May – Trinity Sunday
This short act of worship has been prepared for you. I invite you to share in a few moments with God knowing that other people within Paulton, Trinity and Chew Stoke Methodist Churches are sharing this act of worship with you.
Revd Martin Slocombe
God who is One, you create us in diversity.
God who is Three, you draw us into unity.
We give thanks for the Three who are love,
we give thanks for the Three who are here.
We arise today in a mighty strength; the God who is One, the God who is Three,
creating all through love.
We arise today in the might of the Father, in the strength of the Son, in the gentleness of the Spirit,
affirming all through love.
Hymn – StF 11 – Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty - www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzM9P_Gqw-s
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1 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! 2 Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee, 3 Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee, 4 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! |
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Reginald Heber (1783–1826) (alt.) |
Prayer
Power of powers, we worship you. Light of lights, we worship you. Life of lives, we worship you.
Source of life, we turn to you. Saviour of life, we turn to you. Sustainer of life, we turn to you.
Love before time, we adore you. Love in darkest time, we adore you. Love in this time, we adore you.
We confess with deep sadness that we who are made to reflect your threefold love have violated our nature and yours.
Holy God, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.
In your mercy,
forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Readings
Romans 8:12-17
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
John 3:1-17 - Nicodemus Visits Jesus
3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8The windblows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’10Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Reflection
There is a parable, found in Buddhist and Hindu texts, which recalls the experience of 5 blind men trying to describe an elephant.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
The point of this story is that the men could only describe the part of the elephant that they had experienced, and none of them could comprehend what the other was describing.
In many ways, our personal understanding of God is limited to the experiences we have had, and the ways that we believe God has intervened in our lives. Where we differ from the above story, is that we have scripture which records the experiences of God from dozens of characters, and we have the benefit of the theological deliberations of past generations, who have sought to interpret and understand scripture, and thereby, God’s nature. Unfortunately, all of these countless books attempt to describe the indescribable.
These deliberations give us the generally accepted shape and form of God, however limited our understanding, so that we do not have to rely solely upon our own experiences. We simply cannot understand the depth and complexity of God, and therefore we use what limited experiences we have in order to get as close as we can, whilst recognising that our understanding can only ever be partial.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not described in the Bible. Despite there being plenty of references to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Bible does not pull them together or explain how they work in unison with each other. The doctrine was developed by the early church 300 years after Jesus as a way of describing God – Father, Son & Holy Spirit, each distinct and yet working together – and has been a source of debate and disagreement ever since.
For generations, preachers have struggled to describe the Trinity. There is the candle approach, where a candle with three wicks is used to explain how God as one being, can simultaneously be 3 individual beings. There is the relationship example, where I am known by some as a Son, by another as a Husband and by others as a Father.
All of these understandings can be only partially correct, but none of these describe God fully, and are in fact heresy’s. A heresy is when we preach a doctrine which is at odds with accepted theology. Unfortunately the Trinity is such a complex theological minefield, any attempt at simplifying it inevitably ends up contradicting an accepted principle. The following is a humorous clip, which confirms this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw
For the non-theologians of us, I don’t think it is helpful to concentrate on working out what the Trinity is, which we will never be able to do fully, but instead accept that God is mystery and beyond our comprehension. We know God as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit, but the full nature of God is mystery. Mystery is a good thing to have in our faith as it acknowledges the awesomeness and otherness of God. Something would be lost if we could contract that into an all-encompassing statement.
I would like to suggest that we try to put to one side our mental struggle with understanding the Trinity, and instead, to focus on those characteristics of God which we all need to recognise and embrace as we live our lives fully as Christians in God’s world – Grace, Love and Fellowship.
Grace – The Father who created everything that is, who loves and shows compassion, and freely forgives us when we fail Him.
Love – The Son who fully understands our human nature who made the ultimate sacrifice for our sake, and teaches us to love each other, by whom we are saved.
Fellowship – the Holy Spirit, which abides within each of us, and unites us as children of God, allowing us to know God personally.
If we are a community of people living in the grace of the Father, sharing the love of Jesus with those who know nothing of it, and united by the compassion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we are living out the concept of the Trinity, and perhaps, that is all we need to know. The challenge for us is, what does this Trinitarian emphasis look like for our Christian lives, and for our work in our relationships with others and in our wider communities? That is the cerebral exercise we need to be fully engaged with.
Amen
Prayers for others
Father, you bring worlds to birth, you bring us to birth and you affirm us by your grace. We bring to you the unaffirmed places in ourselves … and the unaffirmed people in the world …
Father, affirm them. Father, affirm them.
Saviour, you reach out to our brokenness and make us whole, you reach those who are alienated and bring them back to you. We pray for broken and alienated people …..
Saviour, bring them home. Saviour, bring them home.
Spirit, you permeate all creation and renew the springs of life. We pray for parched and wearied people …
Spirit, renew them. Spirit, renew them.
We pray for the North East Somerset & Bath Circuit, of which we are a part, for it’s ministers, lay workers, churches and congregations – especially this week we join with the Circuit as we pray together for our church in Weston, and for their minister, Jan Tate.
As part of Churches Together in Radstock & Westfield we pray for our brothers and sisters at Radstock Baptist Church.
We pray for our families and friends, and for all those in need at this present time:-
And we pray for ourselves …
You are the Lord who loves your people and invites us all into the fellowship of the Trinity. Thanks be to God.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Hymn – StF 588 – I come with joy, a child of God - www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRL_fi52iQU&list=RDzRL_fi52iQU&start_radio=1
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1 I come with joy, a child of God, 2 I come with Christians far and near 3 As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, 4 The Spirit of the risen Christ, 5 Together met, together bound |
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Brian Wren (b. 1936) |
Holy Communion for Trinity Sunday
Hymn – StF 378 – Father of everlasting grace www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAA_hTSCb5Q
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1 Father of everlasting grace, 2 Send us the Spirit of your Son, 3 So shall we pray, and never cease, 4 Till, added to that heavenly choir, |
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Charles Wesley (1707–1788) |
Blessing
The blessing of the Source be yours.
The blessing of the Saviour be yours.
The blessing of the Spirit be yours.
The blessing of the Three be yours.
May they pour upon us in mercy hour by hour.
Amen
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