After Pentecost

Trinity Sunday and the weeks thereafter.

The church year has now brought us full circle. The first cycle of events began in Advent which prepared us for the celebration of the Incarnation (God appearing in human form) at Christmas. This was followed by the Epiphany season which is an extension of the implications of Christmas in namely spreading the Good News to the world. The second cycle of events began with Lent which followed Epiphany, and which in turn prepared us for the marking of Good Friday and Easter Day in which God's great work of salvation was accomplished. After the Easter season (The Great 50 Days of Easter) we came to The Day of Pentecost which brought this cycle to an end. Now we enter what is called "ordinary time" in which the teaching of the faith is carried out. It is a time for growth and learning and hence the colour of green during this season. In the really "old days" it was called the season of Pentecost, while the more recent "former times" called it the Trinity season. Now there is a tendency to go back to the really old days and call it the season of Pentecost once again.

The point of transition is Trinity Sunday. It rounds off the Christmas-to-Easter cycles with a celebration of the nature of God who is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As a result of this revelation, we understand God in terms of the Holy Trinity. Everything comes from him and everything returns to him and so it is only right to honour him for all that he has done as seen in the preceding seasons. Furthermore, such a celebration is the fitting beginning for the Sundays after Pentecost Sunday in which we will be presented with teaching to deepen our knowledge of God, to strengthen our faith, and to build us up in our Christian discipleship and mission.

While the term "Trinity" in reference to God is not found in the Scriptures, it nonetheless describes what they teach about him. An example is found in John 16:14 & 15. Here Jesus says that the Holy Spirit "will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known" to his disciples. Jesus adds that "all that belongs to the Father is mine."

So when God the Holy Spirit works in our lives he gives us only what he gets from Jesus Christ. And what Jesus has is "all that belongs to the Father." Though there are three different Persons in the Trinity each is of the same substance which is, namely, all that forms the character of the one, true God.

Another place the Trinity is referred to clearly is in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. Here Jesus tells his disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."