If you follow the church’s lectionary, Trinity Sunday has an important function. All of the Sundays for the next few months, up until the end of October in fact, are numbered from this week. Trinity Sunday has been an important day since 1334, when Pope John XXII decreed its general observation.
What does The Trinity mean? It is easy to dismiss it purely as a theological concept, of interest to scholars and theologians, but having little relationship to the daily outworking of our faith. Surely, living out our faith, in word and in deed, is more important than merely affirming dogmatic statements? Perhaps so, but the Trinity is a helpful means of enabling us to understand the character of God, and of relating to Him more easily. At one time, Trinity Sunday stood as the culmination of the Christian year, completing the cycle which begins with Advent, when we begin the process of recognising the coming of God into the world, continuing through Christmas right up until Ascension, during which time we recall the significant events of Jesus’ life on earth, moving on to Pentecost and the pledge of the Holy Spirit, before reaching Trinity Sunday which puts all of the pieces together. We think about God as revealed to us: God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer and Life-Giver. There are three sides to God’s character, but one God; three ways of experiencing God, but one God; three ways of relating to God, but one God. Out of all this come the various symbols that help to explain it – the trefoil, the linked circles, the triangle.
So, the Trinity is about more than just abstract theology. It offers us a way of entering into relationship with God – the God who created us; the God who died on the cross for our salvation; the God who comes to us today with life-giving power.
As a major festival, the colour for Trinity Sunday is white, but the following season of Trinity, which continues until the beginning of November, is green.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
praise him, all creatures here below,
praise him above, ye heavenly host,
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
(Bishop Thomas Ken, Rector of Brighstone 1667-69)
My hand can hold perfection in a rose bud,
My fingers open with it as it blooms.
I do not ask of God to take a form -
I know my puny brain could never frame it -
I only pray that I may feel the presence
and open petals to absorb the light.
My eyes can follow birds to the horizon.
Their destination is a hazy guess.
I do not stress to grasp eternity:
I read those thirty years of precious time
Redemption came to earth in human form:
And take resurrection's mystery on trust.
From earth's four corners there blow in the winds
Sounding predictions in unwary ears.
When I begin to doubt my better judgement
Then I remember that the Spirit rode in
On the great wings of the Pentecostal wind,
And I can flower with its unseen breath.
(Elizabeth Bowyer, Brook with Mottistone)
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