Trinity III- Seeking the Lost

The Gospel for this Sunday is Luke 15:1-10 and contains two brief parables- the lost sheep and the lost coin. The context makes it clear that our Lord is talking about sinners lost to God. Some extreme approaches to this theme have left a bad aftertaste among both believers and non-believers. Because of this aftertaste, some sincere Christians hesitate to speak of people lost in sin. Yet, Scripture is not hesitant to speak of the lost and the condition of lostness. Indeed, all human beings have been lost, and apart from divine grace, remain lost. As the general confession in the Prayer Book Daily Office says, "we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep" (based on Isaiah 53:6 and 1 Peter 2:25). So all human beings participate in being lost and in needing to be found by Christ and His Church.

Seeking the lost has two important applications in our lives. First, each Christian should acknowledge that in differing ways and at different times we have all been lost and that we have tendencies to get lost repeatedly. As an old hymn says, we are "prone to wander," and we all depend upon divine mercy, grace, and persistence in seeking us out in the past and in each new day. God uses many means to seek us such as subtle promptings of the Spirit, life events, readings, or contacts with others, but chiefly He seeks us through Word and Sacrament. Thus, we should be aware that God is always seeking us, and we need to be open to being found by Him.

Secondly, as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to participate in the Lord's work of seeking and finding the lost. We are not to approach this calling with the wrong attitude. We are not to pretend to be some perfect paragons of virtue. Rather, we are to be humble. As sinners ourselves, we have benefited from the mercy and grace of God. We rejoice in divine mercy and grace, and we want to share that good news with others. We want each lost person to be found and to know the joy of returning to God. May each of us be found and do our small part to help others be found by God!

Trinity II- Invitations to the Banquet- Luke 14; 16-23

Like many Scripture passages, today’s Gospel from St. Luke 14:16-23 involves food. Jesus tells a parable about a great banquet or feast. In the first century, a householder wishing to host a big dinner party would send out a servant with many preliminary verbal invitations. Based on the responses, the feast would be prepared. When all was ready, the host would then send the servant back to bid the guests to come.
In the parable, the guests who originally accept the invitation begin to make excuses when the feast was ready. They prefer to do other things. They try to invent excuses. But the host will not to be outdone. He wants to share the feast with somebody. Since his respectable and prosperous neighbors back out, he sends his servant to bring in some less respectable neighbors, complete strangers, and passers-by.

We can easily see two points about the kingdom of God in this parable. One is a warning about making excuses. A second point is about inviting people. Since I have stressed the danger of excuses on previous occasions, this time, I focus on the invitation.
Our mission as servants of the divine host is to invite people to share in the spiritual feast. There is always room for more guests at the spiritual feast. And God asks us as His servants to invite others to the feast.

Although everyone may not appreciate the invitation, we are not to give up. Our master wants us to keep seeking newcomers. There are still many besides us who would appreciate the offer. Many souls in this world long for spiritual nourishment. Many people need the bread of life that comes through Word and Sacrament.
The role of inviting others is easier for some of us than for others. Some are more outgoing; some speak to others more naturally; some meet more people. So everyone doesn’t have to use the same approach. We don’t all have to extend our Master’s invitation in the same way or to the same numbers of people. But whatever our personalities and approaches, inviting others to share in God’s gracious provision is a basic duty of His servants. Each of us should seek to invite others to share in the gospel feast.

Trinity Sunday & the Athanasian Creed

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the key Christian belief rooted in the Bible and summarizing the self-revelation of God in Holy Scripture. In the words of the preface in the Order for Holy Communion, "It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God. Who with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy  Ghost, art one God, one Lord, in Trinity of Persons and in Unity of Substance. For that which we believe of thy glory, O Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference of inequality."

Beginning in the early 900's, the custom of observing the first Sunday after Pentecost in honor of the Holy Trinity arose in Liege and soon spread in northern and western Europe. In particular, St. Thomas a Becket promoted this feast in England. Eventually, the observance of Trinity Sunday spread in all the Latin Church, and it was made a universal feast under the papacy in 1334. In the liturgical traditions of northern Europe including England, this Sunday also gave its name to the following season to the end of the church year.

In addition, the Western Church honored the doctrine of the Trinity with the creedal canticle often called the Athanasian Creed. Although influenced by the thought of  St. Athanasius of Alexandria, this document probably originated in the 400's in Latin and spread throughout the West. From 1549 through 1662, English Books of Common Prayer appointed it to be said at Morning Prayer on several major feasts in place of the Apostles' Creed. (The 1962 Canadian BCP includes it. American Prayer Books did not mention it until 1979 and 2019.) This ancient creed stresses the doctrine of the Trinity and Christ's Incarnation. It is a bulwark against many heresies, ancient and modern, and deserves our attention and affirmation.

The Athanasian Creed also known by its first words in Latin, Quicumque Vult

     Whosoever would be saved / needeth before all things to hold fast the Catholic Faith.
     2 Which Faith except a man keep whole and undefiled, / without doubt he will perish eternally.
     3 Now the Catholic Faith is this, / that we worship one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity;
     4 Neither confusing the Persons, / nor dividing the Substance.
     5 For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, / another of the Holy Ghost;
     6 But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, / the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.
     7 Such as the Father is, such is the Son, / and such is the Holy Ghost;
     8 The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Ghost uncreated;
     9 The Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Ghost infinite;
     10 The Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Ghost eternal;
     11 And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal;
     12 As also there are not three uncreated, nor three infinites, / but one infinite, and one uncreated.
     13 So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, / the Holy Ghost almighty;
     14 And yet there are not three almighties, but one almighty.
     15 So the Father is God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God;
     16 And yet there are not three Gods, / but one God.
     17 So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, / the Holy Ghost Lord;
     18 And yet there are not three Lords, / but one Lord.
     19 For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity / to confess each Person by himself to be both God and Lord;
     20 So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion / to speak of three Gods or three Lords.
     21 The Father is made of none, / nor created, nor begotten.
     22 The Son is of the Father alone; / not made, nor created, but begotten.
     23 The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son; / not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
     24 There is therefore one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; / one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
     25 And in this Trinity there is no before or after, / no greater or less;
     26 But all three Persons are co-eternal together, / and co-equal.
     27 So that in all ways, as is aforesaid, / both the Trinity is to be worshipped in Unity, and the Unity in Trinity.
     28 He therefore that would be saved, / let him thus think of the Trinity.
     29 Furthermore, it is necessary to eternal salvation, / that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
     30 Now the right Faith is that we believe and confess / that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man.
     31 He is God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; / and he is Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;
     32 Perfect God; / perfect Man, of reasoning soul and human flesh subsisting;
     33 Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead;/ less than the Father as touching his Manhood.
     34 Who although he be God and Man, / yet he is not two, but is one Christ;
     35 One, however, not by conversion of Godhead into flesh, / but by taking of Manhood into God;
     36 One altogether; / not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.
     37 For as reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
     38 Who suffered for our salvation, / descended into hell, rose again from the dead;
     39 Ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father, / from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
     40 At whose coming all men must rise again with their bodies, / and shall give account for their own deeds.
     41 And they that have done good will go into life eternal; / they that have done evil into eternal fire.
     42 This is the Catholic Faith, / which except a man do faithfully and stedfastly believe, he cannot be saved.

     Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
     As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.