Pastoral Letter 215

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

Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We have so many reasons to be thankful to God for His care and many blessings, while others have pains and suffer for different reasons, such as being affected by natural disasters, accidents, homelessness and illness. But we have to keep the faith, that God is and will be always with us, no matter what situations we face and have hardships. Always remember that God is good, loves us and cares for us.

Dee and I are grateful that we returned safely from our trip to USA, where we attended our daughter’s, Lori’s, graduation from New York University with a Masters Degree in Health and Environment Journalism. We felt proud parents when she received her degree. There were to ceremonies. The first was the general ceremony on Wednesday 15 May with a fully packed Yankees Stadium. There were 30,000 graduating students from different schools, faculty and parents. Though it was rainy day, but we were glad that we were there. And the second was for the Graduate School of Art and Science, held in the Beacon Theatre on Thursday 16 May in the city, with 1500 graduating students, who received their degrees. We thank God for Lori and her achievement as well as to you all who sent us with your prayers and love. A big thank you to you all.

During my absence, on Sunday 12 May, Alex Pittaway from Neutral Bay Uniting Church took the service. I have been informed that he did a great job, and everyone was happy to have him with us. Thanks Alex. And on the following Sunday 19 May you joined St. Aidan’s Anglican Church for Pentecost Sunday to keep the tradition.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Trinity Sunday. If you are not able to join, please join us from home following the attached Order of Service.

Next Sunday 2 June 2024, we will be joining Crows Nest Uniting Church for Sunday Service at 10:00 am, as some of us will be away in Nowra and we will be worshiping with Nowra Uniting Church. We will have Communion on the second Sunday of the month this time, on 9 June 2024. Please make a note.

Also, note that on Sunday 23 June we will have Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting Church, here at St. Andrew’s at 9:30 am. Our guest preacher will be Jim Mien, who bas baptised here in our church many years ago. Please put this in your diary and make an extra effort to be here to worship with us.

Please continue to pray for those who are going through difficult and tough times, seeking God’s presence, help and healing.

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

Here are some prayer points for this week:

1. Pray for those who were injured on the Singapore Airlines, especially whose condition is critical.
2. Pray for the Middle East, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
3. Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
4. Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
5. Pray for Virginia, as she is hospitalised with Pneumonia in Mater Hospital.
6. Pray for those who will be taking the trip to Nowra for a week and have a safe journey.
7. Pray and thank God for Dee’s and my safe return from our travel from the US last Wednesday.

Best Regards

In Christ

Krikor

MESSAGE

The Trinity – Three-in-One

2 Corinthians 13:14

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to the wonder of Your glory and Your love, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

On this Trinity Sunday we will look into the doctrine of Trinity, the Triune God, and try to further deepen our understanding of the intricate and challenging subject of One God, the God Three-in-One.

Interestingly, we can’t find the word Trinity or Three-in-One in the Bible. But the Bible does indicate that God is three in one. For example, in Deuteronomy 6:4, the Hebrew Scriptures reads: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”.

The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical debate held by the early Christian church, concludes with the establishment of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Christians sometimes are puzzled as to what the term “Trinity” means, since it is a word that doesn’t itself show up in Scripture. The term itself (Trinitas) is a combination of two Latin words, unitas, which means “unity” and trias, which means “three.” These two parts capture well the two basic biblical principles that the word “Trinity” is meant to convey: the oneness of God, i.e. unity and the threeness of God, i.e. the distinction between Father, Son, and Spirit.

Augustine, the fifth-century bishop of Hippo who wrote one of the most extended and profound writing of the Trinity, began his work by laying out these two principles as starting points for understanding this mysterious reality:

“According to the scriptures Father and Son and Holy Spirit [are] . . . a divine unity; and therefore there are not three gods but one God; although indeed the Father has begotten the Son, and therefore He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and therefore He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself coequal to the Father and the Son, and belonging to the threefold unity.”

The first point Augustine makes has to do with the divine unity (unitas). Father, Son, and Spirit are all divine, and yet are not three Gods, but one God. There are ample biblical passages that support this idea. No one would dispute that the Father is called “God” and this title is given to the Son, Jesus Christ as well (see John 1:1). The Spirit is less often explicitly called “God” but there are plenty of passages that point in that direction. For example, Jesus told his disciples to baptize new Christians in the “name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:29-30). If the Spirit were not God, and were merely a creature like us, it would be very unlikely for Him to be included in this list alongside the Father and Son.

However, as mentioned earlier, Deuteronomy 6:4  tells us that “God is one”, indicating that we should not think of Father, Son, and Spirit as three separate and distinct “Gods”, but rather One God in three persons or three manifestations.

Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians with his final greetings, which are some of the most quoted words in the Scripture. It is also the only place in the New Testament where God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are mentioned with a blessing.

Paul’s this blessing has become commands and authorization to go out into the world to proclaim the love of God in three persons: the unconditional love from the God the Father, the sacrificial love of God in the God the Son which is empowered and made capable by God the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity, this holy union, is a beautiful mystery that has been the root of the church’s living faith. We are baptised in the name of the Trinity. As well as we confess our faith in the Trinity, both sacraments and our Creed.

We believe that there is one living and true God, the maker and preserver of all things. In the unity of this Godhead, there are three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in eternity, deity and purpose, everlasting of infinite power, wisdom and goodness.

Simply, we can say that God reveals Himself to us as one eternal God, but in three distinct ways: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are distinct but inseparable natures of God.

Instead of questioning and trying to figure it all out and understand this concept, we can, by faith, accept it as true and then praise God for each and every one of these ways that He reveals Himself to us.

The reason we choose to praise God for His revelation is because, as Augustine Stated: “Is not because we can say something adequately about it, but rather because, in the absence of adequate speech, we must say something”.

Sometimes, in the absence of full understanding and the inability to truly fathom God’s mystery, the only thing we can do is stop trying to reason with facts and concepts and just decide to accept it by acts of praise to our Triune God ad Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So, what does that mean?

It means that:

1. God, as the Father, we praise Him because He is not only our loving Father, but is also the one true, holy and living God above all other Gods. “Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise; He is feared above all gods. The gods of other nations are mere idols …”.

We praise Him, because He is our Creator, King, Judge, Power, Wisdom and Justice is displayed throughout all of His creation.

Most of all, we praise Him for reconciling us through His Love and Grace, by the blood of His Son Jesus. He did this, so that we could live at peace with Him. Paul says: “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

And in 2 Corinthians 5:19 Paul wrote: “For God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation”.

All these things and so more are worthy of praise God the Father.

2. As the Son, Jesus Christ, we can praise God for His willingness to be “God in the flesh”, by joining together the deity of God with the humanity of humankind. He was born of Virgin Mary and was truly God and truly human.

He came to us as the incarnate God to save us. Through obedience, He lived as a servant to suffer and die upon the cross to become our Saviour. He truly poured out His life as a blameless sacrifice for our sin and transgressions. Therefore, we praise Him that He made forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life with God possible by laying down His life in obedience to the Father. We can praise Him for conquering the grave by rising from the dead. We praise Him that one day He will come back for us as He promised. He said in John 14:2-3 “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am”.

We praise God the Son, Jesus Christ!

3. As the Holy Spirit, we can praise Him because His presence with us never ends. He is the one who reveals the Word of God to us that we can become followers of Christ and also grow and become faithful and fruitful witnesses (Acts 1.8). He is our advocate, support in prayer, source of power and our guiding conscience.

The free Methodist Church states: “The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son, He is one with them, the eternal Godhead, equal in deity, majesty and power. He is God effective in creation, in life and in the church. The incarnation and the ministry of Jesus Christ were accomplished by the Holy Spirit. He continues to reveal, interpret and glorify the Son”.

The Holy Spirit is our gift of Pentecost when God, the Holy Spirit came and formed the church (Acts 2:4). The Holy Spirit filled the believers to give them and us life and witnessing power to achieve the common good, build the church, spread the gospel and to glorify the God, the Father.

We praise God, the Holy Spirit, as He is our “Koinonia” as He pours out His power, authority and fellowship upon the church body. Koinonia means “participation” which tells us when we join together through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is in true participation of God’s redemptive plan for this world, the Holy Spirit, working through us, can be instrumental in helping to complete the divine plan for the salvation of all who will believe.

The Holy Spirit is also our advocate and help us when we earnestly seek God in prayer. Paul, in Romans 8:26-27 writes: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God”.

This is why we join the Psalmist in crying out: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth”, for all the power, strength, authority and guidance given to us through God, the Holy Spirit. That is why we praise God as Holy Spirit.

Let us always resound with the sound of praise for God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity, our Triune God … The Three-in-One!

We learn to believe in God the Father, who has made us and all the world, in God the Son who redeems us and all humanity and the God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us and all elect people of God.

Hence, by faith, we can humbly accept this biblical truth and grow in our knowledge of it. As John 16:13 assures us, the Holy Spirit will come and be our guide to teach us and to lead us into a deeper understanding of the wonderful truth about God.

So, with that, may we all praise our God, the Trinity, Three in One: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen!