Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 7, 2020

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


As our readings move from Eastertide to Pentecost, we have celebrated Christ’s ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, then seen the Holy Spirit coming in wind and fire.

The Garden of Eden (1530), oil painting on poplar wood by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany. (Click image to enlarge.)

Now as Trinity Sunday marks the start of the six-month-long season after Pentecost, we reflect on Creator, Son and Holy Spirit in their mysterious dance, three persons in one triune God, the Holy Trinity. Sunday’s readings begin where Scripture begins as our first reading presents the first of the two creation stories that open the book of Genesis. We need not take the Genesis story literally to appreciate its beautiful poetry as it portrays a monotheistic God – Creator, Word and Spirit wind moving over the waters – as a loving creative force at work in the world.

Psalm: Psalm 8

This Psalm of praise beautifully knits together the ideas that call for our attention on Trinity Sunday. In it we give praise and thanksgiving for God’s earthly creation. We remember that we hold dominion over creation. We accept that this duty demands that we 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

As an optional alternative to Psalm 8 on Trinity Sunday we may sing Canticle 13 from the Book of Common Prayer, a portion from the Song of Praise from the Apocryphal Prayer to Azariah. Also known as the Song of the Three Young Men who danced and sang in defiance of the flames in King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, these verses, added as a supplement to the song in modern times, offer resounding praise and exaltation to God as Creator, Son and Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13


You won’t find many explicit references to the Holy Trinity in the New Testament, as it took the early church nearly 300 years to fully work out the Trinitarian theology expressed in the Nicene Creed. But we hear foreshadowings of this idea in this reading and the Gospel. In Paul’s loving farewell at the end of his second letter to the people of Corinth, he urges this often squabbling congregation to sort out their conflicts and love one another as God loves them, asking this in the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Now on Trinity Sunday we hear the final verses of Matthew’s gospel – his only account of the risen Christ. Jesus, in Matthew’s account, had told the women at the tomb to tell the eleven disciples to go on to Galilee, where he would meet them. Now they meet on a mountain. Some of them worship him, but others are doubtful. Then Jesus commands them to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” a great commission to Christian evangelism.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 11, 2017

The Mourning Trinity (Throne Of God), 1433-1435, tempera on panel by Robert Campin (c. 1380-1444), the Flemish Master of Flémalle. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In recent weeks we have celebrated Christ’s ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit coming in wind and fire. Now we begin the long season after Pentecost by contemplating Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their mysterious dance, three persons in one triune God, the Holy Trinity. We begin where Scripture begins, hearing the first of the two creation stories that open the book of Genesis, portraying a monotheistic God – Creator, Word and Spirit wind moving over the waters – as a loving creative force at work in the world.

Psalm 8

We hear again this beautiful Psalm of praise that we sang on the first Sunday of this year. We exalt the name of our Creator God, and we sing grateful thanksgiving for all of creation. We remember that, along with our God-given dominion over “the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,” we have a solemn duty to preserve and protect them all, a duty that seems just as significant in our times as it did in ancient ages.

Alternate Psalm: Canticle 13

What’s a Canticle? These “little songs,” scripture passages that lend themselves to reading or chanting, are given in the Book of Common Prayer for use in daily prayer and, on occasion, as substitutes for Lectionary Psalms. Canticle 13 is the “Song of the Three Young Men” who sang this joyous hymn of praise to God and all creation as God protected them from death in the fiery furnace to which they had been condemned by an angry king. These final verses, added to this old song in modern Christian times, conclude the Canticle with resounding praise and exaltation to the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

You won’t find many explicit references to the Holy Trinity in the New Testament, as it took the early church nearly 300 years to fully work out basic Trinitarian theology as expressed in the Nicene Creed. We hear two of the most specific foreshadowings, though, in today’s second reading and Gospel. In Paul’s loving farewell at the end of his second letter to the people of Corinth, he urges this often squabbling congregation to sort out their conflicts and love one another as God loves them, asking this in the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.”

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

Each of the Gospels ends in a different way, offering us four contrasting views of the resurrected Christ and his conversations with the disciples who would remain behind. Today we hear Matthew’s narrative. The risen Christ had told the women at the tomb to tell the eleven disciples to go on to Galilee, where he would meet them. Now we watch as they meet on a mountain. Some of them worship him, but others doubt, presumably only briefly. Then, invoking the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he commands them to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” a great commission to Christian evangelism.

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

Seventh Day of Creation (from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle)

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.