Dear Friends,
I’m so pleased that Charles Glenn has agreed to preach this Sunday. It’s a challenging task, to explain the concept of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but I believe that our spiritual lives can be enlivened as we open our minds and our hearts to the concept of the living God, who created the universe, who loves us so much that he died for us, and who breathes life in to us by his Spirit, is somehow living within us and sharing his life with us.
Reams of theological texts have been written about the Trinity, but God is more than our minds can grasp. There is more to God’s life, his love for us, and the way he shares his life with us, when we open our hearts and minds to the possibility of something greater than we can conceptualise.
I feel that a helpful way of imagining God the Holy Trinity is how he connects with us, and we with him, when we pray. When we pray, we pray to God as the one who made us, the source from whom all good things flow: the Lord who sits on the throne of the world, the one whose voice can make the world shake, the one who made the world, and holds the world, and loves the world.
We, on our own at home, or in the car, or out on a walk, or with a small group of friends praying on a Zoom call – we pray to this one God. We pray to God, we talk to him, we ask things of him, the King, the Lord of Hosts, the one whose life is the fire at the very heart of all things. Doesn’t this blow your mind away?! And when we pray, we do not pray on our own. Jesus the Son is by our side, praying with us. And the Spirit moves within us, helping us to express our prayers when we don’t know what to say. When we reach out in compassion to a fellow human being, God’s life flows through us, by his Spirit. You might like to use this prayer, written by a theologian Mike Higton, to help you pray to God the Holy Trinity:
O Lord our God, help us to know you when we pray.
Help us to know you as the one to whom we pray;
help us to know you as the one with whom we pray;
help us to know you as the one in whom we pray.
Help us to know you, and to love you, and to live our lives for you, one God in three, Holy Trinity. Amen.
How are we doing?
At Easter, we asked you in this letter about accessing worship from home, and as a result we started the live dial-in Wednesday Communions and Friday coffee and prayers, which are going really well. If you’d like any technical help, or if the cost of phone calls is a worry, please get in touch.
For those of you on internet, we’d love you to help us by completing a short survey about our online Sunday services (now into their 12th week), as well as dial-in services.
Thank you.
A prayer for this week:
Lord, as we face fear and uncertainty, help us to live with confidence in the light of your promises and your power each day.
Fill us with your Spirit, drive away our fear, transform us by your grace, and help us to trust you for all the unknowns that lie ahead.
In Jesus name, Amen.
With grace and peace,
Sue McWhinney
sue@stjohnsfarsley.org.uk
07484 181699