45. Fostering Unity Towards Mission – Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh

Learning from St Paul’s Trinitarian Spirituality

“I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may also be one even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” [John 17:20-21]

[1] Rublev’s famous icon of the Trinity. [2] Holy Trinity sculpture, c. 1300. [3] Allegory of the Trinity, by Frans Floris, 1562.

When St Ignatius’ Church in Kuala Lumpur celebrated this year’s parish feast day in July, the organising committee selected the theme of “Fostering Unity Towards Mission” for communal programmes of reflection, activities and celebration. In facilitating the reflection, we began by proposing that we took a lesson from St Paul’s Trinitarian spirituality. Participants had asked for printed notes which we did not have, the presentation being entirely based on Power Point projection. This post then is a belated transcript of the gist of what we spoke about.

Sr Joan Chittister, a modern-day prophet, once said: “The spirit that we have, not the work that we do, is what makes us important to the people around us.” It is the spirit of unity, and our need to foster this spirit of unity towards mission, which the committee wanted us to speak on. They were absolutely right, of course, for unity in spirit is what the Lord desires for his disciples.

The world in which Jesus lived was filled with strife and conflict. The world today seems to have grown many times worse. In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays that we may be one, just as He and the Father are one [John 17:21]. He desires that, just as He is in the Father, we may also be in the Triune God. In the Holy Trinity’s own mission towards the world, unity is of the essence. Central to Jesus’ prayer that fateful night of the Last Supper, therefore, is that the disciples have unity. It would not be a unity imposed by intimidation. It would not be attained through coercive authority. A police state might be remarkable in seeing people falling in line with everything the authority said, but such an external unity would at best have the appearance without the substance. What Jesus prays for is a unity like unto that between God the Father and God the Son. The external sign will reflect a true inner reality. What you see is what you get.

A Trinitarian unity is what we see in St Paul’s famous blessing formula as well: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” [2 Cor 13:14].

Translated to real life, what all this is saying in concrete is that we cannot successfully fulfill the mission of our calling without community.

None of us are meant to serve God alone.
We thrive best and are most effective when we have good relationships in the embrace of a Christian community.
Good friends in that community help us when we fall, support us when we are in need, challenge us when we falter, and minister to us when we struggle.

It is helpful when we have visual access to any mystery of the faith we may be reflecting on and the best visual access to the Mystery of the Holy Trinity is offered by Andrei Rublev’s famous icon, The Holy Trinity (1410). This icon is inspired by the story in Genesis 18:1-15, narrated as the generosity of Abraham to three strangers. For generations, this icon has served to aid reflections on the Triune God. From left to right, the three angelic figures recall the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Using this icon as springboard, we briefly examine three themes.

1. Spiritual Communion

There is spiritual oneness amongst the Trinity. The wings of the three angelic figures overlap, and disclose a depth of seamless intimacy in their fellowship. With their closeness in communion, we sense a closeness in mutual understanding. Furthermore, their legs are folded inwards, completing the circle of unity within the Trinity. Because they are complete, they engender a sense of not only oneness, but an exclusive oneness. And yet, the artist leaves an open space at the front which clearly suggests an invitation to every viewer to sit down and have fellowship with the Holy Trinity, to as it were enter into and participate in Trinitarian love and life.

This spiritual communion is in essence what St Paul is working hard to promote amongst the Corinthians as we read of his struggle to correct their fractious spirit in Corinth. Thanking God for the Corinthians, who are “not lacking in any spiritual gift” [1 Cor 1:7], Paul stresses that using God’s gifts for personal glorification is what causes divisions in the faith community. He exhorts them upon a uniting principle: “I appeal to you. Brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment”[1 Cor 1:10].

Dragging them back to the proper starting point, he teaches that to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good [1 Cor 12:7]. We should not act according to our own desires, regardless of community goal [Deut 12:8-9]. Church is about community, not individual ego. Mission is service, not ego trips. The missional DNA planted in us at baptism is never meant for lone-ranging, but for cooperation in which one plants, another waters, while God gives the growth [1 Cor 3:6].

2. Different but Equal

The three angelic figures share common resemblance, yet have different characteristics and duties, and relate to each other in equal dignity. The figure on the left points to God, the Father the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; the middle figure signifies Jesus Christ, God’s only Son our Lord, the Saviour of the world; and the figure on the right portrays God the Holy Spirit, the Lord the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

In giving Christianity the understanding of the Church as Body of Christ, St Paul brilliantly teaches the concept of “different but equal”. In teaching that members of the Church “are the body of Christ and individually members of it,” St Paul is not giving a discourse on the nature of spiritual gifts, but rather, he wants to teach what it means for members of the body to be gifted. And that teaching is Trinitarian:

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.“ [1 Cor 12:4-6]

And so, about the body of Christ, Paul wants to stress two things:

First, Paul stresses unity in diversity. There are many gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. And all gifts are meant for the common good. In this, Paul presents the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church, and the enduring source of our faith and unity.
Second, Paul stresses many parts in one body. He draws an analogy between the Church and the human body and insists that all parts are equally important.

But what does “the Church is the Body of Christ” mean for mission?

The body means the visible expression of Christ. The only Christ that people see is the body of Christian followers. Outsiders are watching! When Mahatma Gandhi said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians”, it ought to be a wake-up call to all followers of Christ. That holy man of India has given Christians a precious gift – one that compels serious self-examination lest we continue to scandalize.
The body means interdependence and harmony. No part has all the gifts. No part is readily dispensable either. It is, in the word of Bible scholar, Raymond Collins, a blasphemy, to elevate one’s gift and downgrade others’, for all gifts come from the Holy Spirit.
The body means that mission and ministry is not the privilege of the few but is the responsibility of every part. Every community is tasked to promote gifts and talents. A community mindful of the Spirit consciously so organizes itself as to let talents emerge!
The body means mutual respect. As we live out our existence in church as in society, we shall not trample on others. We shall live and let live.

In Paul’s exhortations towards unity, then, he has a word for everybody in the faith community.

To those who feel inferior, Paul gives them great encouragement. He tells them that they are parts of the one body, that they are necessary, and that they are special.
To those who act superior, Paul tells them they are too big for their boots. He warns them that there is no room for arrogance, no room for dividing the body put together by God, and no room for monopolizing the limelight. Above all, he wants to see that nobody uses talents given by God to dominate others.
To the whole church, Paul tells them that all gifts are to be accepted and welcomed, for they are God-given, for mission ad intra and mission ad extra. In whatever they do, they should seek to include, not exclude.

Clearly, Paul is telling the Corinthian community that no one has them all, so that jealousy, arrogance, and independence are equally inappropriate within Christ’s body. Paul is telling us not to kill talents, for they are given by God to the community. Promote them; let talents emerge!

How then must the body shape up for mission? This body of Christ must grow communally in depth, in numbers, and in maturity. For that to happen, every part of the body would need to work properly together with the rest. And yet, what do we normally see happening in our dioceses, our parishes, our lay organizations, our families? There is good cooperative spirit, and wherever we see it, our own spirit rejoices and praises God. But there are maladies too everywhere we turn, and our spirit grieves wherever we see them. What common maladies does the body suffer from? The following have been identified and you can moderate your own list:

Amputation, where members cut themselves off from really committing themselves. The result is a big loss to the community.
Elephantiasis, where some ministers have grown too big, causing other parts to suffer.
Atrophy, where members just sit there passively, resigned to inaction.
Fractures, where members fall out with one another. The body is broken.
Arthritis, where there is a grinding of bone against bone, causing painful friction.

What can we do?

Energy may be helpfully spent to address three common tendencies.

First, the usual leaders may be impatient or overly territorial, and assume that nothing will happen unless they do everything themselves.
Second, there are always some who, naturally quiet and bashful, are only too happy to stay in a corner, away from the limelight.
Third, by and by, both over-participation and non-participation may harden into unhealthy habits.

Community-building does not just happen. It takes a great deal of energy to create community. It requires both faith and trust, and a continuing display of human care that begins with anyone and everyone who is mindful of contributing towards a community-spirit.

What is central is that together we keep a unity of purpose. It involves working at a process of making all of human community real, and of doing it out of a common vision and one heart, in line with St Paul’s thesis [1:10] that runs through the entire First Letter to the Corinthians.

In a good working community, members apply their gifts for the common good. They are given the opportunity and are encouraged to do so. They use their goods for something greater than themselves, resisting the inclination to store up grain in barns, for their own security alone.

In community-building projects as in daily Christian existence, St Pio’s prayer is always useful: “Stay with me, Lord, for you are my light, and without you, I am in darkness.”

3. Circle of Love, Sacrifice & Support

The three figures, eternally looking to each other, form a circle of love. There are three points here that go to the very nature of God. First, God is love. Furthermore, the love of the Triune God is not inward looking, but extends outwards for the salvation of the world. And thirdly, that love supports, empowers, and enables. As if compelled by His own internal dynamics, therefore, the Triune God of love is God of Mission: “For God loved the world so much he gave his only Son” [John 3:16]. The Church this Son called into existence and left behind exists not for itself, but for mission. Mission, as the Son of God has shown, requires sacrifices to be made. Sacrifice is love put into action.

So in Rublev’s icon, we see the tree of life behind the Christ-figure. It points to the wood from which the cross is made. But it also points to the Paschal Mystery of Christ, in which the journey is from pain to hope, and from death to life. The cross, therefore, is also the tree of life. Christ has willingly taken up the cross, his two fingers pointing to the roasted lamb in the chalice, signifying his acceptance of the sacrifice he had to make.

The suffering Son-on-mission is supported by the Father and the Holy Spirit, always. Artists have captured the essence of this loving support in sculptures and classical paintings, depicting the crucified Son in the bosom of the Father, ministered to by the Spirit.

There is immense encouragement for all of us in all this. As we approach the empty seat in Rublev’s icon, we see a little opening in the front panel where relics of martyrs are kept. Christian martyrs, and all who make sacrifices on account of the faith in Christ, have a special place in the heart of God.

Just as the Triune God is dialogue and love, Paul teaches that love is the more excellent way [1 Cor 13]. In the proper functioning of the body for mission, love is first in the order of importance. As Paul has it: “In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.” It is the love that realizes that I am not the most important, that the body is more important than any one part, and that all the parts are made complete and have importance only in the body.

The classical formula of “agape” is that of Jesus who says: “As I have loved you, love one another.” This love is missionary in character ; it is meant to circulate, to expand.

So we are called to pray every morning:

“Heavenly Father, may everything I do today be done out of love for you.”

You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email us your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com. You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry by sending us questions for discussion.

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