Trinity Sunday 1 yet 3 - It's a mystery !

7th June 2020 APC    Trinity Sunday – “One yet 3, it’s a mystery”
 
Welcome and Introduction
Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning service.  Today is another special Sunday in the Christian Year.  Today is Trinity Sunday.  It’s the day we deliberately set aside time to reflect on the mystery revealed in scripture that God is One, yet He is made up of 3 persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This is what orthodox Christians have believed right from the beginning of the Christian church.  But why do we believe this and what difference does it make anyway?  Well that’s what we’ll be considering this morning.  But before we do that let’s talk to God, let’s pray…
 
Opening Prayer
Great and loving God, we greet you this day with praise and wonder.  We greet you as the creator of the ends of the earth, sovereign over space and time, greater than we can ever imagine.
Gracious and living Christ, we greet you this day with joy and thanksgiving.  We greet you as our Lord, our friend, our Saviour.
Mysterious and mighty spirit, we greet you this day with awe and worship.  We greet you as our guide and inspiration, our source of strength and comfort, a living inner reality.
Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we greet you this day and we praise you that you are here to greet us and everyone, today and every day, here and everywhere.
Help us to meet with you and grow closer to you through this time of worship.
Help us to glimpse your glory and make it known through all we say and do to the glory of your name, Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever, AMEN.
 
Bible Readings
 
Deuteronomy 6 v 4-5
 
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
 
2 Thessalonians 2 v 13-17
 
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace give us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
 
God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so what?
 
Today is Trinity Sunday.  It’s the day that we reflect on the Orthodox Christian teaching that there is One God, who is made up of 3 persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 
But how can this be?  Well, if we’re honest, the first thing that must be said is that this Christian teaching of the Trinity is a mystery.  One theologian Jim Packer describes it like this - “the doctrine of the trinity confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle.”
Having said that, while the Christian teaching of the trinity is a mystery that is impossible to completely understand, it is still a teaching that is true and that matters. 
It is true because although there is no individual verse in the bible that categorically proves it, the unfolding picture that we find as we read from Genesis to Revelation, is of a single God who demands to be understood in a Trinitarian manner.  Let me give you a few examples of what I mean by that.
To begin with, both the Old and New Testaments clearly teach that God is one.
So we read in Deuteronomy 6 v 4 “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God is one.”
In the New Testament, Mark 12 v 29-30 records Jesus quoting these same verses when someone asks him the question, “what is the greatest commandment?”
In response Jesus says, “The most important one is this, Hear Oh Israel the Lord our God is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
I could quote you many other verses, but these alone are sufficient to show you that both the Old and New Testaments teach us that there is only one God.
 
But the bible also teaches us that within this One God there is a plurality of 3 Persons.
 
In the OT this is only hinted at dimly:
 
E.g. in Gen 1 v26 we read, “Then God said, let us make man in our image.”
 
And similarly in Gen 11 v7 we read The Lord said, “Come let us go down and confuse their language.”
 
These verses show evidence of plurality within the One God within the OT.
 
However, in the NT, the lights of the Trinitarian nature of God shine more brightly and clearly.  The NT speaks of the 3 personal agents of Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together in a team to bring about salvation.
St. Paul reflects this Trinitarian nature of God in the closing of his second letter to the Christians in Corinth.  He writes, “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  
We repeat these words of Paul at the end of every service because they remind us that the God we worship is a Trinity.
 
But while the NT highlights the distinction of the three persons within the Trinity, it also clearly identifies each person of the Trinity as being God.
 
So in Acts 5 v 3-4 we read that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.
In John 1 v1 The Word (Jesus Christ) is described as being God and in many of his letters, Paul identifies the Father as being God when he writes “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.”
 
So we see that the message of the bible is a mystery.  It teaches us that God is one.  Yet it also teaches us that within that One Godhead there are 3 distinct but co-equal persons.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit who work together in the One God’s great plan of salvation.
 
So are people right in accusing us of worshipping 3 Gods?  Are they right in saying that the doctrine of the trinity just doesn’t make sense so therefore it can’t be true?  No, I think they are wrong.  I think we are right to believe in the Trinity because this is how the bible reveals to us who God is.  Yes, I would agree that it is a mystery.  But I think we are right to believe that there is one God who is made up of 3 persons, the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And finally, so what?  Why does the teaching that God is a trinity matter?  Well there are a number of possible answers to that question but let me leave you with a few to consider this morning.
 

1. It should lead us to bow.

Well, firstly, I think the very fact that the trinity is a mystery helps to keep us humble.  It makes us realise that our human minds can never fully understand everything about the universe or everything about the nature and the mind of God.  Humility is important because it helps us to remember to give God the respect that He deserves.  It reminds us that every time we come into His presence we should bow in respect of His greatness.
I want to encourage you to take some time this week to get alone with God and to think about Him in His Trinitarian nature.  I hope that as you do that it will cause you to appreciate just how awesome and how amazing God is because His 3 in 1 nature is beyond our full comprehension.  Then in response, let me encourage you to worship Him as Father, Son and Spirit by talking and singing to Him about His greatness and nature that is beyond our full understanding.
 
2      It should lead us to balance.
A second reason the trinity is important is that it helps us to maintain a healthy balance within our Christian lives.
The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us that in all our worship and witness as a church we need to give equal thought and honour to each person of the Trinity.
We need to be wary of neglect.  For example, often we honour the Father as Creator and for sending His Son and we honour the Son by focusing on the cross, resurrection and His High Priestly role in heaven.  But what about the Spirit?  Do we not often neglect Him and His ministry?
For example, we dishonour Him when we treat Him as an ‘it’, or ‘force’ rather than a personal ‘He.’
We dishonour Him, by denying His ability to do anything, including miracles.
We dishonour Him when we don’t think about the gifts he gives to us and when we don’t allow some of those gifts to be used in the life and witness of the church.
We dishonor Him when we don’t leave the door open for God to speak to us or do things among us in miraculous ways.
Yet in giving due honour and respect to each person of the Trinity, we need to remember that they always work together in everything. 
So we need to be careful that we don’t become guilty of worshipping three Gods or that we don’t worship one person of the Trinity above the others.  For example it could be argued that in some Christian circles that the Holy Spirit is given undue precedence over the Father and the Son. 
So in giving each person their place within the Godhead and acknowledging their complete unity, we thank God that His Spirit points us towards the Son who in turn moves us to contemplate the love of the Father.
To be honest, I don’t know exactly how we maintain the correct balance in all of this because of the inherent mystery in the Trinity.  At best, we need to be conscious that the Lord is One, yet three, and seek to hold the tension between the unity of the Godhead in everything while also giving expression to the diversity of roles of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In light of this, the second thing I want you to do this week is to sit down and ask yourself, “Do I think about God in a Trinitarian way?  Am I neglecting any person within the Trinity?  Am I focusing on one person of the trinity too much?  What can I do to correct this imbalance in my thinking and practice?”
 
3      It should lead us to bind.
 
Lastly, the doctrine of the Trinity challenges us to do everything in our power to maintain right relationships with other people and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. 
You see, despite the differences of the 3 Persons within the Trinity they always act as One.  The father, the Son and the Holy Spirit enjoy a perfect loving relationship with each other.  Through Christ we are invited to join in that relationship.
Since all human beings are made in the image of God ideally we too were meant to experience life in loving relationship with other people and especially our Christian brothers and sisters.  We were meant to complement one another and to live in harmony together.
Jesus said that our greatest witness is the love that we have for one another and our unity in diversity.  It’s only as we strive to love and forgive one another and to worship and work together in community that we can truly reflect the nature of our God.
That’s why it’s been great to be able to maintain our connections through these online services and zoom meetings during the lockdown.  But it’s also why it’s essential that as soon as the lockdown has ended that we join together again to worship and work together. 
One of the reasons we have all struggled so badly with the restrictions imposed by lockdown is because this way of life goes against everything that God is in Himself and everything that he has created us to be.  It is when we love, care for each other and do life together as human beings, that we most clearly reflect what God is like and can most fully enjoy the life he has given us.
Its only when all people are loved and treated equally that the beauty and character of God is reflected.
So please put the 26th July in your diary and join us for our return to worshipping together.  It will be socially distanced of course, but it will be a step in the right direction of how God intends us to live.
And as we return to worship and work together let me encourage us all to do all that we can to love one another and to be united.  That will include using and sharing all our gifts and abilities and joining with all the other churches in our town as well.
It will mean treating all people with equality and respect and celebrating the dignity of difference.
So the final thing I want you to do this week is to ask yourself – How can I better reflect the wonderful unity and diversity that exists within God in my relationships with other people inside and outside the church?
Conclusion:
There is One God who exists in three co-equal persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This is a mystery that should lead us to worship all three persons equally and to do all in our power to maintain our love and unity with other people, and to ensure that all people are treated with equal respect and dignity.
 
Prayer
Loving God, we bring before you the sick and suffering of our world, all those wrestling with illness in body, mind or spirit. 
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
We pray for those afflicted in body – enduring physical pain, overwhelmed by disabling disease, waiting for an operation or further treatment and fearful of what the future might hold, or living with the knowledge of terminal illness.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
We pray for those disturbed or troubled in mind – those whose confidence has broken down, those unable to cope with the pressures of daily life, those oppressed by false terrors of the imagination, those facing the dark despair of clinical depression.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
We pray for those afflicted in spirit – those who feel their lives to be empty, or whose beliefs are threatened or who have lost their faith, or who worship gods of their own making with no power to satisfy, or whose hearts have become bitter and twisted, and their minds dark.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
Living God we thank you for all who work to bring help, wholeness and healing to the sick – doctors and nurses, surgeons and medical staff, psychiatrists, counselors, clergy and therapists.  Support and strengthen all who share in the world of healing, all who strive to bring relief, all who minister to others.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
Grant them your wisdom and guidance, your care and compassion, your strength and support.  Equip them in all they do and bring wholeness through them.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
Finally we pray for your church in the healing ministry you have called it to exercise, an inner healing of body mind and soul which only you can offer.  Grant that your people everywhere may be so filled with your Holy Spirit, and so touched by the grace of Christ, that they may share effectively in the wider work of healing, through their life and witness bringing wholeness to broken people and a broken world.
Lord in your mercy, hear our payer.
Take a few moments now to bring your own prayers to God…
Lord, thank you for the gift of prayer.  Please continue to teach us to pray. In the name of Christ we ask it, Amen.
 
Closing Words
It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today.  Thanks again for logging on.  I hope you’ve felt inspired and challenged as we’ve reflected on the mystery that God is one yet 3.  Currently we are planning to reopen on Sunday 26th July.  Please do pray for our church leadership as we pray and plan for holing our services in a socially distanced way.
I hope you can tune in again on Wednesday morning as we reflect more deeply ion the role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. 
 
I want to thank Alison and the choir for all their inspirational singing.  You will be able to enjoy their latest piece “Christ Triumphant, ever reigning” in a moment.  But first, let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together…
 
Benediction
So now we leave this space of worship
And while so much of the road ahead is uncertain,
So much of life a mystery,
we know some things that are as solid and sure
as the ground beneath our feet,
and the sky above our heads.

We know God is love.
We know Christ’s light endures.

We know the Holy Spirit is there,
found in the space between all things,
closer to us than our next breath,
binding us to each other,
until we meet we again,

So go in peace and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.”