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One of the most spiritually encouraging readings I have engaged in this past year and presently is from a collection of Eastern Orthodox writings called The Philokalia. I first heard of this work through the writings of Richard Foster and the work of Renovaré. The second volume of the complete text of The Philokalia is …
Continue reading "“God is One”: St. Maximos the Confessor on the Trinity"
The Triune God, who is eternally in reciprocal, self-giving relationship, is a sending God. The Father sends the Son at the incarnation because "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). After the Son's ascension, the Father sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as Peter reminds us, quoting Joel the prophet: "In the last days, God …
Continue reading "The Triune God Sends with Self-Giving Love"
This past weekend at Eastbrook, I stressed the importance of Christian worship being centered in the Trinity in my message "Worship in the Beauty of Holiness" in the concluding weekend of our series "Roots." There are some things in our faith that I would consider secondary, but the Trinity is not one of them. The …
This past weekend at at Eastbrook Church I concluded our series, "Roots," on certain non-negotiable characteristics of the church, and Eastbrook Church in particular as we celebrate 40 years. This final weekend took us into an exploration of worship based in Psalm 96:9. I admit that I still love the way that the King …
Following on from the previous messages on "God the Father" and "God the Son," I concluded our vision series on The Trinity with an exploration of the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. I am a bit of an odd duck in terms of my church background. I had a transforming encounter in …
Matthew Erickson 