participation

“How did I get here?”

“Why am I here?”

“Is there any way out?”

No doubt these questions raced through the mind of young Patricius. Kidnapped from his well-to-do Christian family and enslaved by Irish marauders, he had to spend months at a time watching sheep. Day and night. Endless.

So unlucky!

Where were the Roman soldiers when you needed them?

Where was God?

Patricius began to pray; there was little else to do. He rehearsed childhood prayers and spoke from his heart. In time, his connection to God grew strong. When the Lord spoke to him one day, he heard that blessed voice directing him to leave.

Patricius walked 200 miles to the shore and to freedom. But while he could go home, he couldn’t return. He’d changed; suffering had tempered his soul and prayer and enlivened his spirit. He loved Jesus and intended to serve Him. His was now a serious faith.

After a few years, Patricius had a dream in which he received a letter from the Irish people. As he read it, he heard them begging him to come back.

Concluding that the Lord was calling him to preach, he studied for the priesthood and embarked on a voyage to the land of his former bondage.

He never left.

Patrick (his adopted name) loved, served, and bore witness to the Irish people. As a result, “wherever he went, Patrick left ministers. He founded 300 churches, baptizing over 120,000 converts. It was said that Patrick found Ireland heathen and left it Christian, resulting in Irish missionaries re-evangelizing Europe in later centuries.”

He accomplished all this by communicating the gospel in common words and images. Since the number three held a special place in Druidic religious life, Patrick used a shamrock to illustrate the triune nature of God.

If a three-leaf clover can symbolize the Trinity, what might a four-leaf clover represent?

A four-leaf clover is rare but not impossible. It’s estimated that there’s one for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers.

Tradition teaches that a four-leaf clover represents faith, hope, love, and luck. They got the first three from the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:8) but why’d they add the last item?

Probably because a four-leaf clover is exceptional, so you must be lucky if you find one.

I’d like to modify that viewpoint.

Patrick used a normal shamrock to symbolize the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What would a four-leaf clover teach? Who’s the fourth leaf? It’s the church.

I’m not expanding the Trinity into a Quaternity. I don’t believe there’s a fourth member of the Godhead. But consider this: our salvation consists of participation in the life of the Trinity.

In Catholic theology, sacramental grace is understood as “a participation in the life and love of the Trinity that comes to us through the sacraments. Each sacrament brings us a different dimension of God’s life and love.”

Regardless of your views about the power and function of sacraments, the point is that God invites you to enjoy His life of love. And this applies not only to individual Christians but to the church as a whole.

In his article, “Understanding the Triune God,” Seventh Day Adventist theologian Richard Rice writes that “the central dynamic of the Christian community not only resembles the essential dynamic of God’s own life; its members actually share in that life. The love that flows between Father and Son flows through the church. The idea that the church participates in God’s life flows naturally from Jesus’ parting words to His disciples. In the life and ministry of Jesus, and its continuation in the community He founded, we truly encounter ‘God with us.’”

Church community reflects divine community.

British pastor-theologian Tim Chester summarizes it this way: “we participate in the Trinity as we receive eternal life from the Father in Jesus’ name through the Spirit.”

Are these scholars exaggerating the extent and depth of our salvation? No, they’re describing what the apostle Peter announces in his second letter.

“Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” – 2 Peter 1:4

God intends for us to share in His nature. As Jesus became human on our behalf, so now He offers us the privilege of partaking in His life and love. We don’t become God, but we find fulfillment. We were made in God’s image (see Genesis 1:26-27); we’ll never be satisfied unless we know Him and display Him.

Does salvation make you lucky? Not lucky, blessed. Beyond your imagination. That’s the gospel preached by Peter and by Patrick. Let it be yours, too.

Four-leaf clovers might be tough to find, but eternal life is only a prayer away. Receive Jesus as your Lord; follow Him and He will bring you into the heart of God. That’s grace, not luck.