One of my favourite stories about Trinity Sunday, which we celebrate today, concerns a sermon, of sorts, that a priest once preached on this day many years ago. It seems, he climbed into the pulpit, crossed himself and began;

“The Trinity is a great mystery of the Christian faith – and I think we should leave it at that. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

And promptly left the pulpit, sermon finished!  

I don’t know whether that story’s true or apocryphal, but I do like it. I like it because I think it’s quite funny, and I like it because it does contain some truth. The Trinity, the uniquely Christian understanding that God is one and yet is, at one and the same time, three distinct persons, whom we call the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is a great mystery. It’s an understanding of God that is very difficult to explain because how can something be three different things and yet, at the same time, be only one thing? We can express what we mean by the Trinity, and we do every Sunday when we say the Nicene Creed, but we can’t fully comprehend what such a God is like within God’s own self, we can’t understand the true nature of such a God, so how can we possibly explain it? So the Trinity is a mystery, something that’s difficult, if not impossible to fully understand or explain.

And it did take the Church a long time to come up with the understanding of the Trinity that we do have. We now regard the doctrine of the Trinity as one of the central and defining beliefs of our faith, but we don’t find the Trinity mentioned explicitly in Scripture. In fact, we don’t find it mentioned in any Christian writings until the end of the 2^nd Century, and it wasn’t formally defined until the 4^th Century, first in the Nicene Creed, that was agreed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, and finally at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. So it took the Church almost 200 years to first speak of God as a Trinity, and another 200 years to finally agree on what they meant by that.

But having said that God isn’t spoken of as a Trinity in Scripture, the early Church did use Scripture as the basis for understanding God as Trinity because they saw many passages of Scripture as hinting at this understanding of God. For example, we see the Trinity hinted at right at the beginning of the Scriptures in the image of God before and during the act of creation.

‘The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.’

So we see God, the creating Father, the Hoy Spirit of God and God’s Word, the Word that, in his Gospel, St John later identified as Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Son of God. The early Church also saw the Trinity hinted at in the visit of the three men to Abraham which we read about in Genesis 18;

‘And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.’ 

In the New Testament, they saw the Trinity hinted at in the language concerning the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and most especially they saw it in the baptismal formula in the Great Commission Jesus gave to the Church;

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

We can see a hint of it in the story of Jesus’ own baptism where we hear the voice of the Father speaking about his Son, Jesus, and sending the Spirit to rest on him in the form of a dove;

‘And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”’

And we also find overtones of a Trinitarian understanding of God in one of the most well-known of all Christian prayers, The Grace, which comes from the end of St Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, and which we heard this morning:

‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’

So the uniquely Christian understanding of God as Trinity is based on Scripture even if this understanding of God is never explicitly stated in Scripture. It comes from contemplation on Scripture but while that can help us to express in words what we mean by the Trinity, it perhaps isn’t so helpful in helping us to understand the nature of God as Trinity.

To understand what God as Trinity is really like, what God, as God in God’s own being, is and is like, we’d have to be able to share some experience of being like that ourselves and that‘s something we can’t do, because we’re not Trinitarian beings ourselves. But nevertheless, I think we can experience something of the nature of the Trinitarian God, if only in a small way, by thinking about that prayer we know as The Grace, and trying to live out what we pray for in The Grace. 

The first thing we ask for in the prayer is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that grace, in this sense, is the assistance that God gives us to help us on our way to salvation. Grace, if you like, is the gift, or gifts, that God gives us so that we can live as Christians in the world; it’s what we need to follow Christ’s example and teaching properly, in other words. We can all have this grace, but we pray specifically for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so what we’re praying for here is the ability to use God’s grace in the way that Jesus himself did. We’re  praying that we can use the grace that God gives us to take up our cross each and every day and follow Jesus along the way he followed and in the life that he led. And if we can use God’s grace in that way, we’ll be a little closer to being one with God and with Jesus, a little closer to fulfilling Jesus’ High Priestly prayer that his disciples,

“…may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us…”

We also pray in The Grace, for the love of God. We know that the love of God is a love that encompasses all things, not only all of us, not only those who have faith and try to do his will, but all people whoever they are, whatever they are, and wherever they are. And God’s love doesn’t only embrace all people; his love embraces the whole of creation. And this is the love that we’re asking for in The Grace. We’re asking to be able to love our neighbour as ourselves, whoever, whatever and wherever those neighbours may be, to love them whether they love us or not, whether they’re good or bad towards us. And we’re asking to be able to love God’s creation too, all of it and everything in it and to treat it and everything in it accordingly. And if we can have this love and show it then we know that we’ll be experiencing something of the nature of God because, as St John tells us, 

‘God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.’

Finally in The Grace, we pray for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

On a number of occasions, St Paul speaks about the Spirit in terms of love. In his Letter to the Romans, for example, he says,

‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’

And in his Letter to the Colossians he urges Christians, above all things, above all other virtues, to,

‘…put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.’ 

When we think about the Spirit in this way, it’s not surprising that the Holy Spirit has been called the ‘bond of love’ that binds together the Father and the Son. We find this understanding of the Spirit in the writings of St Augustine. This, for example, from On the Trinity;

‘The Holy Spirit also, whether we are to call Him that absolute love which joins together Father and Son, and joins us also from beneath, that so that is not unfitly said which is written, “God is love;”’

We might say then that the Holy Spirit is what binds the Trinity together in perfect communion. So when we pray for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we’re praying that we might be enabled to share in the love that’s shared between the Father and the Son, in and through the Holy Spirit. In other words, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, just like the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of the God the Father, enables us to share in the life of God. Of course, we can’t fully know, or understand what it means to live as God lives because we’re not Trinitarian by nature, so we can’t experience that existence fully, at least in this life. But we can perhaps catch just a glimpse of that life, in this life, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

When we pray The Grace, what we’re praying for, is that we might be able to share in the life of God as God is in God’s own being; we’re praying that we can share in the life of God as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We might only be able to enjoy a hint of that life, in this life, but we can have that much of it. And we can have it for one very simple reason, because we can love. And it’s only a lack of love, and can only be a lack of love, that holds us back from it.

Amen.   

---

Propers for Trinity Sunday 4th June 2023

Entrance Antiphon
Blessed be God the Father and his only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit,
for he has shown that he loves us.

The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity,
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)   
Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
Psalm – Daniel 3:52-56
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18

RCL (St Gabriel’s)       
Isaiah 40:12-17, 27-31
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

When I first started thinking about my sermon for this morning, I did think of perhaps starting by asking you to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ because today, the day of Pentecost, is, as I’m sure many of you will know, the day that many people regard as the Church’s birthday. We regard Pentecost as the Church’s birthday because the Day of Pentecost, was the day when the promised Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples so that they could begin to carry out the Great Commission that Christ had given them to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. We hear about that in our first reading this morning as we read about the disciples speaking to people from many different nations, each in in their own language “about the marvels of God.”

The pouring out of the Spirit was something that God had promised through the prophets. As we read on a little further in Acts, we find Peter quoting the prophet Joel and saying,

“And in the last days it shall come to pass, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…”

It was a promise reiterated by Jesus, and a promise fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. And if we think of the pouring out of the Spirit as a promised gift, given on the day the Church came into being, then, if you’ll forgive what might be seen as a certain irreverence, I think we can see the Spirit as the Church’s birthday present.

This present, this gift, is a very great gift indeed. It’s a gift given by God that enables us to share in the life of God. It’s a gift that reminds us of all that Jesus taught. It’s a gift that leads us into all truth and wisdom. It’s a gift that enables us to not only have the Church but to build up the Church in obedience to the Great Commission Christ gave us. It’s a gift that enables us to be the holy people we’re called to be and to live the lives that Christ called us to live. But do we actually use this great gift in these ways?

I think at times, and at many times, we treat this gift in the way that children treat the presents they receive at birthdays, or Christmas. They know the big day is coming because they’ve been told it is. They know they’re going to receive presents because they’ve been promised them. And, when the big day comes, they rush, full of anticipation and excitement to open their presents. They tear open the wrapping paper and boxes to see what they’ve been given. They look, wide eyed and perhaps even open mouthed in joy and amazement at the wonderful, and these days, often very expensive gifts they’ve received. And then they put them to one side and proceed to play with the wrapping paper and boxes and, what presents do get their attention are very often the far less eye catching and cheaper ones that they probably weren’t expecting. The gifts that, at Christmas, we call ‘stocking fillers’.   

I think we can be like this with the gift of the Holy Spirit because we don’t use it in the way we’re intended to and, in fact, we very often play with the wrappings, as it were. For example, the Spirit enables us to share in the life of God, and part of sharing in that life is made possible through our regular worship of God in church. But how many people belong to the ‘You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian’ brigade? The Spirit is a gift that reminds us of all that Jesus taught, but how many people argue about what Jesus taught, and distort what Jesus taught for their own ends by putting their own interpretation on Jesus’ words? Where is the truth and wisdom that the Spirit brings in arguments like this, or in the divisions that so diminish and hinder the Church from fulfilling its Great Commission? The Spirit is a gift that enables us to build up the Church, but what we see around us is a Church that’s increasingly divided, a Church that’s struggling in our own part of the world at least, to even survive, let alone being built up and growing. And where is the Spirit in the lives of Christians who constantly bicker and argue amongst themselves, who far from being the holy people they’re called to be, live lives that are all but indistinguishable from the lives of anyone else?

The Spirit is a gift in itself, but it’s a gift that brings gifts of its own. The Church recognises seven gifts of the Spirit, and they’re named by the prophet Isaiah,

‘There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord….’

The Church refers to these gifts as wisdom, the gift of knowing what the right and Godly thing to do in any given situation and doing it. Understanding, the gift of discerning God and God’s truth in all things. Counsel, the gift of being able to discern God’s will and help others to discern it too. Fortitude, the gift of courage and of being able to endure suffering for the sake of the Gospel.

Knowledge, the gift of being able to see things through God’s eyes and so to understand the greatness of God. Piety, the gift of recognising our need of God and our duty to worship him. And fear, fear of the Lord, the gift of being aware of the glory of God and of his ways and so having due reverence and respect for God and his ways. The gift of knowing this allows us to know what the right and Godly thing to do is, and so the gift of fear is the beginning of the first and greatest gift of the Spirit, wisdom.

These are the gifts of the Spirit. This is what we receive, or at least are offered, when we receive the gift of Holy Spirit. But whether we use these gifts or not, and the extent to which we use them is up to us. I use the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church for Morning and Evening Prayer, and in the second reading of the Office of Readings on Friday, which was from the writings of St Hilary of Poitiers, it was put this way,

‘… unless the human mind drinks in the gift of the Spirit by faith, it will have the nature for understanding God, but it will not have the light of knowledge. The  gift which is in Christ is one, yet offered, and offered fully, to all. Always available, it is given in proportion to each one’s will to receive it; it remains with each according to his will to grow in merit.’

So we’ve all received this great gift of the Spirit and it’s always available for us to use. But it’s up to us whether we use and how we use it. So how do we know that we are using it and using it correctly and fully?

As well as speaking about the gifts of the Spirit, Scripture also speaks about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is what the Spirit produces when its gifts are put to use. So if we want to know if we are using the gifts the Spirit’s given us, we need only look to see if we can find the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

St Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians. 

‘…the fruit of the Spirit,’ he says, ‘is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…’

When St Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit, he’s contrasting it with the works of the flesh which he’s mentioned earlier and which are,

‘…sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.’

So, if we want to know whether or not we’re using the gift of the Spirit, we need to look at ourselves and see which of those two lists our lives most closely resemble. If our lives contain more of the works of the flesh than fruit of the Spirit, then we’re not using either the gift of the Spirit, nor the gifts the Spirit brings, well enough. If our lives contain more fruit of the Spirit than works of the flesh, we’re doing better, because we’re making more use of the Spirit and its gifts.

Something that’s quite noticeable though, in what St Pauls says here, is that although St Paul lists fifteen attributes as works of the flesh and suggests that there are more works of the flesh than just these, he doesn’t call the other nine attributes he lists the fruits of the Spirit; he calls them the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is singular, and this suggests that the gifts of the Spirit, which are themselves are contained in the gift of the one Spirit, combine to produce one fruit of the Spirit which is made up of all of these nine attributes. In other words, if we’re using the gifts of the Spirit and the gift of the Spirit properly, we’ll show all these things in our lives, no just one of them, or some of them. I hope we never fail to show at least some of them in our lives, but can we honestly say that we always show all of them?

The truth is that our lives are always a mixture of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, but we need to do our best to make sure that there’s more fruit of the Spirit in our lives than works of the flesh. And the best way to make progress in making sure that is the case is by looking at the gifts of the Spirit and trying to make sure that we cultivate and use them in our lives.

Today, we celebrate the birth of the Church, and give thanks to God for the great gift he gave us to mark that day, the pouring out of Holy Spirit on his Church and, in due time, on us. So let’s make sure that we don’t treat this gift in the same way children so often treat the gifts they receive on birthdays and at Christmas. Instead, let’s show our thanks to God for this great gift by using it as he intended it to be used, to help us be the holy people we’re called to be and for the building up of the Church.

Amen. 

---

Propers for Pentecost, 28th May 2023

Entrance Antiphon
The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world.
It holds all things together and hears every word spoken by man, alleluia!

The Collect
God, who as at this time
taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things,
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)        
Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23

RCL (St Gabriel’s)       
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:26-37
1 Corinthians 12:3-13
John 20:19-23