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Dear Sisters and Brothers,  

Trinity Sunday is the only week in the year when the focus of our worship is a doctrine as opposed to a parable or teaching from Jesus. This year, though, the readings move the Trinitarian theme beyond the realm of purely intellectual fascination, into a very practical response to the radical transformation that comes from an encounter with this Triune God.

Isaiah’s vision, with the triple “holy” of the seraphs, reveals how powerfully transforming a true encounter with the triune God can be. Isaiah 6:1-8

The psalm supports this with its celebration of God as king over all, including the heavenly beings Psalm 29. In the letter to the Romans, Paul reveals how the triune God works in our hearts and lives to make us, both in identity and action, true Spirit-led children of God. Romans 8:12-17 

Finally, in John’s Gospel, Jesus makes the same point in his call for seekers of God to be born again – that is, transformed, by God’s Spirit, into believers in, and practitioners, of the values and purposes of God’s Reign, that was revealed, taught and demonstrated by Jesus. John 3:1-17   

God is revealed as the Creator who seeks an intimate relationship with us human beings and all of creation. Then, God is also revealed in Christ as the one who shows the true nature of God’s kingship, and who invites us to be participants in God’s work in the world, by giving us an example, and by opening doors to God’s life through Christ's death and resurrection.  Finally, the empowerment we need to enter this relationship with God, and live as kingdom people, is God’s Spirit who is given to us and through whom we are born from above. The key for this week is how God encounters us, in God’s Triune nature, and transforms us into Christ-like, kingdom living, children of God. The Trinitarian celebration is not just a fascinating theological exercise, but a moment of opening ourselves, in worship, to this transforming encounter with our majestic and mysterious God. May the mystery of the Trinity challenge and change us as we worship this week.

 

In Christ,
Pastor Jennifer