Three cheers for God....Rector's Rambling for June 12 (Trinity Sunday), 2022

Today we celebrate the unexplainable.  And in fact we do more than celebrate, we worship the unexplainable!

After a wonderful 7 weeks of celebrating the Resurrection and then the gift of the Holy Ghost, we turn today to something that can be quite confounding.  How can we have One God but we talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?  That seems to be three, not one.

This of course is an important foundation of the Faith that we have in the true and living God.  We believe in a revealed religion, and we can see in Scripture that God is One God, yet is also three persons!  The two are not a contradiction but a sublime mystery.  We can only begin to comprehend it when we approach it with the faith-understanding  that this is true because He has revealed it to us, and Jesus himself speaks of the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The first time I read the Creed of St. Athanasius I got caught up in the length and the seeming redundancy of the statements.  It just went on and on and on.

But as time has gone on and I have read it several times a year for over 30 years and over time it has helped me to begin to comprehend, in a general way, the importance of embracing the doctrine of the Trinity.  In fact he English 1662 Prayer Book recommends reciting it at Morning Prayer on fourteen Feast Days in the place of the Apostles Creed.  Repetition helps with comprehension!

I am not suggesting we read this creed as a part of our regular worship more often, but I do recommend that you can take it home, read it occasionally, and let it begin to sink in.

Meanwhile, this Sunday, and everyday, let us worship God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity!

Come Holy Ghost.... - Rector's Rambling for June 5, 2022

 Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire!

That opening line from the ancient hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is a prayer I use often.  Along with The Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner) these are two great ejaculatory prayers to use throughout the day.  During a moment of stress, or a moment of joy (and lots of times in-between) these short prayers, fired up to heaven, helps us to re-frame and reset our minds and hearts throughout the day.

Today is Whitsunday, also known as  Pentecost Sunday.  We celebrate the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, being poured out upon the Church so that we can be equipped for the sharing of the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us about the event of the Holy Ghost descending on the disciples and their immediate response to begin sharing the Gospel to all those gathered in Jerusalem from various nations, in their own native languages.  The chapters that follow inform us of those apostles and disciples being busy about sharing Jesus with all those around them.

The gift of the Holy Ghost  on Whitsunday is an ACTION event.  They were not passive recipients but instead are empowered to do the work of the Church! 

And although there is an interior aspect to the work of the Holy Ghost in our lives - leading us to holiness by helping us to pray and inspiring us to live disciplined lives according to God’s Will and Commandments, His overarching work is to equip us through this greater holiness, to minister to others in Jesus’ name.  We are strengthened by His might to be The Church for others so that they may come to know Jesus Christ as Lord.