Readings:
Isaiah 40:12-17;
Psalm 8;
2 Cor 13:11-end;
Matthew 28:16-end

Collect:
Holy God, faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever. Amen 

Reflection

This Sunday the church celebrates Trinity Sunday: a day when we are invited to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, to consider again the life of the one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and what it means for us to accept God’s invitation to enter into that holy life. 

Sometimes preachers take this day in the calendar as an opportunity to ‘explain’ the Trinity – whether through complex theology, or well-worn Sunday School analogies (I expect many of us have encountered the water, ice, and steam sermon illustration!) But to try to explain the Trinity is rather to miss the point. The Holy Trinity is a mystery, and it is supposed to be. That it is not something we can ever fully understand, that the nature of who God is is not something we can ever fully grasp, should remind us that God is so much greater than our human minds can possibly comprehend. 

But, even if we cannot hope to fully understand it, it is well worth spending time contemplating the Trinity. To do so can reveal much about who God is, and who God has created us to be. 

One thing that always strikes me about the Trinity is that at the heart of who God is, there is a relationship: a relationship of love, mutuality and interdependence. Relationship is essential to who God is. Love is not just something God does, but something God is.

And relationship is essential to who we are too. As creatures made in God’s image, we are made for relationship, made for interdependence, made for love, made for community. We are called into the communion which is Christ’s church, and we are sent into the communities we inhabit to live as Christ’s body in the world. And wherever we are, we are called to mirror the mutual, interdependent, loving relationship which we see at the heart of who God is. 

Maybe that sounds a bit theologically grand, but really it’s about the every day stuff. It’s about living in community, acknowledging that no-one is an island, that we need one another, and (of course) we need God. The mutual love which lies at the heart of the Trinity is reflected in our own lives in small acts: checking in with one another, praying for each other, offering – and accepting! – practical help, making time to really listen to one another, and time just to be together. 

So as we approach this Trinity Sunday, let’s not get too lost in the theological complexity of it all! Instead, let’s approach this great mystery at the heart of God with awe and wonder. And then let’s get on with living in loving community which reflects the love of God. Our lives, lived with mutual love, can show people far more about who God is than any elaborate analogy intended to ‘explain’ the Trinity ever could!

Ruth Harley