Trinity Sunday

Our readings for Trinity Sunday are:

1. Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9
2. Daniel 3: 52, 53, 54, 55
3. 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
4. John 3: 16-18

• God of patience
• Our first reading comes from the second time that God gave His people Israel His covenant.
• Can you think of a time when God was persistent with you?
• What made you slow to hear God's voice in that situation?
• What changed about you in that experience?

• Indifference can be hard
• This week's Psalm is from the book of Daniel, specifically the first few verses of a hymn of praise that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego sang while in the fiery furnace for refusing to bow to the king's idol.  They didn't care whether God preserved them or not, they were not going to bow to an idol.
• When you have really tough decisions to make, how do you start?
• What do you do to achieve peace during and after that process?
• What role does the Holy Spirit have in that process? 

• Words of encouragement
• Think of a time/place/person where you received encouragement when you most needed it.
• How did that encouragement affect you?
• Have you ever been an encouragement to others?
• What motivated you to offer that encouragement?
• How did you know that you were doing the right thing?

• Or - I'll live in peace with reasonable people
• What are you willing to sacrifice to live in peace within your world, your parish, your family?
• What does it mean "to keep the peace"?
• Are there certain individuals who are called to keep the peace, or is that a ministry that all of us are called to?
• What do we do about individuals who are unable/unwilling to live in peace with those around them?

• The eternal dance 
• Life is generally defined in terms of function: reaction to stimuli, growth, and reproduction.
• How would you characterize the life that we will have in eternity?
• How will we relate to the Trinity in eternity?
• How can we start now? 

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I trying God's patience lately?
2. How willing am I to let God direct my life?
3. Would anyone ever come to me for encouragement in their journey?
4. Is there anything about this past week that has brought me closer to the Trinity?

What if?

The sensible person predicts what might happen in response to their actions.
The hard part is that it's often the case that multiple outcomes are possible,
Not just at the end of a sequence, but at every point along the way.

So we try to weed out the less likely outcomes, concentrate on the most likely.
Decide which of those likely outcomes are needed, wanted, desired, versus
Outcomes that we want so desperately to avoid.  And so we choose.

But what if you were asked to make a decision,
Between all good alternatives,
Not knowing where any of them would lead.

The only distinction is that only one of them is what God wants.
What if your desires, your wishes in the matter were strong and deep,
And you were hard pressed to hear God's voice above the din of your own drives?

How would you choose?
How long would it take?
What if you choose wrong?

Could you trust God to know the right way?
Could you be humble enough to choose that over anything else?
Could you be indifferent to where that choice led?

What sort of life would that be?
Would you think to find peace there?
What would Jesus do?

Shalom!