Beyond Our Imagination

Genesis 1:26-27; John 14:10-17

Happy Father's Day!! Blessings to all you dads! Being a good and loving father takes a lot of time, patience, and grace. I know that I am incredible blessed. I have a wonderful Father. I have never doubted the love and care of my Dad. I even took it for granted as a child ... many many times. And yet, his love was constant even when frustrated. I don't know how he did it.

There are many people in the world who have not had good fathers. This grieves my soul. Having kind, strong, and patient parents helps kids to grow up to be kind, strong, and patient. But this is only the beginning. I believe that a child's relationship with their parents also helps shape the child's relationship with God. I also think that our view of God shapes who we are as parents.

Not only is today Father's Day, but it is also Trinity Sunday. On this day we celebrate the complexity of our God. In our scriptures God is spoken of as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today as we consider the expression of God as trinity, let us also consider our own complexity, especially you Dads, since we understand ourselves to be created in the image of God.

Jesus speaks of his relationship with his Father. He distinguishes himself from the Father, and yet he goes on to explain that he and the Father are one. "I am in the Father and the Father is in me." Then Jesus makes us a promise that the Father will give us another Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. Jesus is the first Advocate but he knows he is going away. The promise of the other Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, is a promise that we will not be left alone. The Spirit of Truth abides with us, and will be in us. Our celebration of Pentecost fulfill this promise of the other Advocate.

It's hard to wrap our heads around all these relationships. And it gets even more mind blowing when Jesus says, "I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." This is not how we experience the world we live in. Even in our closest relationships we hold on to our individuality. While Jesus is teaching that we are interwoven with the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit, he also keeps the distinction that there is The Father, Jesus, the Spirit and us. This is mystery of the highest order. It is important to look at this complex mystery because it is connected to our calling by Christ to obey his commandments, the chief of which is to love God and to love our neighbor.

We can look at what we see in our lives to begin to explore this mystery. Consider a woven blanket. There are many threads that make up the one blanket. The black thread is distinct from the brown thread which is distinct from the red and yellow threads. Each of these threads are separate but because they are woven together, they become one. The Father, Jesus, and the Spirit are distinct, yet they are one. We are woven into the spiritual fabric of God and are invited to experience love at a level beyond our imagination.

Ephesians 3:16 - 21
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.


Rooted and grounded in love. The power to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses our knowledge. The Spirit desires to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. We are beckoned by God to search out the immensity of the mystery and complexity of God. Not that we apprehend the facts but that we comprehend the immensity and establish ourselves in love. This love surpasses what our brains alone can figure out. It isn't a calculation.

Imagine something amazing! Imagine the most marvelous think you can think of. Remember the most incredible experience that you've ever experienced. The love of Christ surpasses this. The power of the Spirit is able to accomplish more than this. Jesus and the Father with the Spirit are one. We are invited to be woven into this Holy Blanket.

It isn't just the Holy Spirit moving through us with Jesus as our Redeemer and the Father who sent the Son. Because of Christ we are reconciled to the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit. We are like a limb grafted on to a tree or like an organ transplanted into a body. Once we are reconciled we have access to all that the Father and Jesus shared. Through the Holy Spirit we are equipped to live a life of love beyond our imaginations.

This life of love is what we are called to live. Love is the foundational connection that we have with God. Just as God loves us we are to love God - with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Secondly, we are to love our neighbor as ourself. These are the commandments that we must obey in order for the weaving of ourselves with God to be secure and complete.

Fathers, I urge you to follow the lead of our heavenly Father. Weave yourself to your family. Call upon the Spirit of God to help you so that you and your family may be one. For all families of all kinds, I urge you to think about the mystery of love. How does it connect you to each other and to God? Think about the breadth and length and height and depth of this mystery. Imagine the love of Christ and then let yourself be wow'ed that Christ's love surpasses even the most magnificent dream you may have.