Trinity

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13.14

Yesterday being Trinity Sunday, it was expected that the preacher's theme at St John's Episcopalian Church in Edinburgh should concern God's being three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - without threatening the integrity of his being One God. Rector Markus Dunzkofer warmed to his theme and helped us to understand the mystery as being experienced dynamically, as a relationship into which believers are drawn as active participants, rather than remaining a lifeless doctrine about which we pontificate academically.

Initially there appeared no such liturgical concession at the Gaelic service in Greyfriars Church of Scotland. This was surprising given the preacher, John Archie MacMillan, is a former Roman Catholic priest. However, his insistence that faith express itself in awareness of global events leading to committed engagement among those affected and in the ecosystems we share, was certainly consistent with a Trinitarian worldview in which everything is connected and everything is of God.

Nowhere in the Bible will one find the Holy Trinity spelled out as a doctrine. What one will discover is that God meets us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is in reflection of these dynamic and continuing encounters that the experience has found expression as an article of belief, beckoning those new to the faith, or serious about developing their walk with God, towards a deeper encounter and a clearer appreciation of the Lord we follow, Saviour who sets us free, the God we worship...