Understanding the Trinity
TRINITY SUNDAY – Year A – 2020 – Zoom Service
Normally at this time of year we would have had our Fete by now. The Mafeking Scouts have always given us wonderful help in sorting out tents, where they go and in putting them up and taking them down. In the days leading up to the Fete, Cathal Yeats from the Scouts meets up with a few of us. When he arrives he looks around and he says ‘Let’s measure this out – see where everything will fit.’ I thought of Cathal as I read over our first lesson for today as we read of Isaiah asking ‘Who has measured the sky?’
I want to do something like that today so we’ll start with our own solar system. Let’s look at the numbers:
First slide Distance from the Earth to the Moon is 400,000km Distance from Sun to Earth is 150,000,000 km Distance from Sun to Pluto is 6,000,000,000 km
That’s a bit big – it is hard to get our heads around it – so let’s make a scale model in our heads – instead of the moon being 400,000 km from the earth we’ll say that it is 4cm, about the length of my thumb. On this scale the earth is 15m from the sun.
That’s about the distance from the front of the Rectory to my caravan in the drive. So if on our model, the earth is 15 m from the sun, where would that put Pluto? - that comes out as 600 m. That would be roughly the distance from my front gate to the Corr Castle apartments on the way down to Sutton Cross.
Even on our tiny scale model, our solar system is huge – so the God who made it is awesome. Then there is the rich variety of this created world. Made up of atoms so small that they cannot be seen directly by the most powerful optical microscopes.
These come together to form the most beautiful crystals. Then of course there is the mystery of life itself in all its variety. The trees of the forests. Flowers, insects. Creatures large and small. And the mystery of human life.
Do we just worship a God who makes things? Down through the years people have come to realize that the God who makes is a God who cares. There is the Psalm we used this morning, Psalm 8 that puts this very well; the psalmist asks:
4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have ordained, 5 What are mortals, that you should be mindful of them; mere human beings, that you should seek them out?
Jesus, as he spoke of challenges that would face the disciples said this:
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. Matt 10:29,30
The God who made the heavens and the earth, knows each one of us, cares for each one of us. Not only that, in the person of Jesus he has come to us. Living as a human being, he knows what it is like to be me, to be you; what it is to laugh, to cry, to be loved, to be let down by friends. That is a God who understands, who I can talk to. ‘Whoever has seen the face of Jesus has seen the face of God.’
As we read in our Gospel reading this morning, even as he prepares to leave them, he promises that they will never be alone. ‘I am with you always to the very end of time.’
The God who makes, the God who understands, who knows what it is like to be human, promises to be always at our side; the Holy Spirit who strengthens us, who guides us, who comforts us.
Which is why I love that blessing that I use from time to time:
Go, and know that the Lord goes with you: let him lead you each day into the quiet place of your heart, where he will speak with you; know that he watches over you – that he listens to you in gentle understanding, that he is with you always, wherever you are and however you may feel: and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen.