Weekly Bible Notes, 15th June 2003

Trinity Sunday

Year B

First Reading:	Romans 8:12-17
Second Reading:	John 3:1-17
Commentary:	Trinity
Meditation:	The Feast Of Saint Alban
Prayers:	Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Opening Verse of Scripture—Acts 1:8

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses .

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity: keep us steadfast in this faith, that we may evermore be defended from all adversities; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

First Bible Reading Romans 8:12-17

Brothers and sisters, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)

Second Reading John 3:1-17

(Please stand for the Gospel, When announced ’Glory to Christ our Saviour')
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (This is the Gospel of Christ - Praise to Christ our Lord)

Post Communion Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love: hold us firm in this faith, that we may know you in all your ways and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory, who are three Persons yet one God, now and for ever. Amen

Commentary: Trinity

Today is Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the Holy Trinity and give thanks to God for this understanding of His threefold nature. The concept of the Trinity, as a way of framing the unknowable greatness and mystery of God grew up from a few hints in the Bible and was developed and refined over centuries. Great thinkers and theologians have added to our understanding of God as creator/father; as God among us, and God as energy and Spirit. In times past people have argued and physically fought over the concept of the Trinity, but many people today fail to accept its relevance. Some believe that if they love God, believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit and that the concept of the Triune, three in one God is irrelevant. I believe that the concept of the Trinity is one of God’s gifts to us, as an aid to trying to grasp both His greatness and the way He works in His world. If we emphasise one aspect of the Trinity over the others then we risk impoverishing our comprehension of God, and fail to fully value the extent of His loving involvement with us.

Exercise. (You might find this helpful) Allow yourself the luxury of a few quiet minutes thinking about God and saying His name. What do you see ? How do you visualize God? Are there parts of the Trinity which mean less to you, which you find hard to relate to. You might wish to pray for a better understanding of the aspects of God which are at present difficult or mysterious to you. There are no right answers but only a gain in self-knowledge! The Reverend Dr Joan Crossley

Meditation: June 20 - The Feast Of Saint Alban

England’s first Christian martyr was Saint Alban. Alban lived (at some time during the 3rd century) in the Roman city of Verulamium. Who was Alban, and why did he die? Well, one day an old man knocked on Alban’s door, and he was invited in. The man was a Christian priest who was trying to get away from those who wanted to kill him. Although they had never met before, and even though Alban was not a Christian at that time but a worshipper of Roman gods including the emperor, he gave food and shelter and protection to the priest, keeping him there in secret. The priest talked about following Christ, and Alban became a Christian although he knew that Christians were being imprisoned or executed

Some time later, the local authorities were told that a priest was hiding in Alban’s house, and soldiers were sent to arrest the priest. As the soldiers arrived, Alban wrapped the priest’s cloak around himself, wanting the priest to escape. Alban was sacrificing himself for the sake of his friend. The priest escaped and Alban was bound and taken before the judge.

The Roman governor was angry that he had been cheated of the death of the priest. He commanded Alban to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Alban refused to do so. The judge was furious at the deception, and ordered that Alban should receive the punishment due to the priest, if he had indeed become a Christian.

Despite flogging he refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods and was sentenced to death. He was brought out of the town, across the river and up a hill to the site of execution where his head was cut off. Legend tells us that on the hill-top a spring of water miraculously appeared to give the martyr a drink; also that moved by his witness the original executioner refused to carry out the deed, and that after his replacement had killed Alban the executioners' eyes dropped out. The cathedral there is built on the site where he was beheaded. His feast day is June 20.

Alban declared his Christian faith, saying in words still used as a prayer

"I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things."

This account is based on that of the Venerable Bede, who tells us that

"when the peace of Christian times was restored a beautiful church worthy of his martyrdom was built, where sick folk are healed and frequent miracles take place to this day" (about 760).

It’s unlikely that any of us will be killed because we are Christians, but in other parts of the world people are discriminated against, beaten up, or even killed because of their choice to follow Jesus. There is a poster that says: “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Well would there?

Let us pray for all prisoners of conscience, and also for those who torture and kill.
Let us pray that, when times are difficult, others may find us to be true friends.
Let us pray that we may live generously, being prepared to make sacrifices for the benefit of others
Let us pray that we might be examples of Christ to lead others to him Amen.

Hymns (Mission Praise)

Immortal, Invisible 327
Give thanks 170
Holy, Holy, Holy 237
Tell out my Soul 631

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

To God the Father who first loved us and made us accepted in the Beloved Son. To God the Son who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own Blood, to God the Holy Spirit who sheds Praying figure abroad the love of God in our hearts; to the one true God be all love and all glory for time and eternity. (Thomas Ken 1637-1711)

We pray for world peace, that ways of aggression and violence against fellow-humans and against God’s creation may be renounced, and that world leaders may lessen the threat of nuclear destruction; and we pray especially for our leaders and all who strive to bring peace. Let there now be light for all, Light of Creation. (Worship in an Indian Context)

Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love. Hold us firm in this faith, that we may know you in all your ways and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory, who are three Persons in one God, now and forever. Amen. (Church of S. India)

Additional Resources

(Trinity Sunday, Year B)

Commentary

Romans 8: 12 – 17.

In Roman times, adopted children lost all rights from their own family and became like legitimate children in their new family with the same rights as any natural children. At the same time, all debts from their pre-adoptive life were cancelled and it was as if they had never been members of their birth family. This must have been what was in Paul’s mind when he was explaining was it was like when we become Christians or members of God's family. The old life has no more power over us; God has an absolute right. The past is cancelled, the debts, which came from being separated from God, are wiped out; we begin a new life, a life with God, we become joint heirs with Jesus, God’s own Son. That which Christ inherited and inherits is also given to us. When we become Christians, we don’t have to earn our membership of God’s family, or do anything to deserve it, our debts are cancelled and we can accept freely the love which is available for us.

John 3: 1 – 17.

The story of Nicodemus meeting with Jesus is one of the most familiar incidents in the New Testament and the whole purpose behind the incident is to give us a better insight into the nature of God. Nicodemus was clearly a very devout Jew who knew a lot from (our) Old Testament about God as Father. When he met Jesus he became aware that he was seeing God’s Son in operation, teaching and healing people, and through Jesus he came to understand about the Holy Spirit who changes and energises people. God as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit have come to be known as the Doctrine of the Trinity. The early church chose to express this mystery in terms of ‘three persons in one God’. Here, in John’s gospel, with its account of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, we have biblical roots for the distinctive activities of God as Father, Jesus as Son, and the Holy Spirit. But what does this passage have to say to us at the start of the 21st century? Perhaps an important aspect for us to recognise is that the three persons of the Trinity are ways or modes in which God revealed himself in the past. A human example of this, which might be helpful, is that a man can be a son, a husband and also a father: three facets of the same person. However, as we come to know more about this man, so we discover aspects which were previously hidden. The same is true of God: as we come to know more about God through opening ourselves up to God, so we will come to discover more about God and his plans for us.

Prayers for Sunday

Another Collect

A Blessing for Trinity Sunday

God the Holy Trinity make you strong in faith and love, defend you on every side, and guide you in truth and peace; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.

Prayers

0 Holy Spirit of God, we thank you for your keeping power.
For the guidance you have given us, For the knowledge you have brought us;
For your continual upholding, strengthening, protecting power: We thank
you, O Spirit of God. Forgive us if we have tried to live life alone, and
have despoiled ourselves of the divine help we might have had from you.
And may the blessing of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the
Three in One, be on us now and stay with each one of us always. Amen.

0 God, the Father, we thank you for your creating power.
That you have made all things and made them well; That you have given us
all things richly to enjoy; For the beauty and the bounty of this fair
earth; And for the creating power which can make all things new: We thank
you. 0 Father. Forgive us if in pride and selfishness and in anger we have
misused your gifts, and have used for death that which was meant for life.

Let us remember God the Son in Redemption
O Lord Jesus Christ the Son, we thank you for your
redeeming power. That you loved us and gave yourself for us; That you gave
your life a ransom for many, a ransom for us. That you were obedient unto
death, even the death of the Cross: We thank you, 0 Christ. Forgive us if
we have treated your love lightly as a little thing, and if we have never
even begun to love you as you have first loved us.

Let us remember God the Spirit in Providence
0 Holy Spirit of God, we thank you for your keeping power.
For the guidance you have given us, For the knowledge you have brought us;
For your continual upholding, strengthening, protecting power: We thank
you, O Spirit of God. Forgive us if we have tried to live life alone, and
have despoiled ourselves of the divine help we might have had from you.
And may the blessing of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the
Three in One, be on us now and stay with each one of us always. Amen.

Hymns for this Sunday (Mission Praise)

Holy, Holy, Holy 237

I believe in God the Father—words on service sheet (Tune: All for Jesus)

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