Theme: For Trinity Sunday
The New
is a beautiful building, with its many levels,
on level 0 are the Roman exhibits, on level 1 you can see the exhibits from Medieval Scotland,
on a
higher level, exhibits from industrial
but my favourite floor is level 7, up there on the Roof Terrace, once you have climbed the stairs or taken the lift up there, within a few steps you find yourself standing with the whole of the city around you,
you
can see east to Aberlady, north to
you have this wonderfully wide view of the city spread out around you…… a great panorama.
We find something like this in the New Testament
We read of Jesus in the gospels, His life lived trusting in the Father,
we read of the Holy Spirit moving in power in the Book of Acts,
but when we look across the whole great landscape of the New Testament, we find revealed here that the living God, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
These are high things,
Recently some students were asked if they understood the Trinity, what they make of it all...............
One wrote: i am learning about
the trinity in secondary school. it is quite easy to
understand. the trinity is three persons in one god.
basically the three persons are the father the son and
the holy spirit. and they are all in god.
another way of showing this is by water. When Water is
water, it is a liquid, when its ice, its a solid when its steam its a gas. One thing,
can be three things, like the Trinity.
For another student, however, the whole subject is just too complicated
He wrote:
As much as I've tried. All my Christian friends and family have tried to explain it to me and it never makes sense - they end up shrugging their shoulders and tell me that we can't understand God. I don't really buy this. So, I keep my mouth shut (not to offend those who blindly follow what ever they're taught).
These are high things,
And we might feel more in common with the psalmist who says
in Psalm 131: my heart is not proud O Lord..... I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me........... but I have stilled and quietened my soul like a child in its mothers arms, like a child in its mothers arms is my soul within me............
I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for
me...........
I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for
me...........
But sometimes the Scriptures reveal to us high things, the highest things
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit………
and it is on this day, Trinity Sunday, that in the Church we lift our gaze to these things,
we lift our praise and our praying and our thinking,
to the fellowship we have
with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and these are high things………. indeed
Things too holy, too glorious for us to grasp fully, perhaps, but things that will lift our hearts, deepen our faith ? refresh us, deepen our worship
Where would we begin ?
Well, there are some words of Jesus, recorded in only one place in all the gospels,
in Mark 14.36
in a moment of prayer,
He said these words as He began to pray: Abba, Father,
the words upon His lips were these: Abba, Father.
Abba means Father in Aramaic, and what Jesus is saying here in this prayer
speaks of a love and deepest trust, a deep resting in the deep care of the everlasting God,
who Jesus knows as Father, Abba Father, He whispers...................
now, when Jesus said these words,
Abba Father
Was it on a sunlit, fresh
morning with the wild flowers dancing in the breeze in the meadows of
As He says: Abba Father,
Do the the disciples, wait quietly and patiently nearby, speaking in hushed tones
until the Lord has finished praying ?
no this is the dark hour of the night,
in
the
the disciples, they are asleep.........
and the dark hours of the night measure off one by one, the approaching hour of the Cross............
It is here and now that Jesus prays:
My soul, He says, is overwhelmed with sorrow
to the point of death
Abba Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will but what You will.
The words upon His lips, Abba Father -
that speak of love and deepest trust
Here in Gethsemane Jesus, the beloved Son, Prays to His beloved Father in the Spirit,
in those dread moments,
He is upheld in the strength of the Spirit
for the indescribable conflict which will come with the dawn,
within the hour, He will, the gospel says, be handed over,
into the hands of evil, violent men.
And the end will be the Cross
Jesus, praying to God, whispers Abba, Father.
such deep and holy prayer comes, not from the bright noonday hour, the carefree moment, but out of pain and sorrow,
on the way that leads to the Cross .............
but, those words, Abba Father are words of unshakeable trust, and power and strength
in the living God !
Now, the astonishing thing, is this
that Paul takes these tender words of Jesus, Abba Father
and says that these words belong to us too !
In Romans 8.15,16
Paul says: by the Spirit we cry Abba Father,
the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.....
do you realise what Paul is saying ?
He is saying this, that the Father has given us the Spirit, and as the Spirit dwells in our deepest inner depths we too can say with Jesus, Abba Father,
like Jesus we too can know the Father’s deepest love for us.................
so that we too, like Jesus, can call Him Abba Father............
God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts
the Spirit who calls out Abba Father........... writes Paul in Galatians 4.6
and all of this is the promise of Jesus
I will ask the Father, and He will give you the Spirit.
the world neither sees Him nor
knows Him, but you know Him - for He lives with you and will be with
you...........
Let’s gather all this up...........
This is God’s purpose for us, His high and great and wonderful purpose for us.............
not simply that we talk about the Father, the Son and the Spirit, every now and then,
or think about these things on one Sunday a year
no ! the New Testament shows us that this is life for us,
we are caught up in it all.............
for God, says the apostle Paul, has sent the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts
and so, we learn to say with Jesus Himself, Abba Father,
and so, like Jesus, the Son, we come to know the love of the Father surrounding us,
carrying us, bearing us up,
like Jesus, the Son, in the dark hours, the dread moments, of life
we are upheld in the mysterious, unbreakable strength of the Spirit
and this is life for us.......