While researching this sermon I came across the following quote from Leonard Hodgson, an Anglican priest and professor at Oxford University in the early 20th Century who said:

That then is my challenge!

I have to be honest and say that for me I have always found the Trinity to be a helpful, and living, way of understanding, as far as one can understand the inexplicable, the attributes of God. Of course I cannot explain how three parts can be one but I can see the different emphases this ‘model’ enables us to make. So, for instance, Jesus represents to me the ‘human side’ of God: the part of God who has experienced life on earth and who understands what it is to feel hungry, tired, dejected and frightened. God the Father, to me is the God I see at work in the Old Testament: loving, interactive, all-powerful, but also with incredibly high standards. We must never forget that it was He who, in His great love for us, sent His Son to redeem us. And of course the Spirit is the key player at Pentecost, whose ‘job’ we looked at last week when we were celebrating that festival.

The word ‘Trinity’ is not found in the Bible and the term evolved in the fourth century after a long series of Christian debates. Jews are happy with the concept of the Spirit of God being present among God’s people but most Jews had a real problem with Jesus because he claimed to be God and for them this was sacrilege. They also, for the most part, had no need of this Son who did not seem to them to have any attributes of the Messiah whose coming was foretold.

That has not changed – when I was talking to a Jewish lady recently she told me that she didn’t need Jesus to be a ‘go-between’ as she wanted direct contact with G-d, although interestingly she did not spell out His full name, having a dash instead of the ‘o’. The Jews of the New Testament believed in one G-d who is so holy that they could not utter His name and to encounter a person claiming to be God was untenable. However it must be remembered that the first Christians were Jews: it would seem that something spectacular had happened to bring them to the belief that Jesus was, and is, God.

The disciples went through many extraordinary experiences in the three years they spent with Jesus: they came to terms with the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and presumably this signified they felt able to accept that this meant somehow he was God, as he forgave sins, performed miracles and challenged the Pharisees. But then came the events of Holy Week and, to them, the inexplicable sacrifice of the Messiah at the hands of wicked men. The Resurrection, however, made them realise that all was not at it seemed – that Jesus had come to die and was fulfilling prophecies that they didn’t associate with the Messiah, such as Isaiah 53, where we read about the ‘Suffering Servant’ and Psalm 22.

During the few short weeks they had left with Jesus when he appeared to them from time to time, they began to understand a little more about God’s Plan of Salvation. Then they had the amazing spectacle of the Ascension before being filled with the Holy Spirit which helped them to understand all these mysteries, although not, I suspect, overnight!

But what is the significance of the Trinity? Three is a heavily symbolic number in the Bible, being associated with God’s actions. For example, it was on the third day that God came down upon Mount Sinai to deliver the Ten Commandments and on the third day that Jesus rose from the dead. In Matthew Jesus tells his disciples to

The Trinity has been described as eternally living as Three and yet One, distinct and yet undivided: Christ gives us insight into the Father’s love, while to yearn for Christ is to welcome the Spirit. Loving Christ means adoring the Father, and so being drawn to one part of the Trinity takes us into the eternal circle of Love. Christian faith is about relationship with a loving God and within the Trinity we see examples of loving relationships as described above.

Today’s Epistle reading reminds us that through our faith we have peace with God through Jesus because by him we have obtained access to grace that gives us hope of sharing glory with God. Through our sufferings we gain endurance, character and hope, which allows us to accept God’s love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Thus all parts of the Trinity are involved in our faith journey from its beginning. This reading reminds us too that even in the midst of our suffering, God is more powerful: that the harm that can result from sin can be transformed by God into a force for good. Perhaps because it is when we are really ‘up against it’ that we are more likely to turn to God.

The Gospel reading in John follows the chapter where Jesus talks about him being the vine and His Father being the gardener, thus showing the relationship between them. In John 16 Jesus tells his disciples that they have much to learn and understand and that they are not yet ready for this. However when the Holy Spirit, the other part of the Trinity, comes he will teach the disciples ‘all truth’. Of course Jesus knows that between this discussion with the disciples and Pentecost much is to happen. The Holy Spirit will help them to understand the events of the past weeks.

In a little while we shall be saying one of the Creeds – it was in the discussions about belief and the writing of the Creeds that the details of the Trinity were ‘thrashed out’ so it is appropriate to look at one of the Creeds in a bit of detail. I am quoting from the Nicene Creed which I have abbreviated slightly.

What does this mean?

We believe that God has created us and everything that exists. He made us, body, mind and spirit and protects us. By implication, when we think about an ‘earthly father’, it is from God the Father that we receive food and clothing, home and family, the Bible which teaches us about God, and all we need from day to day. God also protects us in time of danger and guards us from every evil. All this He does out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, though we do not deserve it. Therefore we surely ought to thank and praise, serve and obey him.

What does this mean?
We believe that Jesus Christ - true God, Son of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary - is our Lord. At great cost he has saved and redeemed us, lost and condemned people. He has freed us from sin, death, and the power of the devil - not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. All this he has done that we may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and holiness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally.

What does this mean?

The Holy Spirit has called us through the Gospel, enlightened us with his gifts, and sanctified and kept us in true faith. Through him we can find faith, even if we don’t understand, and believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, and come to him. In this way the Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church day after day he fully forgives our sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise all the dead and us and give us, and all believers in Christ, eternal life.

Ultimately we cannot understand God but I believe the Trinity can help us to appreciate the different attributes of God. We do not have to understand the concept for it to help us in our worship.

Angela Ashwin, an author of many books of prayers has written this prayer to the Trinity:

Amen