He wrote: “With grief, shame or hopelessness we look for someone to blame.  We either blame ourselves, God, or other people.  The emotional pain and intensity of loss tears and rips both heart and soul apart, and in fact, takes all of us."  So says the author of this book.  William P. Young wrote an international best selling book, both here in America and in Europe.  It’s different; it’s modern and highly revolutionary. 

In his first novel, called The Shack he crosses religious definitions, rules and barriers. He allows the reader to fall once again back into the arms of a loving God, which allows us to forgive again, and indeed, to live again with the grace of redemption and forgiveness.  And the book takes a fresh look at the Trinity and it gets to the root of unchecked anger and unchecked grief.  The author’s intimate narrative creates a healing space around the heart once more, to sooth it, to comfort it through redemption and love.  And indeed he presents a new image of the Trinity to a new audience.  And the story is so old that it’s almost new.  It’s about loss and about love, and I think, all of us have experienced both in our lives.

And the story goes like this:  When his younger daughter is violently killed in a mountain shack her father, Mac's anger freezes him numb.  And his total outlook in life is one of overwhelming grief, despair, and sadness.  Then one day Mac receives an invitation with a difference.  It was an invitation from God to return to the mountain shack where his daughter was violently killed.  And reluctantly Mac returns to the shack, and in the shack Mac encounters a delightful model of the Trinity.  The author’s perception of the Trinity is very different, international, and also human, and also ordinary.  The Father is depicted as a large, delightful African woman.  Jesus is depicted as a Jewish carpenter, and the Holy Spirit as a gracious Asian woman.  This God takes Mac on a journey of self-discovery.  In his anger and in his despair he recognizes the God of love, in and through the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Mac’s transformation leads to repentance towards himself, towards God, and even towards the person who killed his daughter.

The Shack touched a nerve in me when I read it and it also touched a nerve in the many people that I had conversations with who also read this novel.  Its heart-wrenching theme, grief, is highly emotional, personal, but of course, also highly universal.

The book is basically a series of conversations with God, with God as Trinity.  Mac could relate to the three persons of the Trinity very easily, because he didn’t see a pyramid in front of him and he didn’t see a hierarchy; he saw one communion of love that created a connection that allowed hope to crawl back into his life once again.

The book expresses that we don’t have to interpret God. We don’t have to interpret God through rigid dogmas or formulas or concepts.  All we have to do is to relate to God and fall in love with God.  That’s all that is asked of us.

William P. Young’s image of the Trinity may be revolutionary or far-fetched; however, it defines Trinity as relationships and family and, indeed, that’s what Trinity is.

The book also stresses that we do not have to figure out or argue about God; all we have to do is love God.  We can meet God both within ourselves, outside of ourselves, and beyond ourselves.  And that is the Trinitarian mystery of the Trinity.  The awesome, inexhaustible mystery of our God is that God is present, but God is also beyond.  And our faith is like a vehicle; it is a window of opportunity for all of us to glimpse the mystery of our God.  It gives us access to the divine, the world of the eternal and it cracks open the world of a very ordinary God.  Jesus, by becoming human, brought God and the Trinity closer to each and every one of us.  He lifted the veil of mystery around the Trinity.  He introduced his family to us – the Father, who cares for us, and the Holy Spirit, who shares her gifts with us, comforts us, guides us on an otherwise very lonely journey.

And just like a caregiver, we know that sometimes the doing is over and the only service we can give to the sick person is to be highly present in and through companionship.  And the Trinity does likewise for us.  The Trinity is our companion on our journey – we are never alone.  Jesus guarantees this when he said in one sentence, “Trust in me I will be with you always.”  God’s closeness shields us from a sense of abandonment and despair.  God never leaves us; it is we who take the walk.  God is with us as Father, Son and Spirit, and we are with God when we come to one another.  And this is the beauty and the paradox of worship and our faith.

Unlike a work of art, William P. Young’s book, The Shack, gives us a creative understanding of Trinity by depicting the Father as a delightful African woman, and the Spirit as a gracious woman.  The Trinity laugh together; they whistle; they sing and dance together and they listen and they care for each other.  And the concept of Trinity the author depicts brings Mac back into living and loving again.

The vision of God encourages inclusiveness in this book, unity and diversity, and it makes the Trinity very ordinary and accessible.  The book also teaches the valuable lesson about the danger of unchecked anger and unchecked grief, because grief, if it’s not checked into can numb us and block us from living, and block us from forgiving and reconciling.

The author tells the truth even when we are bowed over and ripped apart by grief, we can never let go of hope.  We have to hold on to hope.  It’s the greatest gift of the Trinity.  And grief, indeed, is the other side of love.  And if we risk to love, we have to be prepared to grieve.

Amen