(for the North Huron Citizen, June 16, 2023)
There is a
sneaky epidemic creeping across our land. Perhaps you’ve noticed its
indicators. For example, a group of young people are seated together at a
restaurant awaiting their order. Twenty years ago, they likely would have been
engaged in conversation, maybe talking about the latest movie or what they’re
planning to do this summer.
Not now.
Heads down, they are all looking at the device in their hands, basically
oblivious to each other’s presence.
That’s just
one example of the latest insidious epidemic: loneliness.
In May, the
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory “calling attention
to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection”
in that country. The first iPhone was released in 2007; since then, smartphones
have become ubiquitous, even amongst pre-teens. Yes, we are more ‘connected’
than ever to the internet; but the same technology that connects online may in
many instances cause people to be more disconnected in person – as with
our aforementioned restaurant diners.
Not only do
such devices give us an excuse to be somewhat rude to those beside us (ignoring
them, or interrupting conversation if a call or message comes in); the
popularity of social media heightens our sense of isolation as we view our
friends’ carefully-curated posts showing them enjoying fabulous holiday
resorts, travelling to exotic places, enjoying the latest fads... Leaving us
behind in our apparently not-so-fortunate dust.
The Surgeon
General declares, “Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an
underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal
health.” The related government announcement notes these statistics: “The
physical health consequences of poor or insufficient connection include a 29%
increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50%
increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. Additionally, lacking
social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60%.”
Wow!
Isolation can be – deadly!
In the
Christian understanding of things, there is a somewhat mysterious doctrine that
may offer some insight and hope into our current dilemma. It’s traditionally
known as the doctrine of the Trinity. This holds that while God is ‘one’ divine
being, He consists simultaneously as three distinct yet interconnected Persons
- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three-in-one. (No, mathematics is not going to
help us here!)
As critics
point out, you won’t find the actual word “Trinity” anywhere in the Bible. The
word is a bit of a mash-up cobbled together in the early life of the church in
an attempt to summarize a rather complex and nebulous reality we nevertheless
see described in the Bible.
A quick
search reveals around 20 verses in which the members of the Trinity are alluded
to. There are even more references if you consider passages that span more than
a single verse. But let’s consider just the beginning and end of the ministry
of Jesus, and what He had to say on the subject.
At the
outset, at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus comes up from the water;
the Spirit descends; and a voice from above declares, “This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well-pleased.” The whole Trinity is involved. (Matthew 3:16f)
At the end
of Jesus’ earthly ministry, following the resurrection, He commands His
followers to make disciples “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit...” (Matthew 28:19) About the same time He told them to
wait in Jerusalem “for what the Father had promised...You shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit...” (Acts 1:4f)
His last
full night on earth with His disciples, just before He was betrayed and
crucified, Jesus spoke to them about “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name...” Also that “When the Helper comes, whom I will
send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the
Father, He will testify about Me...” (John 14:26; 15:26)
So we can
see from Jesus’ own words that Father / Son / Spirit work together in close
cooperation and harmony. Jesus is keen to glorify His Heavenly Father, and the
Spirit’s purpose is to testify about Jesus the Son. They share a common focus,
highlighting each other, working in total unity.
The Bible
reveals a community of love within the Godhead that has existed from all
eternity. “God is love.” (1John 4:8,16) That same night Jesus acknowledges in
prayer to His Father, “You loved me before the creation of the world.”
(Jn.17:24)
And the
reason Jesus came to live and teach and die was so we sinful humans could be
forgiven through His perfect sacrifice, have the “dividing wall of hostility”
(whether race prejudice, or other forms of prejudice and hatred) broken down
with regards to other people, and become acceptable to (and even welcomed by) a
Holy God through the atoning blood of His Son. Jesus promised, “If anyone loves
me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him
and make our home with him.” (Jn. 14:23)
The universe
can seem a vast, expansive, cold, and lonely place if one supposes there is no
God. In such a view, we become merely random conjugations of molecules adrift
on a wandering planet, accidental and purposeless, dancing to our DNA. ‘Big
fish eat little fish.’ But, on the other hand, given the truth about the
Trinity – how exciting to realize that at the very core of the cosmos, even
before any created thing came to be, love was already circulating amongst the
three persons of the Godhead, a complete community of love!
One can
certainly not do justice to such an enigmatic topic in a short newspaper article.
Suffice to say, the community that exists within the Divine is bathed in love
and offers hope for our epidemic of loneliness, for those willing to receive
Jesus’ teaching and triumph. Augustine, while puzzling over the doctrine of the
Trinity, was walking along the beach one day when he observed a young boy with
a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine
asked, “What are you doing?” The boy replied, “I’m trying to put the ocean into
this hole.” Then Augustine realized that he had been trying to put an infinite
God into his finite mind.
We have it
on good authority that, where reason runs out, God’s love is there to encompass
those who will receive Him.
