A Trinitarian Blessing

Eph 3:14-21

 

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

 

Amen.

 

This is a Trinitarian blessing.  In 325 AD the Council of Nicaea defined the dominant form of Christian thought about God as Father / Creator / Provider / Protector,   Son / Redeemer / Savior / Lord,   and Spirit / Counselor / Advocate / Guide. Today I am inviting us to move beyond a theological/intellectual debate about definitions of God to an experiential encounter with God.

 

Re-read this passage, but this time read it as if the writer is pronouncing a blessing over you. Read it aloud slowly, feeling the words wash over you. Take this prayer into your bones and make them part of your DNA.  Say the “Amen” over and over, feeling its power hold you.

 

 

Third Sunday after Trinity

34 Our Weakness and God’s Strength
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 213.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.