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What it means to be a Parish of Holy Trinity Last week
was Trinity Sunday and Murray attempted a very clear explanation of the
Trinity and using the metaphor of a prism which breaks up white light into
colours, he described how we can experience the fullness of the One God
through the mystery of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – 3
persons in the one God. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the mystery of God’s identity. Never to be fully understood. Many
people have tried to use metaphors to tease out the mystery of the Trinity.
I would like to offer another this week. Bear in mind however, that any metaphor for who God is, the great I AM, is bound to be inadequate and very limited.
First is that The Persons of the Trinity are individual and different: ·There are three persons around 1 table, 3 persons in One God ·These persons are separate and equal. Second is that they are deeply connected and united; ·They are different yet have the same focus. ·They are focused on the cup of salvation poured out in self-sacrificing love. Third is that they are open and outwardly focused. ·The Father blesses the Son. The Son points to the Spirit and the Spirit looks out into the world, to you and to me, inviting us to come into the holy presence at the table. ·Should we respond to the invitation to come to the table, the Spirit points us to the Son and the Son’s look directs us to the Father. So what? Why is the Trinity important to us? Why do we call ourselves the people of the Holy Trinity ? Why do we identify ourselves in this way and What does it say about who we are in relation to God? A church is like a family. It is made up of succeeding generations. Each generation has to discover for itself its identity in terms of the name it carries. So it is for this generation of the people of Holy Trinity . Recently at the parenting seminars held by the Combined Churches of Devonport, we heard about a Survey where youth of various ages were asked a number of questions . One of the questions was “Who are you?” The survey showed that most 2 – 5 year olds said something along the lines of : ‘I am Billy’ 6- 11year olds said something like : ‘I am William Henry Smith’ 12-18 year olds most frequently said: ‘I am still trying to find out’. Many of us can I am sure relate to the last answer. Some of us have clarity and some of us are still trying to fit in here, find our place, “still trying to find out” here and now, in this time and for our generation, what it means to be the people of Holy Trinity. I’d like to explore this a little today by looking at each of the two words that identify us as Holy Trinity.
We know from Scripture that God alone is holy and that God is love. Therefore being holy must mean to be loving. John Wesley said that “true holiness is perfect love”. We also know that we are made holy by God and we love because God first loved us. If we define ourselves as holy, then we own love as the greatest of our values. Love is the real test of holiness. To grow in holiness is to grow in love. Now there are many definitions of love, but here is one I think is profound : “Love is self-limitation for the good of ‘Other’. I believe it is profound because, God models this kind of sacrificial love. God pours out creative loving acts on the world and ultimately pours out himself in the person of Jesus who chose to become a self-limiting man and to die on the Cross. God continues to express love as his Holy Spirit works in our lives. If we identify ourselves as holy, then we too must pour out love onto each other, into the world and towards God. There can be no holiness without love. To be holy is to be loving.
To be Trinity calls for three distinctive characteristics: ·Generous Hospitality; ·Loving Community and ·Focus on Mission. I will briefly look at each in turn: 1.Generous Hospitality In Rublev’s icon we see the three angels of Genesis gathered around a table. A central focus of this icon is the opening at the front of the table. This signals that there is room for any and all of us. As Rublev’s icon reveals the Hospitality of God, so our parish is called to offer the same generous hospitality. We are called to be a community that is open and welcoming of others. Here at Holy Trinity, our church is physically open all day and that sends a message of welcome to all who pass by. However the spiritual openness and welcome which people experience when they approach our parish community is even more important. e.g. Home groups empty chair! ·We must strive to be a community whose warm fellowship is matched by the warmth of its welcome to strangers. This means doing the simple things of offering a hot cup of tea and a biscuit with a smile at the end of the service, but it also means a whole lot more. ·It means accommodating, those who come here searching for God. It is with this in mind that our vestry is trialling different formats for our services. Vestry and Murray are striving for the kind of hospitality that generously accommodates those searching for God.
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Hospitality also entails daily acts of kindness that make it easier for
others to believe in the goodness of God. I saw some of this hospitality
when my dad died last year and many in the parish embraced and looked after
my family in my absence. 2.Loving Community. In Rublev’s icon we notice that each person of the Trinity is wearing different clothing. The clothing symbolises the gifts and characteristics associated with each person in the Trinity. Rublev’s icon emphasises that the persons of the Trinity are distinct and different but they use their differences in a unity of purpose. We are most truly in the image and likeness of the Trinitarian God, when we acknowledge and celebrate our differences, but are united in love. Unity is not the same as uniformity. This means that each person’s uniqueness is a valued and each person is held to be a precious member of the community whatever their age or social background or culture. This value is firmly embedded in our vision statement where we affirm that we are “A family in Christ, celebrating diversity”. All pretty words, but what about those times when our differences lead to tensions and discord? Those are the times when we have to take seriously the challenge to be in loving community. When there is discord or disagreement that is the time to choose love. So we try to see things from the other’s perspective and we actively seek reconciliation so that we can witness with integrity, that we are a loving community. Dialogue, compassion and mercy are necessary ingredients for an hospitable, loving community. So the first Characteristic is generous hospitality, the second is loving community the third is focus on mission.
Church life is made up of community, worship and mission. These three words are closely linked. Too often we focus on one to the neglect of the others and this lands us in dangerous waters. For example, we can concentrate so much on forming warm, harmonious communities that we forget we are meant to go somewhere together, to do something together. We have a mission: The gospel calls us, to take up our cross and go forth into the world for the salvation of others. Sometimes we can concentrate so much on community worship that we are in danger of creating a holy huddle rather than a Pentecost community focused on spreading the gospel of salvation. In the Gospel reading, we are reminded that Jesus’ prayer for his disciples today, is the same as ever: “May they all be one. Father may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you so that the world may believe.” Here holiness and community is inseparably linked to our sharing in God’s mission to the world. Christ is God’s missionary outreach to us, His Eternal Word spoken to us. In the Rublev icon we see God the Father’s hand raised as he sends forth and gives the Son to the world in a self-giving act of Love. The Son’s hand points towards the Holy Spirit as he is sends forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter in an act of love for his disciples. We see in this, a revelation of the Trinity’s missionary, self-giving and outreaching love. As the people of the Holy Trinity we are encouraged to embrace passionately call to mission. We do this not merely by adding on yet another parish activity to our already full programme but by radically orientating ourselves towards mission as the Trinity is. We bear the imprint of the Trinity on our lives when we are hospitable; loving and outwardly focused. So on Monday morning when we wake up at the start of the new week, let us remember that we are the people of the Holy Trinity and as such let each of us ask ourselves 3 questions: ·how can I show generous hospitality to the strangers and to the new people I meet? ·How can I demonstrate my love for someone in my community today? ·How can I reach out to someone who needs me the poor, the marginalised, the lost and the seeking, Let us ask ourselves these questions on Monday morning and Tuesday and every day. Thus we
will individually and corporately be transformed and thus we will
authentically be able call ourselves the “people of the Holy Trinity”. |
