A Simple Trinity Sermon

I posted this up last month, but it seems to have walked…..so posting it again.

“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Last week the church celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the ways god revealed himself through the apostles.

This week we celebrate the Trinity. The three ways we have encounter God, the three ways god has revealed himself to the church.

The Father The Son The Holy Spirit Many people find it hard to get their minds around the trinity, even great and clever theologians struggle, that they are one God but just three different ways we experience God. There are many images that are used to try and explain this great mystery, Water, ice, steam The peal, fruit and core of a apple The three wheels on a tricycle The chocolate, cake and orange of a Jaffa cake three things that together make part of a whole.

These images can be helpful, but they don’t fully explain how the father, son and spirit are one. There is a very long and complicated creed in the church called the Athanasian Creed, for those of you who know of it, don’t worry, i’m not going to make us say it, but there are some key lines which try to explain what the trinity is, most importantly it says “So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God.” Three parts of God.

I’m not going to try and explain this anymore, but I would like us to think for a moment about what affect this has in our lives. Trinity Sunday is about celebrating how God had revealed himself to us, and that’s one of the joys for a Christian, seeking how God is revealed in our own lives. So I wonder, how God has made his presence known in your lives this week. And I have some pieces of paper here and some pens and pencils we can use just to make a note of how God has been there in your lives. I’m not going to make you share them or show them to anyone if you don’t want. They are personal to you.

Here are some examples from people I asked on Facebook.
Energy in prayer
a situation sorting itself out,
through good times with a friend
picking flowers in the garden
laughter of their children on the beach

So we give thanks for all the ways God shows himself to the church and to us, and pray that we will always be watchful for Gods action in the world. Amen

(Preached to Dyffryn Church & Boys Brigade)

Family Service Easter 2

Has anyone ever told you something that you didn’t believe?

Sometimes its hard to believe things if you only hear about them from someone else.

Last week we celebrated Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead. And we heard that all the disciples were told about it. Today we heard the Jesus came to them and told them not be sad, but to be happy, because he brings them peace, they should be happy.

But one of his friends wasn’t there, Thomas missed this meeting with Jesus and found it hard to believe that he actually came back.

Sometimes its hard to believe things we are told.

If I told you there was something yummy hiding in our Easter garden that someone here can have, would you believe me?

Does anyone want to look?

I was telling the truth!!!!!!

You didn’t know for sure unless you went to see though, and that was the same for Thomas, he couldn’t believe his friends until he saw Jesus for himself.

Sometimes its hard to believe that God loves us, and is there for us all the time. Having faith is sometimes really hard, and sometimes we need to see before we can believe. But Jesus isn’t walking around now like he was back them with his disciples, with his friends. So how can we believe.

We can believe by looking around us, at the world God created for us, at the family and friends around us who love us and take care for us, at all the people in the past who have told us about Jesus and all the things God has done to help us. We can believe when we see people doing what Jesus taught us, loving, caring, sharing, taking care of, being a peace with others.