Readings:
Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5: 1-5
John 16: 12-15

Collect:
Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Reflection:
This time last year I was beginning my long pilgrimage from Swansea to Hereford along the St Thomas way.  Whilst I was walking, besides making sure that I was following the right route, I had plenty of time to think and reflect.  A lot of this was on my own, but there were times when I got to meet with others.  Sometimes a brief conversation with people I passed along the way, other times more in-depth conversations with people I encountered at the various pilgrim stops.  There were those who showed be hospitality and helped out when I thought I’d lost my phone.  These interactions with people were important to me and helped me to carry on.  Then there was the joy of sharing the final  bit of the pilgrimage with Liz and the children, walking together over the old bridge across the river Wye to the cathedral in Hereford.  

As I look back at my journey I am reminded of how important relationships are.  All along the way I encountered the importance of fostering relationships and that community is built on relationships. Without being relational community falls apart but in communities where relationships are strong then together you can face anything. This was evident in Port Talbot where they were facing the uncertainty around the future of the steel works and the community was pulling together to support each other. As I walked I couldn’t help wondering about what role the church played in some of these communities in fostering relationships and how particularly here in the Watling Valley we foster relationships between each congregation and the wider community.  What do we need to do to strengthen relationships between ourselves and others?

I believe that at the heart of our faith is relationships.  If you think about the nature of God, it is one that is based on relationships between the Father, Son and Spirit or Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.  We believe in a triune God and it is through the Trinity that we encounter God in creation, the life of Jesus and in the prompting of the Spirit. 

The famous icon by Rublev depicting the Trinity invites us to be part of this Trinitarian relationship.  You see three characters at a table extending an invitation to a fourth person, you, to join them.  It is God’s desire to be in a relationship with us that is at the heart of our faith and I believe, what it means to be the church.  For together with God, we are to be an relational community that desires to be in relationship with others.  We have that open space, if you like, where others can come and take their place at the table and the relationships grow.  These relationship can be with individuals or other organisations but we have a desire to be part of a loving, generous and open community.  Reflecting the loving, generous and open nature of God, expressed through the Trinity and reflected in the Rublev icon.  

It isn’t easy keeping relationships going, things can break down or change, but just as God never gives up on us, so we to mustn’t give up on God or our desire to be part of a loving, generous and open community.  So I wonder, how can we strengthen our relationship with God and with each other?  How can we as a Partnership build on and strengthen our relationships with the wider community?  How do we reflect the loving, generous and open nature of God?

As we spend some time thinking about the nature of the Trinity and the relationships that are at the heart of God may we be encouraged to take our place at the table, be strengthened by our relationship with God, supported by our relationship with others whom we share the journey, and challenged to play our part in building loving, generous and open communities that reflect the nature of God.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,

living and reigning in the unity of perfect love:

draw us so to know you, to love and follow you,

that in you we may find the fulness of life

which knows no beginning nor end

in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Taken from:

Daily with God,

© The Representative Body of the Church in Wales

Revd Mike Morris