The readings for this Sunday are for those of Trinity Sunday:

• Isaiah 6.1-8

• Psalm 29

• Romans 8. 12-17

• John 3. 1-17

You might like to use the link below to find the above readings, and click on any of the reading above that you wish to use: http://www.katapi.org.uk/CommonWorship/CWLectionarySelV.php

Collect of the day

Let us first spend a few moments in silence to centre ourselves,
to gather ourselves in our souls,
to come before the Lord just as we are with our joys and sorrows,
our hopes and our fears, our loves and our pains.
Let us just focus our minds and hearts on Jesus who is the answer for every problem.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.

Silence is kept

Holy God,
Faithful and unchanging:
Enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
And draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
That we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
One God, now and forever.

Amen.

Prayer before the Sermon

Loving Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the words you have given us today.
We know they are words of life and salvation.
Open our hearts Father, touch our souls,
forgive us our sins especially our lack of faith,
help us to respond to your word.
May we know that you are our Lord and Saviour
who promises us the power from on high,
your Holy Spirit.
May we experience in our hearts your love
and your presence always.

Amen.

A homily based on the gospel reading of today is given below:

Christianity is about following Jesus…

A special feast!

The feast of the Holy Trinity is among the biggest feasts in the Christian calendar. It is like the summation of a number of feasts that we have celebrated from Christmas up to Easter, and Pentecost. But it is also one of those feasts that puts us in a bit of dilemma. What is ‘Holy Trinity’ anyway?

Surprisingly, although the feast of the ‘Holy Trinity’ is quite an enigmatic one for many, and rightly so, for me personally, it is one of the special feasts in the Christian calendar.

The Trinitarian dimension

The Holy Trinity also reminds me of the Trinitarian dimension of life itself – God-Man-World or as some say the divine-human-cosmic dimension…

Our lives have a Trinitarian dimension…

The Holy Trinity – Father, Son and the Spirit – is One God although three persons. It is the biggest of mysteries and we cannot really understand it fully …

A Mystery

What is mystery : something you do not know fully; the more you know the more there is to know….. (cfr. Fulton Sheed, Theology of Sanity)

The story of Augustine’s effort to solve the mystery of the Trinity…as he was walking on the seashore he saw a child making a hole and pouring sea water into the hole…”What are you doing”, Augustine asked. “I am trying to empty the ocean into this hole…” and the child vanished….Augustine immediately understood this was a vision and that God was telling him that he wouldn’t be able to solve the mystery of the Holy Trinity by his brains alone…

The mystery solved

The answer ….Christianity is all about a person…not about a mystery…..it is all about Jesus Christ, God and Man…it is all about giving your life in to his hands and saying that big ‘amen’…’yes’….I know of persons whose lives have been totally changed when they said that ‘yes’, that ‘amen’ to the Lord….with a sincere and total heart….

John 3. 16 (3 versions)

RSV:

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’.

Extreme Teen Bible:

“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”

The New English Bible:

“God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life.”

The mystery is solved in Jesus Christ.

Pause to pray …

Let us pray:

Father, thank you for your son Jesus Christ.
Than you for sending him to us as our saviour,
as our healer, as our hope for life.
Father, forgive us for our lack of love and our lack of faith.
We are so weak and we are so indifferent.
We go our own ways, doing our own things
and we hardly care to build our lives around you and on you.
We are quite lost and confused most of the time, Father.
We now give you our lives in to your hands.
We say ‘Amen’, ‘yes’ to you
and we accept you as our Lord and as our Saviour.
In the name of Jesus your son, we pray,

Amen.

A further Prayer you can say now:

Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the Son of God.
Thank you for becoming one of us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
Thank you for rising from the dead
to give me hope and the gift of eternal life.

I repent of my sins
and invite you into heart and life
as my Lord and Saviour.
Please grant me your Holy Spirit
so that I may know you, love you
and follow you every day of my life.

Amen.

[Revd Dr ST Mattapally, Rector, Springline Parish, Diocese of Lincoln]