"Oney" (pronounced "wunny")

On the way out of the door this afternoon I found myself discussing, in a rather hurried fashion as I was needing to get away, the doctrine of the Trinity with two Christian prisoners. I am no longer surprised by any conversation I get into in Prisonworld, as I'm sure you can imagine.

I was explaining my thoughts about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being three and yet also one. Using the illustration of a good marriage I talked (speedily) about how when two people are happily married they do become one. Not just in the physical sense but emotionally too. Happily married people speak of their "other half", even their "better half" and then if one is bereaved they describe feeling that they've lost part of themselves. Furthermore, I went on (quickly), parents will say that they feel that their kids are a part of them. My point was that (in short) that we as flawed and finite creatures do have a concept of oneness with another being, limited as it is by our inevitable tendency towards sin and selfishness.

I sprinted to my conclusion (the closest I've come to sprinting since school, btw). I said, "So, if we can understand a bit of what it is to feel oneness with another being, think about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who are completely pure. Their oneness is so much more, more, more...." and while I was trying to think of the appropriate word, one of the prisoners supplied: "oney" (pronounced wunny).

Spot on. I congratulated him on hitting the nail on the head. I think he's coined an important new theological word to help us in our understanding of the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are more oney than we can understand, even though some of us are lucky enough to have experienced the great blessing of a lesser degree of oneyness in our human relationships.