preparig for the Trinitarian Community

Preparing for Trinitarian Community.

This month we I’ve communicated the Three Angels’ Message and its significance for our identity as Seventh-day Adventists.  We had been looking at theology and practice of faith through “Trinitarian lens,” appreciating the working of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit around, among, and within us. 

Revelation 14:7 presents the first Angel’s message and invites all to ŒFear and Reverence of God the Father, giving Glory in Christ, who was the glory of the Father, and who invited us to do everything in our physical living to the Glory of God, andŽ worshipping God in Spirit, so does the Message end with Trinitarian identification of God’s people.

Revelation 14:12, chosen as the motto of our movement, also presents the Trinitarian living: Œ patience of the saints – the central part of a set of the Fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23);   keeping Commandments of God, emphasizing the old Testament Decalogue, Father’s Will; Ž and having the faith in/of Jesus.

Next month I intend to share with you the Trinitarian perspective on Community.  Community is an essence of existence.  Without relationships we die.  Another biblical word for “relationship” is “conversation.”  Whenever “conversation” stops a relationship ceases.

The future of the church depends on whether we develop true community.  People can get by for a while on programs, skilled communication, serving survival needs, but unless it develops sense of belonging it will become stale, irrelevant, place of pretence, where sufferers suffer alone, generating conformity.  Chinese proverb says, “whom God want to destroy he sends forty years of success,” implying that often a temporary success, or survival satisfaction, blinds people from experiencing greater growth.

I invite you to make plans and fellowship with us March 6, 13, 20 as we journey through the experience of the first Apostolic Church in the book of Acts of the Holy Spirit.  On the pages of the Holy Scripture there is not only a record of past, but an invitation and a recipe for our own experience. The life of the Holy Spirit in us as individuals draws us closer together, belonging together, coming in unity.

We also want to know what you think, so on those Sabbaths special open ended questionnaires will enable you to communicate with our church leadership.  I personally want to enter into a deeper conversation with you, as we focus on becoming community.