Trinitarian values

From 24-7Wiki

247 Communities: Some suggestions on principles and values from the Trinity

As well as our team’s discussions on practical issues concerning communities; we have also spent time on our principles and values. In our first day of face-to-face discussions together we discussed what it was that God was doing and the values we saw were at work.

‘The deepest image of God in human society is attained not by an individual alone, but only through a society that becomes community through its embrace of irreducible difficulties.’ (Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, theologian)

In examining a simple map of where all the different 24-7 communities were and what they looked like, it became obvious to us that there is no single model or approach to Boiler Room communities. They can be found in cities but sometimes in rural areas. They can be big or small. They can be community houses, in small geographical areas or sometimes around a demographic group.

However, what we did find were some key principles that we valued and that seemed to stand out as something of what God was saying to us.

We value relationship. It’s our hope that growth, life, action or connection would come from or out of local communities and the basis of relationship. It’s the person-to-person aspect that we value highly and want to base our practices and decisions in.

Many monastic or communities based movements throughout history have valued the Trinity as an image of a God who exists in and loves relationship. David Cunningham writes:

‘Although contemporary Trinitarian theologians vary enormously in the degree to which they are willing to renounce their allegiance to the metaphysics of substance (Andy: i.e. how it works) they seem to agree that more stress should be placed on the claim that God is relational.’

If we consider our Trinitarian God we can find it hard to argue against his relational nature. Indeed in 24-7 we try and apply that ourselves and value friendship highly. Our communities need to encourage friendship. Our structuring helps to enable relationship. Our resourcing and equipping give value to relationship. It’s therefore important to note that our communities are growing with this relational emphasis.

We value beginnings, the starting points of these communities in friendship and relationships. Joe Steinke, wrote a paper for us and put it like this:

‘A new community emerges from a season of prayer and friendship asking ‘what now? How then should we live? …. Dreams and ideas dancing around a fraternity of friends find first frail forms, blooming with wonder and hope. If it all goes well, they find a firmer form, set rhythms to their lives and look forward with goals and expectations.’

We want to encourage this friendship dance around prayer, dreams and rhythms of life. The early Greek theologians took the image of a dance as a suitable one for the Trinity; ‘perichoresis’ or the ‘around’ (peri) ‘dance’ (choresis). A dance where ‘each person contains the other two’ . We’re invited to participate in this dance, and we hope these beginnings of community somehow mirror this Trinitarian dance, where different people’s and personalities come together, share and interact – being both different but also needing each other and forming community.

It’s at this small starting point that these dreams and visions of community begin to grow, so we value this highly.

‘The ultimate principle of the world and of history, is not a solitary being then, but God-the-Family, God-communion’ (Leonardo Boff, Franciscan theologian)

We value both the large ‘venue-based’ communities and the small ‘front-room’ community. If our marker is relationship then the key questions arises how do we grow? How can we maintain a highly relational approach when numbers increase? It inevitably becomes harder and as we grow, we need to keep a relational focus. The exciting thing to note is that many communities are overcoming this – breaking into smaller groups within the larger, valuing people, not forming first around meetings. And they’re growing in numbers too – which we must embrace and shouldn’t fear. We love this, because our God ‘wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:4). Many communities have been sensing a renewed call this year to mission, to the lost if you like. I believe passionately that Boiler Rooms will be places of salvation and of growth this coming year.

We recently received an article from a guy who’d visited the Kansas City Boiler Room, one of the examples of a growing community, which has managed to maintain this relational dynamic alongside growing numbers.

“I could already feel my icy exterior melting, chipped away with every handshake, every smile, every genuine question about my life, my history, myself. Everyone knew each other. Everyone cared……Life was lived communally, intentionally. So much more real. So much more scary. So much more vulnerable, both to God and to each other. But so much more rewarding.” (‘Where do I go from here? Ryan Milner)

We value our spiritual life and our whole selves. Our communities should be places of rhythm, rest and sabbath as well as activity and busyness. We value quality of life and want to walk away from burnout. The Trinity teaches us clearly about relationship. It is an invitation to a way of life, of participation. But the Trinity is also a mystery and it teaches us the place of mystery. Karl Barth concluded that theology ‘arises ultimately out of a prior act of God, that humans cannot initiate but can only receive: revelation.’

There is a mystery concerning the Trinity that we can probably never grasp. How? Strangely, although we don’t understand, we value and the theology we express is often a way of defending the space for the mystery, rather than solving it. It’s there in the cross and resurrection, the virgin birth, the miracles – the mystery of our God.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Cor 2:9

Our communities too should value and defend the mystery of our God, and I believe that should bring a quality of life – even when we don’t quite see how.

· Sabbath rest. God’s rest was when he looked and saw that things were good. Sabbath shows us that God values our humanity – that rest is important. It also shows us to the need to set aside priority for space, and space with God, space to wonder at all He is and at all he has made and done. How do we enable that place of rest for ‘wonder’ in our communities? · Spirit-filled. Realising that even in times of frantic activity, our relationship with God and giving space for the Spirit to work remain a priority. Key to this is living up to our name – being people of prayer. · Mysticism and miracle. Giving space for the Spirit means that our agendas and plans may get messed up – but in valuing relationship and each other – we may witness mysteries face to face. My prayer is for more and more miracle stories, many stories of mystery as he uses the hidden, forgotten or neglected to bring God to his name.

So what are we saying?

In our communities, therefore, we value:

· Relationship · Beginnings · Both large and small · Our spiritual life, and our whole selves

Thanks for reading.

Andy Freeman