Trinity Sunday: images
Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that all who here are cleansed from sin and born again may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
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Do you believe in God the Father?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son?
Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
Trinity Sunday and many a fool preacher will clarify the Trinity, the very notion of which is heresy. Because the Trinity is not to be comprehended. The Athanasian Creed, a faith document in the back of the prayerbook (p.864), theologizes the Trinity as
the Father incomprehensible,
the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
And yet (the creed goes on to say) there are not three incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible. So,
do not fall for explanations and clarifications. The good news is that by doctrine you cannot comprehend the Trinity. The bad news is that, because the Trinity is incomprehensible by doctrine, if you comprehend the Trinity anyway you’re a heretic. So, let it go, give it up, God Will Be What God will Be!
A memorable Trinity sermon was preached here at Holy Nativity some fifty years ago. Linda and I and our children were home on Navy leave, the Rev. Robert Battin was rector, celebrant and preacher. Father Bob said “The Trinity does not DESCRIBE God; the Trinity expresses our EXPERIENCE of God”. No theologian, scholar, or preacher ever said it better than that.
The Trinity expresses our Experience:
God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
God the Son, ha-Adam, human, Earthling, one of us, God with us, telling us God’s values, showing us that Love and Sacrifice, the Way of the Cross, is the godly Way of Life.
God the Holy Spirit, still and always here, entering you at Baptism, dwelling within you, makes you a temple of the Holy Spirit, works within you as God helping you, God enabling you to keep your Baptismal Promise, “I will, with God’s help”.
It little matters, either to God or to your salvation, what you say you Believe about the Trinity or any church doctrine (and the church is replete with doctrines for us to believe). No doctrine was laid on by God, all doctrine is the work of human minds trying to make God comprehensible. Yet God is not ours to make, God IS, and cannot be captured in heavy doctrine or magnificent lyrics:
the virtues of the star-lit heaven
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.
Doctrine, creed, and song, and still God is incomprehensible; not fashioned by human minds like a wooden idol constructed by human hands in human likeness to fill human needs. God names God’s self y’VAH, BEING, BE, I AM, eh-YEH ah-sheer eh-YEH, I AM that I AM, I will BE what I will BE. Though God cannot be captured in human images, the paradox is that if you see Jesus you see God - - Jesus the image of God in God the Son who shows and tells that you also are an image of God, whose concern is not what you say you believe about God, but that you image God in how you live.
The image of God: Holy Eucharist reinforces and reminds us: the Body of Christ, the Blood of Christ. God is real: tasted, sipped and swallowed, God physically and spiritually within you, helping you live in the Godly image that God created you to be.
We are baptized in the Name of the Trinity. The Font contains holy water from the River Jordan for anyone who wishes to touch it and recall your baptism.
The Baptismal Covenant is on page 304 as we stand: page 304, and continuing with the Prayers on page 305.
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A homiletic attempt to avoid becoming an apostate heretic on Trinity Sunday, 12 June 2022. Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida, the Rev Tom Weller, Episcopal priest (retired). Sequence hymn, "I bind unto myself today"
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1. I bind unto myself today
the strong name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
2. I bind this day to me forever
by power of faith, Christ's in carnation
his baptism in the Jordan river,
his death on Cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb,
his riding up the heavenly way,
his coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.
3. I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea
around the old eternal rocks.
4. I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
God's eye to watch, God's might to stay,
God's ear to hearken to my need,
the wisdom of my God to teach,
God's hand to guide, God's shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
the heavenly host to be my guard.
5. Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
6. I bind unto myself the name,
the strong name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, the One in Three,
of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
salvation is of Christ the Lord!