Trinity Sunday (Year B, 2021): Litany for the Song of Oneness

I’m a fan of the Trinitarian theme: disparate entities forming a whole; separate consciousnesses merging; individuals (gloriously individuated) voluntarily partnering toward Oneness. It puts me in mind of Saint Paul’s words in Ephesians 2 and Colossians 1: “You who were once far off have been brought near...” (Ephesians 2:13, INCL) and “[i]n Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth… and all things hold together in Christ” (Colossians 1:15,17). 

I get the idea that Christ has the ability to hold all this together because he’s practiced the skill in the context of the Trinity. 

But this idea isn’t necessarily coming from this week’s Lectionary texts. These particular passages are extolling a fearsom and glorious “LORD” in the Isaiah and Psalm, who “shakes the wilderness; and highlighting a separation between flesh and spirit in the epistle - “for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live..” Where is the Trinitarian Oneness here? 

My guess is its up to us, up to the work we do here as reflections of Christ and the Godhead, gathering up disparate elements and melding them; taking the circuitry of body and spirit and re-connecting them. We form the connective tissue that binds heaven to earth. We do the work of wholeness-making because we are made in the image of the Christ - a universal gravity holding all things together. In Christ we make cohesive wholes out of fractious fractions. 

The story of the Trinity is written inside every human body. Two disparate, separate cells find a place of quiet warmth; they relinquish their individuality to become a Third. Father, Mother, Child. Creator, Spirit, Body. Breath, Dust, and Embodiment. Heaven, Earth, and We-who-straddle-worlds. 

This week’s litany draws from the Lectionary passages for Trinity Sunday, Year B; namely the Isaiah 6 and Psalm 29, plus a bit of extra lagniappe I threw in. 

God, we turn our attention again to the imagery of the Trinity, 
Of Three-in-One, 
Of Divine wholeness, holiness, sacredness, 
Oneness, togetherness.

Trinity Sunday (Year A): Litany for Holy Trinities

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of Yahweh,
And the communion of the Holy Spirit
Surround us. (1)

On all sides we are surrounded
By a trinity of grace, mercy and love.
Just as Creator, Son, and Spirit
Live in harmony together.
So do Truth, Beauty, and Righteousness
Live in harmony together.

Things we never thought could come together
Have joined in communion.
    Body and Blood have allied with Healing.
    Pain and Brokenness have become Teachers.
    Love and Mercy have fulfilled Justice.
    Servanthood and Kindness have completed Authority.
    Last and First have re-imagined Heirarchy.
    Questions and Freedom have informed Certainty.
    Dirt and Spit have alchemized Life.
    Body and Mind have been enlivened by Spirit.
    Light and Darkness have given shape to Vision.
    Resurrection and Ascension have made way for Presence.
   
Seemingly unrelated, incomplete ideas have been made whole
Holy Trinities abound on this earth, doing good work:
    Bad made good
    Last made first,
    Servant made ruler
    Poor made rich.
    Ordinary made sacred;
In the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God
For the Gift of the Spirit
Which completes and gives life to all things:
Thanks be to God.

Amen

(1) 2 Corinthians 13:!3

 

Litany for Trinity Sunday

In the liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday is celebrated the first Sunday after Pentecost, to acknowledge the Holy Trinity of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We have plentiful references by Jesus himself to God-Creator (Yahweh) as "Father," therefore many traditions refer to God as such. I like to make room for the idea that God-Creator is not of a specified gender, and that we are given pictures of God that by today's standards might be culturally considered masculine as well as those that might be culturally considered feminine. To that end, I have included options in parenthesis for referring to God-Creator in more gender-neutral terms. Each congregation may choose the option that resonates most strongly for its people.

 

God, we acknowledge You as over all and in all.
Sovereign. Ruler. Creator.
You are vast and unknowable, yet we have been given a clear portrayal of You:
Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Christ is seated with you in heaven, and has left us a Helper:
The Holy Spirit.

Your character, Your nature, Your creativity; all reflected in the various aspects of Yourself:
Father (Parent, Creator, Yahweh), Son, Holy Spirit.
Your glory reflected in all creation; indeed even in human beings,
Whom You made in Your image.

We acknowledge the mystery of the Trinity.
Hallelujah.
We acknowledge You as a whole whose parts each reflect Your self differently, yet perfectly.
Hallelujah.
We acknowledge the loving community You exist in.
Hallelujah.
We are grateful for the many ways You have shown Yourself to us.
Hallelujah.

Dwell among us now, and cause us to live in unity and love just as You do:
Father (Parent, Creator, Yahweh), Son, Holy Spirit.

Amen