Pastoral Letter 168

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Grace and Peace to you all from our great Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I hope you are all doing well.

Last Sunday on Pentecost, some of us worshiped with our neighbouring St. Aidan’s Anglican Church and our group of eight, who were on the weeklong trip to Narrabri, worshiped with the brothers and sisters of Narrabri Uniting Church. We were warmly welcomed, had good fellowship and the privilege of having the pleasure of their generous hospitality.

This Sunday we celebrate Trinity Sunday, which is the first Sunday after Pentecost. Then the church calendar takes us through the next several post-Pentecost moths up to the Sunday known as Christ the King Sunday, the Sunday before the Advent Season.

On 25 June, Lane Cove Uniting folks will join us to have our Combined Service on the occasion of the UCA Anniversary. Please plan to be here, as we welcome our guests and celebrate with them and give thanks for the 46 years of Uniting Church service for the glory of God.

If you will not be able to be with us tomorrow morning Worship Service, please light a candle, have a small roll of bread and a cup of wine or juice for Communion and join us following the attached Order of Service.

Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love. Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.

Here are some prayer points for this week:

  1. Pray for lasting peace in Ukraine, Sudan, Armenia and Artsakh.
  2. Pray for persecuted people, abused, terrorised and facing hardship.
  3. Pray for travellers, wherever they may be, to have safe trip.
  4. Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
  5. Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
  6. Pray for those who are facing natural disasters causing death, loss and pain.
  7. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.

Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.

Best Regards,

Krikor

MESSAGE

The Triune God

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Trinity Sunday is a church feast celebrated a week after Pentecost Sunday. It honours the most fundamental of Christian beliefs—belief in the Holy Trinity. The human mind can never fully understand and conceive the mystery of the Trinity, but we can sum it up in the following formula: God is three Persons in one Nature. There is only one God, and the three Persons of God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—are all equally God, and They cannot be divided.

On Trinity Sunday we proclaim the mystery of our faith in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One-in-Three and Three-in-One. The celebration of Trinity Sunday began among Western Christians in the 10th century and developed slowly until it was formally established on the Sunday after Pentecost by Pope John XXII (1316-1334).

The Triune God is the basis of all we are and do as Christians. In the name of this Triune God, we are baptised. As the baptised ones we bear the name of the Triune God in our being. We are of the family of the Triune God. We affirm this parentage when, in reciting the Creeds, we say what we believe. Our discipleship is rooted in the mighty acts of this Triune God who is active in redeeming the world. The Triune God is the basis of all our prayers — we pray to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. The Trinity holds central place in our faith. …

In celebrating Trinity Sunday, remember that every Lord’s Day is consecrated to the Triune God. On the first day of the week, God began creation. On the first day of the week, God raised Jesus from the grave. On the first day of the week, the Holy Spirit descended on the newly born church. Every Sunday is special. Every Sunday is a day of the Holy Trinity. As we come together to celebrate and worship the Triune God, we proclaim that God is the only true God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who loves and blesses us.

Blessing is the word that describes gifts from God. Our lives are filled with God’s blessings. We are showered abundantly with daily gifts from God, which we consider to be blessings. As believers we gratefully recognise that all that we have and are we owe to the Lord God Almighty. Our gracious God lovingly, freely provides for us here on earth. Even more importantly our gracious God makes sure that believers are blessed with eternal gifts.

Peter wrote: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). We have all that we need.

Our Triune God brings blessings, and these are:

1. Free Grace

The believers at Corinth struggled greatly. They lived in the evilest and wickedest city of the known world at the time. These new believers also faced difficulties inside the church with doctrinal issues. God inspired Paul to write a second letter of clear instruction and harsh encouragement. He wrote: “Finally, brothers, good-by”. They heard God’s words. Paul closed the letter and wrote: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you all”. God blesses these believers with grace.

Everyone is born into this world with sin. Adam and Eve sinned. This original sin is our dreadful inheritance from the very moment of our conception (Psalm 51:5). Our desperate need from the day our lives begin is forgiveness. Only by the grace of Jesus Christ our Saviour does anyone have forgiveness. Rejoice that our Triune God brings blessings. “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Rom. 5:15). Sin came to all. God’s grace more so.

Grace is God’s undeserved, free gift of love for mankind. Sadly, too many today try to make God’s grace into a work benefit. Mankind cannot earn God’s grace. No one deserves the forgiveness that Jesus freely provides by His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Nor can we purchase forgiveness for one single sin. Rather, forgiveness is freely given as a gift of grace from God. Jesus freely forgives. Such is divine grace. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:19,20).

Our Triune God brings blessing by the free gift of grace from Christ, our Saviour.

2. God’s Love

For the members of the church in Corinth, the grace of Jesus Christ was their only motivation for living lives of faith. Therefore, Paul added: “Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal”. God’s grace changed lives. They learned of perfection from the life of Jesus. God’s love by faith bound them together.

God’s blessing emphasises the success of the word of God on and for these believers. “May… the love of God… be with you all”. God’s love was preached to them in God’s word. God’s love is in the grace of Jesus Christ who died for them. God’s love would be with them.

The love of the Lord God Almighty is closely connected with Christ our Saviour. We are reminded that the Triune God is intimately connected to carry out divine plans for the benefit of a sinful world. Trinity means three Persons – only one God. God’s love is almost beyond our human understanding. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). Out of love God sent His Son to die for us. Us – who still sin daily and sin much! Rejoice, our Triune God brings blessings.

“And so, we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Think about it – God lives in us. The sinless dwells in the sinful. That’s Love!

Our Triune God brings blessings as seen in the love of God through Jesus our Saviour.

3. Fellowship

Faith brought these believers together. Faith kept these believers worshiping together. These believers were made up of Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul wrote: “Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you”.

Though of very different backgrounds these believers had peace by their fellowship with God. The fellowship of the local congregation of believers was also shared with believers from far away. Paul said: “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings”. Faith united all.

God’s guarantee was once again heard, sensed and seen by the blessing that Paul wrote to them: “May…the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. Faith from Holy Spirit united them.

Our fellowship with God angers Satan. The devil tries during our entire earthly lives to break our bonds with the Lord God Almighty. His grace and love are far greater and stronger than the evil desires and working of Satan. It is by faith that we believe and are saved. Faith is God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. It is by the working of the Holy Spirit by faith in our hearts that changes our lives forever. “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb 2:11). Consider how great that blessing to be considered a member of God’s family. God is our Father. Jesus is our brother. Eternity is our inheritance.

Thankfully we are connected to the only God who provides us with absolutely everything eternally lacking. Our God is the source of our life and breath and salvation. Without God we are nothing. Without God we are lost forever. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). It does not take long for a broken branch to have its leaves turn brown and dry. Apart from the tree or vine all life is gone. Maybe we have noticed the same thing in our lives whenever we have wandered away from God.

The Trinity is a teaching that Scripture reveals in its sacred pages. Now, some would say that the Triune God is only a teaching made up by man. After all, the word Triune or Trinity is not used or found in the Bible. True. Still the teaching of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is interwoven in God’s word from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelation. It is only the Triune God that is the true God. It is only the Triune God who brings blessings for all mankind. “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Notice again the teaching of the Trinity. God’s love is seen in the grace of Christ guaranteed by the Holy Spirit by faith. Our Triune God brings blessings: Free Grace, God’s Love and Fellowship with God and with all believers.

Amen!