This week’s Readings and Sermon for Trinity Sunday
The Collect for This Week
Holy God, faithful and unchanging: enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love: hold us firm in this faith, that we may know you in all your ways and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory, who are three Persons yet one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 8
1 O Lord our governor, how glorious is your name in all the world! 2 Your majesty above the heavens is praised out of the mouths of babes at the breast. 3 You have founded a stronghold against your foes, that you might still the enemy and the avenger. 4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have ordained, 5 What is man, that you should be mindful of him; the son of man, that you should seek him out? 6 You have made him little lower than the angels and crown him with glory and honour. 7 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet, 8 All sheep and oxen even the wild beasts of the field, 9 The birds of the air, the fish of the sea and whatsoever moves in the paths of the sea. 10 O Lord our governor, how glorious is your name in all the world!
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 1 to Chapter 2, verse 4
1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ 29 God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1 the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The second reading for this Sunday is taken from the Second Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 13, verses 11 to 13
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. 13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 28, verses 16 to 20
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Matthew Glory to You, o Lord
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.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
This week’s sermon is delivered by Rev Denise Smith This is the outline of her interactive talk at Café Church
CAFÉ CHURCH FOR TRINITY.
Café Church is a “Do it yourself” sort of service and there is no sermon as such. These are my notes for leading the service.
Today we are exploring a mystery. The mystery is how 3 can be I and one can three. I am going to borrow Dave to help me . Dave, you are a father, but also a son and a husband. Who else is Dave? Well I hope he is a friend to us all, I know he is a Grandad too. Just think of all the family names we can all have. It is just the same with God. We know him as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He is what we call the Trinity- - a three sided God.
I want you to make the pyramid from cardboard and write on each side, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and then stand your pyramid in the middle of the table.
The word Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, but the working of God as a Father, Son and Holy Spirit can. I read Detective novels a lot! Let us do some detective work today . On your table there should be several Bibles and lists of verses to research. I want you to write down against each verse the names of God, used in those verses.
GENESIS 1 v1-3
JOHN 1 v1-4 AND v14
LUKE1 v 35
MATTHEW 3 v 16-17
MATTHEW 4 v 1-3
JOHN 14 v 25-26
ACTS 2 v 1-4
EPHESIANS 3 v 14-20
2 CORINTHIANS 2 v 13-14. (One of todays readings.)
Go through the answers.
In the Bible there are only hints and expressions of the Trinity, but there is no doubt our God is a Triune God. We believe in God the Creator who made the world and all that is in it. We believe God revealed himself to the world in Jesus, Jesus is God incarnate. When the world strayed away from God and got lost in sin, Jesus came to redeem the world. Once Jesus ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit came to give us strength and guidance. The Spirit is ever present and fills us with power and love. The Holy Spirit is God. Hard to grasp with our human minds, but the heart begins to understand if we give our attention to each person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit used to be called Holy Ghost, as you will notice in one of our songs today. As a youngster I found this quite frightening and off putting. I was quite old before I came to understand and know the Holy Spirit.
ACTIVITY. Give out pretzels. Notice it is all one but 3 parts. Notice how it is like 2 hands praying. Feel it -- hard and shiny and real! God promises to be real to us if we ask him into our lives. Eat it and thank God that he can live in us and that he will give us new strength for the week ahead.
You cannot live in today’s world without knowing about a balanced diet. Even though we may try to eat healthily, we can still be short of a mineral such as calcium or iron and our whole body becomes poorer – our health deteriorates. There was a Scottish farm near my son in laws farm in Aberdeenshire, where the cows were all poorly and the farm was not prospering. The vet discovered a chemical deficiency in the feed. The chemical was added and the cows health improved, the milk yield improved and the farm began to prosper. Why the heck am I telling you a tale about deficiencies in cows? It is because so many people are deficient in their Christian life; there is an element lacking and that leaves them poor, when they should be rejoicing in the great riches offered to them. They have latched on to one or two persons of the Trinity and missed out on the other.
Are you aware of our loving Creator? Do you know he made you out of his love? He surrounds you with love.He wants you to respond to him with love.
Do you know Christ came to earth for you? He lived, died and rose again FOR YOU!! You do not have to earn his love; it is a FREE GIFT. When you cannot help yourself, he comes to your aid. He is our Saviour and Redeemer.
Are you in common – union which equals ‘communion’ with the Holy Spirit? He is with you in every encounter, he brings gifts and talents for you to use. Let us just use the verses from todays Corinthians reading , the words Paul used.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all for evermore.
This is not a request but a reality. The Trinity is to be experienced and known in our daily lives.
( Fellowship could be replaced with common union! )
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION.
1. Are you sure you have a relationship with the 3 persons God? Not just one or two.
2. Do you feel as a church we neglect a Person of the Trinity? How can we correct this?
3. Do we spend too much time theorising and not enough time giving our love and attention to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
4. Do you see God and doing his will as the basic foundation of your life?