A Reflection for Trinity Sunday – Rev’d Barbara Bennett
Readings: Genesis 1: 1- 2:4a; Matthew 28:16 – 20
Hymn: Eternal God, your love’s tremendous glory (R&S 33)
- Eternal God, your love’s tremendous glory
cascades through life in overflowing grace,
to tell creation’s meaning in the story
of love evolving love from time and space.
- Eternal Son of God, uniquely precious,
in you, deserted, scorned and crucified,
God’s love has fathomed sin and death’s deep darkness,
and flawed humanity is glorified.
- Eternal Spirit, with us like a mother,
embracing us in love serene and pure:
you nurture strength to follow Christ our brother,
as fully-grown children, confident and sure.
- Love’s trinity, self-perfect, self-sustaining;
love which commands, enables and obeys:
you give yourself, in boundless joy,
creating one vast increasing harmony of praise.
- We ask you now, complete your image in us;
this love of yours, our source and guide and goal.
May love in us seek love and serve love’s purpose,
till we ascend with Christ and find love whole.
Reflection: God the creator spoke
Into the chaos and darkness of the beginning
And ordered the world
And everything in it.
Plants, trees and flowers,
Woodland and meadows,
Oceans and rivers
Springing into life abundant.
Then God’s love created creatures of every kind,
To swim and crawl and walk and run,
To play and work and enjoy life.
Our creating God,
Made small things and large,
From viruses to elephants
And everything in between.
God the creator speaks
In the chaos and darkness of this time,
Speaks with love and care,
Giving creation meaning and purpose.
The joy of blue skies,
The promise of the rainbow after rain,
The love to share with those who need it,
Knowledge to find a way through
And recreate order.
The ever-creating God
Involves us in re-creation,
So that the world may be whole again.
God the Redeemer spoke
Through the words and teachings of Jesus
God with a human face,
A human voice and human heart.
The God who suffered and died but rose again.
This Jesus spoke of how to live,
Of faith and hope and love for ever.
Through Jesus God has promised life beyond life,
Offering eternity to all who believe and love.
God the Redeemer speaks still,
Into the fear of our locked down lives,
Into the anxiety of not sending children to school,
Of no work and closed shops,
The muddles of crossed wires and mixed messages.
In our grief and our pain,
Jesus shares our sorrows,
For in him God is part of what we experience.
God knows what we fear,
Sees beyond our anxiety,
Will unravel the muddle
And the world will be whole again.
God the Spirit moved
Across the deep waters before time,
Forming the universe,
Energising prophets and shepherds alike.
God rested like the softness of the dove,
Blew like the wild wind through the minds of humanity,
Lit the fires of faith and passion,
Inspiring words that tumbled from new-opened lips,
Proclaiming all that God is, and was, and will be for ever.
God the Spirit moves today
Comforting the sick and dying,
Holding the bereaved,
Blowing away the cobwebs of past mistakes,
Forgiving errors,
Firing up the Church to newness,
Disciples to new vigour,
The questioning to seek,
The lost to be found,
The love that God gives inspires us
To serve, to help, to be Christ to strangers,
To turn the world upside down
As we have looked for new ways to live,
To recreate the world as God dreamed it
And make it whole again.
God who is creator, redeemer and life blood,
Is still speaking and cannot be muted
As we mute the voices on media screens.
God who made all that we treasure,
All that is dear to us,
Our homes, our families,
Our work, our leisure
All that has been lost and found in recent days,
This God, our God has walked this path
Beside us, before us, behind us,
We will never walk alone.
When we walk through the darkness, God is light;
When we walk through storms, God is shelter;
When we walk through fear, God holds us close.
God has walked with us since time began
And will go on until time ends,
The stars tumble,
The seas are no more.
God is one.
God is three.
Three beings, one heart.
One voice, three identities;
One God in Trinity
Speaking, making, guiding, inspiring
For yesterday, today and for ever.
One God. Our God. Thank God. Amen.
Prayer: Read through Hymn 339 (R&S) reproduced below:
- Great God, your love has called us
here as we, by love, for love were made.
Your living likeness still we bear,
though marred, dishonoured, disobeyed.
We come, with all our heart and mind
your call to hear, your love to find.
At the end of the first verse, recall something to thank God for
- We come with self-inflicted pains
of broken trust and chosen wrong,
half-free, half-bound by inner chains,
by social forces swept along,
by powers and systems close confined
yet seeking hope for humankind.
At the end of the second verse, ask God’s forgiveness
- Great God, in Christ you call our name
and then receive us as your own
not through some merit, right or claim
but by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy-seat
and find you kneeling at our feet.
At the end of the third verse, pray for the Church and God’s grace
- Then take the towel, and break the bread,
and humble us, and call us friends.
Suffer and serve till all are fed,
and show how grandly love intends
to work till all creation sings,
to fill all worlds, to crown all things.
At the end of the fourth verse pray for the world
- Great God, in Christ you set us free
your life to live, your joy to share.
Give us your Spirit’s liberty
to turn from guilt and dull despair
and offer all that faith can do
while love is making all things new.
At the end of the hymn, praise God – and promise to do all you can.
Conclude by saying the Lord’s Prayer.
Then:
May God the creator, redeemer and inspiration
Fill our lives with love, and give us the strength to serve
Today, tomorrow and always. Amen.
(Hymns reproduced under CCLI 186837)