Drenched In God
John 16:12 -15 Romans
5:1-5
Despite the lovely
weather here – my guess is that it’s raining in Lerwick and Stornaway.
One of the things that
amuses me most about the national weather map used by
the BBC is the way they show all the significant towns and cities in the
Who needs to know that
– I always think to myself.
Very few people live
there and nobody very much is going to go there.
Especially when we see
that its always raining.
There are many ways of
looking at the Holy Trinity and ending up nowhere nearer to God than when you
started.
This we know. He is
the Father – the creator, the Son the redeemer, and the Spirit the sustainer –
not three God’s but different aspects of the same being all rolled into one.
This is the orthodox
explanation – but its one that fails to really touch our hearts.
So what if we were to
see this Trinity Sunday as celebrating a wonderful truth.
That in Father, Son
and Holy Spirit there is no longer any part of our lives that are not touched
by God.
Not just touched but
literally drenched in Him.
A great deal is packed
in to those few verses that make up this morning’s Gospel reading but there is
one vital truth to draw from it.
That
in this season of the Spirit – the glory that once resided in God is poured out
upon us all. For Jesus says “He will glorify me and He
will take what is mine and declare it to you”
Declare it not just in
words but in feeling. Not just touching our ears but our very hearts.
His glory poured out
upon us until we are drenched in it.
Our Epistle reading
echoes the same thinking “Through Him we have obtained access to this grace and
we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
And the glory of God
does not come in fits and starts or in a little drip here or there – it comes
as a drenching experience where every aspect of our lives falls under His
grace.
We think of God the
Father – he grows in us.
We think of God the
Son – he speaks in us.
We think of God the
Holy Spirit – he breathes in us.
We become people of
the Trinity.
As
Lerwick and Stornaway are portrayed as submerged in continuous rain – so the
reality of our lives as Christians is to know that we are submerged in
continuous grace.
Sometimes we arrange
for ourselves a spiritual life that prevents this happening. That keeps all
this at arms length for fear of what we might become. Christians
with our umbrellas always at the ready.
As we draw near to
receive the bread and wine this morning – let us pray that we may see His glory
but not just see, but feel and know the drenching of His grace upon our lives
in the threefold character of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
R 3.6.07