Here There and Everywhere

Trinity Sunday

This was Trinity Sunday, and I hesitate to even bring it up, because it always causes so much misunderstanding between us. No, we don’t believe in three Gods. We believe in one God, who is at the same time Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I am not a theologian, so what I am about to tell you is just my interpretation of a mystery which has been debated by minds much greater than my own. I tell my Muslim friends that it is like this:

I have a relationship with my husband, as his wife. We communicate in a certain way, we understand one another in a certain way, to my husband, I am his wife.

I am mother to my son, we communicate differently, and he thinks of me as mother.

I am daughter to my mother, and we communicate differently, and she thinks of me as her daughter.

My husband doesn’t think of me as daughter, and neither does my son. I am all three, and yet I am one person.

That is grossly simplified, and God is much more complicated than I can understand. I just wanted you to know, we believe, as Muslims do, that there is one God.

We do not believe God had sex with Mary. We believe Mary conceived by the wish of God, she conceived immaculately, without having had sex. The Angel Gabriel came to her and told her she had been selected, but she could say yes or no, and she said “yes.” Because she said yes, Jesus was born of Mary.

This was a sweet Sunday for me, because I was able to worship in my home church, here in Seattle. We sang all the oldest hymns. It was a lovely service. Afterwards, I asked the priests if I could take their photos for you, my friends in Kuwait.

If you want to argue with me, it won’t do any good. I am not that smart about religion, I just believe, I’m a pretty simple character. Find someone smarter than I am to argue with!

May 19, 2008 Posted by intlxpatr | Community, Cross Cultural, ExPat Life, Interconnected, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Seattle, Spiritual, Technical Issue, Uncategorized | 31 Comments