I have prayed that the gospel will come to you “not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). May you have the deep sense that God has spoken to your heart today through the Scriptures.
This is Trinity Sunday. The fact that God is Three-in-One is both a wondrous and a practical truth that has a deep impact in the daily life of every Christian. (Although it is of course paradoxical, the Trinity should not be seen as intellectual and difficult.)
God’s trinitarian nature is made clear to us as the revelation of God unfolds throughout the Bible. First of all, the Old Testament schooled Israel in the absolute truth that there is only one God, who made all things. “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This was an unbreakable belief for every Jew. Yet when Jesus came into the world, his disciples heard him refer to God as his Father. He called him by the intimate name, “Abba”. He was the true Son of God. Amazingly, he invited his disciples also to call on God as Father: “Our Father in heaven”.
Jesus went even further, and showed himself to be not only the Son of God, but God himself, commanding the wind and the waves, feeding the people in the wilderness, and calling himself “I am” (John 8:58). It became so clear to the disciples that Jesus was the Creator Himself, that Thomas could exclaim of the Risen Christ, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
As Jesus went into heaven, he promised that he would be with us always through the presence of the Holy Spirit, whom the New Testament also affirms to be God, for example as he is bracketed with the Father and Son in 2 Corinthians 13:14.
These data force us to the understanding that the One God exists in Three Persons. Jesus’ divinity made him a valuable enough sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The Spirit’s divinity means that through him, the Father and the Son are with us.
I hope you find it thought-provoking, challenging and encouraging as we think on all of this today.
In brief:
The Fireworks are next weekend: Saturday 5th June. You can get your tickets online, or at the gate. We still need helpers (see back page).
The service at St Andrew’s Cathedral to consecrate our new Archbishop, Kanishka Raffel on Friday evening, 28th May can be viewed here for a limited time.