Jesus is God.

As Christians, we hold to a belief in God revealed as Father (Creator God), Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. The teaching about God as Trinity is a later development in the church as it wrestled with the biblical teachings about God as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly referred to as the Old Testament) and the New Testament. Many mainline congregations celebrate this teaching about God as Trinity on the Sunday after Pentecost, June 19, 2011.

Large volumes of books have been written about God as Trinity. Let me summarize in a brief way to say that what is important for us to understand as it impacts our life of prayer is that the teaching about the Trinity affirms God as One – a unity yet revealed in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. While we may think of God in the Hebrew Scriptures as the Father (revealed primarily as Yahweh, but included names like Elohim, or El Shaddai – Exodus 6:2-3), yet in the Nicene Creed, we affirm that the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets who also prophesied about the coming Messiah. Jesus also was full of the Holy Spirit who guided, empowered and directed Jesus’ ministry. Simply put, God is active as One in and through us as we pray and minister in Jesus’ name.

My Mother's Root Cellar

My Mom, Ruthe Dahlseng, died on March 23, 2011, the day after her birthday. Much of what I learned about faith, prayer and Scripture came from both of my parents. Each autumn on their farm in Minnesota, my mom would bring her bulbs down to the root cellar and hang them up to dry until she would re-root them the following spring.