Prayers of the People: 3 are 3 and also 1 ~ Trinity Sunday, 1st Sunday after Pentecost '22 Yr C

For Sunday, June 12, 2022; Readings: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Canticle 13, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

   Does not Wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?  [Proverbs 8:1]

  Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever. [Canticle 13, from the Apocrypha, Daniel 3:52 ff]

   Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; and we boast in our hope of sharing the Glory of God....we also boast in our sufferings…that produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us. [Romans 5:1-5]

   When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…and declare to you the things that are to come…All that the Father has is mine. For this reason [the Spirit] will take what is mine and declare it to you. [John 16:13a,c; 15]

      One part of the human condition is the occasionally obsessive need to be rational about the irrational, that is to make sense of out of what we don't understand so that we can find something of value or usable in it. Great thinkers and ponderers, researchers and scientific minds alike, seek to grasp the ungraspable and define the indefinable. We often strive to know what is unknowable and explain the unexplainable, or at least contain the concept in some mortal definition box. And there is nothing more irrational, indefinable, or ungraspable than the theologically and intellectually mysterious Christian concept of The Trinity, One God in Three Persons. All manner of councils, creeds, arguments, and conjectures have sought to develop a workable, understandable, useful definition out of a non-scriptural but closely held doctrine of many Christian faith communities to which many simply choose not to believe because it cannot be contained in a comfortable box. 

      This is the Sunday which sends many practiced and learnéd preachers running for the list of available surrogates to fill in so as to dodge those unanswerable questions. The group of lessons appointed for today are, as usual, not terribly helpful in expounding upon what we, of those particular Trinitarian groups, attempt to understand or, at least, accept without question. That said, the passage from Paul's Letter to the Romans gave us a sort of taste of the workings of our co-equal and co-eternal^*, and consubstantial (of one and the same substance, essence, or nature), whole and entire God. In John's Gospel, Jesus, still in his pre-Pentecost Farewell Discourse in this reading, is explaining to the disciples how they will soon understand all they need to know through the coming of the Holy Spirit. They must have been nearly cross-eyed after all they had experienced in the prior month. 

       With the millions of pages of commentaries, books, treatises, etc., available on Google, wiki-places, and untold thousands of websites, and the innumerable hours of sermons we've attempted to listen to (or write), 2 millennia later we're still trying to put the pieces and Persons of the Trinity together in a way that helps us to explain to ourselves, let alone others, what it is that we believe. Step back, take a breath, some things are simply not simple. Mystery is just that. Faith is a mystery ~ outside of any and all types of boxes ~ as is the Peace that passes all understanding. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; One for All and All are One. AMEN. Alleluia! 

 

       *One of my favorite ways to attempt a somewhat workable sense of the Trinity – gender language aside – is through a piece of a 6th century creed from Dublin known as Tírechán’s Creed ~ when speaking of God it says:

 

He has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

   and similar in all respects to himself;

   and neither is the Son younger than the Father,

   nor is the Father older than the Son;

   and the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

And there’s  this: 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, as Almighty Creator and Lord of All, as Lord of Revelation and Salvation through Christ Jesus, and as Lord and Giver of Truth and Life through the Holy Spirit: You embody the eternal mystery of One God in Three Persons. Fill us with the courage and conviction to open to the love You have poured into our hearts that we may live as Your vessels of faith in action.

                                              O God of Grace and Glory
      RESPONSE:             To You, O Lord, we pray                                                                          

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, let Wisdom raise her voice in calling for the necessary ethical and moral character in all the leaders of this World, this Country, and this Community, giving hope in actions for universal justice, mercy, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, grant endurance and steadfast faith to all in continuous suffering of body, mind, or spirit, and vigor to those who give support. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, relieve the anguish of those in mourning, as You delight in the arrival of the souls of the Faithful, returning Home for new life everlasting. We pray especially for: add your own petitions 

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray

~ Holy and Blessed Trinity, continually replenish the stores of spiritual discernment for all who inspire our explorations of faith. We give You special thanks and ask for Your continuing Grace and Blessings for all of our Faith Communities as we go forth ever together in faith and in Your service. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O God of Grace and Glory

To You, O Lord, we pray                                                                  

The Celebrant adds:  Triune God of the Heavens, the Earth, and All Else that is Known and Unknown, You are our Complete and Infinite Source of Faith, Love, and Hope. Urge our earth-bound hearts to seek higher fulfillment as heirs and proclaimers of Your eternal Truth in this life, exalting Your Name in all the world by our thoughts, words, and actions. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer; who, co-eternal and co-equal with You, reign as our One True God, forever and ever. Amen.

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