According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
God (YHWH, Elohim, or whichever other name one prefers to use; a Christian term is God the Father) is one. God is sovereign. God is just. These characteristics come from the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible, before I turn to Romans 8 and John 3.
The readings from Romans 8 and John 3 add Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the mix. Thus, we have all the ingredients for the formula of the Trinity. The word “Trinity” never appears in the New Testament. The ingredients of it do, however. The current, orthodox form of that doctrine is the result of successive councils and rebuttals against heresies during the first few centuries of Christianity.
I have read enough books and portions of books to know that every Trinitarian heresy began as a well-meaning attempt to explain the Trinity. So, I choose not to play that game. No, I embrace the mystery and focus on its meanings. One meaning is that, although God is one, God is complex, not simple.
In Christian terms, spiritual birth via the Holy Spirit is essential. This may be quiet or dramatic. Itay include an event one can mark as the time of spiritual renewal or it may sneak up on someone. I belong the company of people who have, within their active memory, always known God via Jesus. The dates I can mark on a timeline are mostly sacramental. They include one baptism, one confirmation, and three reaffirmations, with each of the last four occurring in the presence of a bishop in Apostolic Succession.
Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher tells us that Trinity Sunday is:
not the feast of a doctrine but…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now-completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father thorugh the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
So, on Trinity Sunday, as well as all other days, may we thank God for the
now-completed mystery of salvation.
And, with the author of Psalm 96, may we ascribe glory and might to God. May our words, thoughts, and actions glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 27, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE PHILIPPINES, BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINTS NICHOLAS OWEN, THOMAS GARNET, MARK BARKWORTH, EDWARD OLDCORNE, AND RALPH ASHLEY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601-1608
THE FEAST OF PETER LUTKIN, EPISCOPAL COMPOSER, LITURGIST, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
THE FEAST OF STANLEY ROTHER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN GUATEMALA, 1981
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
One may use the word “mystery” in at least two ways. One may think of a situation in which gathering more information will eliminate confusion and enable arriving at a firm answer. The Holy Trinity is a mystery, but not in that way. Even if we mere mortals had all the information about the nature of God, we could not understand it. We can barely grasp what we do know, and what we know raises more questions than it resolves. So be it. The second meaning of “mystery” is an ancient definition: One can know something only by living into it. One can know God by faith, for example.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is the only Christian feast of a doctrine. It is more than that, though. Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher recommends thinking of Trinity Sunday as:
…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on theLutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
A doctrine–especially the Holy Trinity–can seem abstract. Some people (including moi) like abstractions. However, abstractions leave others cold and spiritually unmoved. Salvation is not abstract, however; it is tangible. And how it works is a mystery in at least the second meaning of the word.
Happy Trinity Sunday!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY; AND HIS SON, WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ALBANY; HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET AND RELIGIOUS WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND SAINTS OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZITA OF TUSCANY, WORKER OF CHARITY
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Pentecost is the fiftieth and last day of the season of Easter. The baptismal connection to this feast is strong. The alternative name, Whitsunday (White Sunday) refers to the white garments of the newly baptized.
The divine nature exceeds human comprehension. Orthodox theology offers partial answers, the best we mere mortals can receive. Receiving those answers does not guarantee comprehending them, though. So be it. Christianity is not Gnosticism; salvation depends on grace, not knowledge. With all this in mind, we can still utilize useful language, much of which may be theological poetry, not theological prose. God is with us. God empowers us. Christian language for this truth is “the Holy Spirit.”
However, I seek to avoid committing modalism, an ancient Trinitarian heresy. This heresy denies the permanent existence of the members of the Holy Trinity and focuses on allegedly transitory distinctions, defined by functions. Know, O reader, that I am not a modalist. I merely acknowledge that the full nature of God is too much for a human mind to grasp and that we mere mortals experience God in certain ways.
I like the Jewish way of explaining the divine nature and character, as much as doing so is possible. That method is recalling what God has done. This method pervades the Hebrew Bible. Think, O reader, what God has done that you have noticed. Ask yourself what these divine actions tell you about the nature and character of God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 26, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM COWPER, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ADELARD OF CORBIE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND ABBOT; AND HIS PROTÉGÉ, SAINT PASCAHSIUS RADBERTUS, FRANKISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, AND THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
THE FEAST OF RUGH BYLLESBY, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS IN GEORGIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT STANISLAW KUBITSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940; AND SAINT WLADYSLAW GORAL, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 1945
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM STRINGFELLOW, EPISCOPAL ATTORNEY, THEOLOGIAN, AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST
As I have aged, I have changed in many ways. I have recovered more slowly after moving from one dwelling into another one. (Fortunately, I move only when necessary, and years apart.) White hairs have sprouted from my chin and temples. The rest of the hair on the top of my head has taken on a salt-and-pepper coloration. I have recognized how much my parents knew when I was a child and an adolescent. And I have become somewhat mystical.
I have written so many lectionary-based devotions for Trinity Sunday that I can no longer write one without repeating myself. Consult my other devotions for Trinity Sunday at this weblog for than I offer in this post, O reader. For now, I encourage you, O reader, to romp in the mystery of divine being. Do not try to explain much of it. No, revel in the mystery and unconditional love of God. Then respond to God accordingly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH
THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
Trinity Sunday is one of those feasts for which I dread writing, due to having rewritten the same post repeatedly.
I can, however, bring the readings from Ezekiel, Ephesians, and John together and weave the threads into a pattern. The pattern is one of divine love being consistent with divine judgment and mercy. Judgment need not occur; human repentance is one way to avoid it. Another way of preventing judgment is direct divine action, meant to, among other goals, invite people to repent. One may recall scenes of Jesus associating with notorious sinners in the Gospels, for example. Furthermore, there is the matter of the Atonement. Yet many continue to reject grace. They condemn themselves.
The Holy Trinity is a great mystery. The Church does not grasp this mystery, despite Ecumenical Councils and millennia of theological development. The Eastern and Western branches continue to disagree about the filioque clause of the Nicene Creed. Furthermore, Christological differences separate the Eastern Orthodox from the Oriental Orthodox.
The mystery will sort itself out. We can, however, acknowledge the mystery and listen for the Holy Spirit urging us along spiritual pathways.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
Trinity Sunday is the only feast on the calendar of Western Christianity solely about a doctrine. Other feasts have events, as in the life of Jesus, attached to them.
The three persons (“masks,” literally, in Nicene terminology) of the Trinity are present in the assigned readings for this feast.
Proverbs 8 offers Sophia, the divine wisdom personified as a woman. Sophia influenced the Logos, identified as Jesus in John 1. Portions of the text also sound as if they could refer to the Holy Spirit. And does the Holy Spirit proceed from just the Father or from both the Father and the Son? Trying to reason through the theology of the Holy Spirit makes my head hurt, figuratively, so I rarely delve too deeply into it.
YHWH is God in Psalm 8. God is unitary in Jewish theology. We humans are, according to the text, literally, “a little less than the gods,” not “a little lower than the angels.” “The gods” are members of the court of YHWH. The Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim.
Romans 5:105 mentions that the Holy Spirit does not act independently, and that it glorifies Christ.
By the way, “Holy Spirit” or “Spirit of God” is feminine in Hebrew and Arabic yet neuter in Greek. The Holy Spirit is technically an “it,” not a “he,” in the New Testament.
My advice regarding the Trinity is to frolic in its glorious mystery, not to try to understand it. One cannot understand the Trinity. Attempts to do so have frequently yielded or reinforced heresies. I try not to commit any of these.
How can God simultaneously be on the Earth, getting baptized, in Heaven, and descending from Heaven? That is a mystery. We can accept the findings of early Ecumenical Councils Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, et cetera) while bowing in humility before God, who loves us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
St. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. Perhaps one would expect the pericope from the Hebrew Bible to be a messianic prophecy, given the cluster of readings for this Sunday in Advent. One would be mistaken. Zephaniah wrote of a time when God would rule directly on the planet; the prophet did not write of the Messiah. Bishop N. T. Wright picked up on God ruling directly on the planet, as in Zephaniah 3. Wright wrote in Jesus and the Victory of God (1996) that God (YHWH), not Jesus, is the king in Biblical eschatological prophecy, even in the New Testament.
I write and think of the Trinity with all due theological caution; I prefer not to commit any of the plethora of Trinitarian heresies. My reading of the history of Christian theology informs me that well-meaning attempts to explain the Trinity have frequently led to or bolstered heresies. I also know that I have been guilty of entertaining notions bordering on Sabellianism, although I did not know that term when I did so. Yes, I affirm that Jesus of Nazareth (the human being whom Roman officials executed on false allegations in 29 or 30 C.E.) was the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity. In my mind, “Jesus” runs together with “Second Person of the Trinity” after the beginning of the Incarnation. Likewise, I refrain from calling the pre-Incarnation Second Person of the Trinity “Jesus” or “Christ,” due to my chronological manner of thinking. And, when I write “God,” the meaning varies, according to context. Sometimes I mean the Trinity. On other occasions, I narrow to the focus to one of the three Persons (literally, “masks,” in Greek) of the Trinity, especially YHWH. (That is mask, as in a mask a Greek actor used.) Etymology is one issue. How accurate Greek word choices are is another matter. Sometimes language fails us; even our our descriptions cannot always do justice to reality. I do not attempt to explain the Trinity, a glorious mystery.
How can I explain the Trinity when even orthodox Trinitarian theology makes no sense? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal, right? Okay. Then how can the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father or from the Father and the Son? And does one accept or reject the filioque clause? Orthodox Trinitarian theology, established by a series of Ecumenical Councils, is as close to the Trinitarian reality as one can get in this life. Nevertheless, The confusion that results from following orthodox Trinitarian theology proves that one should accept the glorious mystery, refrain from overthinking it, and revel in that mystery. The beautiful reading from Philippians provides some advice for this revelry:
“Let your tolerance be evident to everyone.”
Do not worry; trust in God.
“Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.”
The context for this counsel is Christian community, of course.
The translation is The Jerusalem Bible (1966).
May we, in the words of the Larger Westminster Catechism,
glorify God, and fully…enjoy Him forever.
The details of Trinitarian theology, Trinitarian reality, and Messianic prophecy will tend to themselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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