{"id":260,"date":"2010-06-02T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T21:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/wordpress\/?p=260"},"modified":"2010-06-02T21:39:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-02T21:39:00","slug":"trinity-sunday-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/?p=260","title":{"rendered":"Trinity Sunday 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TRINITY IN LOVE<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON May 30th<\/sup>, 2010<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah 6:1 & 4\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

……..and the house was filled with smoke.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to steal the choir\u2019s thunder – but this passage of scripture is a marvellous description of worship in heaven, and it deserves to be set to grand music.\u00a0 <\/span>The prophet Isaiah has a vision of the glory of God surrounded by angels, and the place is filled by smoke.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWoe is me,\u201d he says!\u00a0 <\/span>Then there is the image of a burning coal taken from the altar and placed on his tongue.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Is this really heaven?\u00a0 <\/span>Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and smoke is everywhere.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps not heaven, but High Mass at All Saints\u2019 – with one of our enthusiastic thurifers filling the sanctuary with incense!\u00a0 <\/span>I find it interesting that Isaiah\u2019s vision of heaven is about worship. And it is Eucharistic worship.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts\u201d<\/em>, the angels sing.\u00a0 <\/span>This is the same song we sing in the Eucharistic Prayer.\u00a0 <\/span>In Isaiah\u2019s mind, heaven seemed to be one unending High Mass, complete with the smoke.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is the same in Revelation 4:1-11.\u00a0 <\/span>Here St. John the Divine also describes heaven, and it is the same.\u00a0 <\/span>There is the Lord seated on a throne being worshiped.\u00a0 <\/span>The heavenly throng sings those same words: \u00a0<\/span>\u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This worship is exactly what Trinity Sunday is about \u2013 the worship of Almighty God.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In our Episcopal Prayer Book, we have three creeds.\u00a0 <\/span>The longest and the most difficult to understand is the Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed attempts to explain the doctrine of the Trinity – or at least proclaim it.\u00a0 <\/span>At the heart of its declaration is this line, \u201cAnd the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and in Trinity in unity<\/em>\u201d. The Catholic faith is this…..we worship one God<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus the Catholic faith, which this Parish is based on and proclaims, is about worshiping the Trinity. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We do worship the Trinity rather well here, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 <\/span>I think that Isaiah, St. John the Divine and St Athanasias would all feel very much at home here at All Saints\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But there is another question, isn\u2019t there….how do you worship something that you don\u2019t quite understand? Well, if we know the Trinity, we can easily worship the Trinity.\u00a0 <\/span>For we can certainly worship what we know.\u00a0 <\/span>Surely Trinity Sunday is about knowing the Holy Trinity. And surely the Holy Trinity is all about knowing God.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It does seem strange that at the end of Eastertide we have a Sunday that seems to celebrate a doctrine.\u00a0 <\/span>Since last Advent Sunday, we\u2019ve had six months of celebrating the life of Christ and his teachings, as revealed to us through Holy Scripture.\u00a0 <\/span>Surely, it cannot conclude with a doctrine based on 4th<\/sup> century philosophy?\u00a0 <\/span>In fact Trinity Sunday is a natural conclusion to the revelation of the life of Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>For the Trinity is God\u2019s revelation of his life to us.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All through the ages people have wanted to find God and have him reveal himself. Remember the story of Moses and the burning bush?\u00a0 <\/span>God spoke to Moses through the bush.\u00a0 <\/span>Moses asked him, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>He had to have a name for God so he could relate to God.\u00a0 <\/span>God replied, \u201cI am who I am<\/em>.\u201d I AM<\/em> became God\u2019s name – variously translated as Jehovah and Yahweh.\u00a0 <\/span>Now, through the sending of his Son, this same God is revealed as Three Persons.\u00a0 <\/span>We know their names:\u00a0 <\/span>Father, Son, Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>How important names are to us.\u00a0 <\/span>When we speak to people by name there is a relationship between us. God wants to have a relationship with us, and so he has revealed himself to us by name as well as by person.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We not only know their names, we know something about them – a quality which had been hidden before.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a quality of relationship.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cGod is love<\/em>,\u201d said St. John.\u00a0 <\/span>In the Trinity, God is revealed as love.\u00a0 <\/span>The only way that could be three persons a yet one God is because they are bound together by love.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is the same with the sacrament of marriage.\u00a0 <\/span>When a couple make their vows to live together in love they actually become one, but they are still two persons.\u00a0 <\/span>So they are two persons, but one unity.\u00a0 <\/span>When they process out of the church after the celebration of that sacrament, they are more like God than when they came in – because there is a unity of the persons.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, God is three persons – three persons so much in love that they are also one God. And, just as in marriage the love is to be shared, especially with the children – so God\u2019s love is so great that he wants to share his love with all his children.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So on this Trinity Sunday rejoice that God has revealed himself as three Persons so much in love that they are one.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And may our worship of the Trinity reflect that love\u00a0 <\/span>– and make us more loving.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A TRINITY IN LOVE SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON May 30th, 2010 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isaiah 6:1 & 4\u00a0 \u201cIn the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up ……..and the house was filled with smoke.\u201d \u00a0 I don\u2019t want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/frtonynoble.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}