Can't Make it to Church - June 15

Here we are of a day of triple import as we:

i. celebrate 'Father's Day',

ii. celebrate Trinity Sunday (yes, I know the word's not in the Bible), and

iii. celebrate the resurrection (as we do every Sunday - that's why Sundays are not part of Lent)

Today is the day when the Church struggles to not only understand, but also explain,'The Trinity'. There will be explanations containing three leaf clovers, 'wife, mother and daughter', 'ice, stem and water' and so much more and by the close of play today - God will become modal, functional and mentally-ill - and nothing of merit will have been done!

So here's my remedy to all the madness for in the Trinity (three person's) we have:

God (the Father) - the author of life and reconciliation (salvation) to Him.

God (the Son) - the person who makes reconciliation with God real by His freewill offering of Himself to death on the Cross (FOR ALL).

God (the Holy Spirit) - lives in us, enabling and guiding us to to maintain that reconciled relationship and live in unity and peace with God and man.

And to put the cherry on the cake - the mediaeval Church would tell us that God is three persons - one substance but with three distinct personalities. I found a great graphic to show this and to help our understand - and again, it's all very simple.

The Collect

Holy God, faithful and unchanging:

enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,

and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,

that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

So here's the readings for today:

Isaiah 40.12-17,27-31

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 

Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counsellor has instructed him?

Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice?

Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 

Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.  Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering.  All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,

‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? 

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

2 Corinthians 13.11-13

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Matthew 28.16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Post Communion

Almighty and eternal God,

you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:

hold us firm in this faith,

that we may know you in all your ways

and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,

who are three Persons yet one God,

now and for ever.

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel - if you'd like to get a grip on the 'modes' stuff, take a look here:

http://bit.ly/1qP02qz

Daily Office - June 15

Evelyn Underhill, Spiritual Writer, 1941

Psalm 68

Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered;

let those that hate him flee before him.

As the smoke vanishes, so may they vanish away;

as wax melts at the fire,

so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;

let them make merry with gladness.

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

exalt him who rides on the clouds.

The Lord is his name; rejoice before him.

Father of the fatherless, defender of widows,

God in his holy habitation!

God gives the solitary a home

and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome,

but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert.

O God, when you went forth before your people,

when you marched through the wilderness,

The earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain,

at the presence of God, the Lord of Sinai,

at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

You sent down a gracious rain, O God;

you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary.

Your people came to dwell there;

in your goodness, O God, you provide for the poor.

The Lord gave the word;

great was the company of women who bore the tidings:

‘Kings and their armies they flee, they flee!’

and women at home are dividing the spoil.

Though you stayed among the sheepfolds,

see now a dove’s wings covered with silver

and its feathers with green gold.

When the Almighty scattered the kings,

it was like snowflakes falling on Zalmon.

You mighty mountain, great mountain of Bashan!

You towering mountain, great mountain of Bashan!

Why look with envy, you towering mountains,

at the mount which God has desired for his dwelling,

the place where the Lord will dwell for ever?

The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

even thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them, the Lord of Sinai in holy power.

You have gone up on high and led captivity captive;

you have received tribute,

even from those who rebelled,

that you may reign as Lord and God.

Blessed be the Lord who bears our burdens day by day,

for God is our salvation.

God is for us the God of our salvation;

God is the Lord who can deliver from death.

God will smite the head of his enemies,

the hairy scalp of those who walk in wickedness.

The Lord has said, ‘From the heights of Bashan,

from the depths of the sea will I bring them back,

‘Till you dip your foot in blood and the tongue of your dogs has a taste of your enemies.’

We see your solemn processions, O God,

your processions into the sanctuary, my God and my King.

The singers go before, the musicians follow after,

in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels.

In your companies, bless your God;

bless the Lord, you that are of the fount of Israel.

At the head there is Benjamin, least of the tribes,

the princes of Judah in joyful company,

the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Send forth your strength, O God;

establish, O God, what you have wrought in us.

For your temple’s sake in Jerusalem

kings shall bring their gifts to you.

Drive back with your word the wild beast of the reeds,

the herd of the bull-like, the brutish hordes.

Trample down those who lust after silver;

scatter the peoples that delight in war.

Vessels of bronze shall be brought from Egypt;

Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.

Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;

make music in praise of the Lord;

He rides on the ancient heaven of heavens

and sends forth his voice, a mighty voice.

Ascribe power to God, whose splendour is over Israel,

whose power is above the clouds.

How terrible is God in his holy sanctuary

the God of Israel, who gives power and strength to his people!

Blessed be God.

Job 25-26

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: 

‘Dominion and fear are with God;

   he makes peace in his high heaven. 

Is there any number to his armies?

   Upon whom does his light not arise? 

How then can a mortal be righteous before God?

   How can one born of woman be pure? 

If even the moon is not bright

   and the stars are not pure in his sight, 

how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,

   and a human being, who is a worm!’ 

Then Job answered: 

‘How you have helped one who has no power!

   How you have assisted the arm that has no strength! 

How you have counselled one who has no wisdom,

   and given much good advice! 

With whose help have you uttered words,

   and whose spirit has come forth from you? 

The shades below tremble,

   the waters and their inhabitants. 

Sheol is naked before God,

   and Abaddon has no covering. 

He stretches out Zaphon over the void,

   and hangs the earth upon nothing. 

He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

   and the cloud is not torn open by them. 

He covers the face of the full moon,

   and spreads over it his cloud. 

He has described a circle on the face of the waters,

   at the boundary between light and darkness. 

The pillars of heaven tremble,

   and are astounded at his rebuke. 

By his power he stilled the Sea;

   by his understanding he struck down Rahab. 

By his wind the heavens were made fair;

   his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 

These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;

   and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

   But the thunder of his power who can understand?’ 

Romans 11.13-24

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in order to make my own people jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Collect

Lord, you have taught us

that all our doings without love are nothing worth:

send your Holy Spirit

and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,

the true bond of peace and of all virtues,

without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.

Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ's sake,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.