A Short Service and Reflection for Trinity Sunday

 

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all. Amen.

Theme Prayer

O God our mystery, you bring us to life, call us to freedom, and move among and between us as wind and fire. May we so participate in the dance of the Three in One that our lives may resonate with your love, now and for ever. Amen.

Confession

Hear what Paul writes: “Be imitators of God; love as Christ loved; do not grieve the Holy Spirit; put away all anger and bitterness, all slander and malice.” So let us confess our sins to the Lord our God.

Father, you come to meet us when we return to you. Lord, have mercy:

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, you died on the cross for our sins. Christ, have mercy:

Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit, you give us life and peace. Lord, have mercy:                                

Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God cleanse us from all our sin, and renew us in the fellowship of his Son, who calls us sisters and brothers, and may we know the freedom of his Holy Spirit, who declares that we are God’s children.  Amen.

READINGS

                Isaiah, chapter 6, verses 1 to 8 :-

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the skirt of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were in attendance on him. Each had six wings: with one pair of wings they covered their faces and with another their bodies, and with the third pair they flew.  They were calling to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.’

As each called, the threshold shook to its foundations at the sound, while the house began to fill with clouds of smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me! I am doomed, for my own eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts, I, a man of unclean lips, I, who dwell among a people of unclean lips.’

One of the seraphim flew to me, carrying in his hand a glowing coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘This has touched your lips; now your iniquity is removed and your sin is wiped out.’ I heard the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ I said: ‘Here am I! Send me.’

               John, chapter 3, verses 1 to 17 :-

One of the Pharisees, called Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Council, came to Jesus by night. ‘Rabbi,’ he said, ‘we know that you are a teacher sent by God; no one could perform these signs of yours unless God were with him.’ Jesus answered, ‘In very truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he has been born again.’  ‘But how can someone be born when he is old?’ asked Nicodemus. ‘Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘In very truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit. Flesh can give birth only to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit. You ought not to be astonished when I say, “You must all be born again.” The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Spirit.’

‘How is this possible?’ asked Nicodemus. ‘You a teacher of Israel and ignorant of such things!’ said Jesus. ‘In very truth I tell you, we speak of what we know, and testify to what we have seen, and yet you all reject our testimony. If you do not believe me when I talk to you about earthly things, how are you to believe if I should talk about the things of heaven?

‘No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, in order that everyone who has faith may in him have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not perish but have eternal life. It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved.

               Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

               Reflection on the Reading

“God is one, and beside him there is no other.” This is the faith Christians share with Jews and Muslims. But Christians go on to say that God is not only one but three, that he makes himself known to us as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit - as three persons and yet still as one God. Actually, not all Christians share this creed, but the vast majority do, every member of the World Council of Churches.

We can know God as the Father, the Creator; we can know God as Jesus the man, God’s love lived out in a human life; and we can know God as Holy Spirit, not remote and far off but present with his people to inspire and to guide, and to bond us in fellowship. Yet Father, Son and Holy Spirit are together one single and undivided God. How can this be? St Patrick famously illustrated it with a shamrock leaf, three leaflets joined to make one whole. Or we could think of the same person being a child to one person, a partner to another, and a parent to a third. Images like that may help, but they don’t tell the whole story. How could they?

What the doctrine of Trinity isn’t, is the last word about God, God completely explained, expressed in mathematical formula. What the doctrine of Trinity is, is our admission that saying that God is One somehow isn’t enough. It can’t fully express the mystery of how the God who is utterly beyond our understanding and imagining nonetheless calls us his people, and seeks to draw us into a relationship with him.

Think of Isaiah in the temple, suddenly and traumatically finding himself in the presence of God. He was transfixed by an abject fear, knowing his own sinfulness and the sins of his people, knowing himself not fit to be in that place at all. What God has created to be perfect and good, he and his people have spoiled. But then his lips are touched with a burning coal, and he is made clean. And when he hears the words, “Who will go for us?” he replies, “Send me.”

Think of Nicodemus, coming to Jesus by night so no-one will know, and amazed and bemused by what Jesus says about being born again. “God so loved the world,” Jesus tells him. We can think of the cross as the ultimate and decisive mark of that love; what we could never do for ourselves, Jesus Christ achieves for us - all evil is confronted, all sin is named for what it is, and God’s justice, the justice based in love, is triumphant over the chaos of this world’s selfishness and prejudice.

Think of that love gifted upon the disciples as wind and flame on the first Christian Day of Pentecost, as we recalled last Sunday - giving them confidence, authority, turning them into apostles, men with a message, making them worthy to serve, making them fruitful in service. Under the sign of the cross we are made new, in our baptism, and in our daily meeting with God in prayer.

Lovers have a strong sense of belonging to each other. And in one of my former churches, the altar frontal shows the Trinity as a triangle interlaced by a circle: the three persons of the Godhead, and the dynamic play of love in which they belong together and are part of each other - a love that isn’t held within the triangle but is released to the world, to become our refuge, our hope, and our call to serve.

Statement of faith

We believe in the Father, the Creator, who lit the world and breathed the breath of life for us. We believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, who by his cross saved the world, stretching out his hand to his people. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who ranges over the world, and plants seeds of yearning in our souls. We believe in the Trinity of love, God above us, and beside us, and beneath us, the one who is from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.

Prayers  - Pray for the Church everywhere to respond in joyful service for the love of God in Trinity. Pray for the churches of Mexico, and for the Anglican Province of Mexico. In our own Diocese, pray for the churches and communities of the Ross and Archenfield Deanery.

Pray for the peace of the world, and for all who live under tyranny or in war zones. Pray we may support one another in the world fight against Covid, and against other infectious disease. Pray for families and children across our world, and for all children to be able to learn and grow and play in safety.

Pray for all in need today: for all who grieve, for the worried and anxious, and for those struggling with isolation and loneliness. Pray for all who are ill, those in hospitals and other places of care, and those waiting for treatment or diagnosis. Pray for all who care for others, and for their safety and protection.

Pray for families and friends, and for the life of our communities. Pray for all who work in the tourist and entertainment industries as rules are relaxed, and that this may be done safely. Pray too that we may continue to act with care, looking out for each other, and keeping safe ourselves.

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.

Blessing

May God the Father, who made all things, embrace us for ever in his creative love; may God the Son, our Servant King, bear our burdens of grief and sin and shame; may God the Holy Spirit inspire and enthuse our life together; and so may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, surround and sustain us now and always.   Amen.

A short service and reflection for the feast of Pentecost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Collect

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, ignite in us your holy fire; strengthen your children with the gift of faith, revive your Church with the breath of love, and renew the face of the earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Readings - Acts, chapter 2, verses 1 to 21 :-

The day of Pentecost had come, and the disciples were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky what sounded like a strong, driving wind, a noise which filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them flames like tongues of fire distributed among them and coming to rest on each one. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them power of utterance.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem devout Jews drawn from every nation under heaven. At this sound a crowd of them gathered, and were bewildered because each one heard his own language spoken; they were amazed and in astonishment exclaimed, ‘Surely these people who are speaking are all Galileans! How is it that each of us can hear them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites; inhabitants of Mesopotamia, of Judaea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Cretans and Arabs - all of us hear them telling in our own tongues the great things God has done.’ They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What can this mean?’ Others said contemptuously, ‘They have been drinking!’

But Peter stood up with the eleven, and in a loud voice addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow-Jews, and all who live in Jerusalem, listen and take note of what I say.  These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only nine in the morning! No, this is what the prophet Joel spoke of:  “In the last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Yes, on my servants and my handmaids I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. 

‘”I will show portents in the sky above, and signs on the earth below - blood and fire and a pall of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before that great, resplendent day, the day of the Lord, shall come. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord on that day shall be saved.”’

John, chapter 15 verses 26 and 27, and chapter 16 verses 4b to 15

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘When the advocate has come, whom I shall send you from the Father - the Spirit of truth that issues from the Father - he will bear witness to me. And you also are my witnesses, because you have been with me from the first.

‘I did not tell you this at first, because then I was with you; but now I am going away to him who sent me. None of you asks me, “Where are you going?” Yet you are plunged into grief at what I have told you. Nevertheless I assure you that it is in your interest that I am leaving you. If I do not go, the advocate will not come, whereas if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin, justice, and judgement: about sin, because they refuse to believe in me; about justice, because I go to the Father when I pass from your sight; about judgement, because the prince of this world stands condemned.

‘There is much more that I could say to you, but the burden would be too great for you now. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak only what he hears; and he will make known to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and make it known to you. All that the Father has is mine, and that is why I said, “He will take what is mine and make it known to you.”

               Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

A Reflection on the Reading (a shorter version of the preached sermon)

“Sharing the peace” in Church of England Communion services first came in with the modern language Series 3 booklets; and I’ve mentioned before the way we used to do it back in those days in my home church of St Peter’s, Rickerscote. We were very safe and orderly, very Anglican, really. The Vicar would stand at the chancel step, say the words, and then pass the peace very formally to the two churchwardens who’d come forward, and then they would just as solemnly pass it on by shaking hands with the end person on each pew, who would then pass it along the pew. It was a little bit like taking the collection in reverse. And the reason I mention that today, Pentecost, is that I think it quite neatly expresses the way the Church tends to deal with the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

What we read in Luke’s second book, the Acts of the Apostles, tells of the Holy Spirit causing a scene of joyful chaos on the first Christian Day of Pentecost. The disciples had been praying for this promised gift, but its arrival still knocked them off their feet, and the account we read included wind and fire, uncontrollable, dangerous things. And we see the disciples sent spinning out onto the city streets, no longer exactly in control of their own selves, and so full of joy that the more sceptical of the passers-by reckoned they had to be drunk. Pentecost was the harvest festival of the grape harvest, and there would have been plenty of new wine to be had. But the disciples had been filled not with the wine of the grape, but with the New Wine of the Holy Spirit.

But mostly we’re not that keen on chaos, so we do our best to keep our religion within safe and orderly limits. So we surround the Holy Spirit with doctrines and liturgies, as if to keep him (or her, as “spirit” is feminine in Hebrew) safely in a box. We know that there are Christians who are Pentecostal, or Charismatic, but we tend to dismiss them as “happy clappy”. And so the Holy Spirit is placed where he or she belongs, as a fairly brief footnote to God, in the lower third of the Creed.

But if we do do that, today ought to persuade us to think again, for it reminds us that the Church was born Pentecostal. And - since Charismatic really just means “gifted” - that the Church began with people receiving gifts, the gifts of the Spirit. And we’re also reminded that the Holy Spirit isn’t different from God the Father and God the Son - the Spirit is the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of Jesus, the sheer life changing love of God so profoundly present not only around but within the disciples that day that they just had to get out on the streets, and share with everyone what had happened to them.

And everyone heard what they had to say, each in their own language. I see that in terms of challenge. It’s a challenge to any limits we may try to place on who can hear and receive God’s word. No-one’s excluded, all are invited in. There were people from all over in Jerusalem that day, but they were all Jews - but the good news of God’s love would go out to all the world. It’s the language of love, and love is universal. People have always wanted to own their own gods - but the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples when they were ready to be owned by God; that’s what they’d been praying for: praying “Fill me, Lord, and use me.”

Don’t let the thought of chaos scare you or put you off; chaos can be good. And Pentecost reminds us that true religion, religion that is life-changing and world-changing, can’t happen when we keep our God safely tucked into a corner of our tidy life; but does happen when we offer ourselves to the God who is Holy Spirit: who is hugely, uncontrollably alive, the love divine who comes as wind and fire.

We believe in the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For Jesus said, ‘Those who are thirsty, come to me and drink. If you believe in me, streams of living water shall flow from within you.’ He spoke of the Spirit his disciples would later receive, the Spirit to be given, once he had been glorified.            from John 7.37-9

Prayers  - 

Begin this time of prayer by simply being silent before God, confessing our sins before him, and seeking the healing and renewing power of his Spirit.

Pray the Church everywhere may receive a new awareness of divine love, and be blessed afresh with gifts of the Spirit; pray for Christians in Melanesia, and for the Anglican Province of Melanesia. Pray for our own Diocese, for Richard our Bishop and for the communication of our faith to the world around us.

Pray for the world, for peace where there is conflict, for healing where people are hurting, for relief and comfort where people are afraid. Pray that leaders of the nations may govern with wisdom, discernment and integrity, and for help to reach those nations struggling to contain the Covid virus.

Pray for all who are ill or in need or trouble today, and for the work of helping and healing. Pray for all who care for others, especially those who face risk themselves as they do so.

Pray for our own families and friends, and for the life of our communities. Pray for our annual meetings as they happen over the coming days. Pray we may continue to act with care, looking out for one another and keeping safe.

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.

May the Spirit, who hovered over the waters when the world was created, breathe into us the life he gives.  Amen.

May the Spirit, who overshadowed blessed Mary when the eternal Son came among us, make us joyful in the Lord’s service.  Amen.

May the Spirit, who set the Church on fire upon the Day of Pentecost, bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ. Amen.

And may almighty God bless us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and always. Amen.

A short service and reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Theme Prayer

Risen, ascended Lord, as we rejoice at your triumph, fill your Church on earth with power and compassion, that all who are estranged by sin may find forgiveness and know your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Confession

Through Jesus our risen and ascended High Priest, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, ready to confess our sins. Let us keep a moment of silence, and ask God to hear us and heal us.

Father, creator, you welcome your people into eternal glory. Lord, have mercy:                                               

 Lord, have mercy.

Jesus our Saviour, you plead for us at the Father’s side. Christ, have mercy:                                                             

Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit, you are promised to us, to fill us with love and to open the eyes of faith. Lord, have mercy:                               

Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God cleanse us from all our sin, and make us ready to receive his Spirit and to take his message of love into all the world.  Amen.

God’s Word - Acts, chapter 1, verses 15 to 17 and 21 to the end :-

Peter stood up before the assembled brotherhood, about one hundred and twenty in all, and said: ‘My friends, the prophecy in scripture, which the Holy Spirit uttered concerning Judas through the mouth of David, was bound to come true; Judas acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus; he was one of our number and had his place in this ministry.

'Therefore one of those who bore us company all the while the Lord Jesus was going about among us, from his baptism by John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of those must now join us as a witness to his resurrection.’

Two names were put forward: Joseph, who was known as Barsabbas and bore the added name of Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘You know the hearts of everyone, Lord; declare which of these two you have chosen to receive this office of ministry and apostleship which Judas abandoned to go where he belonged.’ They drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was elected to be an apostle with the other eleven.

John, chapter 17, verses 6 to 19 :-

Jesus prayed, saying, ‘I have made your name known to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your command. Now they know that all you gave me has come from you; for I have taught them what I learned from you, and they have received it: they know with certainty that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

‘I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, because they belong to you. All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine; and through them is my glory revealed.

‘I am no longer in the world; they are still in the world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them by the power of your name which you gave me, and kept them safe. Not one of them is lost except the man doomed to be lost, for scripture has to be fulfilled.

‘Now I am coming to you; but while I am still in the world I speak these words, so that they may have my joy within them in full measure. I have delivered your word to them, and the world hates them because they are strangers in the world, as I am. I do not pray you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are strangers in the world, as I am. Consecrate them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself, that they too may be consecrated by the truth.’

               Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

Reflection            

Our Gospel today is not a particularly easy one to understand, I think. What, for example, is meant by the closing sentence - “For their sake I consecrate myself, that they too may be consecrated by the truth”?  And why is Jesus not praying for the world, but only for his disciples - disciples whom the world hates, because, like Jesus himself, they are strangers in the world? Particularly since he is also explicitly sending them into the world.

The word “consecrate” means “set apart as holy” - and here, in particular, it means set apart for a special task, by being dedicated to God. When Jesus says “I consecrate myself” - in this prayer in the garden on the night before Good Friday - he is affirming that he will not walk away from the task laid upon him. John expresses things a little differently from the other Gospel writers, with their image of Jesus praying in the garden, “Let this cup pass from me - nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” But it’s the same prayer, and the same offering of self.

And Jesus also prays for the unity and joy of his disciples, whom he will send into a world that will maybe jeer at them, and maybe reject their message, and maybe worse than that. Here’s what the preacher and commentator William Barclay has to say about this passage: “Jesus told his friends that they were different from the world, and that they could not expect anything else than hatred from it. Their values and standards were different from the world’s. But there is a joy in battling against the storm and struggling against the tide; it is by facing the hostility of the world that we enter into the Christian joy.”

I think maybe the most difficult thing about these words is that phrase “the world”. There may indeed be times in life when we feel the whole world is against us. Is that what it’s always going to be like for disciples? If I’m enjoying life and things are going well, should I feel guilty because I’m not being hated enough, and therefore must be doing something wrong? And is the world always just evil, because it doesn’t always feel like that to me? And anyway, isn’t it in fact God’s world, and therefore good?

So we have to understand what John means when he talks about “the world” - or what Jesus means as John tells his story. The disciples are being sent into the world. They’re not to be completely detached from the world, they have work to do there and a message to deliver. And that message won’t be rejected by everybody. “The World” isn’t everybody, what it is, is those who reject the spirit, and don’t raise their eyes or their minds to heaven. Those who reject God’s way of love, because it doesn’t suit their purposes. Those - I suppose - who are more interested in taking than giving, in using than building and growing.

Everyone has something of the world in them; everyone also has a spark of heaven about them. The job of the disciples (and us) is to stir that spark into a flame. To quote from another commentary on this passage: “The Church must be involved in its surroundings but different, distinctively committed to God and to godly living.” Consecrated, in other words. And in John’s Gospel, by the time Jesus makes this prayer, he has already promised his disciples that as they do this, he will be with them, and his Spirit will be their guide and strength - and ours.

Statement of faith

Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, who was revealed in the flesh, attested by the Spirit, seen by the apostles, proclaimed to the nations, believed in throughout the world, and taken up to glory.  Amen.

Prayer   Pray that the Church everywhere will be constant in prayer and ready           to do God’s will and share his love, as we, like the first disciples, spend time in prayer between Ascension and Pentecost.  Within the world Church pray for the churches of Korea, and for the Anglican Church in that land. And within our diocese, pray for our own deanery of Pontesbury.

Continue to pray for those most at risk in our world - from Covid, from the violence and cruelty of others, from natural disaster and disease: those who are poor, oppressed minorities, homeless people, and refugees. On Children’s Day, pray for all that protects the rights and freedoms of the young, and ensures their protection and safety. Give thanks for the diversity of human culture, and pray it may not be a cause of mistrust or division.

Pray for all who are ill, and for their care, treatment and recovery. Pray for the safety of all health workers, and care workers. Pray for those still unable to visit sick relatives and friends in hospital or care homes. Pray for all who live with dementia, and for all who offer care and support.

Pray for families and friends, and for the life of our communities. Pray for our schools. for community organizations, and for those planning social events and activities. May we continue to act with care, looking out for one another and keeping safe ourselves.

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.

May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds. Amen.                                                                                                                  

May Christ our King pour upon us his gifts, and bring us to reign with him in glory. And may almighty God bless us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever.   Amen.