My First Experience with The Trinity.

My name is Mack Philips and after the horrible abduction incident with my daughter Missy, I got an invitation from "Papa" to go back to where it all happened. Skeptical of what was going on, I drove to The Shack, ready for whatever sick joke was coming my way. Once I was there nothing happened right away. Then all of a sudden things started changing, I was no longer in the dark, sketchy woods, but I was by a lake with beautiful flowers surrounding me and a warm, cozy house with the fireplace going. The blood stain where my Missy had been was no longer imprinted on the wood floor, it was gone.

As I was getting used to these changes unfolding before my eyes, a big black African women came to greet me. She said her name was Papa and she had sent the letter to invite me back to The Shack. I had always thought of Papa as God- a white, old, wise man with maybe a beard. This was so strange to me, that a black woman was standing in front of me, calling herself Papa. I got used to this after awhile, and since her cooking was amazing, I didn’t mind it so much. Next I was introduced to Jesus; he was how I imagined him- Jewish looking, carpenter, plaid shirt and muscles. He was also the only one I could really relate to and I felt most comfortable with him. Lastly I met Sarayu; she was very hard to look at and was never in one spot, she was of Chinese decent and almost looked like a ghost. I could never really look right at her, only through or past her. It is very hard to explain but she was apparently not human. I later realized that together, they made up The Trinity, not one of them was higher in rank then the other and they were all equal and are all God.

The Gender roles here are being stretched. Mack saw Papa as a white, old, wise man with maybe a beard. He would have never seen Him as a black woman. The reason for this is because the author wanted to break the stereotype of God and help people realize it doesn’t matter what God looks like or what his outward appearance is. Another reason for this is because Mack was not ready to have a male father figure; his own dad was not very good to him, so he couldn’t accept it as well as he did as a woman. Another big part of the Trinity and the book is where it starts to explain how the Father (Papa), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (Sarayu) are all equal. Not one of them is above the other, but they are all the same. The book basically revolves around these “three” but one characters. Mack gets time with each one and each one shares there wisdom with him.

(Pink= Marci)