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Trinity Sunday

BY REV. RICK REID

This Sunday is the day we commemorate the full revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus, this day is called Trinity Sunday. One of my favorite verses that attest to the Holy Trinity is from St. Luke’s gospel: And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) Another is when Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

The Trinity is the foundational doctrine of the Bible and the Christian faith. It is so central that to misunderstand or deny the Trinity is to misunderstand or deny every other doctrine of Christianity. The Trinity is a deep and mysterious truth, but it is well stated for us in many places. The Nicene Creed is almost entirely about the Trinity, and it has become the foundation for many of the later statements regarding the Godhead or (Triune God). It also expands the description of the life and work of Christ, explicitly stating that his mission was “for us and for our salvation.”

The cycle of prayer in the church is doctrinally devotional. The Prayer Cycle takes us through the preparation for the Messiah, the ministry of Christ, and the advent of the Holy Spirit. It leads us into the deep (spiritual) things of God; things like the nature and ministry of Christ, the nature and being of God, and the full revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we are not led into these things simply to gain intellectual knowledge of propositional truth. We are led into the deep things of God so that we may come to love and worship Him. We also learn about who we are, our sin, and how to live a righteous life, and God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.

We begin in Advent, praying for grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. God, who, perfect in every way, invites imperfect sinners into His presence and love. In Christmas we adore a helpless infant, who, though without the external trappings of wealth and station in life, is none other than God with us. Through Christmas, Epiphany, and Lent, we follow the life and ministry of that infant through manhood and death. Passion Sunday recalls the terrible price God paid to reconcile us unto Himself. What wonderful love it was when God the Creator died for man, the creature’s sin.

Easter celebrates His victory over sin and death. What power lies in the hand of God that even death itself is easily conquered by Him in the Resurrection. In the Sundays of Easter Season, we begin to look to the Holy Spirit and the Trinity. The Trinity is the foundation of all. He is the basis of everything we have been praying for. All of the teachings of the Scriptures we have been looking at all through the year have been leading us to know and adore God, the Holy Trinity.

The first Sunday after Easter we asked God to help us put away malice and wickedness, so we might serve Him in spirit and in truth. At that time, we had just completed Scripture readings that followed Christ to the cross and the resurrection. Knowing that it was for us that He went to the cross, we prayed that we might turn from sin and serve Him. On the second Sunday of Easter, we prayed that we would follow the example of Christ in holiness of life.

On the third Sunday we prayed that we would be enabled to avoid things contrary to Christ, and to “follow all such things as are agreeable” to Him. All of our prayers during this time were the proper responses of faith by those who saw anew the mighty love of God in the sacrificial death of Christ. But on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we added a different emphasis to our cycle of prayer. We affirmed that God alone can order our unruly wills and affections. And we asked God to enable us to love the things that are pleasing to Him. The new emphasis was on God as the only power to bring our sinfulness under control and to love and desire the things of God.

All of the prayers and emphasis of our cycle of prayer through the Easter Season have been about holiness. In all of them we have sought to put God first. But this is a task too great for us. As we have attempted to be holy, we have known the truth of our Lord’s words to the sleeping disciples, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” We must have a power greater than our own. We must have power only God can give. He alone can order our unruly wills and affections. He alone can enable our actions to match our desire for holiness.

On Rogation Sunday we learned the meaning of the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask”. This is an ancient church service and festival to seek “blessing” for a community and its sustenance. As the Book of Common Prayer puts it: “Rogation Days are the three days preceding Ascension Day, especially devoted to asking for God’s blessing on agriculture and industry.” We then took this one step further, praying “that by thy

holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same.” In this case it is to put life and power into our desire to think and do the things of God.

We are utterly dependent on God for this ability. He must inspire us, or we will be unable to accomplish this holy intention.

On Ascension Day we recalled that Christ rose bodily into the presence of God, and we asked that we might dwell there with Him by faith. We were being reminded that God has made a way for us to live a holy and Godly life. It is not by our own power, but by His. The Holy Spirit is our inspiration and our power. On the Sunday after Ascension this doctrine was brought out much more fully. “Leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost,” we prayed. It is no accident that this prayer accompanied the reading from St. John’s Gospel when Jesus promised: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26).

Thus, we were brought to Pentecost, or, “Whitsuntide.” The meaning of Pentecost is that the full presence and power of God is come to His people. Christ is God with us; the Spirit is God in us. The Spirit is unity with God that is deeper and fuller than we can ever imagine. The ability to think and do the things of holiness is ours through the Spirit of God Himself. It is true we could never accomplish holiness by ourselves. If God will not keep us by His power we will fall rapidly back into sin.

If God will not dwell within us and empower us to do His will, we can never hope to live a holy and godly life any more than we could hope to save ourselves apart from Christ. But God has come to us. He has not left us orphaned. He has not left us in despair; He has come to dwell in us. We rejoice that He has sent unto us His Holy Spirit to enlighten and strengthen us to His service, to direct and rule us according to His will, to comfort us in affliction, to lead us into all truth, and to bring us together that we may manifest His power among all peoples.

On this Trinity Sunday, we meet to worship the Godhead, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and to rejoice in the guidance and truth provided by the Holy Spirit, and the salvation God has provided through His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

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2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

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