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Testimony of New Creation
The glorious life of the Trinity created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1-2:4a). God has not abandoned his creation and continues to uphold and sustain all life (Psalm 8). In response to this grace, Christians are called to gratitude, peace, and love (2 Corinthians 13:11-13). Jesus has promised to never leave his disciples as they live in his name and bear witness to his authority (Matthew 28:16-20).
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"Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens...what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"
Commentary on Psalm 8
Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon,
Thomas Aquinas, Ellen Charry,
John Paul II
Audio
Genesis 1, 2 Corinthians 13,
Matthew 28, Psalm 8
Spotify Playlist
Psalm 8
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Lectionary Resources
"There are good reasons why the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are expressly mentioned; for there is no other way in which the efficacy of baptism can be experienced than when we begin with the unmerited mercy of the Father, who reconciles us to himself by the only begotten Son; next, Christ comes forward with the sacrifice of his death; and at length, the Holy Spirit is likewise added, by whom he washes and regenerates us, (Titus 3:5,) and, in short, makes us partakers of his benefits. Thus we perceive that God cannot be truly known, unless our faith distinctly conceive of Three Persons in one essence; and that the fruit and efficacy of baptism proceed from God the Father adopting us through his Son, and, after having cleansed us from the pollutions of the flesh through the Spirit: creating us anew to righteousness." -John Calvin
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Collect for Trinity Sunday
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, forever and ever. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer
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Trinity Sunday
The half-way point in the Western Christian Calendar
In the west, the celebration of Trinity Sunday started in the 10th century and was officially established by Pope John XXII (1316-1334). This Sunday marks the entrance into the longest season of the Christian liturgical year that is observed on the Sunday after Pentecost. Eastern Orthodox churches do not observe this feast but focus on the doctrine of the Trinity in Pentecost liturgical texts. Instead, the Eastern tradition observes All Saints Sunday the week after Pentecost.
The doctrine of the Trinity is the bedrock of Christian belief and practice. It presents an understanding of reality that is saturated with the presence of God. The undivided eternal relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is pure noncontingent being from which all is created and renewed. The Christian life is lived in the context of the Trinitarian relationship. Self-giving love imitates the very nature of God's life.
Resources
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O blessed glorious Trinity,
Bones to philosophy, but milk to faith,
Which, as wise serpents, diversely
Most slipperiness, yet most entanglings hath,
As you distinguish'd, undistinct,
By power, love, knowledge be,
Give me a such self different instinct,
Of these let all me elemented be,
Of power, to love, to know you unnumbered three.
-John Donne "IV. The Trinity"
from Divine Poems: A Litany
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A Prayer of the Trinity
Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth:
Set up your kingdom in our midst.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God:
Have mercy on me, a sinner.
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:
Renew me and all the world.
-N.T. Wright, based on the Orthodox "Jesus Prayer"
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