Sometimes we have a little moment of inspiration. I had one several years ago during an RE lesson that I was teaching – having heard about it, I was asked to share it at church this morning…and then it was suggested that I should write it down and share it more widely…so I am.
As always, I blog so that only those who wish to engage with such things end up doing so. If this is not for you, no problem! Stop here!
So, it is in the RE syllabus for the year that I teach to learn about ‘The Trinity’. It’s tricky! I always start by explaining that it is simply about explaining how God can be expressed in three different forms – God the Father, Jesus the man/son and The Holy Spirit.
I always start by using myself as an analogy – at school I’m “Mrs L”, at home I’m “Mummy” or “Darling” (and sometimes “Grrrr”). I’m also “sister”, “friend” and I used to be “daughter” and “grand-daughter”. I am different representations of myself in different circumstances but I am still always me. One person.
The kids tend to have no issue with this, they can identify with it and so they get it.
Then I talk about communication. Sometimes you might speak to me person to person when I am physically there in body. Sometimes my voice can be heard over the telephone even though I cannot be physically seen or touched. Sometimes I can speak to you in unexpected moments when the memory or thought of a conversation runs through your mind. I can be there in body, voice or thought.
At this point the children usually mutter such sounds as “Oh yeah, I get that!” But always, without fail, some child will put up their hand and say “But I still don’t get the Holy Spirit thing!” (Smile to self because I am now prepared for this!)
My answer is vanilla!
We start with the bean or pod:
It is quite ordinary to look at. It looks like a sort of worn-out skin. It is physical: I can touch it, hold it, look at it, cut it, break it. It is like the representation of Jesus in the Trinity. He was physically present to his disciples during the times that we read about in the New Testament. He had a human body and fully experienced humanity. The pod gives off the fragrance and the essence of vanilla.
Inside are the teeny, tiny little vanilla seeds:
That part of the vanilla which holds an every day miracle for me. That tiny little black seed can, if placed in the right conditions, grow from a tiny little black speck into something new and flourishing. I’ll never understand how that happens! I’ll never understand how that is possible, how any seed bursts forth with life but I know that it does because I experience it year on year. I’ve even experienced it within my own body! That’s seriously creative and to me it’s a miracle because my definition of miracle is something that even though Science might be able to explain it, still holds that extra something wonderful that my little brain cannot fully grasp. For me, the seeds are like God the Father – miraculous, inexplicable, creative, living and life-giving. They give off the fragrance and the essence of vanilla.
Then the tricky bit…
Even when you don’t actually have the pod or the seeds to hand you are still left with the fragrance and the ‘Essence’ of vanilla. That part which is sensory: it is pungent but sweet, strong but subtle, fragrant, tasty and aromatic. It is the effect of the vanilla pod in practice. When it touches things they carry some of that fragrance. It affects the senses.
At church I passed around a small bowl of vanilla essence and invited people to dip their fingers in. Suddenly the room was filled with the fragrance. Furthermore, now each of us carried the fragrance, it was activated. It was almost like a form of communion.
I suggested that as we continue with our day we will be reminded of it by the waft of our hands. I noted that it would be passed on as we touch other people, that other people would notice the fragrance and that we might even pass it on and leave it in unexpected places for other people to meet with it – like on door handles.
That’s how I understand the Holy Spirit. It touches me with its essence, I note its fragrance and sometimes it is passed on to others.
Len Ballantine in The Salvation Army wrote these lyrics:
“Funny how it never quite made sense before. I knew it in my head but not my heart. Didn’t grow, I didn’t know your mind was meant for me. But now I see, you’re alive in me!
You’re closer than the mountains that the ancients gazed upon. You’re closer than the air I breathe, much closer than a song, not out there, somewhere, out of reach and out of sight, you’re right here, right now, closer than my life!
If that is true no wonder you can feel what I can feel. No wonder you are grieved by me when sin takes hold of me, for sin snuffs out the Holy light that you burn for me.”
This morning, the adults smelt of vanilla whilst the children ate vanilla ice-cream.
I don’t understand this well enough, that’s for sure, but there lies a simple explanation to help us in our ponderings of the Trinity…and I just hope it helps!
Elevation of mind 