Today in the Spirit: Trinity Sunday A
Trinity Sunday is the only principal feast in the Prayer Book assigned in recognition of a church doctrine. So central is the church’s confession of God as one in three persons, and so hard-won in its early history, that the appointment of the first Sunday after Pentecost as Trinity Sunday became a fixture in the liturgical calendar in the medieval Roman church as early as the tenth century. It rose to special prominence in the English church after the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, in remembrance of his consecration as bishop on that day eight years earlier.
The assigned Gospel reading in Year A, Matthew 28:16-20, is the only hearing we have on a Sunday of the Great Commission of Jesus, except (appropriately) on World Mission Sunday in Year B. Our Lord is quoted by Matthew reciting the trinitarian formula “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (19) in connection with the command to baptize.
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Trinity Year A is also the only opportunity on a Sunday feast (other than the Easter Vigil) to hear the full version of the Bible’s creation narrative in Genesis 1:1-2:3. The reading features the figure of “God” bringing into existence from nothing the principal elements of the cosmos. The presence of the Holy Spirit is indicated by his hovering over the as-yet formless “earth” (1:2). That “God” is plural, implying the inclusion of the Son, appears later in the reading: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (1:27).
The appointed Psalm 150 is a call to every living thing to join in “loud” praise to the One God. The language of the song out of New Coverdale is especially striking after the reading of the creation narrative: “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his holiness; praise him in the firmament of his power” (1).
In the assigned New Testament reading, 2 Corinthians 13:5-14, the apostle Paul ends his letter to the church in Corinth with one of the earliest and clearest statements of devotion to the triune God. We are not certain if the “grace,” as it is commonly called in the church today, was a spontaneous creation of Paul’s in this letter or an early liturgical formula just then bubbling up in the worship of the early church.
The collect reminds us that our ability to perceive divine revelation correctly and to worship God truthfully in the interim age is a gift from above proceeding from “the power of [his] divine Majesty.” The petition is that, in this era of limited enlightenment, God would preserve us in our faith and worship of the triune God until, in glory, we will behold with full understanding all the mysteries of heaven.
The Collect
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.
Let There Be Light (Genesis 1:1-2:3)
1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Genesis 1:1–2:3
Consider the two-part creation of “light” in this text: First, God gives the command “Let there be light” (3) to initiate energy out of nothing for the “separation” of light from darkness in creation, something like providing the lighting needed backstage to put together the stage lighting needed on set. Significantly, the deepest “darkness” in 1:1 and the pure “light” of 1:3 are preliminary to and outside of the physical experience of human beings whose creation comes later. Then, on the fourth day the text refers to God’s command for “lights” (Heb. maor, more like “lamps”). This is not a re-creation or new manifestation of the first light, but, mysteriously, the “reflection” (perhaps) of the first “light” in and through the second.
Devotionally, Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:6 make an important connection for us to this passage: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Here, it is to the earlier of God’s command for “light” in the Genesis passage that Paul alludes to. For the apostle the force of inspiration and regeneration and recreation over human believers through Jesus Christ comes, not like a lamp or a reflection, but like the energy of God’s first “light” in the beginning to overwhelm the darkest darkness over creation. What a great comfort to realize that the light of Christ in us chases off every blackness in the world. If even the greatest “darkness” is displaced by the light of Christ, what enemy can stand against it in us?Today, in the Spirit, from the teaching of Genesis on the “light” of God, we stand convinced that nothing “in all creation…will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Praise Him with Loud Cymbals (Psalm 150)
1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his holiness; *
praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts; *
praise him for his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet; *
praise him upon the lute and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrels and dances; *
praise him upon the strings and pipe.
5 Praise him with the resounding cymbals; *
praise him with the loud cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. *
O praise the Lord.
The command in Scripture that appears more than any other by far is “praise God.” In the hallelujah psalms alone (Pss. 146-150) the psalmist’s instruction to “praise the LORD” appears 33 times, and 13 times in the psalm appointed for today. Vv. 1-2 cover the ‘where” and the ‘why’ the people praise YHWH: he receives praise “in the sanctuary” (1, ESV), referring to the Jerusalem temple, the location on earth chosen by God before Christ where worship in heaven and earth may be joined. The motive of all creation-wide praise is the greatness of God’s acts; their quality of both extraordinary power and unfailing goodness, both. Vv. 3-6, in response to the greatness of God, describe the ‘how’ of the people’s praise: it is spirited and loud, making use of every instrument played in the temple. There are two types of “cymbals” (or at least two ways of playing the same cymbals: with “resounding” (Heb. teqa, “trumpet-blast-like”) noise; and with “loud” (Heb. terua, “battle-cry-like”) noise, both in high volume and raucous.
Devotionally, we need to ask ourselves if in our devotion to God we have given space for praise at this level of abandon–letting go with body, mind and spirit, individually and as a group, all just to proclaim to God how exceedingly great he is. Such worship is tiring, whether it is more formal or casual in mood. Ask yourself: are you ever exhausted after worship? If we are giving it everything we have as the psalmist wants, how can we be good for anything afterward but a good long nap?
Today, Holy Spirit, give our church community the gift of abandon in worship at the time you call upon us to strike up “loud” our instruments and voices.
That We May Appear to Have Met the Test (2 Corinthians 13:5-14)
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
“Test yourselves…meet the test…failed the test” (5-6). What in the world is “the test” Paul is referring to? Was it written? Was it oral? Have we ever taken this “test”? Well, before you start insisting your pastor provide you with all the correct forms, consider the context of the passage. The Christians at Corinth were a difficult bunch. The content of both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians (and even Clement of Rome’s letter to Corinth, almost a century later!) indicates that this community suffered from serious spiritual attention deficit disorder–disunity in the body and unwillingness to submit to authority, manifesting in terrible infighting between members and severe lapses in moral behavior. So what Paul is challenging them to do in these closing remarks of his letter is to stop, quiet down, and “examine” themselves for evidence of a real devotion to Christ, something personal and transformational that extends beyond just adherence to doctrine and/or achievements in miracle making. The testing language comes from Greek words for approval and disapproval, meaning being qualified and disqualified.
Imagining for a moment that Paul did have a formal test for the Corinthians, here are some questions that might very well have appeared: 1) Does your walk with Christ conform to what I (Paul) and the other apostles are teaching regarding proper behavior for Christ-followers? If yes, give evidence. 2) Are the lifestyle choices you are making approved in your heart and mind by Christ who lives in you, or is it for you really just a free-for-all based on whatever the culture dictates to be acceptable? Provide specific examples. 3) Are you eating your brothers and sisters alive by jealousy or neglect, or building them up in love? Include the written testimony from others as corroboration.
Today, Holy Spirit, Christ in our hearts, by the guiding of the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship of the church, grant us the humility to “examine” ourselves for true maturity of faith.
But Some Doubted (Matthew 28:16-20)
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20
Or, “but some hesitated” (18, NASB margin). We can only wonder on what basis Matthew adds the comment about the doubters. He was there: Was there “hesitation” obvious? Did Jesus perhaps call them out with words not found in the canon of Scripture? Were some going through the motions of “worship” (whatever that might have been) only to speak their concerns afterward? Whatever the case, how Matthew comments on them in his writing is not nearly as important as the fact that Jesus, who always “knew what was in man” (John 2:12), would have recognized them on the spot. And how does he respond to those who “doubted” (Gk edistasan, dis “wice” + stasis “standing,” so having two stances)? The text says nothing, so we can only assume he does nothing and proceeds with the commissioning.
Devotionally, as we consider our own periods of wavering in the faith honestly, it is comforting to think that in much the same way our Lord does not exclude us from service at the first sign of half-heartedness. Instead, we, like the doubters in the passage, are permitted to hear and hear again, repeatedly: “All authority has been given to me” (18) and “Go therefore and make disciples” (19) and, perhaps especially, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (20). Our double-mindedness does not prevent us from receiving every assurance of Jesus we find in the Gospels.
The proof, of course, is found in the extraordinary witness of all the apostles present on that mountain in Galilee: according to tradition, all but John among the eleven were martyred for their faith.
God, we readily admit that we often present ourselves to you as a mixed bag of certainty and confusion, doubt and pain. Today, we worship you, Jesus, Son of God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today in the Spirit
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