The Glory of the Holy Trinity
A sermon preached on Trinity Sunday
St. Margaret’s Anglican Church, Winnipeg. June 12, 2022
The Rev’d Canon Tony Harwood-Jones
| Scripture Selections: | Hymns: | |
| Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 | “Bright the vision that delighted” | |
| Psalm 8 | St. Patrick’s Breastplate | |
| Romans 5:1-5 | “Holy, holy, holy” | |
| John 16:12-15 |
Today is Trinity Sunday. It marks the end of the church’s annual cycle of remembering the birth of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And, the week after the Sunday in which we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, we name it Trinity Sunday. It’s the day in which the church delves into, and celebrates, the process of God’s self-revelation… and the gift of theological reflection.
It is a day when we recognize that Almighty God has revealed Himself to humanity gradually, and in three very distinct ways:
- as the Origin of all things… Creator… Maker of all that is… Ground of our being;
- as Jesus… just a man, and yet so much more than a man… our Redeemer… embodying the entirety of God; and
- as a Divine power and Spirit that can, and does, enter our hearts – most recognizably as Love, but also as a guide to what we are called to be and to do.
Some Christians have always been troubled, because the Doctrine of the Trinity was not fully developed until 300 years after the Resurrection. In the entire Bible, the words, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” are only once found together in a single sentence: Matthew 28:19, when the risen Lord instructs his followers: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …” That’s the only time in the whole Bible that those three are identified in one sentence. And, as for the word, “Trinity,” itself, you won’t find it – not in the Scriptures.
So this troubles many people – many Christian people. Heck, the failure of the Doctrine of the Trinity to be explicit in the Bible is even at the root of Islam! The prophet Muhammad was quite offended that Christians had developed such a doctrine. In the Qu’ran we read, “…do not say, ‘Trinity.’ Stop!—for your own good. Allah is only One God. Glory be to Him! He is far above having a son!” 1 And the Qu’ran goes back to what we would call an “Old Testament” type of spirituality.
But, the Trinity is in the Scriptures, as we shall see. It’s just not there in the kind of detail we find in, for instance, the creeds.
And so, on Trinity Sunday we reflect upon, and celebrate, God’s gradual self-disclosure as recorded in the Bible, and as we have come to understand it in theological terms: the breadth, depth, and richness of God’s nature, as Origin of the Universe, as Jesus, the Redeemer, and as the Divine Love in our hearts – all absolutely One, and yet, quite distinct.
Now, I need to tell you that, for me, there is also an intensely personal connection to this day: fifty-seven years ago, on Trinity Sunday, I was ordained. It was 1965, if you can imagine!
I was talking to a clerk in a Safeway store yesterday, and mentioning how I had lived in the neighbourhood since 2002, when she said, “That was before I was born!” So, what about 1965!? Well, there are some folks here who remember it… if only vaguely!
But, I was wet behind the ears and fresh out of seminary; I was on my knees in front of a bishop, whose hands were laid on me, and I was ordained a Deacon in the Church of God. In Anglicanism, as many of you know, there are three types of ordained ministry: deacon, priest, and bishop. And, a bishop must be a deacon and a priest; likewise, a priest must be a deacon – for a deacon has the ministry of service. The word, “deacon” (from διακονια, in Greek) means something akin to “table server” – someone who serves others, and looks after people.
So, that was my ordination (it was about eight months later that I was ordained a priest).
Ever since that day in June, 1965, Trinity Sunday has held immense significance for me.
And so, with all that background, much of which is from within my own heart, I want to explore with you the elements of today’s worship that immerse us in this core Christian mystery – specifically, the hymns that were chosen to be sung this morning, and the Biblical texts. Texts, I should add, that were prescribed for the day, and read, in churches around the world.
Let’s start with the hymns:
The hymns could almost comprise an appropriate Trinity Sunday sermon, in and of themselves (I could just go and sit down, while we sing them, and we would have a wonderful Trinity Sunday sermon!).
The first one, that we sang at the opening of the service, “Bright the vision that delighted, once, the sight of Judah’s seer” 2 is based, entirely, on the vision of God, by Isaiah, in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 6, verses 1 to 8. It is one of most dramatic and intense passages in the entire Old Testament. While this passage is not one of today’s readings, it is read regularly on Trinity Sunday, once every three years. It was read last year, and it will be read again in 2024.
In that passage, the prophet writes, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.” Then he goes on to describe angels, gathered around the throne of God, calling out, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” – words of utter praise and adoration. And Isaiah says that he felt utterly, utterly unworthy to be anywhere near this vision! But, he says, an angel came, and took a coal from the altar – the altar of sacrifice, in the Temple – bringing it to him, and touching his mouth with it, saying, “Your sin is blotted out.”
The passage ends with God saying, in effect: “I need somebody to go and take my message to my people!” And Isaiah says, “Here I am. Send me.”
So the passage, on which our opening hymn is based, is about the call of Isaiah, his commitment to ministry and service, and about the majesty and wondrousness of God. And, how God intends to interact with the human family.
The next hymn that we’ll sing, after this sermon, is known as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” It’s a self-dedication that begins with the words, “I bind unto myself, this day, the strong name of the Trinity.”
The hymn has several verses, calling down upon oneself the support of angels and archangels and of all God’s creation; but it culminates in a chant, which begins, “Christ, be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me…” and so much more.
Again, on the personal level, can you imagine me, as a young man, on my knees, being ordained, and singing, “I bind unto myself this day…” along with that intense, chanted invocation?
A few minutes from now, when we sing it together, perhaps you, too, will sense the hymn’s intensity; and, perhaps, you, too, will once again commit yourself to the worship, and service, of Almighty God.
The closing hymn, today, begins with the words, “Holy, holy, holy…,” 4 which are in Isaiah’s vision of God on His throne, but even more, in the last book of the Bible, the Book of the Revelation, where angels around God’s throne, and other people, and other creatures, and other beings, did just as they did in Isaiah’s vision: singing, “Holy, holy, holy!” In Revelation’s vision of the end of the world, 5 there are thousands, and tens of thousands of people – Apostles, prophets, saints, martyrs, and just the ordinary faithful – all standing around God’s throne, singing out their praise and joy.
So, as we sing the remaining hymns in this service, can we imagine ourselves joined with all that heavenly chorus, lost in wonder, love, and awe? As it says, in the first hymn we sang, “With his seraph train before him, with his holy church below, thus unite we to adore him…” and it goes on to the anthem of “Holy, holy, holy.”
Thus, unite we – us, the church below – to adore him…, which I will name as the theme of this sermon: being united together in the presence of God, in worship and adoration.
But, I haven’t yet talked about the Scripture selections for today, although Scripture is definitely in those hymns.
To me, the most interesting of today’s readings is the first one – the one from the book of Proverbs. In it we have this figure – a female figure – that stands at the gate, and says that she is the first thing that God ever did! And she is “a master worker,” in fact, is the power with which God made all of the universe, and, ultimately, the people – us.
From the days of the early disciples, people saw this passage in Proverbs as a prophetic vision of the Holy Spirit. Which is rather special, given that the figure is feminine! It might very well help those of us, who – in a world where men and women are created equal – God should not simply have a male characterization, or pronouns! So, here is a figure of the Holy Spirit that is perfectly feminine, and is, in fact, a minister and an aide to all of Creation, and all of us in it.
So, here we have the author of the Book of Proverbs, long before the time of Christ, envisaging a figure that is almost as eternal as God – the very first thing that God ever made.
We have to fast-forward to Pentecost – fifty days after Christ’s resurrection – when the Holy Spirit came powerfully upon the disciples, and they began to realize that the Holy Spirit is not something “created” by God, but emanating, flowing, proceeding from – or, out of – God. More importantly, this extremely ancient vision speaks of God’s interaction with creation, with the making of the world, the seas, the mountains, the soil, the plants… and the people.
The psalm followed this reading – Psalm 8 – and it continues to reflect on God’s extraordinary creation. I quote: “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers; the moon and the stars you have set in their courses” (verse 4). But this psalm is also full of worship and praise – such as in verse 1: “O Lord, our Governor, how exalted is your name in all the world!”
The next prescribed reading for today consists of the first several verses of Romans 5 – a passage that is moderately Trinitarian. In verses 1 and 2, we have: “the Glory of God.” It doesn’t say “God, the Father,” but it comes close. The Son, Jesus Christ, is in verses 1 and 2, where it says, “…our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand…” Then, in verse 5: “God’s love, has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
In the fourth Scripture selection, the Gospel, we get some very Trinitarian words, attributed to Jesus himself: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he … will glorify me,” says Jesus, “because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine…” – so here we have the Three, the Trinity, in this one short passage.
Hymns and Scripture, and finally Tony, the amateur theologian.
I have always reflected on the Doctrine of the Trinity, and how God can be three, and yet one; one, and yet three. How can God be three separate things, and yet a single thing!?
I’d like to quote St. Augustine, here. I’m not as learned as some of the preachers in this church, but I do know a passage of Augustine’s, which says, “the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, and that Love is the Holy Spirit.” So, this trio, this Trinity, is loving – and the love is the Spirit, and the Father and the Son are the lovers…
Now, this is mine — not St. Augustine’s:
Consider looking at a great painting, whether it is Rembrandt, or Van Gogh, or some of the moderns… is the painting greater than the painter? Frankly, the painter is more wonderful, by far. The painting itself is glorious, but it was within the painter before it was ever applied to canvas. In so many ways, there is more to the painter than there is to that painting, as great as the painting is.
So, you can probably tell where I’m going! God, the creator of the Universe, must be greater than this work of art – this universe – this extraordinary thing that God has made!
But, what is one of the most incredible things in our world!?? It is relationship. The love of a spouse, the love of friends, the love of children, the love of fellow-Christians in the church, even the love of country! Relationship! Surely, the Maker of all must also include, and be greater than, relationship! And so the One God is, in many ways, a relationship. As it says in the Letter of John, “God is Love.”
Before the creation of anything, that would still apply: God IS Love. The one being that made and sustains everything, is a relationship.
So, in conclusion, this sermon is about the awe and wonder and majesty and mystery of Almighty God, before whom we fall down in worship: the Father – source of all; majestic, infinite, and awesome; the Son – accessible, with human characteristics, yet one with the Father (as Jesus is quoted as saying, in John 14, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father”); and the Holy Spirit – God, working within us, and among us, and between us, and through us… ALL of God, and yet the heavens are not empty when all of God is in me, and in you.
So, I bring to an end, this deep dive into hymn, Scripture, and theology. And I encourage you, through the rest of this worship service, and indeed, whenever we gather for prayer and sacrament, to be deeply aware of how we, together, may deliberately put ourselves into the presence of the most powerful, amazing, and intensely glorious being, beyond anything that we can ask or imagine:
Lord, thy glory fills the temple;
Earth is with its fullness stored;
Unto thee be glory given,
Holy, holy, holy Lord. 6