St. Mark's Lutheran » Trinity

Neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance…

Parson Brown — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:51:07 +0000

Not that it matters to the reader, but our sound system was “re-tuned” this week. Projecting voice and presence is not always easy, but it got easier. Thank you Mr. Bayer.

This last week was Trinity Sunday – the end of the festival season and the day confessional churches bring out something called the Athanasian Creed. When the Western Church speaks of its three creeds it means: the Apostles which is the creed the developed from the church at Rome used during Baptism, the Nicene which is the universal creed (if we in the west dropped ‘and the son’ in the Spirit’s procession) stemming from the council of Nicea in 325 AD, and the Athanasian which is a little clouded in origin if not in how it speaks of the Godhead and of Jesus Christ.

It has two driving doctrinal points from which everything else grows.
1) We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.
2) It is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You might ask why that is important. Can’t we just leave it a squishy spiritual concept? I’m typically all for squish primarily because we don’t know anywhere near as much as we think we do, but as this creed says – this is the Catholic Faith. These things have been revealed: the triune nature of God and the incarnation of that God in Jesus Christ. [Just a question, what does it mean that my spellcheck doesn't know triune but instead suggests triumvir or tribune? Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.] They have been revealed because of a spiritual truth – you become what you worship.

Read the sermon for the support of that statement. But this creed states that: Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ: one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God. Christ, through the incarnation, has redeemed our very nature. The disciple of Christ is being conformed to His likeness. In you the Spirit is reforming the image of God. We are exacting about who we worship, because that is what we are being made into.

Prayer for the day

Parson Brown — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:39:54 +0000

The prayer book that I have been using has the days scripture readings (OT, Epistle and Gospel), a 4th reading from the church and opening and closing prayers. Tuesdays the opening prayers come from the Book of Common Prayer. The original version was the work of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury – the English Reformation prelate. The book has gone through many revisions and “updatings”, but many of Cranmer’s words survive. It really is a testament to his understanding of human nature and of church teaching that so many still speak. The one that was in today really spoke.

O God, from whom all good proceeds. Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.

With our sin clouded mind we see good as evil and evil as good. And even when we see aright, we don’t always act with love. Grant by your inspiration that we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guidding do them. All good proceeds from God and returns to God – by the Word and through the Spirit. Amen

All of Gaul is divided into three parts….

Parson Brown — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:53:37 +0000

Text: Colossians 1:15-23

The title is an uber-geek joke. Julius Ceasar’s Gallic Wars began with that phrase, and ever since it has been fashionable to divide things into three parts. Faith, Hope and Charity. Past, Present and Future. The three point sermon/speach. Three branches of civil government. Body, mind and spirit. It seems like there is nothing in this world that someone, somewhere, has not divided into three parts. But there is another division scheme in nature, the polarity. Male and Female, the right and the left both physically and politically, two chambers of Congress, Body and Soul, the American League and the National League. The lists could go on. Why do so many things in our natural world take on the appearance of twos and threes?

Maybe it is just blind chance. Threes are a stable form that got passed down by natural selection like three legs for a stool, and twos promote genetic diversity. Or maybe the physical universe is patterned on its creator. Paul makes that argument in Romans 1:19-20. And isn’t that the argument Paul is stating here in Colossians 1:15-23? All things were created through him and for him…He is the beginning…that in everything he might be pre-eminent. The warp and woof of the creation points to the creator. Of course that is proof or support only for those who already believe. Another standard trope is the numerologist nut or the person who sees patterns where there aren’t any (reference the movie A Beautiful Mind about mathematician John Nash.)

The threes reflect the Trinity and the twos the nature of Christ – True Man Jesus, True God the only begotton son, the word of God, together in one Christ. The creation reflecting and revealing the profound mystery of the life of God which we can only approach through Christ who came to us to reveal the Father. Not to go off the deep end, but just your mystical thought for the day…