Celebrate the Trinity!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Next Sunday (May 22), many Christians will observe Trinity Sunday in celebration of God’s triune nature. Knowing God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is cause for great joy and thanksgiving!

As I think about God, I’m struck by his great mercy, seen clearly in Jesus’ prayer from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Though Jesus’ prayer included the religious leaders who betrayed him, the crowd that shouted “crucify him,” and the soldiers who nailed him to the cross and cast lots for his clothing, there was much more involved. Jesus’ prayer revealed the very heart and mind of the Trinity to forgive all humanity with our broken relationships, distorted identities, depravity and sin.

Crucifixion by Peter Gertner (public domain via Wikimedia Commons0 — *Crucifixion* by Peter Gertner (public domain, Wikimedia Commons)

Included in Jesus’ prayer were all people of all times and in all places. By assuming human nature through the incarnation, thus joining himself to all humanity, the eternal Son of God, in the person of Jesus, became the second (final) Adam (Romans 5:17-19). As Jesus spoke his brief prayer on the cross, his life-blood was poured out for the pardon of all people. At the moment he expelled his final breath, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies (with its mercy seat) from the forecourt of the temple, tore from top to bottom. It was as if the Father, coming from eternity, tore through the curtain of time and space to embrace his returning prodigal children in reconciliation.

"Trinity — *Trinity* by Rublev (public domain, Wikimedia Commons)

My finite brain struggles to understand our great and merciful God—to “comprehend the incomprehensible, know the unknowable, and fathom the unfathomable” (as a professor of mine once said). God transcends time and space (he exists simultaneously both inside and outside time), yet he invites us to be with him in his eternity. Though he is spirit—without physical attributes and invisible to our mortal eyes (Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, John 1:18)—God is intimately involved with us through his incarnate Son and by his Spirit.

To help us relate to him despite the fact that we are unable to comprehend his invisible attributes, Scripture uses anthropomorphisms that speak of God as having eyes (1 Kings 8:29), ears (Psalm 34:15), hands (Hebrews 1:10), mighty arms (Psalm 89:10), a face (Numbers 6:24-26) and feet (Psalm 8:6). These anthropomorphisms convey truths about God’s attributes: his omnipotence (being all-powerful, he is able to do whatever he wills in harmony with his good and perfect nature and character), his omnipresence (being everywhere present, there is nowhere he is not), and his omniscience (knowing all things immediately, simultaneously, exhaustively and truly, there is nothing he does not know).

Though God in his transcendent glory is beyond human comprehension, he is not a prisoner of that transcendence—he knows how to reveal himself to us, and has done so brilliantly in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. In and through Jesus, who is the full and final revelation of God, we know God as Triune, thus recognizing God as living and dynamic in his eternal internal relationships (as Father, Son and Spirit); and in his external relationships (with his creation). In and through Jesus we come to know the loving and merciful God who was willing to become as we are so that we may become like he is (as famously stated by Athanasius).

This truth about God, seen in Jesus, was preserved for us by the apostles in the New Testament. Relying on their testimony, early church teachers and leaders (men like Athanasius, Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzus) identified errors being taught concerning God’s nature. What they held to be true was summarized in written form in the early church creeds, which maintained 1) the unity (oneness) of the being of God; 2) the eternal existence and internal relations of the three Persons of God; and 3) the total equality of the three Persons in divine nature, authority and attributes. All three “dimensions” must be affirmed as simultaneously true in order to remain faithful in our witness to who God has revealed himself to be. If the unity or oneness is denied, we fall into the error of trithesim. If the eternity and divine relations of any of the three Persons is denied, we fall into modalism (the teaching that God is only one Person who then appears in three different “modes”). If one of the Persons is regarded as less divine or more divine than the others, we land in subordinationism.

A form of subordinationism was taught by Arius, a leader in the church in Alexandria, Egypt. He taught that God created a special angelic-like created being called Jesus, who God sent to redeem us. It became obvious that sending a creature instead of coming himself to save us speaks of a God who was unwilling or unable to be involved personally with his creation (Arius asserted that God was unable to be incarnate because his being was very different from created beings). This false teaching does not align with Scripture, which declares: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14); “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19); “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9 and see Hebrews 1:1-6).

Athanasius, an early champion of the Trinitarian faith, understood the revelation of Scripture. Knowing Jesus’ teaching and Paul’s writings, he opposed Arius’ error by teaching that only God himself can redeem humanity because a created being does not have that ability. Athanasius focused on Jesus’ declaration (recorded in John’s Gospel) concerning his oneness with the Father, and that he only did what he saw the Father doing. Athanasius concluded that God had to be involved in everything Jesus was and did. He reasoned that in Jesus, the Son of God (remaining fully who he was) became completely human so that we could be fully redeemed—only God himself is capable of truly redeeming humanity and reconciling us to God as his beloved children. So God himself—the whole Triune God—is our Savior (1 Timothy 1:1, 2:3, 4:10; Titus 1:3-4, 2:10, 13, 3:4; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 25). God did not send someone else to do the job for him—it was a job that only he could do.

The doctrine of the Trinity celebrates not only who God is, but also what the triune God has done, is doing and will do. I like the illustration that God is doing major surgery on humanity. God is a heart surgeon who operates without material scalpels, syringes and machines. God is performing heart transplants without a medical team—changing our hearts and even giving us new hearts that are perfect toward him. God is giving us a share in Jesus’ own sanctified human heart. Notice God’s promise:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is truly great and great in mercy. Knowing this leads us to give special emphasis to celebrating the Trinity as we gather for worship on Trinity Sunday.

Celebrating the Trinity this week and always,
Joseph Tkach

Earthquake in Vanuatu

This report is from Rod Matthews, GCI mission developer in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

On Friday, April 29, a very strong earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.3 struck in Vanuatu at 6.30 am local time and was pinpointed close to the island of Malekula where our GCI congregation is located. Vanuatu is on the “ring of fire,” which girdles the Pacific Ocean and is subject to earthquakes and volcanoes coming from the clashes and movements of the earth’s tectonic plates. Little was reported internationally about this quake because of the relatively low population on Malekula and with no reported loss of life. However our church community in Vanuatu is located on Malekula, and our facilities there sustained significant damage.

The quake was relatively shallow at 15 miles deep, and therefore it caused significant damage to buildings in the northern end of Malekula near the town of Norsup where the airport is located. The large circle on the map above shows how close the quake was to Norsup. Our church compound is near the village of Rory, about 6 miles north of Norsup.

We were immediately concerned about the welfare of the local people including our church community. Vanuatu pastoral coordinator, Rex Morgan, from our New Zealand office, received a text message from Vanuatu elder Billy Taren with the good news that no one was hurt. We are most grateful to God for the safety afforded our members there. Billy reported that none of their homes had significant damage.

Unfortunately, one of the two main buildings at our church facility was badly damaged (the one to the rear of the church compound pictured at right). The “guest house” in the compound, which contained the kitchen, bathroom facilities and two rooms used for storage and sleeping quarters also was badly damaged. This building was built with a more substantial construct and a metal roof in order to collect rain water for the tank, after years of suffering from a local water supply that was unreliable and intermittent often due to local political and social conflicts.

Vanuatu’s national pastor, William Davies (pictured at right with Rex Morgan, center, and Billy Taren, left) will travel from the island of Espiritu Santo (which also experienced a 6.0 earthquake a day later) to Malekula to encourage the members, help assess the immediate needs, and begin planning for how best to restore the facilities knocked out by the earthquake. We will be evaluating their need for outside assistance. In the meantime, they will be encouraged by your prayers for a more stable time ahead and by knowing that their brothers and sisters in Christ around the world know and care about their frightening experience and its results.

ACCM course in Martinique

This report is from Charles Fleming, mission developer for the Caribbean.

My wife Carmen and I recently were in Martinique to teach the ACCM Spiritual Formation course (intensive format) to a class of 40 GCI members from Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and the Bahamas (the group is pictured below). We had held ACCM’s Christian Leadership course with many from this group in 2014, and its Jesus and Gospels course in 2015. In addition to taking the courses, a few were credentialed to teach ACCM courses with the goal of making them available to any members who are interested.

We were especially encouraged by the fact that a number of the sessions in the recent gathering were led by individuals credentialed as teachers. In our travels over the past few years, my wife Carmen and I have been focusing on inviting folks to try different spiritual formation exercises as a way of opening ourselves up to God so he can transform us. We certainly cannot transform ourselves but we can position ourselves before God so he can do what only he can do.

ACCM group work

I encourage our leaders and other members to take ACCM online courses—you’ll find them at http://www.ambascol.org/. These courses can be completed entirely online, though ACCM classroom intensives are offered in various locations from time to time. ACCM will be holding an intensive for the Foundations of the Faith course as an add-on to the GCI International Conference coming to Orlando, Florida, in July 2017. Watch future announcements here in GCI Weekly Update for additional information.

Civility in politics

Politics

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) recently posted the podcast of a discussion between Leith Anderson (NAE President) and Richard Mouw (President Emeritus of Fuller Theological Seminary), advocating civility in our political discourse. To read a short message about their discussion and to listen to the podcast, go to http://nae.net/mouwpodcast/. For a related letter from GCI President Joseph Tkach concerning the virtue of prudence in approaching politics, click here.

Death of Roger Abels

We were saddened to learn of the recent death of long-time GCI pastor Roger Abels.

Roger and Donna — Roger with his wife Donna

Roger passed away at age 66 on May 16. He was born on June 6, 1949 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of the late Glenn and Alice Abels. Roger retired after 42 years as a GCI pastor, having served in Philadelphia, Chicago, Louisville, Kalamazoo, and (for 25 years) Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Roger is survived by his wife Donna of Fort Wayne, his daughters Jessica (Travis) McClure and Courtney (Mark) Harmon of Fort Wayne, his son Travis Abels of Portland, six grandchildren, a brother and a sister. Roger was preceded in death by a son, Brandon Abels, and by a sister.

Funeral services will be on Friday, May 20 at 1:00pm at Hockemeyer and Miller Funeral Home in Fort Wayne, with calling one hour prior; GCI Pastor Jim Valekis will officiate. Calling will also be on Thursday, May 19 from 2-4 and 6-8pm at the funeral home.

Here are excerpts from tributes posted on Facebook by Roger’s children:

From Roger’s daughter, Courtney Abels Harmon

Dad passed away yesterday in the most peaceful way any of us could chose—after the words “amen” and while being embraced by his family. Thank you for your prayers. God answered them though some of the answers weren’t what we wanted. There is no doubt that Dad is with Jesus. That was what he wanted the most!

From Roger’s daughter, Jessica Abels McClure

Daddy, as much as you “loved life,” you never lived for earthly rewards because you understood this was simply your temporary home. You lived your life with an unshakable assurance of what comes next. May you experience the unimaginable joy of being with our Heavenly Father, as you so much looked forward to doing. Thank you for dedicating your life to teaching not only your family, but hundreds of others the grace and peace that comes with knowing our Lord and Savior.

From Roger’s son, Travis Abels

Thank you Dad for taking us on camping trips, and showing us how to pick out a good walking stick. For being so easy to laugh, and filling our house with its echo, for so many years. Thank you for kissing mom every day, and yelling “emergency, emergency!” when you needed an immediate hug. For your strong arms, that cherished hard work, planting gardens, and playing basketball with your kids. For your adventurous spirit. Your tenacity. Your wisdom. Your tenderness. For all the late nights you stayed up with me making popcorn, and sneaking ice cream from the outside fridge.

Thank you for telling me “A poor man’s cloud is just as beautiful as rich man’s cloud,” and giving me my first beer after a long day of work in the yard. For your diamond-blue eyes, that so lovingly watched us, and your gentle smile, when we looked back at you. For showing us that it was okay to cry, and reminding us to never let the sun go down on our anger. Thank you, Pops, for being my favorite storyteller, and painting worlds with your words. For using those words to lead, to heal, to inspire laughter and understanding. For being a courageous example of what faith can do, and showing us what a good man looked like. For spreading your light so far and wide.

Please be in prayer for Roger’s wife Donna, for their children, the rest of the family and close friends. Cards may be sent to:

Donna Abels
1827 Ransom Dr.
Ft Wayne, IN 46845

William Condley

Thanks for your prayers for GCI Pastor William Condley (click here for the earlier prayer request). William’s son David sent this update:

Dad’s surgery went well, though he continues to be on a ventilator and sedated. He is having heart rhythm problems that may require a pacemaker if things don’t improve. Overall he is doing well, just waiting on his lungs to catch hold. Mom is doing well, and we are switching out taking care of her.

Please continue to pray for both William and his wife Ednita. Cards may be sent to:

William and Ednita Condley
153 S. Main Street
Atkins, AR 72823-8235

Cyprus Getaway 2017

hotel Would you like to join us for a week’s holiday on the beautiful island of Cyprus? GCI is holding a spiritual retreat there February 18-26, 2017. The retreat will involve Bible studies, worship services, prayer, meditation, outings, and, of course, hopefully some winter sunshine! Come for a minimum of four days, or for as many days as you like, or arrive early and leave late at the same pre-set rates.

The retreat will be held at the Athena Beach Hotel in Paphos (pictured above). The B&B rate for a standard room is 31 Euros (~$35) per night, per person in the room. Each person will also need to arrange for and pay for their travel.

At this point we need to gather the names of those who may be interested in attending so that we can get a count to assess the feasibility of conducting this retreat. If you are interested in participating, please email james.henderson@gracecom.org.uk. Once the possible numbers are more clear, further announcements will be made.