‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’

‘oherwydd nid i gondemnio’r byd yr anfonodd Duw ei Fab i’r byd, ond er mwyn i’r byd gael ei achub trwyddo ef.’ (Io 3:17)

In St Davids Cathedral there is a beautiful chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket. He, you may recall, was the Archbishop of Canterbury murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in the twelfth century and soon after made a saint. His shrine was one of the great mediæval pilgrimage sites in Europe and was where the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were heading. The Sunday after Pentecost was the day on which Thomas Becket was consecrated a bishop in 1162. Whilst he was archbishop, and before his untimely death, Becket desired that the anniversary of his consecration should be kept on the Sunday after Pentecost, in honour of the Most Holy Trinity. The practice became widespread and in 1334, Pope John XXII made it an official feast day for the Western Church. The Feast was popular, so popular in fact, that in England and Wales the remaining Sundays before Advent, about half the Church year, were numbered after Trinity, rather than after Pentecost.

The word ‘Trinity’ was coined by Tertullian in the second century AD. It combines the words for three and for unity, to represent the three persons of the one God. Christian worship is thoroughly Trinitarian; we worship One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are baptised in their names, and our Eucharist this morning begins with the words: ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Yn enw’r Tad, a’r Mab, a’r Ysbryd Glân’. The Creed, which we are about to say, has a tripartite structure (it is divided into three sections), and expresses our belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are so used to reciting these words that we rarely stop to focus on what we are saying, and why. Our worship as Christians helps to understand our faith, and our relationship with God. Jesus has taught us to call God Father. He is the Son of God, and with the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we can now recognise the fullness of the Divine Life in a Trinity. The Divine Trinity is distinct, yet united. Equally each Christian is distinct, but united in faith.

As Christians we worship One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are not three separate Gods, but one God. That the three persons of the Trinity are one God is in itself a mystery. This is the mystery of God’s very self: a Trinity of Persons, consubstantial, co-equal and co-eternal. We know God most fully in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God. He took flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the Cross for our sins, and was raised to New Life at Easter. He sent us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In Christ God discloses who and what He is. We know Jesus as someone who pours out love, and who desires our reconciliation with God so much so that He dies on the Cross to bring it about.

The Gospel reading today begins with one of the most well-known verses in the Bible:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)

God the Father sends the Son into the world, to be born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, out of love for humanity. God loves us. This is the central truth of the Christian faith. The following verse underlines this:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn 3:17)

Jesus, whose name means ‘God saves’, has come on a rescue mission. As we will soon proclaim in the Creed: ‘who for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven…’. This has been forshadowed. In the first reading today, God descends to Moses, pronounces His name, and then speaks to Moses:

‘The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”’ (Exod 34:6)

God is faithful and loving in His interactions with humanity. Throughout the Bible God forgives His people, and rescues them when they go astray. There is a consistent message here, a golden thread which runs through all the Scriptures. 

St Paul writes two letters to the Church in Corinth to help sort out various problems they are experiencing, and to promote reconciliation and harmony in the Body of Christ. As Christians, we are expected to practice what we preach, and to live out our faith, making reconciliation real in our dealings with one another. Today’s second reading makes this explicit:

‘Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you…. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ (2Cor 13:11-13)

Grace, love, and communion, are all words which describe who God is, what God offers, and how humanity should live. In the Eucharist we seek God’s forgiveness, share God’s peace, pray for ourselves and also for the needs of our communities and of the whole world. In the Eucharist God gives Himself to us, so that we may be built up in love and become like our Divine Father. 

Here, this morning, earth and heaven meet. Here we are united with the God who loves us, who reconciles us to Himself and with each other. At the end of today’s Eucharist I will pray that God will bless us as I invoke the name of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while making the sign of the Cross. These words and gestures are not random, but are part of our tradition of worship as Christians. This is how we express and declare our faith; through words and actions. Words and actions help us to reinforce what we believe and help us to live out our faith.

The terms we use to worship God matter because they express the faith which we believe. They form us into a community of belief where what we believe affects who we are and what we do. The gift of faith, the life of love, and the hope of eternal life are not things for us to jealously guard. Instead, they are for sharing. We are called to be disciples, to share what we have received, so that others may also experience the love of God.

Like all relationships, this goes beyond words, and is something which needs to be experienced. It is only in our experience of this relationship that we can begin to come to understand our faith. However, we understand that we will only do so fully when we experience Heaven. So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we rejoice in God’s love and we give thanks for the day when  we will be united with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Gyda Duw Dad, Duw y Mab, a Duw yr Ysbryd Glân. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.