Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- BCP, page 228
Texts
Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29;
Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
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Andrei Rublev (1370-1430) wrote the most revered icon of the Holy Trinity as Abraham and Sarah's three mysterious visitors (Genesis 18). [Icons are "written," not painted.] The icon depicts three angels in equal dignity as a symbol of the triunity and equality of all three Persons. The angels are engaged in conversation as they bless the Chalice, forming a community of love in full regard of one another.
What are the implications of our being made in the Image of God, who has been revealed to the Church as "the glory of the eternal Trinity" in whom we "worship the Unity"? [Collect for Trinity Sunday; BPC, page 228] Trinity Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on who we are, in light of the Trinitarian Nature of God.
Our vision for community is rooted in the nature of God as One, Holy, and Undivided Trinity, that is, God's revelation as a community of persons, indivisible yet united by the divine nature, which is Love. Human beings, created in the Image of God, are therefore made for community and to be in communion with one another, with the created order, and with God. We are made by Love; we are born to love.
Because of who God is, we celebrate the uniqueness and particularity not only of each of us as individuals but in the multiplicity of the cultural and ethnic mosaic of the one human race as a gift of God, as a sacrament of the Holy Trinity. All people are outward and visible signs that declare the glory of God. Though we indeed "fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23), each individual and each part of the human family in its own way participates in the divine image. The richness and variety of humanity are a blessing to be celebrated, a delight to be enjoyed, and a means of coming to a closer appreciation of God's greatness and goodness.
When we come to worship on Sundays, we learn more about our vocation as a community that glories in the uniqueness and variety of all human beings. Trinity Sunday, in particular, is a time to rejoice and to renew the bonds of affection that unite us to the Father through the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Under the Mercy,
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