On Trinity Sunday, we are asked to follow the Holy Spirit in our diversity, to unity in the love of God as portrayed by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and sustained in the power of the Holy spirit. Creator, God bring us into a new life of peace, hope and love. Jesus, Redeemer, renew us through your Gospel. Holy Spirit, Sustainer, strengthen and guide us in unity through our diversity. Jesus tells the disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:12-13).

Jesus will show that it is only through self-giving love that they will understand the peace of God and that all people are loved and forgiven. The Trinity is steeped in theology that is too much for most of us to bear, but the idea of unity in diversity is the key to understanding three in one. “The first person of the trinity is God the Father, creator, the unoriginated origin, source, Father of the only begotten Son, breathing out the Holy Spirit. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, receives the divine nature, essence and substance from the Father, consubstantial with the Father, the Word, image and sacrament. Holy Spirit, proceeds, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, breathed out.”

In today’s lesson, we are promised the Holy Spirit to guide is into all truth. Jesus did not leave us as orphans but left us with the Gospel. God the Father leaves us with the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading from Proverbs we hear, “Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice…On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand.” Elizabeth A. Johnson said, “Another, even more explicit way of speaking of the mystery of God in female symbol is the biblical figure of Wisdom. This is the most developed personification of God’s presence and activity in Hebrew scriptures. The word for Wisdom is feminine and Hokmah in Hebrew, Sophia in Greek. Sophia has knowledge, insight, and strength that she wishes to impart; her words are truth. She loves those who love her and promises that those who seek her will find her.” Does this not sound like God? When we say God the Father we speak of the unknowable except through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Wisdom was created before the heavens and the earth and helps us to unravel the mystery of God in feminist theological discourse. The word Sophia is used to understand truth that has stood for all time. It is past, present, and future like the words of John. As you go forward from the crossroads, I use this example of looking at God from a new perspective. Perhaps Sophia will help us to move in new directions that will bring the love of God at St. Johns to new generations. Please preserve the best of what we do at St. John’s but be open to new ways of looking at God, the Trinity, and the church.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

50 days past Easter. 10 days after the Feast of the Ascension. We have come to Pentecost. The commemoration and celebration of the Holy Spirit being sent among the early disciples and apostles and first ignition of the work of the Church. It was the spark needed, as promised by Christ Himself, for the early followers of Jesus in order to proclaim the Good News of God’s salvation. And it is still the spark needed in our Christian life and faith.

Yet, for many, that spark doesn’t seem to be there. Maybe it was there and now it is not. Maybe we feel like we’ve never had the spark. Indeed, for many Christians the Holy Spirit seems like a mystery (which isn’t exactly wrong), when, in fact, it is the gift God has given us and is meant to be accessible to all who proclaim Christ crucified. The gift of the Holy Spirit isn’t one-dimensional either. It includes many more gifts within its interior life. The fruits of the Spirit, the peace of God, the conviction and forgiveness of sin, and more. Without the Holy Spirit to direct and guide the church and our lives, then we would be “back and forth by the waves”, as Paul describes our lives without God.

In our life, we must discern the Holy Spirit and where He is leading us. Yet, too, is our own self a place in which the Holy Spirit takes up residence, as shown in the Scripture above. The Holy Spirit is supposed to dwell within us. Our bodies are temples and our lives are the fruits of this residency. While the Scripture is not one of the readings this weekend, it is important to understand the role the Holy Spirit plays in our life.

This week, my prayer is that you at St. John’s continue well to discern where the Holy Spirit is both leading this church and your very self in whatever you are dealing with in life, in order that God’s glory and love can shine through us here and you wherever you are at. Amen.

In Christ,

Fr. Zach