A modern icon in the style of Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Old Testament Trinity or the Hospitality of AbrahamPatrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 7 June 2020, is Trinity Sunday.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Readings: Genesis 1: 1 to 2: 4a or Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31; Psalm 8; II Corinthians 13: 11-13; Matthew 28: 16-20.
There is a link to the readings HERE.
Trinity Sunday is one of the ‘Principal Holy Days’ in the Church of Ireland, according to the Book of Common Prayer (p 18), and one of those ‘days [when] it is fitting that the Holy Communion be celebrated in every cathedral and in each parish church or in a parish church within a parochial union or group of parishes.’ In addition, the Book of Common Prayer says, ‘The liturgical provisions for [this day] may not be displaced by any other observance.’
An image of the Trinity in Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in GreeceIntroducing Trinity Sunday:
The tradition of observing the First Sunday after Pentecost as Trinity Sunday has unique roots in the Anglican tradition. The early Church had no special Office or day to honour the Holy Trinity. However, with the spread of the Arian heresy, the Church Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays.
Although prayers for this day, including a Preface for the Eucharist, are found in the Sacramentary of Saint Gregory the Great, other documents from the time of Pope Gregory VII call this first Sunday after Pentecost a Dominica vacans, or an ordinary Sunday, when there are no special offices. Nonetheless, the Office of the Holy Trinity, composed by Bishop Stephen or Liège (903-920), was recited in some places on this Sunday, and in other places on the Sunday before Advent.
Pope Alexander II (1061-1073) refused a petition for a special feast on this Sunday. Although he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed, he pointed out that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church, and reminded the Church that the Holy Trinity is honoured every day in the use of the Gloria.
When Thomas a Becket (1118-1170) was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost Day, his first act was to decree that the day of his consecration should be held as a new festival in honour of the Holy Trinity.
This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the Western Church. In the following century, a new Office for the Holy Trinity was written by the Franciscan friar, John Peckham (d. 1292), who was a Canon of Lyons and later became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Pope John XXII (1316-1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost, establishing Trinity Sunday as a Double of the Second Class. It was only raised to the dignity of a Double of the First Class by Pope Pius X on 24 July 1911.
Nowadays, this day is observed in all the Western liturgical traditions, including the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist traditions.
According to the Book of Common Prayer (2004), this Sunday is one of the ‘principal holy days which are to be observed’ in the Church of Ireland. On this day, according to the Book of Common Prayer (p 18), ‘it is fitting that the Holy Communion be celebrated in every cathedral and parish church or in a church within a parochial union or group of parishes.’ The liturgical provisions for this day “may not be displaced by any other observance.’
I wonder how many parish churches in the Church of Ireland respect these liturgical provisions today? Some years ago, a quick glance at the Church Notices when they were published in The Irish Times on Saturday mornings sometimes made me wonder.
Following the pre-Reformation Sarum use, both the Church of Ireland and the Church of England name the Sundays that follow this day as ‘Sundays after Trinity,’ although in America the Episcopal Church (TEC) now follows Roman Catholic usage, and calls them ‘Sundays after Pentecost.’
Liturgically we are now in Ordinary Time, but the liturgical colours change from green to white on Trinity Sunday. The Book of Common Prayer (pp 771-773) places ‘the Creed (commonly called) of Saint Athanasius, also known as the Quicunque Vult’ between the Catechism and the Preamble to the Constitution. However, it makes no provision for its use, yet some churches in the Church of Ireland and the Church of England – especially those with a High Church tradition – sometimes use this creed on Trinity Sunday.
Surprisingly, this feast-day never spread to the Orthodox Church. In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, the Sunday of Pentecost itself is called Trinity Sunday, and the Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated instead as All Saints’ Sunday. The Monday after Pentecost is called the Monday of the Holy Spirit, and the next day is called the Third Day of the Trinity. Although liturgical colours are not as fixed in Eastern practice, where normally there are simply ‘festive’ colours and ‘sombre’ or Lenten colours, in some churches green is used for Pentecost and its After-feast.
One of the best-known presentations of the Trinity is found in Andrei Rublev’s icon, the Old Testament Trinity or the Hospitality of Abraham. This icon recalls the passage in Genesis 18, in which God visits Abraham and Sarah at Mamre. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Abraham’s guests – now only a single guest – are One, and the One is God.
Rublev’s icon itself is a masterpiece of composition: The viewer is being invited to join the meal; the doctrine of the Trinity as a community of Love into which the believer is invited to enter is depicted with clarity and simplicity; the icon communicates the idea that basis of the divine life is hospitality. The vanishing point in the sacred space is placed in front of the icon, inviting the viewer to enter into the holy mystery.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews picks up the theme of the Hospitality of Abraham at the end of his epistle when he advises Christians not to neglect hospitality: ‘Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it’ (Hebrews 13: 2).
Introducing the readings:
Sunday’s lectionary readings reflect key Trinitarian teachings. In the Old Testament reading, we hear of God using the plural form to express God’s joy in creating the whole of creations: ‘Let us make Adam in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion ... So God created Adam in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them’ (Genesis 1: 26-27).
Thomas Hopko of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary argues that if God were not Trinity, God could not have loved prior to creating other beings on whom to bestow God’s love.
This love or communion of God as Trinity, which is extended to us in the communion of the Church, our koinonia (κοινωνία) or fellowship, is the climax to the Apostle Paul’s message to the Church in Corinth in our Epistle reading (II Corinthians 13: 13). It is not just the Trinitarian faith into which we are baptised, but the love or fellowship of the Trinity, and this is at the heart of our ministry and mission (Matthew 28: 19-20).
Yet many clergy tell me they are frightened of getting into the pulpit on Trinity Sunday and some will use any excuse to avoid preaching that day.
Perhaps their difficulties and fears were well explained by Dorothy Sayers, the playwright, translator of Dante, and author of the Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels, who was also a respected Anglican theologian and writer on spirituality in her own right.
Over 80 years ago, the writer Dorothy Sayers published a pamphlet, Strong Meat (1939), in which is offered a whimsical definition of the Trinity: ‘The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible – the whole thing incomprehensible. Something put in by theologians to make it more difficult.’
For many Christians, the Trinity is incomprehensible, and has nothing to do with daily life.
It appears that many Christians behave as Unitarians when it comes to their spiritual and prayer life:
There are those who see God in Christ but in Christ only, and address all their prayers to Jesus, even in the Eucharist, when they should be addressed to the Father through the Son.
Or there are those who reduce to the role of Christ to that of a super logos, who frustrates the plans of a vengeful but distant God. Their Christology owes more to Arius than the orthodox understanding of the Trinity.
And there are those who criticise – and rightly criticise – others for neglecting the Holy Spirit, but who are in danger of neglecting the other two persons of the Trinity.
And then, for many more, it appears, the Son and the Spirit are merely manifestations of – or masks for – the Father, a concept condemned in the early Church as Modalism or Sabellianism.
Each separate emphasis is fraught with danger and is symptomatic of a drift away from appreciating the centrality of the Trinity to faith and life.
A ‘Father-only’ image of God is in danger of reflecting power-lust and a need to dominate on the right, reducing God to an idol or mere totem; or, on the left, of reducing God to a mere metaphor for goodness, however one decides to define ‘goodness.’
Similarly, ‘Jesus-only’ images lead to moralistic action by Christians on the theological left or individualistic pietism on the theological right, and a ‘Spirit-only’ emphasis brings real dangers of either introspective escapism or charismatic excesses.
Yet these images are real throughout the Church, because the concept of the Trinity often appears irrelevant, due to poor teaching in our churches and what I think is a prevailing anti-intellectual climate.
Those who do venture bravely into the pulpit on Trinity Sunday are often reduced to explaining away the Trinity as a ‘mystery’ that they expect ‘mere’ lay people not to grapple with.
As Christians, we are baptised in the name of the Trinity, with that formula we heard again in the Gospel reading. But I fear there has been a visible and audible decline in Trinitarian emphases in worship and liturgy.
Many of our prayers, canticles and psalms should end with praise being given to the Trinity. But when they do, the Gloria often provides a liturgical but thoughtless full stop rather than a statement of faith.
Worship that becomes Unitarian in this way becomes a transaction between an external deity and an autonomous worshipper. And it is not possible for a collection of separated and disconnected individuals to become the community of faith, to enter into the life of the Trinity.
The general decline in the Trinitarian character of worship, theology and life in the Church today parallels a decline in rigorous intellectual thinking. This is typified in the decline in social emphasis in our time, typified in the infamous claim by one politician that there is no society, that there are only individuals.
But we can only be human through our relationships; we can only have self-respect when we know what it is to respect others.
The Church is primarily communion, a set of relationships, exactly as we find in the Trinitarian God. Christianity is not a private religion for individuals; personal piety is only truly pious and personal when it relates to others and to creation.
In today’s anti-intellectual climate, it is hard to imagine the passions raised by the earlier debates on the Trinity, which led to patriarchs being deposed, priests banished, and a Pope such as Honorius I being declared a heretic. Arguments about the Trinity evoked deep passions at Nicaea, Constantinople and Chalcedon, and they continue to be the most divisive issue separating the Eastern and Western Churches.
Today, the Church needs to recover a teaching of the Trinity that is not divisive and yet is relevant. There is a certain truth in the adage that man has created God in his own image and likeness. Our attitudes to the Trinity shape our models of God, and our models of God either shape or are shaped by our attitudes to the world: a unipolar God is an authoritarian model; the Trinity is a communitarian, inclusive, embracing, co-operative model.
Authoritarian or monist models have dominated the Church for centuries, providing male, authoritarian images of God. But in the New Testament and in the Early Church, the words used for the Spirit (πνευμα, pneuma), wisdom (Σoφíα, Sophia) and the Holy Trinity (Αγία Τριάδα, Aghia Triadha) are neuter and feminine nouns.
Monist models of God help to confirm men, particularly men with power in the Church, in their prejudices. The Trinity is inclusive rather than exclusive of human images.
During the Nazi era, the German theologian Erik Peterson (1890-1960), argued that monist theologies tend to legitimise absolutist and totalitarian political and social orders, while Trinitarian theologies challenge them.
The Trinity means that as humanity is created in the image and likeness of God, then it is not just as individuals that we reflect God’s image, but that when we are a community we are most human and most God-like. In the true community, each is valued, each takes account of the other, each has an equal place, contribution and voice. True community cannot concentrate sole authority, privilege and infallibility in one gender alone, let alone one member.
A recovery of the reality of the Trinity has radical implications for our models of the Church, for authority, service and inclusiveness in the Church. It implies respect for diversity and seeks a communal form of unity that respects, desires and even encourages diversity in the community of faith.
Compared with the great social and political challenges facing the Church, discussing the Trinity may seem to many to be as relevant as debating the number of angels on the head of a pin. Yet the Trinity is not only the archetype of all created reality, but without a fuller understanding of the nature of the Trinity, the Church will never be able to apprehend the truth of the infinite goodness of God.
The love and coinherence or perichoresis of the Trinity is a joyful dance that is at the heart of our understanding of God’s love for us and for creation, of our fellowship with God and one another, and of our understanding of our ministry and mission. Without a proper teaching on the Trinity, the Church will continue to provide answers to social and political questions that make God more like an idol than like our model for a loving community.
Genesis 1: 1 to 2: 4a:
The first reading is similar to the reading earlier this year in Creation readings options for the Second Sunday before Lent (16 February 2020, Genesis 1: 1 to 2: 3). This is a poetic description of God’s creation, reaching its climax or fulfilment in describing God’s creation of humanity and God’s relationship with us.
Ancient cultures and religions in Mesopotamia and the Middle East shared a common creation story, similar to the creation story in Genesis, with a similar sequence of events. There is a second Creation narrative in Genesis 2: 4b-25, and the Bible closes with the account of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 21 and 22).
Like all good stories, this story begins at the beginning: ‘In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis 1: 1). In other words, God pre-exists all creation, God exists before all time, and the whole visible creation comes into being as a result of God’s activity.
At first, there was chaos, ‘an empty, formless void’ (verse 2). However, the life-giving power of God, the ‘wind’ or Spirit ‘from God’ sweeps over this chaos. The creation story is then told in the form of a poem or hymn, with a refrain, ‘And God saw that it was good’ (verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 20, 25).
Day 1 (verses 3-5): God creates light, overcoming the darkness. By naming them light and darkness, God is said to be in control of both.
Day 2 (verses 6-10): God creates the sky, which acts like a bowl above the earth, with water (rain and snow), and the waters that surround the dry land (seas, lakes and rivers). Again, God names them.
Day 3 (verses 11-13): God creates the trees, plants, fruit and vegetables.
Day 4 (verse 14-19): God creates the Sun and the Moon. In Biblical times, they were seen as beings moving in a circle around the dome of the earth, according to God’s command.
Day 5 (verses 20-23): God creates the creatures in the sea and the air, fish, birds, and even ‘the great sea monsters.’
Day 6 (verses 24-31): God creates the creatures on the land, wild and domestic animals, including snakes and insects.
Then God says, ‘Let us’ (26), invoking a royal we. The creation of humanity is the climax of the creation story. We are made in God’s image – the Hebrew word used here implies an exact copy or reproduction. Because of God’s blessing, we have procreative power, we are to be fruitful and multiply, and to have dominion over the earth, acting as God’s regents, with means taking responsibility for a just rule in and care for the creation.
And we are told that not only that ‘God saw that it was good’ – as on the other days of creation – but, ‘indeed, it was very good’ (verse 31).
Day 7 (Genesis 2: 1-3): The seventh day is the day of rest, a reminder of the Sabbath. God blesses the seventh day, and God sets it apart or makes it holy.
Notice how there is no evening at the end of this day – this relationship between God and humanity is to continue for ever, to the end of the story (see Revelation 21 and 22).
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that few texts have had a deeper influence on Western civilisation than this first chapter of Genesis, with its momentous vision of the universe coming into being as the work of God. Set against the grandeur of the narrative, what stands out is the smallness yet uniqueness of humans, vulnerable but also undeniably set apart from all other beings.
The honour and glory that crowns the human race is possession of the earth, which is the culmination of God’s creative work: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over [it]’ (Genesis 1: 28).
While the creation narrative in Genesis clearly establishes God as Master of the Universe, it is humanity who is appointed master or guardian of the earth.
But this raises fundamental questions about our place in creation and our responsibility for it. A literal interpretation suggests a world in which people cut down forests, slaughter animals, and dump waste into the seas at our leisure, much as we see in our world today.
On the other hand, Rav Kook (1865-1935), the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, says any intelligent person should know that Genesis 1: 28, ‘does not mean the domination of a harsh ruler, who afflicts his people and servants merely to fulfil his personal whim and desire, according to the crookedness of his heart.’
Could God have really created such a complex and magnificent world solely for the caprice of humans?
Genesis 1 is only one side of the complex biblical equation. It is balanced by the narrative of Genesis 2, which features a second creation narrative that focuses on humans and their place in the Garden of Eden. The first person is set in the Garden ‘to till it and keep it’ or ‘to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2: 15).
The two Hebrew verbs used here are significant. The first verb – le’ovdah (לעובדח) – literally means ‘to serve it.’ The human being is thus both master and servant of nature.
The second verb – leshomrah (לשמרח) – means ‘to guard it.’ This is the same verb used later in the Bible to describe the responsibilities of a guardian of property that belongs to someone else. This guardian must exercise vigilance while protecting and is personally liable for losses that occur through negligence.
This is, perhaps, the best short definition of humanity’s responsibility for nature as the Bible presents it.
We do not own nature; ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it’ (Psalm 24: 1) We are its stewards on behalf of God, who created and owns everything. As guardians of the earth, we are duty-bound to respect its integrity.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) put this rather well in an original interpretation of Genesis 1: 26, ‘Let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness.’ Us? Who would God consult in the process of creating humans?
Rabbi Hirsch suggests the ‘us’ in this verse refers to the rest of creation. Before creating us as humans, destined to develop the capacity to alter and possibly endanger the natural world, God sought the approval of nature itself. This interpretation implies that we would use nature only in such a way that is faithful to the purposes of the Creator and acknowledges nature’s consent to the existence of humanity.
The mandate in Genesis 1 to exercise dominion is, therefore, not technical, but moral: humanity would control, within our means, the use of nature towards the service of God. This mandate is limited by the requirement to serve and guard as seen in Genesis 2. The famous story of Genesis 2-3 – the eating of the forbidden fruit and the subsequent exile of Adam and Eve – supports this point.
Not everything is permitted. There are limits to how we interact with the earth. When we do not treat creation according to God’s will, disaster can follow.
We see this today, Rabbi Sacks says, as scientists predict more intense and destructive storms, floods, and droughts due to human-induced changes in the atmosphere. If we do not take action now, we risk the very survival of civilisation.
Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31:
Isaiah 40 is the first chapter of the section in this book known as ‘Deutero-Isaiah’ (Isaiah 40 to 55), dating from the time of the exile in Babylon. Parts of this chapter are cited in all four Gospels in the New Testament.
At the opening of this chapter, immediately before this reading, verses 1-11 are known as the Prologue to ‘Deutero-Isaiah.’ The remainder of this chapter speaks of the salvation and future blessing of God’s people.
But what kind of God is this?
Isaiah begins to think about God’s greatness by thinking about God’s work of creation. Through a series of questions, he portrays God as the mighty creator.
In the first part of this reading (verses 12-17), God is compared to a skilled worker, measuring the water, marking out the heavens, measuring the earth, weighing the mountains and the hills.
But the Spirit of God, unlike people, does not need to be directed, taught, advised or counselled. God is sovereign over the nations, and when compared to the might and majesty of God, they are like ‘a drop from the bucket’ or ‘dust on the scales.’ They do not count, nor do they tilt the balance of power. No matter how they tried, they could not change God’s mind with their sacrifice or worship. They cannot influence God or challenge him.
In the second part of this reading (verses 27-31), the prophet turns from the nations of the world to the people of God. In their exile, they are challenged for doubting God, thinking he has hidden himself away from them in their suffering, that God has written them off.
They are reminded that God is the creator of all, and does not tire of or forget his creation. ‘He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless’ (verse 29).
We are reminded, in one of the well-loved passages in this section of Isaiah:
‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint’ (verse 31).
Psalm 8:
Psalm 8 recalls the first creation story, and is a psalm of praise of God as creator and of humanity as the head of creation. God has given us a share in his power by conferring on us authority over the rest of all that he has created.
This psalm provides a picture in which God is praised for his glory (verses 1a and 9), reflected in his creation. God fashions creation, and is greater than all creation, and we are like his infants and children (verse 2).
Because of the modest means God uses (‘babes and infants,’ verse 2), God’s majesty is even more evident. God’s foes (verse 3) may be the powers of chaos, as in Genesis 1: 1.
In verses 3-4, the psalmist contrasts God’s majesty with ‘the work of … [his] fingers,’ especially humans, for whom he cares.
The word for mortals, ben’adam (בן־אדם), means literally ‘son of man.’ It is a title Jesus uses for himself, and the Greek expression ὅ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρόπου appears 81 times in the New Testament. It is used in rabbinical and modern Hebrew to describe a righteous person or someone who does the right thing.
Verses 7-9 recall Genesis 1: 26-28, and tells us we share in God’s dignity, for he has conferred on us mastery of, and responsibility for, the rest of creation.
II Corinthians 13: 11-13:
This is the concluding blessing in Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and it is similar to the standard ending that we find in the Pauline letters, which with its greetings, a holy kiss and a final benediction.
Perhaps it also shows, once again, the lack of harmony in the church in Corinth. Certainly, the Apostle Paul urges them to restore the order, love and peace that God expects in their community.
The description of God as ‘the God of love and peace’ (verse 11) does not occur as this formulation in Jewish sources at the time, although midrashic literature regularly refers to God’s love and to God’s role in bringing peace.
The holy kiss (verse 12) was shared at the Eucharist and was a symbol of communal love among Christians (see also Romans 16: 16; I Corinthians 16: 20; I Thessalonians 5: 26). In midrashic literature, it is written, ‘All kissing is indecent, except in three instances: the kiss of high office, the kiss of reunion, and the kiss of separation’ (see Gen. Rab. 70: 12).
‘All the saints’ (verse 12) is a reference to other Christians, in this instance the Christians who are in Saint Paul’s company at the time of writing this letter. In the Septuagint (LXX) and the New Testament, the Greek word άγιος (agios) means both saint and holy. It is feminine form we find it in Agia Triada (Αγία Τριάδα), meaning ‘Holy Trinity.’
The Letter concludes in verse 13 with Trinitarian blessing that is found nowhere else in the Pauline literature and that we have come to use and know as ‘the Grace.’ On Trinity Sunday, it is worth noting the Trinitarian order in verse 13: the ‘grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’ leads us to ‘the love of God’ the Father, and this love flows into communion in God the Spirit with one other.
Matthew 28: 16-20:
The Gospel reading is well-known for passage we know as ‘the Great Commission,’ often read as the foundation for the mission of the Church.
After his Resurrection, the Risen Christ has told Mary Magdalene and ‘the other Mary’ (Matthew 28: 1) to ‘tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me’ (verse 10). Now Christ appears to ‘the eleven’ (verse 16, Judas is no longer with them) on ‘the mountain’ where the Transfiguration had taken place. Like Moses, Christ’s final instructions are given from the mountain (see Deuteronomy 32: 48).
When they see the Risen Christ, they worship him, although some among them still doubt (verse 17). This is an interesting point – everyone present is there because of their faith; doubt and faith are not opposites, and those who are present but still have doubts, have, nevertheless, opted to become part of the journey of faith.
Christ has been given ‘all authority on earth’ from the Father (verse 18). Now sends out his followers throughout the earth, to ‘all nations’ (verse 19), πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (panta ta ethne), to all people, irrespective of their ethnic or linguistic backgrounds.
They are to baptise in the name of the Trinity, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (verse 19). The formula here finds only one other similar expression in the New Testament, at the end of the New Testament reading (see II Corinthians 13: 13). In doing this, they are not just to believe but to show that faith in action, teaching others to obey and imitate Christ.
To help in this task, Christ will be with us always, ‘to the end of the age’ (verse 20).
Matthew 28: 16-20 (NRSVA):
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped 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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Andrei Rublev’s icon, the Old Testament Trinity or the Hospitality of Abraham.Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: White (Trinity, Year A)
Penitential Kyries:
Father, you come to meet us when we return to you.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, you died on the cross for our sins.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit, you give us life and peace.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
Keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
for you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever.
The Collect of the Word:
God of heaven and earth,
before the foundation of the universe and the beginning of time
you are the triune God:
author of creation, eternal Word of salvation,
life-giving Spirit of wisdom.
Guide us to all truth by your Spirit,
that we may proclaim all that Christ has revealed
and rejoice in the glory he shares with us.
Glory and praise to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
Introduction to the Peace:
Peace to you from God our heavenly Father.
Peace from his Son Jesus Christ who is our peace.
Peace from the Holy Spirit the Life-giver.
The peace of the Triune God be always with you.
And also with you.
Preface:
You have revealed your glory
as the glory of your Son and of the Holy Spirit:
three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour,
yet one Lord, one God,
ever to be worshipped and adored:
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Almighty God,
may we who have received this holy communion,
worship you with lips and lives
proclaiming your majesty
and finally see you in your eternal glory:
Holy and Eternal Trinity,
one God, now and for ever.
Blessing:
God the Holy Trinity
make you strong in faith and love,
defend you on every side,
and guide you in truth and peace:
Suggested Hymns:
Genesis 1: 1 to 2: 4a:
23, Álainn farraige spéirghlas (Beautiful the green blue sea)
24, All creatures of our God and King
25, All things bright and beautiful
318, Father, Lord of all creation
74, First of the week and finest day
48, God in his love for us lent us this planet
3, God is love: let heaven adore him
26, God sends us refreshing rain
4, God, who made the earth
67, God, who made the earth and heaven
27, God who stretched the spangled heavens
324, God whose almighty word
28, I sing the almighty power of God
94, In the name of Jesus
30, Let us with a gladsome mind
49, Lord, bring the day to pass
29, Lord of beauty, thine the splendour
31, Lord of the boundless curves and space
537, O God, our help in ages past
32, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
34, O worship the King all–glorious above
35, The spacious firmament on high
77, This day at God’s creating word
36, We thank you, God our Father
Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31:
566, Fight the good fight with all thy might
3, God is love: let heaven adore him
306, O Spirit of the living God
323, The God of Abraham praise
Psalm 8:
316, Bright the vision that delighted
6, Immortal, invisible, God only wise
362, O God beyond all praising
32, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
II Corinthians 13: 11-13:
298, Filled with the Spirit’s power, with one accord
524, May the grace of Christ our Saviour
507, Put peace into each other’s hands
Matthew 28: 16-20:
398, Alleluia! sing to Jesus
86, Christ is the King! O friends, rejoice
454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
478, Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake!
455, Go forth for God; go forth to the world in peace
479, Go, tell it on the mountain
480, God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name
322, I bind unto myself today (verses 1, 8, 9)
456, Lord, you give the great commission
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
306, O Spirit of the living God
497, The Church of Christ in every age
199, The people that in darkness walked
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
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