feminine (Magnificat)
Coincidentally, Rabbi Heschel's book The Sabbath, assigned for our next meeting, explores this same idea, that time in Judaism is an "architecture" that we inhabit.
Gene volunteered to compose a collect to bring the threads of our conversation together:
Collect for Judging the Right Time Heavenly Father, who in the fullness of time sent your son, born of Mary, to redeem us; we ask your guidance as we seek to understand and trust your will even when we cannot see beyond our own limits of time as we are brought into your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Year 4 read Sarah Coakley’s essay on “God as Trinity: An Approach through Prayer,” included in Reading and Reflection Guide, pp. 219-230. This essay was published in “We Believe in God,” 1987, and written while Coakley was a lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Lancaster. The tone and approach is understandably erudite, but her writing style makes a difficult topic more approachable and enjoyable to read.
Coakley’s areas of research include systematic theology and patristics, so it’s no surprise that her essay frames the development of the Christian concept of a triune God through that dual lens. But her premise is that it all begins with prayer - both corporate and individual - initiated by the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit prays to God through us, the body of Christ, and thereby we are re-made in the image of Christ.
For us to fully realize the triune nature of the Godhead, Coakley advocates the kind of prayer that transcends words - meditative, quiet waiting upon God - to allow the Spirit to bring us into God’s presence, be “prayed in” so to speak, and be caught up and transformed through a “current of divine response to divine self-gift.”
By analyzing certain Pauline passages in light of their significance to the early Greek fathers, Coakley arrives at this conclusion: The doctrine of the Trinity is rooted in the prayer experience of individuals, and those experiences gave rise to debates and decisions that eventually produced a systematic theology expressed in the creeds of the Christian Church.
If her conclusions are correct, Coakley says, then prayer must be a priority in order to “effect a lively belief in a trinitarian God.” Moreover, this experience will never yield “hard-edged conceptual certainty” and will paradoxically reinforce a commitment to the trinitarian doctrine while also opening up meaningful dialogue with other faith traditions. Finally, it will help us grapple with the issue of masculine and feminine language when describing God, so that hopefully we’ll arrive at a more integrated understanding and conceptualization of what it means to be created “in the image of God.”
Year 4 was asked explain our understanding of the relationship of the three “persons” of the Trinity, and whether this essay raised any questions. I feel much more educated now about the doctrine of the Trinity. I’ve always wondered about this three-headed hydra, and it never really made sense. But I think I get it now - you have to experience the Spirit “praying you in” before it becomes real. That means finding a quiet place away from all distractions and letting go of my thoughts, which is not easy to do.
Year One: Joshua
Judges
Collins, Chapters 9 & 10
I reread these books earlier this year. I enjoyed rediscovering so many of the heroic stories I remembered from Sunday school. Collins helped hold the two books in juxtaposition to each other. Joshua seems to be in direct connection to the first five books. The stories are still of triumph, divinely ordained victory. God leads and acts directly on the Israelites behalf. The focus seems to be on establishing and justifying Israel as a nation in the region. Joshua still enjoys a special relationship to God, as Moses had. It seems very idealized and as Collins points out, historically there is no evidence that many of the cities mentioned were ever destroyed as described. Judges in contrast focuses on local legends, flawed individuals ordained by God to do great things. Judges presents a story of the struggles of this nation as they continuously turn away from God toward idolatry. Collins mentions the idea that the Israelites emerged from within Canaan and these stories would have served in uniting them.
The image that comes to mind after the reading is of a leaky bucket. God keeps trying to fulfill his purposes for them but they continue to turn toward idolatry. He continues to perform miracles, to anoint leaders, to draw Israel back to him. It is in their scotosis that they fail to see they are the cause of their own suffering. Had they remembered their covenant with God he would lift them up and they would not continue to fall prey to their enemies. Since they did not fully obey God the peoples in the promised land remain as enemies that Israel must struggle against. God keeps pouring himself out, but we being the imperfect vessels that we are, are full of holes.
In Judges women are given more agency. Characters like Deborah, Jael, even Delilah have central roles in the stories. This book does a better job of suggesting that anyone can be used for God’s purposes even if they stray from his teachings, happen to be left handed, or here even female. God makes his chosen people known. He chooses the lowly and the humble and those who obey.
After reading Mariel’s post I went and did the fourth year reading in the RRG. Last year, as I went through the confirmation class to join the episcopal church I really struggled through the points of my faith. While I prayed to God and had felt the Spirit move I wasn’t certain of where I fell on Christ and the Trinity. Only through meditative prayer and the eucharist was I able to resolve this for myself, being led by the Spirit, despite decades of hearing the doctrine.
Year Four: God as Trinity: An Approach through Prayer by Sarah Coakley
Sorry for posting so late…
Whenever I get to the subject of trying to understand the Trinity, my usual first reaction is to mentally roll my eyes at what is no doubt another esoteric argument, often over my head - or, if in sermon form, I find myself wondering what I need to pick up at the grocery store five minutes in. This one is better.
Coakley approaches the topic first by noting the neglect of the topic of the Trinity today, citing reasons such as the way theology has been taught (first the Old Testament Father, then later adding on the Son and Holy Spirit), the effect of Humanism causing modern believers to be less likely to accept traditional beliefs and the emphasis in church on the Father and the Son.
Coakley then discusses finding the Trinity through prayer, noting the problem that other religious traditions have prayer but no trinity. Yet she states that within prayer, we first become to realize that prayer is not of one’s own doing but rather the activity of the other; that we are “prayed-in” to a dialog with God and that we learn that this dialog takes place with the Spirit, who one realizes is a separate persona distinct from the Father and the Son. (Not quite sure I am making this leap.) Through this process of prayer we come to understand Christ, with whom through the Spirit acts as an intercessor.
Coakley points that this journey is not always satisfactory – there are long silences, which we later come to realize are actually “the grace of divine hiddenness.” Furthermore, we come to realize through prayer that God wants all of us, body and soul and we realize the importance of the body of Christ (church) and develop a concern for all of God’s creation.
Coakley goes on to discuss the roots of the Trinity in the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople; the prayer in the early Church pointing toward the concept of a trinity, as well as the writings of Paul, Origen and Basil.
Coakley’s conclusion seems to back peddle from the certainty that seems to permeate the earlier part of the chapter. First, prayer is paramount as trying to think one into a belief in a trinity will fall flat. She revisits the issue of prayer and contemplation borrowed from other beliefs but she seems guarded as to their use as the other belief systems do not believe in a trinity. Finally she touches on the issue of gender and it’s understanding through prayer as it relates to the trinity.
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