We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

2024 Sun May 26

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 

BBC’s Trinity Page

The Big Picture – Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024

More photos from Sunday.

This occasional series will capture a key, yes the big picture, from a Sunday. So why this one ? We don’t always have this many servers! Secondly there is joy in the faces. Yes, it was posed but they were primed and ready to go. It was quick and expressions could be overlooked. Thirdly, these pictures lead elseshere on Sunday – the lighting of the candles, the Gospel reading and the sermon. Some of the key areas. These are the service leaders! They are ready for the procession and next things to happen.

Sunday Thoughts, May 26, 2024

As Catherine mentioned in the service we had most of the people confirmed or received here from last week’s Pentecost. (We had 26 at the service today). Catherine also thanked the congregation for helping with the care for Thom Guthrie who died May 8, 2024. It was the hospitality that was the key combined with music opportunities, singing and some organ playing. Positive upbeat service

The sermon continued the Pentecost theme of the coming of the Holy Spirit. “ Spirit is God’s imaginative creativity, a constant wind blowing over, around and through the chaos in which we find ourselves living,  a wind bringing life out of death.  “God’s Spirit is a constant wind of creative imaginative love that will blow through us if we open ourselves to that wind.  The Spirit blows away our blindness.  The Spirit is a cleansing wind that purifies our hearts.  The Spirit frees our imaginations so that God’s creative power can work through us-“Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” 

We have to sacrifice the comfortable ways we have built for possibly better ways provided by the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity is the Central Mystery of the Christian Faith and Life 

The genius of Trinity is that a Nicene Creed created over a long period solved the doctrinal problems for the most part until 1024 when the Orthodox split. It’s how we learn to work with others is the key.


Sermon, Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024 – “Imagination”

John 3:1-17

“Nicodemus Visiting Jesus” (1899)- Henry Ossawa Tanner

I spent last week in the Outer Banks.  While I was there, I visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial, one of the Outer Banks national parks.  What an inspiring place! 

Back in the early 1900’s, Wilbur and Orville Wright, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio,  were fascinated with the idea of human flight.  Although many had experimented with gliders, and Samuel Langley had created powered model gliders, no one had ever figured out how to fly in a manned, heavier than air machine that could leave the ground under its own power, one that could move forward without losing speed and land on a point as high as that from which it started.

The Wright brothers began to explore all that had already been done regarding human flight.  Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian.    After studying the information they received from that institution, the brothers realized that they had as good a chance as anyone to be the ones to make human flight possible. 

So they got busy, and for the next four years, they tested current theories about aerodynamics, many of which didn’t work.  They developed their own theories, and devoted themselves to the goal of human flight, determined to be the ones who would turn the dream of human flight into reality.    

The Wrights imagined success at what until then had been an unreachable goal.  They had faith in themselves.  And they worked hard to make what they imagined become reality. 

As they got closer to realizing their dream, the two searched for an isolated spot with unrelenting wind, high dunes and lots of sand for soft landings where they could try out their ideas about flight.

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur lifted off for the first time in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, in their invention, The Flyer.  That day was the first time that anyone had ever flown in a manned, heavier than air machine that could leave the ground under its own power, move forward without losing speed and land on a point as high from which it had started.     

The Wright brothers’ dreams had become reality.  But even these two dreamers probably could not have imagined that only  sixty-six years later, people would take what the Wright brothers had accomplished, would add their own dreams and hard work, and would fly all the way to the moon.  Incredible!  Only sixty-six years—from the windy, white sandy dunes on the coast of North Carolina, to the charcoal gray dusty surface of the moon, thanks to incredible imagination and the hard work by so many to make the dream of people walking on the moon a reality. 

One thing I really appreciated about the museum exhibit at the Wright Brother’s memorial was the emphasis on imagination, for imagination is the source of all creativity.  God imagined the universe into being, from the farthest galaxies to the tiniest living microscopic life on our planet. “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the things thy hands hath made…..”  Not only the universe, but we ourselves have been brought to life from God’s imagination.

The whole Bible is the story of what God imagines for creation and the reality of what really happens—God’s imagination distorted by our own desires, and we can use the word “sin” as shorthand for that corruption that continually threatens to destroy us and our planet. 

Which brings me to Jesus, the ultimate imaginative act of God.  Nothing else having gotten through to us, God imagines God’s self in human form, and as we Christians believe, Jesus is born as one of us, lives as one of us, and dies as one of us. 

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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.

Lectionary, Pentecost1 Trinity Sunday, Year B

I. Theme – The Trinity points to the mystery of unity and diversity in God’s experience and in the ongoing creative process

 Holy Trinity– Anton Rublev (1430)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

First Reading – Isaiah 6:1-8
Old Testament – Psalm 29 Page 620, BCP
Epistle –Romans 8:12-17
Gospel – John 3:1-17 

Commentary by Rev. Mindi

The Call of Isaiah is dictated in chapter 6 with a glorious vision of God as a king seated on a throne surrounded by his attendants, the six-winged seraphs above the Lord. Even the seraphs seem not worthy of God, covering their feet and their faces, not daring to touch the holy space of heaven, not daring to look upon the face of God. Isaiah feels unworthy to speak in God’s presence, until the coal is pressed to his lips and Isaiah is purified. We are reminded through Isaiah’s vision that God is beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension, but we do have a way of responding to God: through our answering God’s call, through our saying “yes” to God, to our saying, “Send me!” We may not understand God, but God understands us, and calls us into the world to carry God’s message.

Psalm 29 speaks of God as the Great Creator, whose voice carries the power of creation. God calls forth creation by speaking in Genesis 1 and the creative power of God’s voice is echoed here. It is God’s voice that calls creation out of the void, the deep, the darkness–and it is God’s voice that calls us out of the darkness of the world to witness to the light.

John 3:1-17 is the familiar story of Nicodemus which we read a portion of during Lent. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit, and that God’s love for the whole world is so great that God has sent Jesus. We often read verse 16 without reading verse 17–that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Using the Father-Son language, we understand the relationship of Christ to the Creator to be intimate, close, indwelling, along with the Spirit–a hint at the Trinity. While the Trinity is a concept never named in the Bible, we have inferred the triune relationship of God through scriptures such as these, knowing that we can never fully understand God, the Trinity helps us understand how God has been made known to us.

Romans 8:12-17 also infers the triune relationship of God by tying in our relationship with Christ as also being children of God, who have a close relationship with God to where we also can call God Abba (the Aramaic word for Father that Christ used indicates closeness). And we are led by the Spirit of God, who guides us in this world to the way of life.

Reflection and Response

We stand on holy ground. That truth resonates throughout today’s readings, reminding us of the essential sacredness of our experience, throughout all times and seasons.

The sacred character of human life springs from our intimate connection with the triune deity. God’s self-identification to Moses is not that of some distant figure, aloof from human life. Instead, he is the God of people: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel. If we substitute the names of our own parents or loved ones, we get the message. God is part and parcel of that most close and frustrating human relationship.

To see our ordinary days in this divine light takes a special gift of the Spirit. Elusive as the wind, it inspires and empowers us, enabling us to rise above our mortal limitations and place our lives in the context of the holy. The normal bounds of our thinking can be utterly shattered and expanded, just as Moses’ were when he saw a bush burning, yet not consumed.

The same irony is present as we realize that we are deeply human, yet somehow more than that. Redemption by Jesus implies that although we are doomed to die, we also inherit eternal life. The implications of that fact should brighten the dusty surface of our days.

We older folk become as skeptical as Nicodemus about the possibilities for rebirth. The noted teacher is quite willing to admit that the signs Jesus does mark him as one who lives in the presence of God. Yet the next step Jesus asks him to take is the difficult one: acknowledging that any person can see God’s kingdom as clearly, enter into this reign and be born of the Spirit.

In so doing, Paul says, we become joint heirs with Christ, suffering with him so that we can also share his glory. It is our union with Christ that makes all ground holy: our affections, our work, our suffering and triumphs.

Quietly consider:
If I am an heir of God, how then should I act?

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Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, honors the Holy Trinity—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the word “trinity” does not appear in Scripture, it is taught in Matthew 28:18-20 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 (and many other biblical passages). It lasts only one day, which is symbolic of the unity of the Trinity. 

Trinity Sunday is one of the few feasts of the Christian Year that celebrates a reality and doctrine rather than an event or person. The Eastern Churches have no tradition of Trinity Sunday, arguing that they celebrate the Trinity every Sunday.  The Western Churches did not celebrate it under the 14th century under an edict of John XXII

Since that time Western Christians have observed the Sunday after Pentecost as a time to pause and reflect on the Christian understanding of God

The intention of the creeds was to affirm the following core beliefs:

 -the essential unity of God  

 -the complete humanity and essential divinity of Jesus  

 -the essential divinity of the Spirit  

Understanding of all scriptural doctrine is by faith which comes through the work of the Holy Spirit; therefore, it is appropriate that this mystery is celebrated the first Sunday after the Pentecost, when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit first occurred.  

The Trinity is best described in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly called the Nicene Creed from 325AD.

Essentially the Trinity is the belief that God is one in essence (Greek "ousia"), but distinct in person (Greek "hypostasis"). The Greek word for person means "that which stands on its own," or "individual reality," but does not mean the persons of the Trinity are three human persons. Therefore we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are somehow distinct from one another (not divided though), yet completely united in will and essence. 

The Son is said to be eternally begotten of the Father, while the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father through the Son. Each member of the Trinity interpenetrates one another, and each has distinct roles in creation and redemption, which is called the Divine economy. For instance, God the Father created the world through the Son and the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters at creation. 

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Nicene Creed – line by line

We say this creed every Sunday in the Eucharist service.  It is the central creed or belief of Christianity and goes back to 325AD.  On Trinity Sunday it is good to break it down into its essential meaning. 

Walls of Nicea

“I believe in one God“

The Greek, Latin and proper English translations begin with “I” believe, because reciting the creed is an individual expression of belief.

“the Father Almighty “

God the Father is the first person, within the Godhead. The Father is the “origin” or “source” of the Trinity. From Him, came somehow the other two. God the Father is often called “God Unbegotten” in early Christian thought.

“Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible: “

Everything that is was created by God. Some early sects, the Gnostics and Marcionites, believed that God the Father created the spirit world, but that an “evil” god (called the demiurge) created the similarly evil material world.

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Trinity Sunday – the Trinity Knot

Trinity Sunday on our church calendar is the only Sunday in the year devoted to a doctrine of the church.

The Trinity Knot is also known as ‘Triquetra’ which comes from the Latin for ‘three-cornered’. It has been found on Indian heritage sites that are over 5,000 years old. It has also been found on carved stones in Northern Europe dating from the 8th century AD and on early Germanic coins. It developed during Ireland’s Insular Art movement around the 7th century

It’s likely the Trinity knot had religious meaning for pagans and it also bears a resemblance to the Valknut which is a symbol associated with Odin, a revered God in Norse mythology. According to the Celts, the most important things in the world came in threes; three domains (earth, sea and sky), three elements, three stages of life etc. It is also possible that the Triquetra signified the lunar and solar phases. During excavations of various archaeological sites from the Celtic era, a number of Trinity knot symbols have been found alongside solar and lunar symbols.

For Christians, the Trinity knot consists of three corners, some designs also include the circle in the center. The three points of the Trinity knot represent the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the circle eternal life