Sunday 19 June 2011

The Mystery



Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13 v 11-13
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Today is Trinity Sunday. The first Sunday in what we call Ordinary time – that’s why I’m wearing my green stole.
We’ve moved through the season of Easter, celebrated Pentecost last week ,and, today, Trinity Sunday sees us move, once again, into Ordinary Time.
About half of the year, in the church, is Ordinary Time.
Ordinary just refers to the Ordinal by which Sundays were numbered.
It doesn’t mean that Sundays in this season are humdrum or straightforward or that worship gets boring– God forbid.
Always there is something new and exciting and mysterious to discover.
The idea of the Trinity – God as Three in One is one of those mysteries of the faith that Theologians have wrestled with for centuries.
I’m not going to add to that today but wanted to reflect just for a moment on the threefold nature of this space in which we gather in fellowship with each other week by week in the presence of God.
With the symbols of our worship surrounding us.
The font – reminding us of our baptism, baptism that calls us into God’s service.
We move from the font to the table.
We ask parents to promise when their child is baptised that they will tell them of their baptism so that, in time, they will make their own response in faith and love and share in Christ’s communion,
In communion we are nourished by the spiritual food that God offers us – the body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ shed for us.
And, sustained by that spiritual food, we move through this worship space in which we have shared and been fed and we go into all the world.
The font, the table, the world.
 A threefold calling for us to serve and follow the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And, in the words of the apostle Paul:
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Amen

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