Dear Friends,
As you will be aware, the Church of England has a special name for every Sunday in the Church’s year. Easter Day, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Second Sunday of Christmas or the Third Sunday of Epiphany are but four typical examples.
It is interesting then that in October we shall be celebrating the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd Sunday After Trinity. Indeed, the 22nd Sunday is actually the Last Sunday After Trinity, marking the end of a run of about five months since Trinity Sunday.
It is fascinating to reflect on why the Trinity is such an important and lengthy season in the church year. Yet at the same time, how often do we pause to reflect on the meaning of the Trinity? Sadly, we often only think about it on Trinity Sunday, and then often the sermon can tie us up in knots as we reflect on the “Three in One and One in Three”!
Briefly then what does the Trinity really mean for us on a practical level?
Firstly, I believe it shows us that God is not just an impersonal force.
Instead, He chooses to reveal himself as God the Father. Of course this raises
problems for those who have had difficult experiences with their own fathers,
and it may take prayer ministry and counselling for these damaged
preconceptions to be healed, but that does not take away from the importance of
this doctrine. God chooses to reveal himself as a loving parent. We are not
subjects or servants – but children much loved by our heavenly Father.
It is in that context that we pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
your name,” confident of our Father’s love for us.
Secondly the Trinity reminds us that Jesus was not just a prophet, a
teacher, or a healer. He was and is God Incarnate, God the Son. Christianity
proclaims that God has chosen to reveal himself in many ways, through the
beauty of creation, through the writings of the Bible, through the workings of
our conscience, but supremely through Christ Jesus, who was and is the Word
made Flesh. “I and the Father are one” Jesus said in St John 10 verse
30, adding “He who has seen me has seen the Father” in St John 14
verse 9. St Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, chapter 2 that
“in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives”.
From such
passages we are taught that we can understand the nature and personality of God
the Father by looking at and learning from God the Son. He shows us the Father.
He reveals God’s personality – his love, patience, and zeal for
righteousness. Some of us may see Jesus as much gentler and more loving than
God the Father – but this is not a correct Trinitarian perspective.
Instead, the two share the same moral attributes and character.
Thirdly, the Trinity tells us that the Holy Spirit is the power of God at work in us today. Shortly before the Ascension Jesus said “It is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go the Holy Spirit will not come to you” (St John 16). The importance of the Holy Spirit is of paramount importance in our understanding of the Trinity. As a Christian we have the Holy Spirit working in us. We may not always feel Him, but He is there, guiding us and helping us through life. If we pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we are asking God the Spirit to fill our lives with His joy and peace, and if we persist in praying such prayers it is very likely that we will sense His presence more in our lives. God the Spirit reminds us that God is active in today’s world, bringing his presence into our experience of daily life.
So finally, may you know the meaning of the Trinity in this last month of the Trinity season for 2002, not just intellectually, but in your spirit too. In the words of a famous passage of scripture “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.”
Simon Tillotson
This letter appears in the parish magazine. To subscribe to the magazine please email Brian Eddy or contact the church office.
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