Eucharistic Readings for Trinity Sunday: Year A
Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a; Psalm 8; 2nd Corinthians 13:11 to13; Matthew 28:16 to 20:
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Our Lord Jesus is handed down through the generations, parent to child, to child to child. He has been handed down master to apprentice and leader to follower for more than 2000 years. Being a follower of our Lord Jesus re-identifies us. It has re-identified me. I now hold, being a Christian, my most important understanding of who I am. It is not being a so-called African American, or even an American or even a man. No, for me it is first and foremost about being what I will always be, A Christian. Jesus being with me to the end of the age is Emanuel.
This Emanuel is God with us. Our Lord Jesus says “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus has made a commitment to us. He is of the Father and sends to us the Holy Spirit and never leaves us orphaned. We must respond by keeping this Trinitarian life alive in thought, word and deed. We must all sing the hymn: “I bind onto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by vocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.” (Hymn 370 of the 1982 Hymnal)
We don’t have to understand the Trinity, just understand that it exists. And it exists for our sake. Some of us live our lives historically. We have to know how we got this way. Such folk I call the Genesis people. They want to know how we came to be. They want to know how the races were divided. They ask how police got started and then ask how police brutality started. They want to know the genesis of everything. This is like the Creator story of who made the Clock, wound it and walked away; and will come back one day. Knowing the story may help us be ready for the return.
The Christian story is the story of the Son. This is God Incarnate. This is the story of a beloved friend who will never, never, never leave our side, no matter what. Jesus’ last words to us are that he will be with us, even to the end of the age. We have, in the same hymn, words that reflects this message: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.” (Hymn 370 of the 1982 Hymnal) We are never without our Lord Jesus, never.
Finally, we have the Holy Spirit that resides in our Church. This is the Holy Spirit of God Whom our Lord Jesus said He will send to us, the Church. Jesus Sends us the Holy Spirit, that we remembered last Sunday, Pentecost, to our Church, to lead us and guide us in the way of truth and love.
We need all three. We need to know, live and tell our faith stories. We need to see our Lord Jesus in the faithful faces of the friends we have as we worship together. And we need to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us and abide in that holy leadership. Happy Trinity Sunday!
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
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