FATHER’S SONG (13): Dancing Together As One (Paul)

Jesus lived his entire life completely swept up in the rhythms of The Father’s Song. Remember that in the very beginning, before the creation of the world, all that existed was the eternal dance of the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit enjoying pure, self-giving, mutual joy and love between their three eternally distinct persons.

This is a mystery for sure. But when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) we were given a glimpse of what it looks like when a human being lives in perfect oneness with the Triune Godhead. This is the One who said: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (John 5:19).

Before Jesus left this earth to return to the Father he prayed a most majestic prayer on behalf of his followers. His famous prayer is recorded in John 17:

FATHER’S SONG (1): “The Dance of the Trinity” (Trinity)

SERIES INTRO: One divine melody permeates the grand narrative of redemptive history.  In this series, Jeremy guides us through the main episodes of the biblical narrative with “ears to hear” the penetrating God-beat keeping everything in sync.  Leave the dissonance of the world and join the Dance of the Trinity as we catch a glimpse of a life lived in tune with God.

“In the beginning was the Word (logos)…” We’re all familiar with the hauntingly beautiful yet strange and mysterious beginning of John’s Gospel where he describes the mystery of the incarnation.  Jesus, the Son, here called “the Word” is in the beginning “with God” and, in some shocking sense, “is God.”  John is peering back into the mysteries of the ages and painting a portrait of the God who exists as a “being in community”, the Holy Trinity — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Curious teenagers just beginning to wrestle with the idea of God often raise the question, “What did the eternal, always existing God do before He created the universe?  I mean, what a boring existence!”  While we cannot be too cavalier in our speculation on such matters, I believe thebest answer to the question is to merely say, “God danced.”  Yes, God is always dancing.

The early church probed deeply into the inner realities of the trinitarian life and used the word perichoresis to describe the “dance of mutual indwelling.”  For all of time and before time as we know it came into being,

“The Father, Son and Spirit have lived in an eternal, joyful, vibrant dance of love and honor, rhythm and harmony, grace and beauty, giving and receiving” (McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus, 147).

Careful readers of the Bible understand that love is not just something God does, love is the essence of who God is — “God is love.” What was there before God brought the world into existence?