Our Divine, Majestic, Triune, Yet Personal God

by Deacon Lorna Goodison on June 09, 2022

“O Lord our governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world!” (Psalm 8:1) This Sunday, Trinity Sunday, the appointed Psalm draws our attention to the great and glorious majesty of God. God’s supreme presence and power are found throughout all of creation. The Psalmist’s reflection on God’s glorious presence, leads him to acclaim with wonder, “what is man that you should be mindful of him? The son of man that you should seek him out?” The Lord who is utterly divine and beyond us chooses to be present to us, humans. We, therefore, rejoice in God’s supreme power as well as God’s intimate love and tender care for us humans. In His tender care, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ into the world to restore us into an eternal community of loving relationship with the Father.

But before His physical departure, Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them the Spirit.  “When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth…..” What privilege! We have been endowed with the divine Spirit of truth that seeks to reveal and interpret for us what God’s mission of building a kingdom on peace and harmony and oneness looks like and how we may by faith share in the building of this kingdom family.

Jesus’ promise to send the Spirit is therefore a promise of a new relationship with the Father and the Son. A new interior relationship in which God speaks directly to the hearts of God’s people through the Son and the presence of the Spirit. God can be and is present in you and me inspiring and transforming us into Christ’s own forever. The Spirit makes itself real as it expresses God’s Word in our souls. And to enable the fulfillment of Christ’s mission, the Spirit will function as the continuing Revealer and Interpreter of love.

The Spirit is with us leading us into the union of divine love with the Father and Son. God so loves us, God is open to receive us into an absolute, intimate relationship, with no secrets. The Spirit awakens us to move beyond ourselves and love the other, even when loving seems impossible. The Spirit gives us courage to perceive the world in God’s way, to see ourselves as emissaries of God’s mission of love in community; Oneness with the Divine, majestic, triune yet personal God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

O Lord our Governor, how majestic is your Name in all the world!

Tags: truth, love, spirit, lord, divine

About the Author
Deacon Lorna Goodison

Reverend Lorna Goodison was ordained to the Diaconate on April 29, 2007. After discerning a call to ordained ministry, Deacon Lorna completed a process of spiritual discernment and pursued three years of study at the Diocesan School for Christian Studies. She also completed three units of hospice care training through Vitas and for a short while she was a volunteer Chaplain. Highlights of her continuing education activities include a guided visit to Israel and attending the Festival of Homiletics in Boulder, Colorado.

Soon after her ordination, Deacon Lorna was called to serve as Deacon at St. Mary Magdalene. She initiated an outreach ministry to the homeless at St. Laurence Chapel, obtaining the support and involvement of most members of the congregation. This ministry remained a vibrant outreach of the Church until the Chapel closed in 2019.  Other outreach ministries formed include an informal group of members who stay in touch with members who are ill and shut-in. Deacon Lorna remains committed to both the in-reach and outreach ministries of the Church. She has led quiet day reflections for groups within and outside of St. Mary Magdalene. She has often led Deacon’s Masses at small churches without a priest. Of all the ministries in which Deacon Lorna participates, she is most humbled and grateful to be involved in the ministry of praying with congregants facing life’s challenges.

Deacon Lorna serves the Diocese of Southeast Florida as a member of the Disciplinary Committee. She also serves on the Board of Deacons.   

Professionally, Deacon Lorna worked for some years in Human Resource Departments as a Training Manager, but most of her working years were spent in Social Work. She worked with at-risk teenagers counselling them and guiding them to resources to build a meaningful future. The last twenty years of her profession, were spent working with Seniors, guiding them to the resources needed to maintain their safety and independence. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a master’s degree in Adult Education. She is now retired, cherishes some alone time for prayer and reflection, but divides her time between the Church and her family which consists of two daughters, their husbands and three grandchildren.

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