The Celtic Journey #4. Trinity

There are a number of songs to choose from. You don’t need to listen to them all. If a title catches your imagination listen to that one as your preparation for entering into a time of silence with God . Then the other songs in preparation for you to enter the theme. It is your choice, do everything or enter where you desire.

The Trinity

Song – sing together or listen to a song that is the theme of class
Silence
How are things going (share what is on the heart at the level you feel comfortable)
Pray

We bind to ourselves the strong name of the Trinity, entering into community, unity, interaction, and having interconnection with their interdependence. We thank you for being invited to approach and experience this hospitality. Let us remember and know that we are welcomed by the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ~ Mark Condy

This I Believe:

Trinity

King of Kings:

Because We Believe:

The Trinity is believed to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this phraseology is familiar to us, heard at our baptism. This is when we are welcomed into the church, but bigger that this, we are being welcomed or adopted into the family of God. We are invited to be part of the community the church and of the community of the Trinity.

The circular Celtic triskele is also a symbol of the Trinity within a circle, giving a sense of forward motion. There is that drawing close to God, and God will draw near to you. The step forward toward that place of reaching an understanding that God is present, as close as the air we breathe. We need to have a sense of feel the gentle breeze in creation. We are being allowed to experience and participate within the world God lovingly gave us to dwell in and enjoy. The Lord came down and walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve. Like the first people in the garden, God has a vested interest in us as the divine God wants to have a relationship with us, not wanting to be a distant inactive being, not interested in the details of our live. This is the complete opposite, because the Trinity is so interested in their creation. We like the Celtic Christians need to be a God Intoxicated People. Celts had an intense sense of Presence, of the Indwelling Presence – of the Immanent God who comes not just in the Immanuel that is Jesus, but is present in the whole of Creation. In short, Celts were ‘God Intoxicated people’ (Source;- John Macquarrie – Paths in Spirituality SCM Press , London1972).

Ian Bradley talks about the “themes that are very powerfully expressed in these most characteristic features of Celtic Christian art. It is the principle of constant movement. The endlessly intertwining ribbons that make up the Celtic knot, like the swirling curves and spirals of the illuminated manuscripts, suggest a world and a faith which is in a state of perpetual motion. This is not the wildly chaotic and rather frenzied activity that so much modern abstract art seems to suggest. It is much more ordered and controlled with an intricate symmetry, a definite pattern and the constant sense of being circumscribed within clearly defined bounds. But the overwhelming sense is one of movement and progress with the lines traveling ever onwards, even if they are constantly doubling back on themselves, ducking under or crossing over each other and ultimately always coming back where they started.” Pg 63, Ian Bradley, Following The Celtic Way.

Take a moment now away from my talking, and information and do some art. Focus on the symbol, ponder and reflect on all you have learned as you follow the step given to draw the Trinity sign.

The Celtic symbolism, art, music, the knot-work, and patterns, attracts us to look for the “interweaving of the physical and spiritual, of the earthly and eternal.” pg 6 Tess Ward

Celtic Blessing:

The Celtic triskele

This symbolises forward motion:

You / me surrounded by the love of the Three, the blessed Trinity.

Creation magnifies the creator, we at times can’t get our head around the three in one concept of the Trinity. I think this is why God gave us creation to enjoy and point us to a creator who loves us, giving us Jesus a human to be able to relate with, and also to empower us, by giving us the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit, to give us the power or ability to do as Jesus did when he was on the earth. So as to live on the earth to be the hands and feet of God, the living God living through us.

All this is available to us If we choose to enter and participate with God in the journey. If we believe God created us with a role to accomplish, by faith in the Trinity, we are drawn to and welcomed to participate and bring substance to our lives. The Three are welcoming you to become part with them, we are not alone. We have entered into a new L.A.W. this is not as we think of LAW, legalistic, but as ones who are Loved, Accepted, and Welcomed. It is an eternal loving union, for instance, the number three was significant – so the trinity was especially important to a regenerate Celt. The endless knot as seen in much of their artwork came to represent eternal life in Christ.

It was not a large leap of faith for the Celtic people, as they knew that Celtic gods tended to come in threes; the Celtic logic of divinity almost always centered on triads. This triadic logic no doubt had tremendous significance in the translation of Christianity into northern European cultural models.

Do you find the concept of the Trinity hard to comprehend?

St. Patrick. One of the stories of Patrick was that concerning the high king at Tara in Ireland asked for an explanation of the Trinity. How could God be Three and One at the same time? Without saying a word. Patrick bent and plucked a single clover from the grass. Holding it up before the King. Three leaves, yet only one clover. Some say this may not have actually happened because the Irish already thought in terms of threes, triads, or trinities. In any case, it shows the strong orthodox Nicene Trinitarian beliefs of Patrick.

Within this Caim of the Holy Three

May we meet as one mind with The Trinity.

In the strength of God may we rest,

Leave the world of worries for a while,

In the company of Christ may we jest,

Refreshed with the healing effects of a smile,

And may The Holy Spirit fill us anew

With the wonder of things, we all know to be true.

May we leave our divisions outside,

Talking from the Love of God, not of pride,

And when we differ in matters of Dogma,

Irreconcilable as sometimes this is,

May our differences carry no stigma –

Remembering the last word is His!

And when leaving to go our own ways

May we do so accepting God’s Grace.

by LitterAli 29th December, 1998

Reflecting The Trinity

A rope made of three cords is hard to break.

Ecclesiastes 4: 12

The Trinity 29th May

The God whom the Celtic peoples came to know and love is the God whose very essence is a loving relationship. God is one, but there are three permanent elements in God’s personality, just as there are in ours, (mind, body, spirit) and it causes damage not to recognise these. In the Divine Being, these three elements are so distinctive that they are more truly called persons than elements, for each of them personally manifests love. In this understanding God is close, accessible; and something of this unity of loves is reflected in human life, which is made in God’s image.

Marriage reflects the Trinity. A couple chose the above reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes which refers to ‘the threefold cord’ for their wedding. They understood, and they wanted all their guests to understand, that it takes three to make a true marriage: the bride, the groom, and God. In some church weddings this is symbolised by the priest, the bride and the groom joining their three hands together