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Trinity Sunday (The First Sunday After Pentecost)

Notable Feast Days this Week:
May 20 - Lydia of Philippi (Eastern Calendar)
May 20 - First Ecumenical Council Convened (325 AD)
May 21 - Constantine the Great and Helena his mother
(Eastern and Lutheran Calendars)

Liturgical Color - White

Revised Common Lectionary

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

Forward

Trinity Sunday

May 22, 2016
Year C

Themes: Wisdom, in the form of Jesus, has always been with the Father (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31). When we see the beauty of creation, we are amazed that God has given us the chance to be his children (Psalm 8). We are grateful that we may be at peace with God through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1-5) and that we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 16: 12-15). –Thomas Oden in Ancient Christian Devotional

We celebrate Trinity Sunday on May 22nd!
The half-way point in the Christian liturgical calendar.

The celebration of Trinity Sunday started in the Western church in the 10th century and developed until it was officially established on the Sunday after Pentecost by Pope John XXII (1316-1334). Trinity Sunday is the entrance into the longest season of the liturgical year. This season after Pentecost is often referred to as Ordinary Time, Trinitytide, or Trinity Season.

The logic of the Christian calendar breaks up the year into two parts:

"... from Advent to Trinity Sunday; and from Trinity to Advent. The first half of the church year has set before us the saving life and work of Jesus Christ: at Advent and Christmas with the celebration of the incarnation (“taking on flesh”) of Jesus; at Epiphany with the manifestation of our Lord to the Gentiles; at Lent with his fasting, temptation, agony, bloody sweat, cross, passion, death, and burial; at Easter with his glorious resurrection; at the Ascension; at Pentecost with his sending of the Holy Ghost to comfort us. During all this time the church has made us remember with thankful hearts those unspeakable benefits we receive from the Father, first by his Son, and then by his Holy Spirit. This part of the Christian year concludes on Trinity Sunday when the church gives praise and glory to the whole Trinity, three persons in One God. We are beginning the second half of the Christian year (Trinity season), which prompts us to conform our lives to the truth we have seen in the first half of the year. As Christians we are not only to know that our salvation is in Jesus Christ, but we ourselves must become like him."
-from Common Prayer

The mysterious life and doctrine of the Trinity is the bedrock of Christian belief and practice. It is also an understanding of reality that is unique in the context of other world religions.

The undivided eternal relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is life itself, pure dynamic being from which all is created and renewed.

The Christian life is lived in the context of the Trinitarian relationship. Themes throughout Trinity season reflect the necessity of abiding in the life of the Trinity and growing in grace, thus the use of green as the liturgical color during this season. The practice of mutual self giving and love imitates the very nature of God's life. Trinitytide, "...is a time when we daily offer our life to God so that he may transform it by his life and make it more beautiful to God, to others and to ourselves."

Psalm of the Week

Scripture Readings

Psalm 8

"How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures...

All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time...When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground..."

Read
Ellen Charry commentary on
Psalm 8:1

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

Daily Readings
Revised Common Lectionary

Daily Readings
Book of Common Prayer

Note: The daily readings will be designated as the passages for
The eight week of/after Easter or the week following the Day of Pentecost

Psalm 8 Spotify Playlist

Congregational Hymns: Recordings + Leadsheets

Holy, Holy, Holy - by Reginald Heber (1826), arranged by Bobby Krier and Citylife Church in Boston, MA | Leadsheet

Prayer to the Trinity - Prayer of St. Ioannikios (9th Century), Music by Tripp Prince | Leadsheet and Lyrics

Psalm 8 - by Sarah Majorins (Cantor and Refrain) | Leadsheet | Leadsheet with String Quartet Orchestration

Psalm 8 Metrical (Tunes: Ode to Joy, Come Thou Fount, Love Divine, Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken)

Psalm 8 (Anglican Chant) - Anglican Chant Psalter
Read about "How to Chant the Psalms"

Resources for Trinitarian Worship from Cardiphonia (A stellar list of articles, songs, lead sheets, and various other helpful resources)

Commentary on John 14: 8-17 (25-27)

"But you are not able to bear them now. When he says that, were he to tell them anything more, or what was loftier, they would not be able to bear it, his object is to encourage them by the hope of better progress, that they may not lose courage; for the grace which he was to bestow on them ought not to be estimated by their present feelings, since they were at so great a distance from heaven. In short, he bids them be cheerful and courageous, whatever may be their present weakness."

-John Calvin

More Historic Commentary...

Practicing Prayer

Form for Contemplative Prayer (View and Download)

Form for Daily Prayer (View and Download)

Audio Prayer Meditation - Pray As You Go (Listen and Download))

Music for Listening - Trinity Sunday

Here is a Spotify playlist with a few versions of the famous Trintiarian prayer by St. Patrick often referred to as St. Patrick's Breastplate

J.S. Bach wrote four cantatas celebrating Trinity Sunday (129, 165, 176, and 194). Here is a Spotify Playlist containing all of them. You can never go wrong with Bach. He has often been called "The Fifth Evangelist." Click here to read more about "The Gospel According to Bach."

Thematic Art (Trinity Sunday)

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