Two Big Words

Dear Friends,

As I have been getting to know the people and mission of this place, a theme is emerging that I want to reflect upon today. It’s two big words found in our mission statement: “transformational” and “love.” In seminary, one of my biblical teaching and hermeneutics professors, a brilliant mind and strong leader, said something like, “Unless it’s in the text, don’t preach about it.” She took umbrage at the overusage of powerful words in our attempts to be relevant, I suppose. One of those words was “love.” 

When I think about the ways in which Love is talked about throughout scripture, many scholars of Old and New Testaments categorize this very succinct English word into several words that would benefit from deeper exploration: In greek, we find Agape in John 3:16; Phileo in John 5:20; Philostorgos in Romans 12:10; or in Hebrew we find ahava in Deuteronomy 6:5; hesed in Psalm 136:1; racham in Psalm 103:13; and dod in Song of Solomon 2:16. Each of these words take on a different life of their own when explored individually, but in the context of our mission, where we claim to look “to the future where Christ’s transformational love inspires every generation to care for one another and serve the wider world,” it begs us to lean into this notion of what “Christ’s transformational love” means for us, at Trinity, today (more on that in a moment). 

The other word, then, is “transformational.” 

To me, transform, the root word of “transformational,” is deeper than simply “convert” or “remodel,” which are some of the more common synonyms associated with transform. It’s a complete redesign. I am different today than I was yesterday, before I knew Christ or was known by Christ. Transformation is used in scripture in Romans 12:2 where Paul teaches “Do not be conformed to this world,[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” and in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

And for those of us who have never known a day when we were not known by Christ’s love, how can WE be transformed?

I don’t pretend to know the answer for each of us individually, but I do believe that our practices and the way we choose to gather, point others toward what is important to us. It reveals what matters to us, through how we spend our time, our money, and our conversations. 

This ministry that we are a part of, by virtue of our baptisms, is all about relationships: with the Divine, with one another, with the natural world around us.

So, then, friends, this week, I invite us to spend time with this question and ask ourselves, what do I/you/we mean when we say Christ’s transformational love inspires us? What does it mean to be transformed by Christ’s love, in this place? 

In peace,

Jodi+