Today in the Spirit: Trinity Sunday C
Trinity Sunday C, in particular, might also be called “Holy Trinity Sunday” or “Trinity Worship Sunday.” More than in Years A and B, the readings in this cycle take us beyond just references to the three persons or the trinity or trinitarian formulas to adoration of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The assigned Gospel reading is Jesus’ teaching on the coming of the Holy Spirit from John 16:(5-11)12-15. In this passage, as Jesus seeks to convince the disciples that it is to their “advantage” that he leave and the Holy Spirit come, he says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (14). He will manifest the holiness of the Son (and the Father), provoking worship on earth and in heaven.
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Through a vision of worship in heaven given to the prophet Isaiah, the assigned OT reading, Isaiah 6:1-7, includes the seraphim’s three-fold cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” (3). Whether or not there is in the threefold repetition of “holy” an intentional reference to the triune nature of God, it certainly rings that way in the hearts of those who worship God revealed as a trinity of persons.
The appointed Psalm 29 is a worship song with repetitive use of “the LORD” to drum into our minds all that the one God brings about in the world–chaos and stillness, destruction and “peace” (10). In alternating images of God reigning, moving, and redeeming, Christians in worship easily can associate the distinct works of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The assigned NT reading on Trinity Sunday, Year C, provides an afterword to the series in Revelation we have been enjoying throughout the preceding Easter season. Revelation 4:1-11 is John’s report of a vision of worship in heaven with elders and creatures surrounding God on his throne. Here again, we have the three-fold invocation in the worship of the four creatures, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (8).
The word “worship” in the petition portion of the assigned Collect for Trinity Sunday stands out alongside the readings this week in Year C: “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.”
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.
The Seraphim (Isaiah 6:1-7)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
A few notes on “the seraphim” (2). Most commentators agree that their appearance here is highly mysterious and resistant to clear interpretation. The Hebrew word sarap means “to burn,” so the noun suggests they are “burning ones.” Other places in the OT use the same noun to denote menacing “serpents” (Numbers 21:6, Deuteronomy 8:15, Isaiah 14:29; 30:6). Here, the man-like beasts which can handle fire are subservient to the LORD, like angels. There may be a parallel between the seraphim in this passage and the “four living creatures” in Ezekiel 1:5-6, and those in Revelation 4:8 that are referred to in our NT passage for this Sunday.
Cautiously, we might derive some devotional benefit from the fact that the seraphim are seen covering themselves with four of their six wings, their faces with two and their feet with two. That particular feature of the vision could be inspirational to Isaiah himself as he considers his position seeing YHWH seated on the throne. As they are showing modesty and humility before God, perhaps he more readily grasps his unworthiness and cries out, “Woe is me!” (5). The prophet’s sense of dread is real, and his unholiness needs to be atoned for. There is no reason to believe the seraph who flies to Isaiah with the burning coal “in his hand” (they have hands too) does not continue to keep covered, like a creature-to-creature connection.
Today, Holy Spirit, we hear this passage and take our cues from the seraphim: there is nothing in all creation like him. God is holy, holy, holy; and we are not, not, not.
The Voice of the LORD Twists the Oaks (Psalm 29)
1 Ascribe unto the LORD, O you mighty, *
Psalm 29, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
ascribe unto the LORD worship and strength.
2 Give the LORD the honor due unto his Name; *
worship the LORD with holy worship.
3 It is the LORD that commands the waters; *
it is the glorious God that makes the thunder.
4 It is the LORD that rules the sea; the voice of the LORD is mighty in its working; *
the voice of the LORD is a glorious voice.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedar trees; *
indeed, the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also to skip like a calf, *
Lebanon also, and Sirion, like a young ox.
7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire; the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; *
indeed, the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the deer to bring forth young, and strips the forests bare; *
in his temple all cry, “Glory.”
9 The LORD sits above the floodwaters, *
and the LORD remains King for ever.
10 The LORD shall give strength to his people; *
the LORD shall give his people the blessing of peace.
Or, “The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the oaks and strips the forests bare (9a, NIV). English translations are evenly divided between making this verse a celebration of YHWH’s sovereignty over both the creation and destruction of life (the birth of fawns and the death of forests) or over a statement of dread over his willingness to bring complete destruction to usher in “peace” (Heb. shalom).
Devotionally, we may seek to incorporate both ideas into a prayer for God’s purifying work in our individual lives: My Lord, you give and take away. Everything I have, even the next breath I take, is your gift. Yet I know the work you are doing to prepare me for the stillness of shalom requires violent storms of your making to strip away “oaks” I have planted and “forests” allowed by me to cover the land so I cannot see the sun. By your “voice,” dear Father, I invite you to purge my heart clean and make it clean by water and the Spirit. Bring me to the place when storms are cleared away, and I can join the chorus of everyone in the temple crying “Glory” to you and you alone.
Today, in the Spirit, contemplating the images of the Lord’s reign in this psalm, let me surrender to your work of storming and stilling in the world and my heart.
Four Living Creatures (Revelation 4:1-11)
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
I mentioned above a parallel between the “seraphim” in Isaiah’s vision (Is. 6:2) and the “four living creatures” (6) here. More important for comparison purposes is not the physical features like or unlike, but their bearing and activity in the sight of each man, seeing their respective visions. In contrast to the seraphim who hide parts of themselves with their wings before Isaiah, these “creatures” before John strike an open pose. Their wings appear to be extended, and their eyes are wide open. Both groups sing the three-fold “Holy,” but the second lines are different: the seraphim in Isaiah sing, “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3); the creatures in Revelation, “who was and is and is to come” (8). Tentatively, we might observe these details pointing to holy differentiation in one case (Isaiah) and holy friendship in the other (Revelation). Isaiah’s vision prepares him to bow before a God above him; John’s vision readies him to hear “what must take place after this” (1). Along these lines, we recall Jesus telling his disciples in John’s Gospel, “but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).
Devotionally, if hearing the Isaiah reading moves us to right humility, hearing this passage in Revelation prepares us for holy curiosity, to learn what we can from that which our Lord Jesus is willing to disclose. Admitting our unworthiness before God and receiving atonement from the ministry of Christ, we now stand ready to listen. Having heard from God what will take place and learning the part we must play, we must, in the end, not remain on our knees after absolution but act on what he has ordered for his redeemed people.
Today, by the Spirit who reminds me of my forgiveness and prepares me for what is to come, I come up from my knees to hear God’s business.
It Is to Your Advantage (John 16:[5-11]12-15)
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Jesus says that none of the disciples ask him where he is going. Well, Peter does ask Jesus, “Where are you going?” (John 13:36), but it is only soon after he has announced to his disciples that he is leaving; and Peter cannot imagine the Lord means anything like going out of the world. At this later point, after he has begun teaching on the Holy Spirit, what Jesus seeks to do is move them past the “sorrow” (5, or “grief,” NIV) that has blinded them to any possibility of good, and to see the “advantage” of his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We note the benefits of “the Helper” (7) have to do with working from the inside of believers: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (13). And the Spirit will also be working in the world as it were to prepare the hearts of unbelievers for the disciples’ preaching through conviction of “sin and righteousness and judgment” (8).
The disciples could not imagine a situation where things could be any better than having the Son of God in the flesh walking with them through life. It is similar to the people of Israel insisting they have a human king “like all the other nations” rather than trusting in God to rule over them invisibly (see 1 Samuel 8:19ff). Beloved, Jesus is with us now, closer than ever through the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit, we enjoy the advantage of an intimacy with Jesus that can never be broken by time or separated by distance. By the Holy Spirit, the Father and Jesus are more bound to us than they otherwise could be, bringing all that is from the Father and the Son to us in the most advantageous way possible.
Today, Holy Spirit, we do not grieve but rejoice, that, though we do not see you, we are with you in your fellowship with the Father and the Son wherever we are and no matter what the circumstances.
Today in the Spirit
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