ACT 3 exists to advance the missional mandate of Jesus Christ through Scripture and Tradition. We seek to do this by means of three core commitments that we have prayerfully established. The first commitment is to advance worship. We put this commitment in the following way:

To advance worship in culturally accessible forms, through orthodox theology that is deeply rooted in the classical doctrine of the triune God and through humble collaboration and cooperation within the whole Christian Church.

I think about each of our three ministry commitments nearly every single day. It helps me focus my life on the purpose we believe God has given to us as a ministry. One thing it also does is direct my reading and writing on a regular daily basis. When I recently picked up a little book by Joseph F. Girzone, titled simply Trinity, I was drawn to it with profound interest. (It was on sale for $4.99, which surely helped my interest!) Girzone, for those who do not know, is a bestselling author who is retired from the active Catholic priesthood due to health reasons. He is widely known for his books Joshua, Joshua the Homecoming, Joshua and the City, A Protrait of Jesus, and Never Alone. He established the Joshua Foundation out of the profits from his fourteen or so books and has dedicated himself to making Jesus better known throughout the world as a result. My previous exposure to him, which was quite limited, led me to believe that I would not like his theology or his writing style. (Too Catholic and too simplistic, I reasoned to my critical soul.) Reading Trinity convinced me otherwise. Girzone’s theology will displease some non-Catholics, since he is clearly still Catholic in his faith.(He refers to Luther’s life as being marked by "heroic holiness.") But this should not stop the ordinary Christian reader from this excellent book.

Girzone guides the reader to a deeper personal understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity with elegant, short, and very clear sentences. But what he does in this book of 128 page is far more important than the style eh writes with so consistently. He warmly invites the reader to enter into the life of the Trinity by giving us "an image of a God who is believable, and perhaps even lovable." And he does this in remarkably effective, indeed strongly affective, ways. Similar to St. Patrick’s attempt to present the Trinity in simplicity Girzone resists arcane theological statements and provides us with a useful way of perceiving God that can genuinely impact day-to-day life. Girzone writes:

The Trinity is not a theological definition. It is the very nature of God. It is the God we worship. God revealed hismelf to us through Jesus, not so we could be imprisoned in a theological concept to be memorized as a condition for baptism. He revealed himself to us because he loves us and wanted to share himself, his inner self with us, so we could come to know him and love him as he is. We have received that revelation with cruel indifference, wondering why God even bothered to reveal something that we could hardly understand. But rare faithful souls who take Jesus’ words to heart and draw near to God in the intimacy of contemplative prayer eventually experience the ecstatic joy of being embraced within this inner life of God. They know, from their own inner revelation, this Triune God whom the rest of us can only try to define. Indeed, we would do much better to imitate them, in welcoming the Trinity into our hearts rather than struggling to define it (pages vii-viii).

I am sure that I will read Girzone’s Trinity more than once. One reason will be to learn from his amazingly creative style of writing complex theology. Another reason will be to get some big ideas more clearly rooted in my thinking, in very simple ways that can reach my heart.

I have asked this week, in light of this little book and our three core commitments for ACT 3, "What difference does the Trinity make in your life and in the worship of your church?" For many evangelicals it makes very little difference at all. Their prayer and worship sound, at best, like bi-natarian theology. I understand, the longer I live, why a prominent evangelical leader once told me that one of the most pressing questions Catholic cardinals have asked him, in private, about evangelicals is this: "Do you really believe in the doctrine of the Trinity?" Whether the worship style is Pentecostal, or non-Pentecostal, it seems to make very little real difference on this point. Most modern worship in our churches is not distinctly Trinitarian. We have a long way to go to get this right again. Girzone’s little gem might actually help us recover this vital truth, central to everything that we know about God and his grace.

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Comments

  1. Gene Redlin January 23, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    I tried without success to teach the Trinity Sunday and why it’s important to understand. Yikes.
    Much more difficult than I thought it would be.
    Even using the Revelation of Jesus and He who is on the throne in Rev 5 & 6 as a springboard I didn’t get done. I’ll try again next week. Take a look at my post on this. It’s sad and funny.

  2. David Kaufman January 23, 2006 at 6:01 pm

    John,
    I was reading your bio and was amazed to see Huntsville, AL on there. I was born and raised in Huntsville and moving back in 3 months. God is doing a great work there and I am privileged to be going back.
    Would love to share more with you about it- You can email me..,
    David Kaufmann

  3. Craig R. Higgins January 24, 2006 at 11:28 am

    Another book recommendation: Experiencing the Trinity, by Darrell Johnson (PCUSA guy at Regent College). While very theologically informed (T.F. Torrance and Colin Gunton are in there), it is a very simple book (originally sermons) that powerfully calls us to a rich Trinitarian spiritual experience.

  4. Nick Morgan January 25, 2006 at 2:48 pm

    John,
    I don’t think any of us can adequately express how important recovering a healthy doctrine and experience of God as an eternal Triune Being is for the active life and renewal of the Church, especially our Evangelical Churches. Over the past 13 years that I have been involved in Evangelical Churches I must admit that even though they profess Trinitarian faith on paper, on a pratical reality they are either “bi-nitarian” or “modalistic” in their worship expression toward God. I think I have always had a certain love for the reality of God as a Trinity since my Catholic school days, especially since my High School was “Trinity High School”. I began to reflect on the importance of knowing God as a Trinity several years ago, and realized that this must be an experienced reality that goes well beyond, but certainly doesn’t contradict a sound Trinitarian orthodox confession of faith. Having realized this truth, reflecting on God as Triune both in His inner nature and in the economy of redemption began to radically alter the way I approached the Scripture, the way I viewed the Church, my prayer life and my understanding of true Christian worship. Keep up the good work and may Almighty God – the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you in all that you do! Oh, I highly recommend Gerald Bray’s book “The Doctrine of God” by IVP to any readers of this site; it is an excellent introductory book on the inner nature of God as a Triune Being and interacts with many patristic writers from the Catholic/Orthodox Traditions.

  5. Bianca Ferreira January 26, 2006 at 11:48 pm

    DEAR MR. GIRSONE,
    I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW FIRST WATCHING JOSHUA ON DVD HAS TAKEN ME ON A JOURNEY THAT HAS BROUGHT ME CLOSER TO GOD. I HAVE JUST STARTED READING THE SEARIES AND LOOK FORWARD TO CONTINUING MY JOURNEY. AS A NURSE IT HAS MADE ME LOOK AT THE PEOPLE I WORK WITH AND THE PATIENTS I CARE FOR IN A
    WHOLE DIFFERENT WAY. I STILL STRUGGLE WITH
    THE OLD BAD HABITS, BUT I KEEP TRYING TO LET GOD DEAL WITH WHAT I CAN’T CHANGE. I CAN ONLY TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN WHAT I SPEAK AND HOW I ACT.
    THE NURSING SHORTAGE IS UNBELIEVABLE AND MANAGEMENT DOES NOT MAKE IT ANY EASIER, BY
    LOOKING AT THE NUMBER OF PATIENCE INSTEAD OF THE ACUITY OF EACH PATIENT.
    I KEEP PRAYING TO GOD TO GIVE ME PATIENCE AND GUIDE ME THROUGH MY STRUGGLES.
    THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU.
    BIANCA FERREIRA
    B

  6. Bianca Ferreira January 26, 2006 at 11:49 pm

    DEAR MR. GIRSONE,
    I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW FIRST WATCHING JOSHUA ON DVD HAS TAKEN ME ON A JOURNEY THAT HAS BROUGHT ME CLOSER TO GOD. I HAVE JUST STARTED READING THE SEARIES AND LOOK FORWARD TO CONTINUING MY JOURNEY. AS A NURSE IT HAS MADE ME LOOK AT THE PEOPLE I WORK WITH AND THE PATIENTS I CARE FOR IN A
    WHOLE DIFFERENT WAY. I STILL STRUGGLE WITH
    THE OLD BAD HABITS, BUT I KEEP TRYING TO LET GOD DEAL WITH WHAT I CAN’T CHANGE. I CAN ONLY TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN WHAT I SPEAK AND HOW I ACT.
    THE NURSING SHORTAGE IS UNBELIEVABLE AND MANAGEMENT DOES NOT MAKE IT ANY EASIER, BY
    LOOKING AT THE NUMBER OF PATIENCE INSTEAD OF THE ACUITY OF EACH PATIENT.
    I KEEP PRAYING TO GOD TO GIVE ME PATIENCE AND GUIDE ME THROUGH MY STRUGGLES.
    THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU.
    BIANCA FERREIRA
    B

  7. Connie Lee Berg October 13, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Joseph F. Girzone is my favorite Author – I am in the process of collecting all his books. He helped restore my faith.

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