Scripture Readings: Exodus 34.4-6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13.11-13; John 3.16-18
“God so loved the world that God sent the only Son that whoever believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” – John 3.16
During Jesus’ lifetime his disciples recognize he is an exceptional man who has come in God’s name and calls God Father and source of all. After his resurrection, Jesus’ disciples experience the risen Jesus with them, and as Jesus promised, they also experience the Spirit of God working in their hearts and animating their lives. Out of these experiences of God beyond them, with them, and within them come the first understandings of God as three in one love.
The early Greek theologians use the word perichoresis to describe three persons in communion. Peri means all around, near as in the word perimeter. Chor means to dance around, to circle. A chorus intertwines voices in harmony and may dance, circling, intertwining. A chore is a regular task that requires getting out and about, such as feeding animals or taking out trash. Doctors make rounds to see their patients.
The word Perichoresis helps us imagine three persons interacting dynamically, making the rounds of each other as in a dance, reciprocally and mutually exchanging beauty and delight. The word perichoresis helps us resist seeing the three persons in God in order of chronology and importance. It eliminates the hierarchical order we assume in the Sign of the Cross—Father first, then the Son, and Spirit subordinate. Our God is not a single monarch but instead three persons in one, their shared love at the heart of the universe.
What difference does now we image the Trinity make in our lives?
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