Some feasts and festivals are obvious to us when we read the scriptures. Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost – the Bible tells us about these things happening in particular times.
Then there’s feasts of traditions – saints’ days, for example, when we commemorate a particular person: yesterday was the feast of St. Barnabas, for example; St John the evangelist – for whom our worship space is named – we celebrate him on Dec 27.Then there are other feast days that are great – and we may not know how or why they came about – we just know that we celebrate them.
Today is one of those days! Trinity Sunday!
And obviously, we recognise the importance of the Trinity in our faith journey, and the ability to celebrate it in particular on one Sunday is great – even though we celebrate the Trinity every day.
Does anyone know why the Sunday after Pentecost is named Trinity Sunday?
Let me share! Thomas Becket – he became Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1162. Thomas was a deeply spiritual man, who encouraged a focus on people’s faith – and on ways in which that faith could be put into action. He had strong ethics and morals, supported what we today would call social justice initiatives – making sure that everyone had enough.
Anyway! Very popular guy among the people; not always popular among the royalty – who presumed that their money and titles meant that could control everything – including the church.
So: Thomas: ordained the Bishop of Canterbury on Pentecost in 1162. And as a result of this, he declared that he wanted the following Sunday to be dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity.
So: to this day, we honour this as Trinity Sunday.
Now you know.
So let’s honour Thomas’ wish – and delve deeply into the mystery of the Trinity.
Now, in the Book of Common Prayer you can find the Creed of St. Athanasius – which offers us a gorgeous three-and-a-half page statement of what our Triune God is – and is not.
Allow me to offer this summary:
One God, in three divine persons: Father, Son, Spirit.
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.
Each person is unique in their relation to one another, but remains one in all else.
They are Co-equal, co-eternal, consubstantial.
Great! Clear as crystal.
Except… no it isn’t.
It’s a human attempt to articulate what cannot be defined.
The Trinity is – and always will be – a mystery. Not mystery as in a puzzle or a whodunnit novel, but an inexplicable sacred … bafflement.
And God knew we would always be baffled by this: and that’s okay.
God doesn’t ask us to define God, but to have faith. And to live in faith.
And many people over many years have tried to come up with examples to describe the essence of the Trinity – and every one of them is not quite right.
(And some folks get *really* upset with these analogies – though for me, if the worst thing someone is doing is trying to describe God as like 3 states of water or 3 components of an egg or the leaves of a shamrock – meh.)
So – rather than jump into that arena, let’s focus on the mystery of the Trinity – and what it means for us today.
The word mystery has two meanings: the Greek mustErion roots in nuanced directions in medieval times – which was when Thomas Becket was practicing his theology. So he understood the mystery of the Trinity as being shared with us in two ways – that remains important to our faith today.
The first was mystery: as in mystic – or mystical: divine revelation that remains elusive and beyond human comprehension. The invitation to believe.
The other way that the Greek parsed out into Latin was ministry – a call to action – thus the Mystery of the Trinity held within it the divine revelation and making it a reality in this world.
So Becket’s emphasis for the church was learning that the mystery of the Trinity is an invitation to participate in that divine revelation: to participate in the coming of God’s kingdom – to engage in the desires of God to be known and celebrated throughout the world. The word ‘mystery’ is a means to use our skills and gifts and opportunities to DO the work of God.
Trinity Sunday emphasises that ministry is meant for us all, that we are called to be a church that shows the presence of God rather than just getting caught up in inadequate words.
Not that those words are not important: they are!
But the church as a whole recognised that we reached a level of human understanding – we have three authorised creeds which declare our faith in the Trinity –
And that suffices. They provide a fullness of what we need for this life and this time.
Instead, we are being reminded to live into the truth of the Trinity – the mystery of the Trinity – the ministry of the Trinity.
This is why in our baptism, we engage in the sacrament in the name of the Trinity:
Our baptismal vows are made and renewed in the name of the Trinity;
Our confirmation celebrates our personal commitment in the name of the Trinity;
Our Communion honours our covenant with God, and is instituted in the name of the Trinity;
Our blessings enfold the wholeness of the Trinity.
This glorious mystery of the Trinity that calls us into ministry.
And ministry – as we know – takes on a beautiful array of forms and expressions – as God has blessed us each with a beautiful array of gifts and skills.
And part of the beauty and mystery of the church is to discern how God is calling us – each and every one of us – into this mystical ministry: serving God’s creation, God’s people, God’s world: through the privilege of being God’s church.
Our baptismal vows offer a great starting point for this discernment, as we consider what we have promised to God and the church that we will do:
to share in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to pray,
to practice repentance, to proclaim God’s Good News in all we say and do,
to worship together, to love our neighbours as we love Jesus himself,
to work for justice and act in fairness, to demonstrate respect,
to appreciate all of God’s people, to care for God’s creation for generations to come.
There’s a LOT there. And God wants for us to be regular in our prayerful and careful discernment about how we will live out these vows – recognising that not all expressions of ministry is for everyone; and not all ministry is for every place.
And as discernment – like personal and spiritual growth – is an ongoing process rather than a one-time decision, we recognise that not all ministries are forever (we’ve all heard the anecdotal “I’ll do that just for one year!” that turns into a lifelong commitment!). Sometimes the faithful response is to honour the ending of a ministry; sometimes it is to honour the beginning of a new ministry.
If nothing else, the Trinity reminds us that we are all ministers: for we all engage in ministry.
We interact with the world, ideally in ways that reflect how God is calling for us to serve.
Because – as people of faith, as God’s church, we know that our lives are permeated by the inexplicable glory of God.
We are infused with the utterly amazing power of God.
And our actions reflect the mystery and majesty of God – through our ministry.
So this week I invite us to celebrate the Trinity: for we are in constant relationship with our Triune God! And this relationship draws from us a response – in prayer, in action, in generosity, in presence.
Let’s spend time contemplating mystery in our lives; the revelation of the Divine in our lives, the Holy presence that sustains us, and the possibilities that this unfolds before us.
Let us live in the blessing of the Trinity: the God who loved us into being, the God who redeems us eternally, the God who inspires our actions here on earth.
And let us be a blessing in the name of the God who blesses us.
Amen.
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