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Scripture Sunday- Living in the Divine Dance: Embracing the Trinity's Call

5/26/2024

Rom 8:12-17 NIV

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation--

but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by

the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live

in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your

adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.”

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs

with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also

share in his glory.

Imagine you're back in Sunday School playing a Bible trivia game. You get the question, "Where is the word Trinity mentioned in the Bible?" Feeling stumped, you remember that your church talks about the Trinity, and you figure it's probably somewhere in the New Testament. You guess, "the Gospels?" only to be shocked by the answer: "The Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible."

This revelation can be surprising, not just in a trivia game but at any time. It may be unexpected to learn that the Bible does not mention the word ‘Trinity’ or lays out the exact understanding as we have today. However, thanks to the early Church and many years of councils and theological reasoning, we now understand God as Trinity: Father/Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. This concept of God as three in one is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday, and it is a foundational mystery of the Christian Church.

The early Church used the Greek word perichoresis (meaning rotation) to describe the interrelationship between Christ’s divine and human natures, and it was later used to describe the relationship within the Trinity. Today, as a reference back to this, many people refer to the “dance of the Trinity,” to represent the three persons of the Trinity rotating so quickly they become one. The dance of the Trinity illustrates perfect love, with all members loving each other since before time began. One of the Trinity’s first acts of love was creation: God the Father spoke the Word, Jesus, and the Spirit hovered over the waters. By God’s Word, through the Spirit, the cosmos, earth, plants, animals, and humans were created. All life is marked by the image of the Trinity and sustained by God's devotion. The Trinity not only creates but also deifies, promising that humans and the earth will be made new again, divine with God.

While the Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, its presence is woven throughout the Scriptures. In today's lectionary passages, we learn that Jesus is from God and that to enter the Kingdom of God, one must be born of the Spirit (John 3:1-17). We also learn from John 12:41 that in Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:1-8), Isaiah was actually seeing Jesus.

Romans 8:12-17 provides a beautiful image of the Trinity at work. When a person chooses to live by the Spirit and reject the desires of the flesh, they become free from death and sin, living in freedom as children of God. We often think that when we indulge in lust, greed, power, fear, and pride, we are free to make our own choices. In reality, we are enslaved by these sins. The decision to live by the flesh harms all of creation, often by using it for our own personal benefit, exploiting its life and the web of connectedness to it, indirectly harming ourselves as well. True freedom comes from living in the Spirit, characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This freedom in the Spirit makes us adopted children of God, just as Jesus is God’s Son. We become God’s daughters and sons, freed from fear, forgiven of our past, and secure in our future with God through the Holy Spirit in Christ. In this way, we enter into the dance of the Trinity, living as Christ’s representatives in the world, empowered by the Spirit.

As children of God, we share in the joy of creating and deification with God, just as creation shares these joys through its constant new life and sustaining presence. Through the Spirit, we can bring the Kingdom of God here and now through every life giving act of love. Romans 8:12-17 reminds us that this love may bring suffering, but it allows us to experience the glory of the Triune God. As we embrace this profound mystery, let us live out the call to be agents of God's love in this divine dance with God and creation, reflecting the unity and love of the Trinity in our daily lives.

If you want to learn more about the Trinity:
https://www.worldhistory.org/Trinity/#google_vignette

Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries.

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Resisting Extractive Logic: A Conversation with Sarah Augustine and Sheri Hostetler from the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery

5/20/2024

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Molly Johnson (MJ) spoke with Sarah Augustine (SA) and Sheri Hostetler (SH) on their work with the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. Their leadership is a shining example of action for climate justice and faithful resilience.

MJ: What is the vision of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery?

SA: The Coalition organizes people of faith, particularly Christians but not exclusively, to be part of a movement that resists extraction and extractive logic. Extractive logic is the idea that you can have dominion over Creation and take what you want without consequence. Extractive logic is the root of colonization and the colonial project. We resist that concept and the threats to the life support systems of Earth. We resist threats to Indigenous peoples who are the most vulnerable and on the frontlines of impact. Climate change is one example - we understand that climate change is not the issue itself, but an impact of extractive logic and a symptom of ecological overshoot. At the Coalition, we have a ground up approach and a posture of decolonization, rematriation (land return), and indigenization (viewing reality with Indigenous cosmologies and worldviews). We engage with Indigenous peoples and completely follow their movements and leadership. As people of faith who were the beneficiaries of colonization, we also work to dismantle laws and policies that damage Indigenous communities and all of Earth. The dismantling is really the work of the church to do.

In February Sarah Augustine visited Portland Mennonite Church, a relatively new Repair Congregation in the Coalition's Repair Network. She is pictured with Gordon Wiens holding a copy of her and Sheri's new book.

In February two volunteers with the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, Jon Zirkle and Tim Nafziger, participated in the 10th annual Run for Oak Flat organized by Apache Stronghold. Apache Stronghold is one of our Indigenous partners.

MJ: What are some of the initiatives of your Coalition?

SH: Our Coalition focuses on dismantling structures of the extractive economic system designed to remove Indigenous peoples from their land. We resist that removal in solidarity with Indigenous-led movements. We are in solidarity with the Apache Stronghold who are resisting a copper mine that will destroy their sacred lands of Oak Flat (Chíchʼil Bił Dagoteel). We also are in solidarity with the Maya people of Colectivo In Laak Le Ixiimó (CILLI), who are preserving their lifeways and foods.
We also focus on envisioning and building new economic and cultural systems that meet the needs of people and the planet. In our latest book, we discuss capital “R” Reality, meaning the ecological reality and way of living in right relationship with land, so that one can sustain life.

SA: We make the argument that the “real world” people often refer to is the true fallacy. Capitalism and all of its trappings is a strange and short-lived experiment. The Coalition calls us to wake up to the Reality of the life support systems of Earth.

SH: This Reality has been known by Indigenous land and water protectors for all this time. However, it also extends to everyone, including those of us who are or were formally the beneficiaries of the extractive system. There are 9 key planetary boundaries that we cannot cross. Climate change is only one boundary and it’s one of 6 that we have already crossed. Climate change is a symptom of this larger problem of ecological overshoot.

MJ: What are your thoughts on “green colonialism” and its connection to methods to address climate change?

SA: A recent Guardian article reported that U.S. conversion to electric vehicles alone will triple the global demand for lithium. There are already Indigenous activists who are being kidnapped and murdered defending the land in this “white gold rush”. How is that a solution? We must stop the extraction of copper and lithium for this “green economy”. We need clever solutions - not responses that feed consumerism. Our role in life is often reduced to that of the consumer. It’s a fallacy that tells us we can consume either the “bad thing” or the “good thing”. We are not consumers. We are Children of God, with the living spirit of God in our bodies! My Tewa mentor, says a human soul has the amperage of a star and every single human being walking around has the power of a star within - a star is a whole sun! To reduce people to a consumer is a massive sleeping agent for inaction.
Counter to the modern strange theology of the “personal Jesus”, that we are individuals who do our singular part, we truly are free beings, capable of working together to change the world. Extractive laws and policies were created by human beings no more clever or smart than us. We could choose to wake up and do something different.

SH: It's a “both/and” - to live in a world where you have to make choices about consumption but place that in the context of a much larger paradigm shift. We are paradigm activists seeking to change the laws and policies around those ideas. As people of faith, we have to promote life-positive solutions.

These are members of the Coalition's Maya-Solidarity working group. After sending a delegation last summer to visit our Mayan partners, this group has been invited back to attend their annual seed festival in May.

MJ: What would you tell someone interested in pursuing a similar vision as you? And how could they get involved in your work?

SA: Join us if you want to! Or if you want to do your own thing, how can we support you? We are rapidly growing and work with the Episcopal Church, Methodist Church, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutherans, Catholic communities and more. We create resources because we want to change the world, so we want to collaborate with you! Learn more.

This blogpost is part of our Faithful Resilience Series. For more resources and information about Faithful Resilience, visit creationjustice.org/resilience.

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Scripture Sunday- Living in the Divine Dance: Embracing the Trinity's Call

Resisting Extractive Logic: A Conversation with Sarah Augustine and Sheri Hostetler from the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery

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