Stand Down on the Delta

Stand Down on the Delta is a four-day event that seeks to offer support and services to homeless and/or at-risk veterans. It is done in a way that provides veterans and their families dignity and respect. The event takes place this August 11-14 at the Contra Costa Fairgrounds here in Antioch. It is sponsored by the Delta Veterans Group and they are looking for volunteers for this year's event. If you are interested, you may look at their website for more information at https://deltaveteransgroup.org/stand-down-on-the-delta. Also, planning meetings for the event take place on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00pm at the Antioch Veterans Memorial building at 403 W. 6th St. Let's help our veterans!

 

The Holy Trinity   

    Our belief that God is a Trinity - three distinct and equal persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) yet only one God - is one of the major beliefs that makes us different from other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses. The word "Trinity" is a blending of two words that express our belief: "Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one; Tri+Unity = "Trinity." This word "Trinity" is never mentioned in the Bible - it came about in later centuries - yet, in the gospels, Jesus speaks of himself as distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit on numerous occasions. And when Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan River, three of the gospels (see Matthew 3:16-17, for example) describe the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as three distinct persons. Jesus tells his disciples to baptize others not just in his name or the Father's name, but in the name of all three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

In addition, the New Testament speaks of each person of the Trinity as God - the Father is God (Philippians 1:2); Jesus is God (Titus 2:13); and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). However, they are not three separate Gods but only one God; Scripture is very clear that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 46:9). In fact, one of the reasons Jesus was killed was because he made himself equal to God.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have tried to understand the relationships among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and they have portrayed them in different ways to express our understanding of this one God who is three Persons:  from the three-leafed shamrock used by St. Patrick to an equilateral triangle to different representations in art. There is even the illustration of the Holy Trinity being like the three forms of water: liquid, ice and steam - they are each unique forms of water, but each is still completely water. While this illustration may help, it is not entirely correct in expressing what we believe about God because water is only sometimes liquid, sometimes ice, and sometimes steam. God is not sometimes Son, sometimes Father, and sometimes Spirit. He is eternally each, always at the same time.

 The Holy Trinity is ultimately a mystery that we human beings will never fully understand because God is infinite and we are finite. As St. Augustine very insightfully said long ago: "If you understand [it], it is not God." In any event, perhaps some of the images included in this article might help us conceptualize God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy  Spirit.