Trinity Sunday

Romans 5: 1-5 John 16: 12-15

Today is Trinity Sunday. A day when many will scratch their heads in puzzlement, trying to understand some great truths. Cast to one side the traditional ways of attempting to come to terms with what is taking place. Leave the traffic light and its three colours, leave the orange with its many layers. Instead let us look at the basic ideas.

Basic ideas mean that we begin with looking at the start. I enjoy mathematics. A good old sum can be fun to work out. However, we must begin at the start. Mathematics is dealing with numbers and so we begin by looking at numbers, what they are and what they mean. Only then can we progress towards combining them and using them in different ways. Simple sums and equations at first leading up to complex issues and formulae. We gain understanding as we progress.

In John’s gospel the disciples are being told that, although they understand a certain amount, there is still much more that they have yet to come to terms with. As with my mathematics example it is quite pointless in asking a child in the first years of school to solve a complex sum or prove a complicated theorem. They work up to the required level of understanding. It does not come to them overnight.

Today we are looking at the thorny question of the Trinity. Here we see God as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God in three persons and God in one. To fully understand this concept requires us to have travelled along life’s pathways to a certain degree. We have passed beyond the most basic of understanding and have moved to a greater insight of God. We have learnt how God is the Creator of all we see about us. How he created both you and me giving us the characteristics that we carry, all of them as he designs. How the many types of trees are in the fields and the animals that graze beneath them. All of these are the work of God the Creator, fashioning as he wills.

Next, we explore God the Son. It is that part of God that came to Earth to be with us, to teach us, show by example. I introduce this by describing the Son as that part of God. It is obvious that God cannot be in heaven, doing all of the heavenly things that he does, and be here on Earth involved here as he is. There is no place on Earth where God does not exist. From the highest mountain to the deepest trenches or mines, God the Son is there. He is ever present within us as we have opened our heart to him. Casting wide our heart and inviting him in is how we carry him in our daily life.

God as Holy Spirit is constantly at our side. He gives us strength when we are faced with all manner of dilemmas. By the Holy Spirit we have been given gifts to take and use in the world. The list of potential gifts is long, and we do not necessarily know which gift, or gifts, we have been given. But a gift we have, and it is up to us to discover that gift and use it for the good of others.

Our education continues and as we learn more our understanding increases. This is just what Jesus was meaning as he spoke with the disciples. This can be shown as we look at our understanding of God through the ages. In the days of the Old Testament God was frequently seen as a vengeful God yet in the New Testament he is seen as a loving God. How do we come to understand this change? In the Old Testament days where there was much fighting and territorial changes in which the Jews could not risk their belief being tainted. Its purity must be safeguarded. The way to do this was to destroy all non-believers, the heathen. The people of the Old Testament times had grasped a great truth, but only one side of it.

As Jesus came he preached a God of love. The heathen need not be destroyed but educated. Here we see how education over time provided a greater understanding. Our view of God has changed over time. Our capacity to perceive God has increased, to know him.

As time progresses no doubt our perception of God will continue to grow. The Holy Trinity will continue to be present working in the world. We will play our part in that work by utilizing the gift that we have been given. Gods will be done, as we say as we pray the Lord’s Prayer. We have a part to play in that work.

Collect for Trinity Sunday

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.