2023 Sun June 4
Introduction to the Trinity – what it is and what it is not
The core belief
The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian belief that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Other ways of referring to the Trinity are the Triune God and the Three-in-One.
The Trinity is a controversial doctrine; many Christians admit they don’t understand it, while many more Christians don’t understand it but think they do.
In fact, although they’d be horrified to hear it, many Christians sometimes behave as if they believe in three Gods and at other times as if they believe in one.
Trinity Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrate a doctrine rather than an event.
A fundamental doctrine
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult ideas in Christianity, but it’s fundamental to Christians because it:
-states what Christians believe God is like and who he is
-plays a central part in Christians’ worship of an “unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God”
-emphasises that God is very different from human beings
-reflects the ways Christians believe God encounters them is a central element of Christian identity
-teaches Christians vital truths about relationship and community
-reveals that God can be seen only as a spiritual experience whose mystery inspires awe and cannot be understood logically
Unpacking the doctrine
The idea that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit means:
-There is exactly one God
-The Father is God
-The Son is God
-The Holy Spirit is God
-The Father is not the Son
-The Son is not the Holy Spirit
-The Father is not the Holy Spirit
An alternate way of explaining it is:
There is exactly one God
There are three really distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Each of the Persons is God
Common mistakes
The Trinity is not
-Three individuals who together make one God
-Three Gods joined together
-Three properties of God
Introduction to the Trinity – what it is and what it is not
The core belief
The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian belief that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Other ways of referring to the Trinity are the Triune God and the Three-in-One.
The Trinity is a controversial doctrine; many Christians admit they don’t understand it, while many more Christians don’t understand it but think they do.
In fact, although they’d be horrified to hear it, many Christians sometimes behave as if they believe in three Gods and at other times as if they believe in one.
Trinity Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrate a doctrine rather than an event.
A fundamental doctrine
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult ideas in Christianity, but it’s fundamental to Christians because it:
-states what Christians believe God is like and who he is
-plays a central part in Christians’ worship of an “unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God”
-emphasises that God is very different from human beings
-reflects the ways Christians believe God encounters them is a central element of Christian identity
-teaches Christians vital truths about relationship and community
-reveals that God can be seen only as a spiritual experience whose mystery inspires awe and cannot be understood logically
Unpacking the doctrine
The idea that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit means:
-There is exactly one God
-The Father is God
-The Son is God
-The Holy Spirit is God
-The Father is not the Son
-The Son is not the Holy Spirit
-The Father is not the Holy Spirit
An alternate way of explaining it is:
There is exactly one God
There are three really distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Each of the Persons is God
Common mistakes
The Trinity is not
-Three individuals who together make one God
-Three Gods joined together
-Three properties of God
Sunday links, Trinity Sunday, June 4, 2023
A wild Pentecost – Holy Spirit, Bluegrass and Preaching
Celebrating the Rappahannock River
In Year A The first reading is taken from the creation story in Genesis, Genesis 1:1-2:4a. There is a portion which deals with the waters.
“And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”
“And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”
It led me to think of the Rappahannock River, a portion which flows by St. Peter’s and Port Royal. We celebrate the river in a yearly celebration “Gospel on the River” and on Easter Sunday in the Sunrise service.
We usually sing “Shall We Gather at the River”, a hymn of the River which was written one afternoon in July, 1864, when Robert Lowry, the author, was pastor of the Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N.Y. The weather was oppressively hot, and the author was lying on a lounge in a state of physical exhaustion. His mind raced through various symbols of life – the heavenly river, the throne and the saints.
The river is a constant factor today as it was in the past. It was the reason why Port Royal was created in the 18th century. Today it is celebrated for its beauty, peace, and recreation.
The King Singers released “Down in the River to Pray”, recorded acapella from their homes during COVID-19 which was the basis for our video. The original album it was on goes back to 2005. They write, “From our homes during isolation, we recorded a song which has been very special to us ever since it was arranged by our former baritone, Philip Lawson, in 2002.” The song is much older. The earliest known version of the song, titled “The Good Old Way,” was published in Slave Songs of the United States in 1867.The song (#104) was contributed to that book by George H. Allan of Nashville, Tennessee, who may also have been the transcriber.
This video was put together as a another means of celebrating the river. It was created for Trinity Sunday in 2020. Photographs of the Rappahannock river in various seasons at various events (Gospel on the River) were combined with their vocal adaptation to create a video celebrating the peace and spiritual nature of that river.
Trinity Sunday- Hymn of the Week – “Holy, Holy, Holy”
Reginald Heber (1783 – 1826) was an English clergyman, traveller, man of letters and hymn-writer who, after working as a country parson for 16 years, served as the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta until his sudden death at the age of 42.
Reginald Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" while serving as vicar of Hodnet, Shropshire, England. He was the first to compile a hymnal ordering hymns around the church calendar. Wanting to celebrate a triune God, Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" for Trinity Sunday–a day that reaffirmed the doctrine of the Trinity and was observed eight Sundays after Easter. The hymn was first published in 1826.
Years later, John Dykes composed the tune Nicaea especially for Heber’s "Holy, Holy, Holy."