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Last Saturday, about 20 of us participated in the prayer retreat led by Pastor Lee. It was a day of worship, hearing Scripture, listening to God, and having time for personal reflection.

One way to help us reflect was a Celtic knot. These knots were symbols used by believers living in Britain towards the end of the Roman Empire up to the 8th or 9th centuries AD. One knot was used to symbolize the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because God is One in Three, Three in One, this knot is shaped like a triangle.

What makes this knot so interesting is that there is no beginning or end. This reminds us that God is eternal. What’s more, the knot also reminds us that God’s nature as Three Persons is both beautiful and a mystery. We cannot fathom the wonder of God’s nature – instead, we are drawn ever deeper into worship.

On Saturday, a Celtic Trinity knot was marked out on the lawn. We were invited to walk the path of the knot, praying and marveling that we can know God as Trinity.

And Scripture helps us.

The Father sends the Son. We could walk from one corner of the triangle to another, thanking the Father for sending Jesus, the Son, as John 3:16 magnificently states. We could thank Jesus that he did not consider equality with God something to be held on to, but humbled himself, taking on human flesh, going to the cross for us, and being raised to life triumphant of all powers, as Philippians 2:5-11 tell us.

Walking from the second corner of the triangle to the third, we could thank Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit from the Father, as John 15:26 says. The Spirit produces his fruit in us and equips us with his gifts, as Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 12 tell us. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us, for as Romans 8:14 says, those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

And we can move from the third corner to the first, reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit brings us into all truth, all that belongs to the Father, which is given to Jesus and made known to us, as John 16:13-15 announce.

As we continue walking the path of this knot, entering as it were into fellowship with God as Trinity, we see again the truth Jesus declared in his glorious prayer in John 17:20-21: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their [the apostles’] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

This knot was a simple way to remember what is utterly astonishing: through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have been brought into fellowship with God as Trinity. God, in all his wonder, in all his mystery, in all his grace, has embraced us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:14: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” God invites us to know him, to follow him, to experience him day by day as Father, Son, and Spirit.

I invite you to take a pen and paper. Draw the Celtic Trinity knot, trace the path of the knot with your finger, and rejoice in the glory of this amazing God who loves you today!

視頻大意翻譯(video Chinese translation):

大家早。

上週六,大約20人參加了Lee牧師帶領的禱告退修會。這是非常有價值的一天,充滿敬拜、讀經、聆聽神和花些時間個人反思。

凱爾特結(Celtic knot)是提供給我們個人反思的方法之一。這些結是凱爾特信徒使用的一種符號,凱爾特人是羅馬帝國末期,西元5世紀至8或9世紀居住在不列顛人們的名字。這個結特別被用來象徵三位一體:聖父、聖子和聖靈。神是三位一體。

這個結形狀像個三角形,就像這樣。

這個結之所以有趣,是因為它永無盡頭。沒有開始或結束。這提醒我們,神是永恆的。更重要的是,這個結也提醒我們,神三個位格的本性既美麗又神秘。我們無法理解神本性的奇妙—相反地,領我們進入更深的敬拜。

週六,草坪上標出了凱爾特三位一體的結。我們走在畫出的結上面,禱告並思想我們能認識神是三位一體是多麼奇妙。聖經顯然地幫助了我們。

當然,父差遣子。因此,我們可以從三角形的一個角落走到另一個角落,感謝天父差派耶穌,他的兒子,正如約翰福音3:16所說。我們可以感謝耶穌,因他不堅持自己與神平等,而是謙卑自己,道成肉身,為我們上十字架,復活,戰勝所有的權勢,正如腓立比書2:5-11告訴我們的那樣。

然後,從三角形的第二個角走到第三個角,我們感謝耶穌從父那裡賜下聖靈,正如約翰福音15:26所說。聖靈在我們裡面結出他的果子,並用他的恩賜裝備我們,正如加拉太書5和哥林多前書12告訴我們的那樣。是聖靈帶領我們,正如羅馬書8:14所說,那些被神的靈帶領的人是神的兒女。

接著,我們從第三個角落移步到第一個角落,提醒自己聖靈帶我們進入一切真理,一切屬於父的,已經賜給耶穌,並且讓我們知道,正如約翰福音16:13-15所宣告的那樣。

當我們繼續走在這個結的路上,進入與三位一體神相交時,我們再次看到耶穌在約翰福音17:20-2 1中榮耀禱告宣告的真理:

也為那些因他們[使徒]的話信我的人祈求,使他們都合而為一。正如你父在我裏面、我在你裏面.使他們也在我們裏面、叫世人可以信你差了我來。

這個結只是一個簡單的方法來幫助我們記住這令人驚訝的事情:透過耶穌的死和復活,我們與三位一體的神相交。我們被神擁抱,在他所有的奇妙、奧秘,和在他所有的恩典中。正如保羅在哥林多後書13:14所說:“願主耶穌基督的恩惠、 神的慈愛、聖靈的感動、常與你們眾人同在。"神邀請我們認識他,跟隨他,每天來經歷他是父、子和聖靈。

今天我邀請你拿出紙和筆來畫個凱爾特結,用手指順著描這個結,享受這愛你的神榮耀的同在!

讓我們禱告。