THE STRONG
NAME OF THE TRINITY
Sermon delivered
on Trinity Sunday, the 18th May 2008 by Fr Nicholas J G
Sykes in the congregation of St. Alban's, George Town Church of
England, Cayman Islands in the service of the Holy Eucharist.
Scriptures:
Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31 2 Corinthians 13:
11-14 S. Matthew 28: 16-20
2 Corinthians
13:14 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all."
STRONG NAME OF
THE TRINITY
The connection
of the Trinity with strength comes out in many ways: I remember some
time ago in Jamaica there used to be a senior police officer who was
greatly feared, particularly by people with some connection to the
criminal underclass, because of his ominous reputation for not pulling
any punches. They dubbed him "Trinity", and that became the
name by which he was always referred. The connection of the Trinity
with real strength appears in our Scriptures today and comes out also
in hymnody. St. Patrick's Breastplate to be found in our hymn-book as
hymn 162 begins, "I bind unto myself today the strong name of the
Trinity." The poem is a vigorous exposition of the mighty power
of God, declaring that when we bind to ourselves the power of His
Trinitarian attributes, His virtues, and His graces we have a borrowed
strength available to us to be victorious over all the hosts of evil
and sin both external to us and within. God is not just good: He is
also strong.
THE GRACE
St. Paul's words
at the end of Second Corinthians have become known to us as "The
Grace", which we say at the end of the Daily Offices of Morning
Prayer and Evening Prayer: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us
all evermore." We should not forget that the words connote God's
tremendous goodness and strength. In Second Corinthians St. Paul has
shown high concern for the church that he himself planted and his deep
consciousness of its failings. He is aware that there need to be great
changes as they root out some of their attitudes and grow into Christ.
We have heard him in his farewell message to them at the end of his
letter telling them, "Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with
one another, live in peace." But where is the power to come from
for them to be able to make these changes? Right at the end of the
letter St. Paul states where the power comes from, in the words of the
grace. (Repeat text) It is worth noting too that the word
"Be" in "be with you all" does not occur in the
original language. It is more than likely that St. Paul was confirming
that these strengths, the grace of Jesus, the love of God the Father
and the fellowship or communion of the Holy Spirit, were with
the church. The fact that their attitudes and behaviour left much to
be desired compelled St. Paul to assure them that the power to change
was there for them to call upon. That, perhaps, is why St. Paul begins
with the aspect of "grace" - the available strength, through
the perfect offering of Jesus, was entirely undeserved by them. The
Corinthian church was to bind itself to the strong name of the
Trinity. Today too the worldwide Church, both locally and as a whole,
has very many deficiencies and defects, but the mighty and good power
of God to deal with it is present, which we in patience should
acknowledge, not least when we say the Grace in the Daily Offices or
in our prayers.
WE NEED THE
STRENGTH
It is good to be
reminded of that power at a time when one feels sometimes almost
overwhelmed and crushed by the various battles to which we are
impelled. When we are tempted to feel inadequate to meet all the
challenges both internal and external, we too can in the words of the
old poem say - and you can follow them if you like in verse 6 of hymn
162, "Against the demon snares of sin, The vice that gives
temptation force, The natural lusts that war within, The hostile men
that mar my course - Or few or many, far or nigh, In every place, and
in all hours, Against their fierce hostility I bind to me these holy
powers." We need that strength so much, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.
As the concluding Doxology of the same hymn goes, "I bind unto
myself the name, The strong name of the Trinity, By invocation of the
same, The Three in One, and One in Three, Of whom all nature hath
creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word. Praise to the Lord of my
salvation: Salvation is of Christ the Lord."
GOD'S WISDOM AND
GRACE
Our wonderful
Old Testament lesson today speaks to us of the character of God's
strength. Repeatedly the prophet asks rhetorically, Who can teach God?
Who can teach Him who has created and arranged the heavens and the
earth? Who can enlighten God, who made the men and nations, about
conscience and justice and understanding? The character of the mighty
strength of God, we are reminded, is its unfailing wisdom. But not
only is His wisdom unfailing, but His grace, too, is inexhaustible.
The prophet asks, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my
God"? I am suggesting that we too, often enough, have similar
grumbles. The truth, though, is that our plight, as a community and
even as an individual, is never unnoticed by God. Whatever our plight
might be, and however intractable it might seem to us, it has indeed
been noticed by Him. We need to recall our own baptism, we who have
been baptised into the heavenly realms, we who have been made sons and
daughters of our heavenly Father, we who have been made the very limbs
of Christ - indeed, we are never disregarded or unnoticed by God. Not
only does He know us through and through with His inexhaustible
wisdom, but He replenishes our failing strength with His own, when we
wait upon Him to do so. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit are with us evermore,
to renew our strength and raise us when we stumble. The prophet
reminds us that it is not by virtue of physical vigour or youth that
we may endure in the race of salvation, but by virtue of the increase
and replenishment that the Lord provides. "Even youths shall
faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who
wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with
wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk
and not faint."
ROYAL EXALTATION
At the end of
the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we read of Jesus appearing to His
disciples before His ascension, and saying "All authority in
heaven and earth has been given to me." What
Satan had fraudulently offered Him in the wilderness was now indeed
given by the Father to Him following His unalloyed obedience to the
Father’s will, following the Wisdom that He had adhered to and
following the love for His brethren that He had put forth to the
extent of death itself. The Son of God had suffered royally and was
exalted royally. Now, that grace that He had so demonstrated, is with
us. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." By the
strong name and authority of the Trinity, we too mount up with wings
like eagles on our mission to the world and to this age with all its
contradictions, we run and are not weary, and we walk and do not
faint.
QUESTIONS
1. Why would the
popular or "folk" mind associate Trinity with strength?
2. What does the
Gospel tell us about the character of God's strength?
3. What might be
the significance of associating the Trinitarian formula with Baptism?
