7th June. 2020 Service.

Trinity Sunday, Second in Pentecost

Call to Worship

O Lord, our Sovereign,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
Your glory is above the heavens and surrounds us in the world.
Thus, we come to praise you!
When we look at your heavens, the moon and stars, the work of your fingers,
Who are we to praise you?
Yet you have made us in your image and set us in this world you love.
We come to worship you and to learn to care for your earth.

The Collect for today

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Creator God, we are here with joyful hearts to celebrate you
and to wait for a while in your holy presence.
You spoke, and the world came into being, created
in beauty and in balance among all things.
In loving partnership, you made humankind in your image
and called us to walk with you in the creation.
When we wandered away,
You came to us in Christ Jesus, to restore us and show us how to live in this world
and how to love you and each other more fully.
Your Holy Spirit is always with us
to guide us and help us in the work of your kingdom.
In time and eternity, you are with us, and we worship you with love and gratitude,
trusting that you will never leave us, God our creator, ever Three and ever One.

As we approach you we confess that we have not lived wisely on this earth and that because of human activity it suffers and is blighted, forgive our carelessness.
God our Redeemer, we have forgotten that you created us in your image, but we have not valued ourselves or one another. Relationships are strained, mistrust and fear replace love and compassion, strangers are not welcomed, races are at odds.
God our Sustainer, we have not trusted your loving guidance, instead we pursue harmful ways that lead hurt and pain for ourselves and each other.

Forgive our selfishness and the mistakes and sins we have committed. Give us grace to respond to your call to return to you. restore our faith and show us again how we should follow you.

Assurance of Pardon
In Jesus Christ you are restoring the creation blighted by sin. St. Paul declared to us that, from now on, we regard no one from a human point of view. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has died. See, everything has become new! We thank you, Lord that we may all make a new start in Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Understanding

Eternal God help us to hear your Word in these words; to listen and to understand them. May we embrace the truth which you reveal to us Jesus Christ, through the patient guidance of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer (in the words most familiar to you)

The Readings

Genesis 1:1-2:4

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.

6 And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.
9 And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground ‘land’, and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.

14 And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. 16 God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.

20 And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ 23 And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.

24 And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’

29 Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Psalm 8

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.

1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honour.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.

This is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all praise and glory.

Sermon

Today is Trinity Sunday, said to be the Sunday preachers dread because they feel they should try and tackle the theology of the Holy Trinity, God three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am not going to attempt that today, other than to think about the One whom we call God, using Psalm 8 as our starting point.

If you read all the way through the reading in Genesis 1, you will have been led to think of God as the beginning and source of everything that is. Whenever I read these verses, in my mind I get stuck because, behind it all, is the massive mystery of who God this creator God is. Why he created everything as he did and how we are meant to relate to God. Let us think about this for a few minutes

I dare say that it is not very often that we think of God as a mystery. Who is God? Where is God? What is God?
We cannot touch him. We cannot say how big he is because we do not know what to measure. We cannot see him. If we wanted to take a photo of God, we would not know where to point the camera. We cannot knock on his door and have tea with God at his home though we do approximate to that in our sacrament.

We find it hard to feel the presence of God because we cannot be sure that we are not just feeling our own emotions. We can only imagine what God is like and we always end up using human pictures, giving him human qualities so that he makes sense to our small human minds.

We cannot think like God because if we could, we would be able to understand why some have huge tragedy in this life, why thousands of people die in earthquakes, why a baby is severely disabled.

Instead of focussing on the awe and mystery of God, we tend to be a bit more logical about Him and refer to Him as a comforter, a friend, a miracle worker; or we may think of God as a bigger and more powerful version of ourselves.
In the Old Testament God as sometimes viewed having the same lusts and emotions as we have. The difficulty is that we too easily fashion God after our own likeness.

As humans, creatures of God we are restricted to describing God with earthly terminology and so can only express what God is like in the vaguest of terms. This is the mystery of God, the great God, the only God who is Three Persons in One. God, who refuses to be categorised, who is far bigger and greater than we could ever imagine, who existed before this world was made, and who doesn’t need us to exist.

Psalm 8 in its own way teases out this mystery by describing David’s thoughts about God in relationship to humanity as the most evolved expression of consciousness on this planet.

1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

In David’s mind, God’s glory is paradoxically seen in two places: the heavens and helplessness. First, we see it as God covers the heavens with his majesty, or in our translation “glory.” Psalm 19:1 tells us that “The heavens declare the glory of God,” the purpose of creation is to magnify and declare the beauty and glory of God. The heavens are not to be worshipped. They exist for glory – God’s glory, not their own. If so it is surely sacrilege if misuse the creation. Sunsets inspire us to think of and enjoy what God has done, and the rest of creation give us an insight into God’s creativity and imagination. Many have been revelling during the lockdown in renewed glimpses of nature recovering because of changes in our behaviour. This is wonderful considering that in our lifetime so much of the diversity of nature has been lost owing to environmental disruption and human depredation.

The second revelation of God’s glory is described as the innocent praise of children and infants. God establishes a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants. Jesus quotes this during his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday when the Pharisees criticised the children for singing Hosanna to the Son of David. St Paul echoes this when he received the words, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” His point is that God uses weakness to overcome strength. We like to project strength, but God calls us to hand over our imagined strength to him and put faith, the faith of a child in his father, in its place. His glory is most visible, not in our cunning and strength, but in our weakness and dependence on Him. Always put your weakness into God’s hands whenever you face the challenges and trials of life. God will add his strength and remove the stress from your soul.

David now presents a dilemma that few Christians consider. He is stunned by the beauty and vastness of God’s world. He asks, “What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?” It would appear God has more to love and care for than humans. After all, the heavens did not rebel against God. The heavens are not set at enmity with God. Rather, creation groans as it awaits freedom from the bondage of decay (Rom. 8:19–23). Man, in relation to the vastness of the universe is a temporary speck on canvas of history. Any visit to a beach or mountain range will quickly confirm our smallness. It is said that at just under two metres in height the human body is exactly at the mid-point between the smallest known particle of energy and the vastness of the universe. If true, it is an overwhelming thought as we consider the size of the creation. David had less idea of this than we have, and he was overwhelmed.

The fact that God might not seem to care for us should stagger us. The fact that God does care should launch us into worship and praise. His nature is such that he relates to us, not as flawed creature, but as eternal beings whom He cannot but love. Many people struggle with God’s love. We either think God cannot love us or He must love us. But biblically speaking, neither is true. As sinners we might think that God has no obligation to us yet chooses to love us. And more than that to give us status.

When God created man, he blessed him and said, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). David has this in mind in verses 5–8. God gave His image bearers the right to rule and have dominion over all things.

David sees it thus:

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honour.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:

This is our place within the creation, but self, and sin, the risk of free will have subverted man’s true dominion and rule which like God’s, is meant to be nurturing not exploiting.

It is clear, both from the Bible and history, that man is not ruling over the world. There is chaos, pain, and death. Cornelius Plantinga writes, “In sin, people attack or evade or neglect their divine calling. These and other images suggest deviance: even when it is familiar, sin is never normal” (Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be,)

This is evident in the despoiling of this magnificent planet, and in the power struggles which set nation against nation, race against race. We read so much about racism division and hatred and the reports of potential wildlife extinctions which are reported every week is depressing.

The author of Hebrews also makes the point that man is not currently ruling all things. “For in subjecting everything to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. But we do see Jesus – made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone – crowned with glory and honour because of His suffering in death” (Heb. 2:8-9).

In other words, Psalm 8 needs a saviour. It needs one who can restore the creation and humanity as David envisioned them. By his grace God sent Jesus Christ to redeem us and by raising Him from the dead, bestowed on Him the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:5–11). Now, His name is the most majestic in all the earth. He is crowned with the honour and glory of our rightful king.

The grace of God in Christ should launch our hearts into worship and give us hope that all is not lost. Are you moved by the grace of God?

In the Psalm, David does not actually mention the work of salvation, his focus is very much upon God the Creator. He is harking back to the perfection of all that God made, and because knows that the creation is spoiled, he asks the crucial question which affects us all, “What is mankind that God should be mindful of us?” From eternity our place is a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honour. Looking round it may seem that this is hardly credible.

A few weeks back we celebrated Good Friday and Easter; we celebrated the great love that God has for us by allowing his Son to die in our place and to conquer the power of death over us By this act he calls us all to come back to the primal beauty and glory intended for us. His love has dealt with the problem to us of sin and death. We have been reconciled to God. God sent Jesus to restore our place with him through his dying and rising. He incorporates us once again into himself through the second person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ.

We believe that when we ask the question, “Who died on the cross?” we answer, “God died on the cross!” He did the unthinkable – he allowed himself to fall into the hands of sinful people, be treated cruelly, laughed at, and then nailed to a cross. We might say that in theory this is not possible. God who is majestic and awesome cannot do this. But he did. This is part of the mystery of God. He drew the power of sin and evil from us and invites us to accept the restoration of our intended status.

Last week we celebrated Pentecost – the pouring of the Holy Spirit on his disciples and the church. Jesus said that he and the Father would send the Spirit to remind us of the truth of God’s promises, to guide us, to encourage us and sustain us when the going gets tough. There is nothing more personal than the Spirit of God:
He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows when we need reassuring. He knows when we are weak and afraid and need the encouragement that comes from God’s Word. He knows when we are guilty and depressed and need comforting. He becomes a part of our sordid existence in this world. He lives in us even though we often allow our sinful nature to take control of our lives. Theoretically this is impossible for a holy God to do. Again, we are confronted with the mystery of God. David prefigures all of this when he acknowledges that this power is found in our weakness, not our strength, in our childlike faith, and not in our inflated egos.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not an attempt by the church to unravel the mystery around God. In fact, it deepens the mystery. It does not tell us everything about what God is and who he is. It proposes more questions than answers. But it does tell us important things about God – things that are life changing.

Who is God? He is our heavenly Father who made us, takes care of us and calls us his dear children.

Who is God? He is Jesus Christ who gave his life on the cross to re-establish our relationship with God. He reveals the way to God and to eternal life.

Who is God? God is the Spirit in you giving you faith in Him and guiding you in your daily walk as a Christian.

Faith in the Triune God acknowledges the might and majesty of God but at the same trusts in a God who cares.

The doctrine of the Triune God is one of the deepest mysteries of our faith, pushing some to the point of saying that they find it impossible to believe. I don’t think we will be questioned about our understanding of the Trinity when we get to the Pearly Gates. After all, in human terms this is an impossible concept – let’s leave it as a part of the mystery of God.

What is important is that in the up and down struggles of daily life we have a God who saves, a God who loves, a God who has gone to extreme lengths to ensure that you have a living relationship with him. But also, a God who invites us to be part of the restoration of his creation. Our God may be majestic and mighty, but he is here now and invites us to be with him in all eternity.

(Do please listen to the rendering of Psalm 8 among our hymn suggestions, it is beautiful.)

Let us make it our prayer, Amen.

Invitation to the Offering

During Pentecost, we celebrate the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the Church, filling it with the gifts needed to serve in Jesus’ name. As we present our offering, may God give us generous and overflowing gratitude.

Prayer of Dedication

Generous God, thank you for all we have received from you giving us hope and joy. Bless the gifts we bring, that they may accomplish your purposes. We pray in the name of your greatest gift, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession

God of our past and our future, God of healing and hope, we thank you with
grateful hearts for every expression of your love and providence. In Jesus Christ we
trust that you will walk with us through all the days of our lives,
including this strange time of illness and isolation.
You are ever the God of our history, the lover of all that you have created.
Hear us as we pray for your world and the people around us.

There are many who face danger and feel despair in these times:
folk who are suffering the effects of coronavirus in their lives or in the lives of those they love. There are people who have reduced income, who know hunger deprivation
while the world is distracted, and yet more who are caught up in unrest and racial violence, and many whose lives are affected by forces beyond their control
We pray for all who are working to relieve suffering, protesting to bring justice and peace to the vulnerable, working for a more equitable society in many places and for peace in troubled lands.
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
We pray for all who are living in fear or are feeling the frustration of disrupted live
We ask that you heal people suffering illness and pain and strengthen those who live with disability or limitation in their lives.,
Many are wrestling with sorrow, the changes of bereavement and new grief. We pray for Rosemary Gray and her family as they say farewell to Dominic this coming week. Give them and all who grieve a sense of your comforting presence, courage, and renewed faith for the future.

We pray for all who work to bring healing and comfort to those who suffer,
especially when they must put their own health and life at risk during the pandemic.
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray for all who feel helpless or hopeless in our uncertain times:
Families facing unemployment or struggling to make ends meet,
For those caught up in misunderstanding or broken relationships or working through situations of conflict at home or at work…
We pray for all who offer them guidance and support.
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of our past and our future, God of healing and hope, guide your church as we adapt to new ways of communicating the gospel and sharing fellowship. Be with our isolated, elderly, or lonely folks adjusting to the limitations. Help us learn from the challenges we are going through new ways of living out our faith.
Hold us together in the days ahead and remind us of our common faith in Christ.
Support our denomination and our local churches as we move forward
with respect and faithfulness, trusting that you can do new things for us and with us.
Keep us loving and gracious, through the example of Jesus, our Lord and friend in whom we offer all our prayers. Amen

Sending out and Benediction

Go empowered by love and joy to work for peace with justice. Be good stewards of the earth and its people; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore. Amen.

Hymns
Here are some hymn suggestions to check on YouTube if you wish to sing along. Some may not be as familiar as their titles suggest:

Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty

Bless the Lord, O my soul

All things bright and beautiful
All Things Bright and Beautiful

In all the earth (Psalm 8)

All heaven declares the glory of the risen Lord.

All creatures of our God and King

 

For Children

Do you have a world globe at home? The picture on the right is a huge globe from a castle in France. It is nearly two metres tall.

It’s interesting to look at a globe of the earth. Can you find where you live on the globe?

The earth keeps on spinning around as it has ever since it was created. The very first words in the Bible tell us that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Then the Bible goes on to tell about God’s creation.

The first thing God created was light. The Bible tells us that God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God said, “It was good.”

Then God said, “There needs to be a space to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters on the earth.” So, God made a space to separate the earth from the heavens. He called it “sky.” And God said… “It was good.”

Next, God brought all the waters of the earth together to make the oceans and the seas and to create dry land between them. Then He covered the dry land with flowers, trees, and grass. And God said… “It was good.”

God paused, looked at the beautiful trees and flowers and said… “It was good.” Then He continued His creation.

He created the sun, moon, and stars. They were beautiful! God looked at them, and again He said… “It was good.”

Then God created the birds and fish. He blessed them and told them to multiply so that the sea would be filled with fish of all shapes and sizes and the air would be filled with beautiful birds. God looked at them, smiled, and said… “It was good.”

Finally, God made the animals. Tall, skinny giraffes and furry little squirrels. He made cuddly little kittens and big, ferocious lions — animals of every kind. Then God made man and woman. The Bible says He made people to be like Him and He put them in charge of all that He had created — the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living creature. And God said… “It was good.”

When God had finished, He looked at all that He had created and He said, “That is VERY GOOD!”, “It was very good.”

God. we thank you that you alone are Creator. You are powerful and so creative. Thank you for making us in your image and making all things very good.

Who put the colours in the rainbow?

A Prayer in a Time of Distress

Almighty and everlasting God, you are strength to those who suffer and comfort to those who grieve. Let the prayers of your children who are in trouble rise to you. Hear our prayer. We claim your promises of wholeness as we pray for those who are ill or are suffering loss and long for your healing touch. Hear our prayer. Make the weak strong, the sick healthy, the broken whole, and confirm those who serve them as agents of your love. Hear our prayer. To everyone in distress, grant mercy, grant relief, grant refreshment. Hear our prayer. When we begin to rebuild, we commend our neighbourhoods to your care. Give us strength of purpose and concern for others, that we may create a community where your will may be done. Hear our prayer. God of compassion, you watch our ways, and weave out of terrible happenings wonders of goodness and grace. Hear our prayer. Surround those who have been shaken by tragedy with a sense of your present love and hold them in faith. Though they are lost in grief, may they find you and be comforted; Through Jesus Christ who was dead, but lives and rules this world with you. Amen