Trinity Sunday
Good morning and welcome to our service this morning. This week’s service has been put together by our Circuit Youth Worker, Laura, and some of the young people.
Service sheet (pdf)
We come together this morning to worship God, the three-in-one, Creator, Son and Holy Spirit.
Be present, Father God,
as we bring you our praise.
Be present, Lord Jesus,
our Saviour and friend.
Be present, Holy Spirit,
as we declare our faith,
Trinity in unity, God Almighty,
Father, Son and Spirit.
Amen.
Song
Our first song this morning is Singing the Faith 15 – The splendour of the King.
“The Godhead, Three in One, Father, Spirit, Son…” - today is Trinity Sunday, a time when we particularly think about God in the different forms – God as Creator, Father and Mother to all; God as Son of Man in the form of Jesus; God as the Spirit, come down to the disciples at Pentecost, and at work in our world and our lives today.
There are lots of ways used to try to explain the Holy Trinity. None of them are quite enough, but they can help us to get a picture in our minds about how the different forms of God are linked. One way is to think of the Trinity like water. The chemical symbol for water is H2O. If you fill a glass with water and then freeze it, it takes on a different form, and has a different name – ice – but is still chemically H2O. In the same way, if you take the same glass of water and boil it, you get a third form – steam – which is still chemically H2O but is practically invisible. In the same way we have God the Creator, like the glass of water, the form that gives life in all its abundance. We have God the Son, like the ice, the form that is solid and tangible. We have God, the Spirit, like the steam, the form that is practically invisible but can be felt around us.
The Pharisees believed that they were guaranteed a place in heaven because of the family they had been born into, because of the way they had been brought up, and because they were religious leaders…but they were so focused on keeping the rules that they were missing the point about God’s grace, and God’s kingdom.
Imagine that you were walking down the corridor at school/college and saw a friend fall over and get seriously hurt. You run over to them and start trying to help them, but get told off by the Head Teacher/Principal for running in the corridor – in this instance the leader is so focused on keeping the “no running in the corridor” rule that they totally miss the fact that someone needs help. This is exactly what was happening with the religious leaders in Jesus’ time – they were so focused on the rules about how people should be living and worshipping that they were completely missing the chances to share God’s grace and love with people in need. Jesus called for them to have a different approach and a different response, one based on love and compassion rather than following a set of man-made rules, however well-intentioned those rules are.
There are times when rules about how we do things are really important to keep people safe, like having one-way systems in place and lots of places to wash hands or use hand sanitiser to help stop the spread of Covid at the moment. There are also times when structure is really helpful for people – it helps a group of people gathering for worship to have some common guidance about the different parts of the worship, but if we aren’t careful, we fall into the trap that HOW we worship is more important than the act itself, and can lead to real divisions between different groups about the “right” way to do things.
Jesus called Nicodemus, and calls us today, to approach things from a place of love and compassion for others, and especially to make room for those in need, rather than shutting them out by putting obstacles in their way.
God the Father, ground me in your being as we pray for those who flounder and struggle with the pressures of life. May they see some shape, some purpose to life and find a way to move forward. May their struggles become less tangled, and may they find calm in the chaos of their living…
God the Son, enfold me in your love as we pray for those who know little or no love, security or peace; for those who live in fear and loneliness; for those who are shrouded in pain and smothered by death; for those without family support and succour, the friendless and the homeless…
God the Holy Spirit, embolden us to share as we pray for those who have no hope, no dreams, no visions; for those who have no knowledge of you, who have not seen you, nor felt you, nor encountered you; for those without faith and trust, those seemingly lost to themselves and to you…
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, these are all your children;
for them we pray.
Amen.
“The Godhead, Three in One, Father, Spirit, Son…” - today is Trinity Sunday, a time when we particularly think about God in the different forms – God as Creator, Father and Mother to all; God as Son of Man in the form of Jesus; God as the Spirit, come down to the disciples at Pentecost, and at work in our world and our lives today.
There are lots of ways used to try to explain the Holy Trinity. None of them are quite enough, but they can help us to get a picture in our minds about how the different forms of God are linked. One way is to think of the Trinity like water. The chemical symbol for water is H2O. If you fill a glass with water and then freeze it, it takes on a different form, and has a different name – ice – but is still chemically H2O. In the same way, if you take the same glass of water and boil it, you get a third form – steam – which is still chemically H2O but is practically invisible. In the same way we have God the Creator, like the glass of water, the form that gives life in all its abundance. We have God the Son, like the ice, the form that is solid and tangible. We have God, the Spirit, like the steam, the form that is practically invisible but can be felt around us.
Prayers
Let us pray.
God the Father. Creator God, King of the universe, we know you are our loving Father and that we are your children. We praise you for all your wonderful works.
Jesus. Lord Jesus, visible God, thank you going to the cross instead of us to die for everything we've done wrong. Thank you for rising from the dead, and being with us always. We want to love you too.
Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, invisible God, breathe your life into us and make us alive for you. Please blow the winds of love and joy and peace over all the world so that all people may glorify your name. Amen
God the Father. Creator God, King of the universe, we know you are our loving Father and that we are your children. We praise you for all your wonderful works.
Jesus. Lord Jesus, visible God, thank you going to the cross instead of us to die for everything we've done wrong. Thank you for rising from the dead, and being with us always. We want to love you too.
Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, invisible God, breathe your life into us and make us alive for you. Please blow the winds of love and joy and peace over all the world so that all people may glorify your name. Amen
Reading
Our reading today comes from John 3:1-17 - Jesus meets Nicodemus
Song
As we reflect on the challenges that knowing Jesus presents, we sing again, Singing the Faith 489 – All I once held dear
Reflection
Before we explore the story a bit more, I have some questions for you to think about.- Why do you think Nicodemus met Jesus after dark?
- Do you think Nicodemus found what he was searching to learn from Jesus? Why/why not?
- What do you think Jesus means when he talks about being born again?
- How do you think this affected Nicodemus?
- What do you think it means to be 'born in the Spirit'?
The Pharisees believed that they were guaranteed a place in heaven because of the family they had been born into, because of the way they had been brought up, and because they were religious leaders…but they were so focused on keeping the rules that they were missing the point about God’s grace, and God’s kingdom.
Imagine that you were walking down the corridor at school/college and saw a friend fall over and get seriously hurt. You run over to them and start trying to help them, but get told off by the Head Teacher/Principal for running in the corridor – in this instance the leader is so focused on keeping the “no running in the corridor” rule that they totally miss the fact that someone needs help. This is exactly what was happening with the religious leaders in Jesus’ time – they were so focused on the rules about how people should be living and worshipping that they were completely missing the chances to share God’s grace and love with people in need. Jesus called for them to have a different approach and a different response, one based on love and compassion rather than following a set of man-made rules, however well-intentioned those rules are.
There are times when rules about how we do things are really important to keep people safe, like having one-way systems in place and lots of places to wash hands or use hand sanitiser to help stop the spread of Covid at the moment. There are also times when structure is really helpful for people – it helps a group of people gathering for worship to have some common guidance about the different parts of the worship, but if we aren’t careful, we fall into the trap that HOW we worship is more important than the act itself, and can lead to real divisions between different groups about the “right” way to do things.
Jesus called Nicodemus, and calls us today, to approach things from a place of love and compassion for others, and especially to make room for those in need, rather than shutting them out by putting obstacles in their way.
Song
Singing the Faith 77 – Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King
Prayers
We pray together now for the world around us.God the Father, ground me in your being as we pray for those who flounder and struggle with the pressures of life. May they see some shape, some purpose to life and find a way to move forward. May their struggles become less tangled, and may they find calm in the chaos of their living…
God the Son, enfold me in your love as we pray for those who know little or no love, security or peace; for those who live in fear and loneliness; for those who are shrouded in pain and smothered by death; for those without family support and succour, the friendless and the homeless…
God the Holy Spirit, embolden us to share as we pray for those who have no hope, no dreams, no visions; for those who have no knowledge of you, who have not seen you, nor felt you, nor encountered you; for those without faith and trust, those seemingly lost to themselves and to you…
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, these are all your children;
for them we pray.
Amen.
Song
Our final hymn for this morning, a chance for a really good sing!
Singing the Faith 345 – And can it be
Singing the Faith 345 – And can it be
Blessing
Wonderful God,
help us to keep adventuring with you.
May we allow ourselves to be filled
with visions of your awesomeness,
and may we know your presence
closer to us than our own breathing.
Thank you for creating us,
for being visible to us in Jesus,
and for inspiring and empowering us
with your interweaving Spirit.
Amen.
May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all forevermore. Amen
help us to keep adventuring with you.
May we allow ourselves to be filled
with visions of your awesomeness,
and may we know your presence
closer to us than our own breathing.
Thank you for creating us,
for being visible to us in Jesus,
and for inspiring and empowering us
with your interweaving Spirit.
Amen.
May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all forevermore. Amen
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