Creating Access and Inclusion in Worship

ICON OF THE HOLY TRINITY BY RUBLEV

Father Henri Nouwen laid the spiritual foundation for the Pathways Awareness Open Hearts, Open Minds movement with his keynote address The Vulnerable Journey at the 1996 Pathways Awareness inclusion conference.

The icon of the Holy Trinity was selected for the Inclusion Awareness Day prayer card because it is a source of meditation and prayer on the Trinity, hospitality and inclusion. In his book, Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons, Father Nouwen explains that icons do not reveal themselves at first site but only gradually, after patient, prayerful reflection. They draw us into closer communion with God. ?I have memorized them as I have memorized the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and I pray with them wherever I go.?

Nouwen describes the Trinity icon as an invitation to know God, not through our intellect, but through our hearts, a more inclusive approach to prayer. He writes, ?As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three divine angels and to join them around the table.? Nouwen says that in gazing on the icon we are beckoned to enter a house of love that ?has no boundaries and embraces everyone who wants to dwell there.? The image of the three figures extends beyond the picture to include the viewer. The icon invites each of us to join the three figures to complete the image. We are all welcome to participate. We are all invited to take our place at the Table. We are all included.

Source: ?Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons? by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2007.