Trinity Sunday
Scripture: Genesis
1:1—2:4a
Trinity Sunday celebrates the triune nature of God. Indeed,
it is the only festival in the Church Year that focuses on a doctrine rather
than an event of salvation history. The readings this week testify to the relationship
of the Persons of the Trinity in all of God’s work. This passage is the account
of the creation of all things, a work that is often attributed to the Father. Note,
however, the mention of the Spirit and the Word as part of the creative work.
While we often tease out each Person of the Trinity, we will see in this week’s
readings that God’s work is done in divine unity among the Persons of the
Trinity acting as one.
Teaching
“In the beginning ….” These words are hotly debated and
decried in our society. There is a strong preference for naturalistic and
humanistic explanations of the origins of our world and of life itself. Indeed,
even within the church the notion of a six-day creation is often treated with embarrassed
attempts to explain this text away, hybridizing modern scientific theory with
God’s testimony of how the world was created. Too often, this ends up being a
shuffling away of the text of Scripture and the domination of human theories
over divine revelation.
Genesis 1 speaks of God’s creation of all things. Both
Father and Spirit are recognized in the text. It is through the filter of the
New Testament that we identify the Word as the Second Person of the Trinity
because of John’s testimony about Jesus in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the
Word….” Paul, however, states explicitly, “For by [Jesus] all things were
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible … all things were
created through him and for him.” (Col. 1:16). So we see all three Persons of
the Trinity at work in creation.
Life
We exist because God loves us and desires us to be his
people. We are created to live in relationship with him – Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Just as these three Persons live in a mysterious divine unity, the love
of God for us calls us to live in a similar unity with him and with one
another. Our relationship with God, in many ways, begins with the fact that he
made us. And as his creatures we should remember the parameters he has given us
to live in, knowing that violating those parameters is sin. Thankfully,
creature is not our only, or even our primary, relationship with God. We are
also his redeemed and forgiven people through Jesus’ sacrifice and the Spirit’s
work of faith in us. This knowledge frees us to rejoice in our Creator and to
enjoy his creation fully.
Prayer
O God, you are the Creator. All things that are exist
because you made and sustain them. Thank you for lovingly creating us and the
world we live in, and for giving Jesus to redeem us so that we might live in a
right relationship with you as your creatures. Forgive us for doubting your
Word and for preferring the evidence of our senses and the interpretations of
human minds over your own testimony regarding the Beginning. Strengthen our
faith to trust your Word. Give us humility to recognize our limitations in
understanding. And hold us closely in the faith your give us by the working of
the Spirit that we might learn to trust you more and more as we read and hear
your Word. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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