Trinity Sunday, Year C Gregory Welin

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Trinity Sunday, Year C Gregory Welin June 16, 2019 Trinity Sunday, year C Gregory Welin Trinity Sunday Today we celebrate the Trinity. We proclaim the unity of God and the three persons of God. Saint Patrick is famous for using the shamrock as an object to describe the trinity, three leaves in one plant. It is a simple image, although it doesn’t explain much. When we try to describe our God as trinitarian monotheists, we come up against logical inconsistencies. Three is not one. We can only use images to try and describe God. Our creed can only draw the outline, or the limits of how we describe God or fail and drift into heresy. I have heard the trinity explained as the three states of water; ice, liquid and gas. They are different but they are all water. The church fathers used the example of a burning coal. There is heat, there is light and the coal itself. They are all different aspects of the one thing. If we examine these images too closely, we move into heresy. We can see each person of the trinity too distinctly and forget the reality of the whole of God. We can look too closely at the work of each person of the trinity and forget that God is wholly present in every work. God is always and completely present in every good act and every newly created thing. We see a hint of this in the description of wisdom in Proverbs. Wisdom is present at creation and wisdom is a necessary ingredient in every created thing. Wisdom is another side of God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit is what makes us and what guides us and sets us on a path to salvation. Paul reminds us how God uses our present circumstance to bring us to glory. We often seek to avoid pain and suffering. God uses the circumstances in which we find ourselves to inform us and encourage us towards something new and life affirming. It is not true that God sends suffering to form us. God uses the suffering we will inevitably encounter when we seek to follow Jesus. In a sense, this is how we encounter the trinity. Scripture never has a paragraph that describes or explains the concept of the trinity. Instead, we encounter God as we follow Jesus and are formed by our experience. The God we encounter is trinitarian. The trinity is how we find life and salvation. God the Father creates the world. The Holy Spirit or Holy Wisdom is present in creation and participates in every created thing. The Son is also present at the beginning of creation, loving what God has made. When Jesus gives himself for our new life, the Holy Spirit is present in words and deed, guiding and strengthening him in his work. God the Father is also present in loving and glorifying the Son. When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we worship the Father and rejoice in the loving sacrifice of the Son. These are all descriptions of how God is present before and after us in the three persons of the trinity. We can go deeper than describing God objectively. There is an icon by the Russian artist Rubilev depicting the three visitors to Abraham. The three angels are seated and in conversation. They are not facing the viewer in a static way. They are turned towards one another and facing each other. This depiction of angels is seen as an image of the trinity. A very ancient explanation of the trinity is God as a being in relationship. The June 16, 2019 Trinity Sunday, year C Gregory Welin Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. The love between them is the Holy Spirit. While there are still limits to this explanation, it depicts God as a being who has purpose and intention. God is not an objective being far away in heaven. This describes God as a being who embodies love and seeks love. This description gives us a way to connect with God and to be formed by God. What God has revealed to us is not understanding but purpose. God remains a mystery. We can only make attempts to go beyond the limits of our own understanding. Yet the way that God is revealed to us does give us a way to follow Jesus on a path that leads us to new life. As we live our lives of faith, we are never alone. God has given us one another. We are meant to be in relationships that show us life. As we converse with another person, we have the opportunity to seek the path of love for them. As we share our story, we reveal how God has been working in our life, in words or in our actions. As we seek to know the way that God has been at work in the life of another, we experience the trinity. We see the person created by God. We see the person before us as loved by God. The love we seek for them is Holy Spirit work. God is present in all our relationships. We cannot say more than we know. The Trinity is a mystery. God has not given us a definition. God has given us a mission, to love the world as God loves the world. As we meet another person, we have the opportunity to love as God loves. We may discover how God intends to work in another. Our encounter may also reveal to us how God will move in our life. That movement toward God is why we are here. God’s desire is to reconcile all people to God and to one another. Our work gives us the opportunity to participate in the work and in the very identity of God. God is a being in relationship. God seeks to love and to be loved. This is what God seeks for us. This is what we are called to seek for each other. .
Recommended publications
  • 1 a Place to Call Home Part 1: Home Is a Journey Countryside
    A Place To Call Home Part 1: Home Is A Journey Countryside Community Church Rev. Eric Elnes, Ph.D. April 3, 2016 I. Hagia Sophia It has been observed that “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spirit beings having a human experience.” (Teilhard de Chardin) If this is true, then our origin is beyond this world and our home here is a temporary one. We are “in but not of this world.” I always find it sad when someone decides that our time spent in this material, temporal realm doesn’t really matter since we come from someplace else and presumably are headed elsewhere once we leave this earth. I find it sad because, even if our true home may lie elsewhere, Jesus tells us that we are here for a reason. Namely, we have been sent here. In the Gospel of John Jesus prays, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world … Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they may also be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:15) We are in this world for a reason. According to Jesus, God sent us here in order to be “sanctified in truth.” So, what exactly does “sanctify” mean? It sounds rather important if that is the purpose of our being sent here. In Greek the word is hagiazo, which means “to make holy.” Does hagiazo sound like any word you’ve heard before? Perhaps you've heard, for instance, of the Hagia Sophia? The Hagia Sophia is that great basilica in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) that served as Christianity’s most famous worship space for centuries before it was eclipsed by St.
    [Show full text]
  • Holy Wisdom 32Nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2017
    ! KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS RAUL G. NAVARRETE - COUNCIL #9482 3450 WEST RAY ROAD CHANDLER AZ 85226 Holy Wisdom 32nd Sunday In Ordinary Time 2017 Refection By: Deacon Paul V. Hursh From Wisdom personified to wisdom in practice, our readings this week cover the full gambit. It is also important to note that in these readings and in the Bible as a whole, Holy Wisdom is personified as a woman. In the brief excerpt from the book of Wisdom this Sunday, wisdom is referred to 8 times in the feminine gender. This is particularly significant in that the Bible, both the Jewish scriptures and the Christian scriptures, came from patriarchal societies. What a wonderful concept, Wisdom personified as a woman who is wise. Sophia, who brings, a graceful touch, a healing presence, to her every encounter, for whom beauty is a mode of knowing and openness, a special strength – who tells us, "all will be well, all will be well, all matter of things will be well." ! Page !1 of !2 ! We are encouraged to seek the holy woman, Wisdom with the promise that "she is readily perceived by those who love her." Furthermore, we are told that to whoever watches for her at the dawn – will not be disappointed, she will make herself known. When we find ourselves perplexed by problems and the decisions we face in our lives, we can go out and find her waiting at our gate. Even when we are not actively seeking her, she seeks those worthy of her and she will appear to us on the way.
    [Show full text]
  • Holy Wisdom Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Thursday, May 19, 2016 Cedar River Conference Spring Meeting the Rev
    Holy Wisdom Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Thursday, May 19, 2016 Cedar River Conference Spring Meeting The Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams [SLIDE 22] As we are in the middle of the week between Pentecost and Holy Trinity I chose for my reflection the one text that Vicar Luci dropped from readings for this coming Sunday. Proverbs 8 also happens to be one of my favorite biblical passages. How to interpret this text is one of the most hotly contested issues about the book of Proverbs. For many Christians this chapter is a theologically transgressive text. It says things about God that don’t fit neatly into our common images of the Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here we meet a character called Woman Wisdom who stands on the heights, along the highways, at the crossroads, and at the city gates calling out to all that live. Woman Wisdom calls and invites all people without exception to enter into dialogue with her to learn prudence, acquire intelligence, hear the truth, receive instruction, attain knowledge and discretion, receive insight and strength. Woman Wisdom can offer all this because she was God’s first act, set up before the beginning of creation, before there was an earth or seas or mountains.Wisdom was there when God made earth and fields and little bits of soil. She was there when God established the heavens and assigned limits to the seas. Wisdom was there beside God in one of two forms. The original Hebrew is intentionally ambiguous. Option A: Wisdom was beside God as a master worker — like an architect — infusing her joy and delight into all the structures of creation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trinity: Mystery of Relation
    The Trinity: Mystery of Relation What is our experience of God? Our experience of God has many facets to it. We find our very lives shaped by our encounter of God who is, first of all, beyond, with and within the world; who is behind, with and ahead of us; who is above, alongside and around us. What is the symbol of the Trinity attempting to express? It's an attempt to express a dynamic life in God, a relatedness to the world in activity that creates, redeems and renews, an activity which also suggests to us that God's very own being is a relational, dynamic mystery of love. What is the problem for some Christians today regarding the doctrine of the Trinity? The doctrine of the Trinity has become divorced from the original experiences that gave it birth in human understanding. What is a consequence of this "divorce"? This symbol of the Trinity has become unintelligible to many, a kind of doctrine that we learn/memorize, and leave it at that. To paraphrase the late Jesuit theologian Fr. Karl Rahner, "If people were to read in their morning newspaper that a fourth person of the Trinity had been discovered it would cause little stir" --- so detached has the triune symbol become from the actual religious life of many people. What has been lost in our understanding of this symbol? For a variety of reasons, the liberating point of the symbol is lost. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to be found in the appendix of the personal catechism of many minds and hearts, as compared with its place in official church teaching and prayer and ecumenical statements.
    [Show full text]
  • Service for the Lord's
    Service for the Lord’s Day This order of worship has been excerpted from the Book of Common Worship (WJKP, 2018) and Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (WJKP, 2013), and is designed to be compatible with those resources. It has been adapted for congregations gathering exclusively or primarily online in response to the Covid-19 coronavirus; therefore, the Lord’s Supper is not included. Key to related resources: BCW = Book of Common Worship (WJKP, 2018); GTG = Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (WJKP, 2013); PH = The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (WJKP, 1990). GATHERING Instrumental music, congregational song, or contemplative silence may precede the service. OPENING SENTENCES All may stand as presider and people say one of the following, or another verse from scripture appropriate to the season or day (BCW 19, 54, 157–400). Our help is in the name of the Lord, Ps. 124:8 maker of heaven and earth. The presider continues with this or another greeting (BCW 55): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess. 3:18 be with you all. And also with you. Let us worship God. HYMN, PSALM, OR SPIRITUAL SONG GATHERING PRAYER The presider may lead an opening prayer (BCW 19, 55), such as the following, the prayer of the day (BCW 157–400), or a thanksgiving for Baptism (BCW 74). This prayer may be said from the baptismal font. Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hagia Sophia Churches (Fr
    The Hagia Sophia Churches (Fr. George Florovsky) johnsanidopoulos.com/2020/07/the-hagia-sophia-churches-fr-george.html By Fr. George Florovsky The first temple in Constantinople dedicated under the name of "Holy Wisdom" was possibly designed by Constantine himself. The building was however completed much later and the "Great Church" was first consecrated only in 360, under Constantius, by an Arian bishop. It is not at all clear when the name "Hagia Sophia" was first given to the church. Socrates says only: "which is now called Sophia" (II, 43). It is quite possible that the "Great Church" in the beginning had no special name, and the name of Sophia came to prominence later; it was probably a current connotation rather than an intentional dedication. The name, however, by no means was an accident. Some archeologist of old guessed that the name was rather an abstract idea or a Divine attribute, and that Constantine used to dedicate temples to "abstract ideas," — Wisdom, Power, Peace. All this is but a misunderstanding. The name of Wisdom is a biblical name, and all these three "abstract" names are used in St. Paul, as names of Christ: Sophia [Σοφία], Dynamis [Δύναμις], Eirênê [Ειρήνη]. Passages in the Old Testament where the Wisdom of God was described as a person (and specially the VIII-th chapter of Proverbs) were from an early date regarded as referring to Christ, the Incarnate Word. We find this in St. Justin. The other suggestion, that Wisdom meant rather the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Wisdom, of course), found in Theophilus of Antioch and St.
    [Show full text]
  • Fifth Sunday in Lent March 21, 2021
    Fifth Sunday in Lent March 21, 2021 Texts and music of liturgy: Copyright Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SB130973; Permission to reprint, podcast, and / or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-723531. All rights reserved. CCLI Copyright License 20449972 Size B and CCLI Active Streaming License 20449989 Size B. All rights reserved. Communion liturgy adapted from sicutlocutusest.com. PRELUDE If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee Georg Böhm WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS INVOCATION P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, the keeper of the covenant, the source of steadfast love, our rock and our redeemer. C: Amen. KYRIE ELW 154 CONFESSION P: God hears us when we cry and draws us close in Jesus Christ. Let us return to the one who is full of compassion. Fountain of living water, C: pour out your mercy over us. Our sin is heavy, and we long to be free. Rebuild what we have ruined and mend what we have torn. Wash us in your cleansing flood. Make us alive in the Spirit to follow in the way of Jesus, as healers and restorers of the world you so love. Amen. KYRIE (repeat – see above) ELW 154 ABSOLUTION P: Beloved, God’s word never fails. The promise rests on grace: by the saving love of Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, your sins are ☩ forgiven, and God remembers them no more. Journey in the way of Jesus. C: Amen. GATHERING HYMN As the Deer Runs to the River ELW 331 GREETING P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
    [Show full text]
  • Apostolic Faith Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13:978-1518855986 ISBN-10:1518855989
    APOSTOLIC FAITH ΅ΣΚΟΚΥΒΣΚΒΟΚΤΞ͑ΠΣ͑ ;ΠΕΒΝΚΤΞͰ͑ ͑ ͑ Eugene W Emmerich III LL Copyright © 2015 by Eugene W. Emmerich III Apostolic Faith Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13:978-1518855986 ISBN-10:1518855989 All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author. Cover design and interior design by Eugene Emmerich, and Cheryl Fernandes. Editing by Richard Carlson. Other books by the author: The Resurrection of the Just The Witnesses Eternal Life Stargate 2 CSI Jerusalem The Resurrection-Rapture Beware of False Prophets Daniel’s Messiah Mohammed vs. The Eyewitnesses ͽΚΗΖ͑ΠΣ͑͵ΖΒΥΙ͑΁ΦΓΝΚΤΙΖΣ͑͑ LLL LY ΅ΙΖ͑ʹΠΧΖΣ͑ The cover photo is a picture of one of the oldest sur- viving church buildings in history. It was built in Constantinople, ancient Istanbul Turkey, and was dedi- cated in 360AD. The name of the building is Hagia So- phia which means Holy Wisdom. The full name in Greek is , "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God", dedicated to Jesus, the Wisdom, the Logos, and the Son of God. It was a cen- tral hub for Eastern and Greek Orthodoxy. In 381AD the second ecumenical council was held in this very building. At the council the doctrine of the Trinity was re-confirmed as the doctrine of the Apostles. At the time of the council this church, along with the church in Antioch were the two largest Christian communities in Asia Minor.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ecological Significance of God-Language
    Theological Studies 60 (1999) THE ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD-LANGUAGE DENIS EDWARDS [Against the tendency to reduce trinitarian language only to Father- Son categories, an ecological theology requires the retrieval of the tradition that understands the Trinity in categories of Wisdom and Logos. These concepts have always been linked to creation theology and are open to ecological theology. New Testament hymns, several Church Fathers, and Wolfhart Pannenberg provide resources for such a theology. Pannenberg's theology of the Word as the divine principle of creaturely self-distinction can be understood in light of Bonaventuras concept of divine Wisdom as self-expressive for a contemporary theology of creation.] N THE YEARS leading up to the jubilee year 2000, the Roman Catholic I Church has focused attention on each of the trinitarian persons. The concentration on "the Father" in 1999, the third of these years, has been an opportunity to celebrate the divine mercy but also the occasion of some tensions and misgiving in the life of the Church. Feminist theologians have argued that the exclusive use of male lan­ guage for God, particularly the Father-Son language of trinitarian theol­ ogy, functions to maintain patriarchal culture in church and society, and that, because it tends to be understood literally, it diminishes and limits our view of God, creating an idol in male form. Elizabeth Johnson makes this kind of analysis and offers an important response to it by retrieving the classical understanding of the limits of our God language. She points to three fundamental strategies: stress on the divine incomprehensibility, the understanding of the limits of our analogies in all speech about God, and the use of many names in speech about God.
    [Show full text]
  • Holy Trinity Sunday
    Holy Trinity Sunday May 30, 2021 10:30 a.m. Watch our Chapel Service on Channel 105 Order of Worship Holy, Holy, Holy LBW 165 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee, Which wert and art and evermore shall be. Holy, Holy, Holy! Though the darkness hide thee, Though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see, Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee, Perfect in pow’r, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! Text: Reginald Heber, alt.; Music: John B. Dykes Welcome and Word for this Day 2 Ignite Within Us a Fire of Love Christine Sine Let us enter this day In the power of the triune God. Creator of life, Christ of love, Spirit of guiding. Ignite within us a fire of love. Let it flame in our hearts for all to see. May it shine on neighbors And show generosity to strangers. May it express compassion for friends, And show forgiveness to foes. Let it reach the lowliest creatures that live, And exalt Christ’s name which is highest of all. This day and every day Triune God, Creator of life, Christ of love, Spirit of guiding, Ignite us with a fire of love.
    [Show full text]
  • Holy Wisdom: Or, Directions for the Prayer of Contemplation
    Holy Wisdom: or, Directions for the Prayer of Contemplation Author(s): Baker, Ven. F. Augustine (1575-1641) Publisher: Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Description: As a Catholic priest in 17th century England, Augustine Baker lived in constant danger. His persecutors followed him wherever he went to pray and profess religion.This collection of ascetical treatises exhibits the breadth of Baker©s spiritual teachings. Baker©s first treatise advises Christians to live an internal life with God as their guide. The second treatise de- scribes the process of mortification, by which the ascetic person strengthens the will to overcome the desire for sin. The third treatise focuses on prayer, illuminating the useful- ness of different types of prayer and meditation. Baker be- lieved that the continued practice of holy exercises draws Christians close to God. His persuasive treatises urge Christians to develop their spiritual lives with the observance of prayer, mortification, meditation, and contemplation. Emmalon Davis CCEL Staff Writer Subjects: Practical theology Practical religion. The Christian life Asceticism i Contents Title Page 1 Introductory 3 Editor’s Preface 4 Approbations 14 Author’s Preface 19 The First Treatise. Of an Internal Life in General. 36 First Section. Of a Contemplative Life. 37 Chapter I. The Nature and End of an Internal Life 37 Chapter II. Of Natural Propensions to Devotion 41 Chapter III. Of a State Contemplative and Active 44 Chapter IV. Of the Necessity of a Strong Resolution 48 Chapter V. Of the Danger of a Tepid Life 55 Chapter VI. The Parable of a Pilgrim 58 Second Section.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bible, Sophia and the Feminine
    Dr. Keith Lloyd Kent State University Stark [email protected] Mythos consists of the stories, Of all the cultural mythos that words, and surround us, the gendered ones images we seem the most prevalent, powerful, use to fit the facts of and “natural.” the world to experience. The Christian faith emerged within a gendered mythos and its theology We often aren’t and philosophy adapted to and aware of shaped them. our own mythos … Then, and now, believers struggle with how gender and theology can I grew up in a home with pretty strict gender boundaries… work positively together. Dad worked long hours and was the enforcer. Mom taught piano, cooked, and All of this is embodied the figures of cleaned. Sophia and Shekinah. My older sister lorded over me and worried about boys and hair. And me, I didn’t seem to fit… Philo “drew on the figure of Wisdom from Judaism’s own intermediary theology… In some biblical and extra-biblical writings, Wisdom, a personified aspect of God, was an agent of creation and salvation, pre-existent with God in heaven. Philo occasionally makes her mother to the Logos. But such language seems to be symbolic only. Certainly, Philo envisioned no incarnation of this “Son” to earth.” Earl Doherty The Jesus Puzzle Supplementary Article No. 5 TRACING THE CHRISTIAN LINEAGE IN ALEXANDRIA The divine Logos is son of God and Wisdom God for father, who is as well Father of all things, and for mother Wisdom, through whom all things came into genesis; De Prof., § 20; M. i.
    [Show full text]