Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry 3: John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 12

How do we enter into a relationship with God, or deepen that relationship once it exists? Our answers to that question become richer when we recognize that the God of whom we speak is the most holy Trinity: the name of God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this essay series, we have explored how the poetry of John Donne, the 17th century Anglican poet-priest, can help us to examine and...

The Parable of the Sweater: or, Why Evangelism Can Drive People Crazy

How do you evangelize when people aren’t interested in the Gospel? They don’t feel a need for it, they think it’s silly and embarrassing, it interferes with their daily lives, and they just don’t want to hear about it. One approach is to try to work in appeals to the Gospel in conversation – to look for an opening and point out that Jesus really is the answer. Many Christians don’t understand why this...

Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry (2): John Donne’s Holy Sonnets 10 and 11

What does it mean that God is Trinity? It is the heart of the Christian faith: that we know God the Father through God the Son in the power of God the Holy Spirit. The more that we know the living God as Trinity, the deeper and richer will be our relationship with Him. As we discussed in Part 1 of this series, poetry is an ideal route for exploring divine mysteries, allowing us to meditate on God and our...

Useful Restlessness

“Restless” literally means “lacking rest.” That doesn’t sound good – but in fact restlessness can be a good thing. St Augustine famously wrote in the Confessions that our hearts are restless until they rest in God; restlessness can be the spur that drives us to arise from our entrenched state of alienation and dissatisfaction to seek after what we really need. On a more practical level,...

Experiencing the Trinity in Poetry (1): John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 1

The Trinity is not just a difficult doctrine that’s interesting only for pastors and philosophers – rather, it is the heart of the Christian faith, for God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The most holy Trinity is not a puzzle to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Though we cannot fully comprehend the Trinity through the use of human reason, God has revealed Himself as...