According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
God (YHWH, Elohim, or whichever other name one prefers to use; a Christian term is God the Father) is one. God is sovereign. God is just. These characteristics come from the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible, before I turn to Romans 8 and John 3.
The readings from Romans 8 and John 3 add Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the mix. Thus, we have all the ingredients for the formula of the Trinity. The word “Trinity” never appears in the New Testament. The ingredients of it do, however. The current, orthodox form of that doctrine is the result of successive councils and rebuttals against heresies during the first few centuries of Christianity.
I have read enough books and portions of books to know that every Trinitarian heresy began as a well-meaning attempt to explain the Trinity. So, I choose not to play that game. No, I embrace the mystery and focus on its meanings. One meaning is that, although God is one, God is complex, not simple.
In Christian terms, spiritual birth via the Holy Spirit is essential. This may be quiet or dramatic. Itay include an event one can mark as the time of spiritual renewal or it may sneak up on someone. I belong the company of people who have, within their active memory, always known God via Jesus. The dates I can mark on a timeline are mostly sacramental. They include one baptism, one confirmation, and three reaffirmations, with each of the last four occurring in the presence of a bishop in Apostolic Succession.
Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher tells us that Trinity Sunday is:
not the feast of a doctrine but…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now-completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father thorugh the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
So, on Trinity Sunday, as well as all other days, may we thank God for the
now-completed mystery of salvation.
And, with the author of Psalm 96, may we ascribe glory and might to God. May our words, thoughts, and actions glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 27, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE PHILIPPINES, BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINTS NICHOLAS OWEN, THOMAS GARNET, MARK BARKWORTH, EDWARD OLDCORNE, AND RALPH ASHLEY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601-1608
THE FEAST OF PETER LUTKIN, EPISCOPAL COMPOSER, LITURGIST, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
THE FEAST OF STANLEY ROTHER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN GUATEMALA, 1981
I have written many devotions for Trinity Sunday over more than a decade. Not repeating myself has become impossible,
Here it goes, then.
Many people think of the doctrine of the Trinity as theological prose. They are mistaken; it is theological poetry. I do not presume to claim to understand the mechanics of the Trinity. No human brain can grasp those details. And, if one consults a history of Christian theology, one will read that Trinitarian heresies originated with attempts to explain it.
Love God and enjoy the theological poetry, O reader.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH
THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
Trinity Sunday is the only feast on the calendar of Western Christianity solely about a doctrine. Other feasts have events, as in the life of Jesus, attached to them.
The three persons (“masks,” literally, in Nicene terminology) of the Trinity are present in the assigned readings for this feast.
Proverbs 8 offers Sophia, the divine wisdom personified as a woman. Sophia influenced the Logos, identified as Jesus in John 1. Portions of the text also sound as if they could refer to the Holy Spirit. And does the Holy Spirit proceed from just the Father or from both the Father and the Son? Trying to reason through the theology of the Holy Spirit makes my head hurt, figuratively, so I rarely delve too deeply into it.
YHWH is God in Psalm 8. God is unitary in Jewish theology. We humans are, according to the text, literally, “a little less than the gods,” not “a little lower than the angels.” “The gods” are members of the court of YHWH. The Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim.
Romans 5:105 mentions that the Holy Spirit does not act independently, and that it glorifies Christ.
By the way, “Holy Spirit” or “Spirit of God” is feminine in Hebrew and Arabic yet neuter in Greek. The Holy Spirit is technically an “it,” not a “he,” in the New Testament.
My advice regarding the Trinity is to frolic in its glorious mystery, not to try to understand it. One cannot understand the Trinity. Attempts to do so have frequently yielded or reinforced heresies. I try not to commit any of these.
How can God simultaneously be on the Earth, getting baptized, in Heaven, and descending from Heaven? That is a mystery. We can accept the findings of early Ecumenical Councils Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, et cetera) while bowing in humility before God, who loves us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
Trinity Sunday is the creation of Bishop Stephen of Liege (in office 903-920). The feast, universal in Roman Catholicism since 1334 by the order of Pope John XXII, is, according to the eminent Lutheran liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher, author of the Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship (1990), not so much about a doctrine but
the now completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
–page 301
Famously the word “Trinity” appears nowhere in the Bible, and no single verse or passage gives us that doctrine. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the result of much debate, some fistfights, ecumenical councils, Roman imperial politics, and the pondering of various passages of scripture. The conclusion of 2 Corinthians and Matthew are two of those passages. Perhaps the best summary of that process in the fourth chapter in Karen Armstrong‘s A History of God (1994).
I, being aware that a set of heresies has its origin in pious attempts to explain the Trinity, refrain from engaging in any of those heresies or creating a new one. No, I stand in awe of the mystery of God and affirm that the Trinity is as close to an explanation as we humans will have. We cannot understand the Trinity, and God, I assume, is more than that.
The great myth in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, itself a modified version of the Enuma Elish, affirms, among other key theological concepts, (1) the goodness of creation and (2) the image of God in human beings. We are not an afterthought. No, we are the pinnacle of the created order. These themes carry over into Psalm 8. The standard English-language translation of one verse (which one it is depends on the versification in the translation one reads) is that God has created us slightly lower than the angels. That is a mistranslation. TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985) renders the germane passage as
The Hebrew word is Elohim, originally a reference to the council of gods, and therefore a remnant of a time before Jews were monotheists. An alternative translation is English is
a little lower than God,
which is better than
a little lower than the angels.
Studies of religious history should teach one that Elohim eventually became a synonym for YHWH.
“Little less than divine” seems like an optimistic evaluation of human nature when I consider the past and the present, especially when I think about environmental destruction and human behavior. But what if Pfatteicher is correct? What if the work of salvation is complete? What if the image of God is a great portion of our nature than the actions of many of us might indicate?
In Christ we can have liberation to become the people we ought to be. In Christ we can achieve our spiritual potential–for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
May we, by grace, let the image of God run loose.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 13, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CLIFFORD BAX, POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT EUGENIUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF JOHANNES RENATUS VERBEEK, MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF PETER RICKSEEKER, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER, MISSIONARY, MUSICIAN, MUSIC EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER; STUDENT OF JOHANN CHRISTIAN BECHLER, MORAVIAN MINISTER , MUSICIAN, MUSIC EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER; FATHER OF JULIUS THEODORE BECHLER, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER, MUSICIAN, EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER
Trinity Sunday is frequently a difficult occasion to preach, for many heresies have their origin in attempts to explain the Trinity. Yet on this day, the only Christian feast devoted to a doctrine, one must say something.
The Bible offers a variety of images for God from Genesis to Revelation. Abraham and God, we read, took walks together and engaged in conversations. Yet, as we read in Exodus, the understanding of God had become one of a remote figure whose holiness was fatal to most people–Moses excepted. We read of the heavenly court, modeled after earthly royal courts, in Psalm 89. And we read in John 5 that Jesus and YHWH/God the Father have a relationship.
The full nature of divinity exceeds human capacity to grasp it, but we can know some truths. Hebrews 11 reminds us of the faithfulness of God in relating to we human beings. By faith, we read, people have committed great deeds that have glorified God and benefited others, even long past the lifespans of those who have committed those great deeds. The theme of relationship is also present in the Song of Songs (a book I advise reading in TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures, 1985). The relationship in Song of Songs 8 is between a man and a woman (marital status unknown), whose love has placed their lives at risk. Love and death are linked for them.
Let me be a seal upon your heart,
Like the seal upon your hand.
For love is fierce as death,
Passion is mighty as Sheol;
Its darts are darts of fire,
A blazing flame.
Vast floods cannot quench love,
Nor rivers drown it.
If a man offered all his wealth for love,
He would be laughed to scorn.
–Song of Songs 8:6-7, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Neither can anything quench or drown divine love for us, despite our frequent lack of love for God. Yet for a relationship to be healthy, more than one figure must be engaged in maintaining it. May we embrace the mystery of the Holy Trinity and pursue and deepen a healthy relationship with God, whose goodness and mercy alone pursue us in Psalm 23.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 15, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN ELLERTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF CARL HEINRICH VON BOGATSKY, HUNGARIAN-GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LANDELINUS OF VAUX, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AUBERT OF CAMBRAI, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; URSMAR OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MISSIONARY BISHOP; AND DOMITIAN, HADELIN, AND DODO OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Kings 9:1-9, 11:1-13 or Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
Psalm 35
John 15:18-25 (26-27); 16:1-4a
2 Corinthians 12:11-21; 13:1-10 (11-13)
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One might suffer for any of a number of reasons. One might, as did Solomon, suffer for one’s sins; actions do have consequences, after all. Or one might suffer because of the sins of at least one other person. This is one reason one might suffer for the sake of righteousness. Or perhaps one might suffer for merely being at the wrong place at the wrong time. On other occasions there might be no apparent reason for one’s suffering.
This is a devotion for Trinity Sunday. Many attempts to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity have resulted in heresy. I have resolved to cease trying to explain it and to revel in the glorious mystery instead. God is greater and more glorious than I can imagine; thanks be to God!
I do feel comfortable in making some comments, however. For example, Jesus of Nazareth (the historical figure) was the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son. I do not pretend to grasp the mechanics of the Godhead, but so be it. Jesus suffered and died, but not because of any sin of his; he committed none. God suffered due to human sinfulness and made something wondrous out of something brutal and base.
That extravagant grace imposes certain obligations on those who benefit from it. Among these obligations is building each other up. St. Paul the Apostle’s words on that topic remain as applicable today as they were in Corinth nearly 2000 years ago. Christ Jesus is in me. He is also in you, O reader. He is also in those around us. How will we treat them? We have Jesus, a role model, to emulate. Where would the human race be without him?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 16, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTIETH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF GUSTAF AULEN, SWEDISH LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT FILIP SIPHONG ONPHITHAKT, ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR IN THAILAND
THE FEAST OF MAUDE DOMINICA PETRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNIST THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF RALPH ADAMS CRAM AND RICHARD UPJOHN, ARCHITECTS; AND JOHN LAFARGE, SR., PAINTER AND STAINED GLASS MAKER
You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
The Law of Moses is a peculiar code. It contains death penalties for a variety offenses yet provides cities of refuge for those who have committed manslaughter. Its violence is not universal. Yet a murderer must die, the Law says, for bloodshed pollutes the land and invites divine wrath. Oddly enough, the logic of the Law of Moses requires more bloodshed to expiate for the initial bloodshed of murder. So, since life is sacred and blood shed pollutes the land, people shed more blood. Huh? I do not understand.
I do not understand for several reasons. Some might note correctly that I am a practicing and professing liberal, one who recalls certain quotes from great men. Thaddeus Stevens, who argued for equality before God for all people, regardless of race or economics in the United States until his death in 1868, opposed capital punishment in Pennsylvania in the early 1840s, saying,
Society should know nothing of vengeance.
Mohandas Gandhi, who hopefully needs no introduction, commented that “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” leaves the world blind and toothless. And Martin Luther King, Jr., who really ought to need no introduction, said on April 4, 1967, that one cannot create peace via violent means. Mine is a Christian liberalism. The same Jesus who died via crucifixion did not return to life with a vengeful attitude. He seemed, in fact, quite forgiving. and he did not die by manslaughter. No, his was a judicial killing, a political execution. I do not perceive the moral difference between an execution and a murder. Jesus changes everything, including how I perceive the world. The Jesus I know bears little resemblance to the one of which I hear from Fundamentalists. No, he is much more complex, interesting, and forgiving.
With this post I end one sequence of posts; the lectionary will pair two different books beginning with the next post. If I have helped you, O reader, encounter the Jesus I know, I have succeeded. And I hope that the next sequence of posts will yield the same result.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 27, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CORNELIUS HILL, ONEIDA CHIEF AND EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GEORGIAN, ABBOT; AND SAINTS EUTHYMIUS OF ATHOS AND GEORGE OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, ABBOTS AND TRANSLATORS
THE FEAST OF PHILIP MELANCHTON, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN [WITH THE PRESENTATION OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION]
Psalm 8 or Canticle 13 from The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Wisdom literature, from Proverbs to Sirach/Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon, personifies divine wisdom as feminine. Much of this imagery influenced the prologue to the Gospel of John, in which Jesus is the Logos of God; the Logos resembles divine wisdom. Thus, in Proverbs 8, we read a premonition of the Second Person of the Trinity. The Second and Third Persons come up in Romans 5 and John 16. And both possible responses address the First Person of the Trinity.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a fine example of theology. The doctrine has no single, definitive passage of scripture to attest to it. Rather, it is the product of deep Christian thinkers who pondered a number of passages carefully and put them together. Some professing Christians disapprove of that process of doctrine-making; it is, to them, like sausage-making in the simile of laws and sausages: it is better not to know how they are made. But that comparison does not apply to sound doctrine, a category in which I file the Trinity. Those who object to the process of sound doctrine-making are living ironies, for they are more attached to such doctrines than I am. Yet the process by which the Church itself–a human institution–arrived at them–offends such people. Such doctrines, they prefer to imagine, fall from Heaven fully formed. Karen Armstrong is correct:
…fundamentalism is ahistorical….
—A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), page xx
(I, alas, have had some unfortunate conversations with some rather doctrinaire and less than intellectually and historically inquisitive professing Christians. They have rendered me even more allergic to Fundamentalism than I already was.)
I propose that the best way to understand as much as possible about God is through poetry and other art forms. We humans, I have heard, danced our religion before we thought it. And the doctrine of the Trinity is at least as much artistry as it is theology. The nature of God is a mystery to embrace and experience, not to attempt to understand. So, O reader, dance with God, who seeks you as a partner on the dance floor.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 27, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CORNELIUS HILL, ONEIDA CHIEF AND EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GEORGIAN, ABBOT; AND SAINTS EUTHYMIUS OF ATHOS AND GEORGE OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, ABBOTS AND TRANSLATORS
THE FEAST OF PHILIP MELANCHTON, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN [WITH THE PRESENTATION OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION]
Psalm 29 or Canticle 13 from The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Trinity Sunday is a potentially awkward time, one at which a person might feel the temptation to try to explain the Holy Trinity. This temptation has given rise to a host of heresies, including Adoptionism and Arianism. The Trinity is a mystery; may we be content with that. As far as I am concerned, the concept of the Holy Trinity, as we have it, comes as close as any human idea can to summarizing God. Yet there must be far more than what we can possibly imagine.
Yet we can make some statements confidently. As Paul reminds us, God has adopted us into the family. And, as the Johannine Gospel tells us, God seeks to redeem, not condemn,us. We occupy a seat of privilege because God has placed us in it. This status brings with it certain responsibilities. We need, for example, to love one another, not fear, hate, and loathe each other. We need to treat others as fellow members of the family of God. Obeying this mandate will reform us and our societies, challenge mores (and perhaps laws), and maybe place us in harm’s way. There are, unfortunately, those who find simple compassion threatening–sometimes to the extent of being willing to commit or condone violence.
God loves even those who find love so baffling that they are willing to kill to resist it. And we must love and bless them too, by grace. Jesus did no less. And, if we are to follow our Lord, we must do as he did.
Adoption into the family of God can be a joy, but it can also lead to much grief in this life. Such is the world as it is, but not as it needs to remain. We can make this world a better place simply by being better people in it. This is part of of our call from God. Redeeming the world is God’s task, for which we are not equipped. Yet the inability to do everything is no excuse to do nothing, so may we do what God commands us; may we love one another and act accordingly. May we be salt and light.
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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