The Dance of the Trinity

The Dance of the Trinity

Other Readings: Proverbs 8

September 24, 2015

The Nicene Creed states that God is three in persons and one in essence. By nature, the triune God of the Bible is a relational being. Proverbs 8 gives a colorful, unique glimpse into the Judeo-Christian understanding of creation. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus is referred to as the personified wisdom of God. “I was beside him like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always.”(8:30) The Hebrew word for “delight” suggests that the creative act the Divine was a dance. God was playing, singing, and dancing as he formed the universe. The famous American philosopher-theologian, Jonathan Edwards believed that God created the world not out of personal deficiency but out of an overflow of love and joy in the perfection of his trinitarian being. The nature of love is dynamic and fluid, always extending itself to others. God communicates his glory by creating a people for himself who can share in the praise of his glory and participate in the dance of the trinity. In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis beautifully articulates that “in Christianity God is not an impersonal thing nor a static thing - not even just one person - but a dynamic pulsating activity, a life, a kind of drama, almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance…The pattern of this three-personal life is…the great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.” All of our movements call for harmony and symmetry. It could be that rhythm is the greatest proof of God. We move because God first moved. We dance because He first danced and set all things in motion. Our desire as humans is to dive into the cosmic order we observe in everything around us; to delight, rejoice, and play in this glorious world. Our beings are full of divine energy, longing to be released through dance and movement.