At an unearthly hour this morning I was awoken from my precious slumber by screaming and caterwauling as a domestic dispute turned the air blue a few houses away. This was a very unusual experience in our quiet neighbourhood. What makes two people who must have had some attraction towards each other descend into such an undignified and vicious state?

But even “respectable” people have disputes, that may not be so public, but are just as deeply broken.

In Dutch church history there was an ongoing debate about “presumptive regeneration” that continued through church synods in World War 2 even as the Germans occupied Holland and people starved and died through the “hunger winter” of 1944. It caused the church to divide.

The human heart, created for relationships, struggles to maintain them. Pride, greed, envy ( add your own special weakness) weasel their way in to destroy marriages, friendships, churches, businesses and so on.

Yet the triune God is a being of relationship. Relationship is at the very heart of our creator. The understanding of the trinity is one of the key factors that differentiates the Christian understanding of God to that of Muslim and Jew. It is an important understanding because it is in our God’s very nature to restore and heal broken relationships – with Him and with each other.

Christ’s sacrifice, God’s amazing love,  reveals to us  just how important restored relationships are to Him.