Category Archives: Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday A

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 15, 2014

Seventh Day of Creation (from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle)

Seventh Day of Creation (from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle)

First Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Most Episcopalians probably join the ancient rabbis who edited the Old Testament in recognizing the creation stories of Genesis as the inspiring creation legend of our distant spiritual ancestors, not literal fact. Genesis shows us a monotheistic God as a loving creative force at work in the world. As we celebrate Trinity Sunday, look closely at the opening verses, where we can discern three persons at work in one God: Divine creator; creative Word, and Spirit wind that moves over the waters and makes the world be.

Psalm: Psalm 8

Today’s Psalm beautifully knits together the ideas that we hold up on Trinity Sunday. In it we give praise and thanksgiving for God’s creation. We remember that we hold dominion over God’s earthly creation. We accept that this duty calls us to preserve and protect “the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea.” And finally we worship the majesty of God, our Creator who made it all.

Alternate Psalm: Canticle 13

This week in place of a Psalm we mark Trinity Sunday by singing Canticle 13, “A Song of Praise,” offering praise and exaltation to God as Creator, Son and Holy Spirit. Remember the story of the three young men who danced and sang in defiance of the flames in King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace? This is what they sang in the Prayer to Azariah, an addition to the book of Daniel in the Apocrypha at the end of the Old Testament.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Paul closes his second letter to the people of Corinth in the formal style dictated for letters in 1st Century Greek culture. In brief but loving words, he urges this small, often squabbling congregation to sort out their conflicts, pay attention to each other, and love one another as God loves them. He asks this in the name of the Holy Trinity, blessing them with hope for the peace of Jesus, the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit.

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

Last week, Pentecost Sunday, we heard of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples in wind and fire, inspiring them to go out to the world and tell the good news of the resurrection and eternal life. Today, on Trinity Sunday, we hear the last verses of Matthew, his only account of the risen Christ, who met the disciples in Galilee and commissioned them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Trinity Sunday C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, May 26, 2013.

Icon of the Holy Trinity, Cretan, (17th century) / © University of Liverpool Art Gallery & Collections, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library

Icon of the Holy Trinity, Cretan, (17th century) / © University of Liverpool Art Gallery & Collections, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library

First Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
One of the fascinating threads in the remarkable tapestry of scripture is the idea of God’s divine wisdom personified as a woman. At the moment of creation we see God the Creator, God’s creative Word and God-breath Spirit wind moving over the waters to separate light from darkness and earth from sea. Wisdom is there, the book of Proverbs tells us in these poetic verses, and she cries out joy in the newly made world, delighting in humanity.

Psalm: Psalm 8
Much like our modern hymnal, the 150 ancient hymns in the book of Psalms serve many purposes, from expressions of sadness and lamentation to prayers for help to songs of praise and joy. Today’s psalm is all about praise, lifting our voices in joyful appreciation to the God who created this beautiful world and everything that lives on it. As we sing these verses, let’s be mindful of our call to stewardship as well as pleasure in God’s creation.

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
These verses require careful reading, as it is important to understand that Paul is neither telling us that suffering is good nor that God makes us suffer. Rather, writing to a church that has known persecution and that remembers the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, he points out that we rejoice in God’s grace in spite of our suffering. Moreover, God’s love, through Jesus, poured into us through the Holy Spirit, gives us the strength to stand up to suffering.

Gospel: John 16:12-15
This short passage for today, Trinity Sunday, is the last of several recent readings from John’s account of Jesus’s talk with the disciples at the Last Supper. It concludes that conversation with Jesus’s reminder that there are things about God that we just can’t understand, but also his assurance that the Holy Spirit will be with us, bearing the glory of Creator and Son and guiding us all toward the truth.