Trinity

In the name of God, source of all being, eternal word, and holy spirit.

TRINITY SUNDAY 2026

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

• Genesis 1:1-2:4a
• 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20
• Psalm 8

https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/ATrinity_RCL.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBRpeq9dVe4

https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incoming/article15009149.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_Shamrock.jpg

In the name of God, source of all being, eternal word, and holy spirit. Amen.

The word of the day today is three…… in one.

In its earliest form there are two more verses to Holy, Holy, Holy:

In Thy name bap­tized are we,

With Thy bless­ing are dis­missed;

And Thrice-Ho­ly chant to Thee

In the ho­ly Eu­cha­rist;

Life is one dox­ol­ogy,

To the bless­èd Tri­ni­ty.

To the Fa­ther; and the Son,

Who for us did deign to die;

And to God the Ho­ly One,

Who the Church doth sanc­ti­fy;

Sing we with glad ju­bi­lee,

Hallelujah! Lord, to Thee.

http://hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/h/h/o/hhholord.htm cf. The Hymnal 1940 Companion, p. 178.

We baptize and are baptized in one name, whoever we are, among Christians. We are baptized in the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are sent out, in the Great Commission, that Matthew relates at the end of his Gospel, to all nations, and to baptize in the one name, that is the Trinity, God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

And we are blessed at our going forth from this assembly, in the words at the end of today’s Epistle reading, in that name. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One name. Wait a minute. Isn’t that three names? If we wanted one name for God would we not, like the earliest Hebrews, like Moses, ask for one? Whom shall I say you are? And get that great non-answer, I am who I am. Which leaves it a mystery. (Ex. 3:13–15)

You can’t blame us for trying. Source of all being, eternal Word, and holy Spirit, comes close. Creator, word, and sanctifier, meh. Those are attributes or functions. And clearly the Trinity is personal. God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person, God the holy Spirit, mysteriously, is a Person. And yet, God the Holy Trinity is one God. 

One being. Three persons. No wonder we say it’s a mystery. And throw up our hands, in praise….. or in prayer. In the hymn Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, we bind ourselves, as if putting on the armor of God, in the singular name of the Trinity. 

I bind unto my­self to­day

The strong name of the Tri­ni­ty,

By in­vo­ca­tion of the same

The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind un­to my­self to­day

The pow­er of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, His might to stay,

His ear to heark­en to my need.

The wis­dom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, His shield to ward;

The Word of God to give me speech,

His heav­en­ly host to be my guard.

I bind un­to my­self the name,

The strong name of the Tri­ni­ty,

By in­vo­ca­tion of the same,

By whom all na­ture hath cre­ation,

Eternal Fa­ther, Spir­it, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my sal­va­tion,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

http://hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/t/p/a/stpatric.htm

The hymn does not provide a formula, but a promise, and a prayer. A way forward, into and through the mystery, into an intimate and personal relationship.

And that is really what Trinity Sunday is about: relationship. God to Godself, yes, and God to us. It is as if the three persons of the Trinity were dancers. This is the dance, the holy dance, the interplay of the persons of the Trinity, that God beckons us to join. 

We join in the Eucharist, we join in prayer, we join in Baptism and all the sacramental rites; we join at our death. And again at the new birth into eternal life, that is the resurrection. The dance, a circle perfected, in the Trinity.

We join in every day of our lives, and the lives of the ones we love. And those we see no longer. And those we have never, or have yet, to meet. 

God the Father, Source of All Being, in your generosity you make room for all that is to come to be. In your enfolding embrace we live our lives. 

Merciful Father, be kind to us in our folly and grant us the wisdom of the spirit and the love and grace of the son as you bear us into being within the womb of creation.

Jesus, Eternal Word, you call us, bringing us together, whether or not we were there with you by the lakeside in Galilee, or in Jerusalem and Judea, or not. You walked down the hill from Nazareth to the lake and there by its shore you began to gather us, your people, your chosen followers. You lead us, still, by the power and through the inspiration of the holy spirit, holy spirit that you bequeathed upon your followers.

Holy Spirit, you are the God we know. Jesus left you as his legacy to us. Holy Spirit, you are the God we encounter. Jesus left you as his gift to us. The Father made us. But you are the God we see. How do we see you? We see you in the manifestations of your works. You fill us with grace and insight. You give us courage and wisdom. Indeed, you are called ‘the spirit of wisdom’. 

God, three yet one, we pray to you, we proclaim you, we baptize in your threefold name, always calling us through the threeness into the One. 

For in three persons you are one God. We experience you in creation, salvation,  and the ongoing transformation of our lives in communion with you. Be with us as we go forth to proclaim the good news of your love, your redemption, you care for all your creation. And celebrate with us in joy. 

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sources & Resources - Year A

 Sources and Resources 

... include:

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha

New Revised Standard Version

General editor: Michael Coogan, Edited by Marc Brettler, Carol Newsom, and Pheme Perkins

The SBL Study Bible. New Revised Standard Version—Updated Edition. A revised edition of The HarperCollins Study Bible, which replaced the Harper Study Bible.

The CEB Study Bible · Common English Bible.  https://www.commonenglishbible.com/explore/passage-lookup

David Adam,
Clouds and Glory: Prayers for the Church Year: Year A (London: SPCK, 1998)
Traces of Glory: Prayers for the Church Year: Year B (London: SPCK, 1999)
Glimpses of Glory: Prayers for the Church Year: Year C (SPCK, 2000)

John Barton, ed. Oxford Bible Commentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

John Fisher. "Have you seen Jesus my Lord?" (song, 1970).

Robert W. Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, eds. The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. New York: Macmillan,1993.

Christopher Irvine, The Pilgrims' Manual. Glasgow: Wild Goose, 1997.

Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volumes 1, 2, 3. Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1998.

Nicholas Thomas (Tom) Wright, Matthew for Everyone, ed. 2. London: SPCK, 2004.

Barbara E. Reid, New Collegeville Bible Commentary: The Gospel According to Matthew. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2005.

Fred B. Craddock, John H. Hayes, Carl R. Holladay, Gene M. Tucker,
Preaching Through the Christian Year: Year A (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1992)

Mary Hinkle Shore, Herman C. Waetjen, Richard Eslinger, Melinda A. Quivik,
New Proclamation: Year A, 2007-2008: Advent through Holy Week (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007)

New Proclamation: Year A, 2010-2011: Advent through Holy Week (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010)

David Bartlett, and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volumes 1,2,3,4. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster Knox Press.

The Lectionary Page http://www.io.com/~kellywp/index.html

The (Online) Book of Common Prayer http://www.bcponline.org/

Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/

The Hymnal 1940 Companion.Third Revised Edition. New York: Church Pension Fund. 1949, 1951.

AEaster7

People of Coolidge, why do you stare up into the sky? He will return, in the same way as he left. And he won’t be mistaken for a bird, or a plane, or a superman here to save us one by one by silly means. 

As he ascended, Jesus gave his disciples, and that means us, a job to do: a commission, to take his message to all people, at home right here, and beyond our comfort zone or even our knowledge. 

We know this town, its people; we know ourselves. And yet we do not know what is coming. Not really. Though we may fear or gleefully await a change, or strive to keep the faith with what we know and love. 

But there is more to the story than that: we have something to share, a story to tell, to every new person that walks through that door, and a new story to tell to every one we may see week after week. It is the good news of the story of the glory of God. It is from the beginning the story of God’s love for us, his people, and his people includes everybody. 

Today we welcome a new person into our company. Last month she was only ten days old and here she is to be baptized.

In the story of the Church it is an unusual day to be baptized, or for anything to happen. Last week, or last Thursday, we began to accept that Jesus, who arose on Easter, is no longer with us. 

We do not see God in Christ face to face. We must seek him in each other – and in the stranger we meet on the road, or in the hospital, or at the diner. He may help us, we may help him. But the image of God is in each one of us. 

Next Sunday, the feast day of Pentecost, the Church celebrates a new beginning. You will notice that in our first lesson today things have already begun. Returning from saying good-bye to Jesus outside town, the disciples, including women, and the eleven apostles, begin to gather for prayer. They meet in an upper room, perhaps the very one they met on the night he was betrayed, Jesus’ passion beginning.

They gather in prayer. They will go on gathering in prayer and telling the story of Jesus, and of the life that ends not in despair but hope.

At Pentecost the promised Spirit will arrive in dramatic fashion. If you are down at San Xavier del Bac Mission Church, sometime. look for the painting on the wall of the disciples, each with a tongue of flame above his head. This shows us visually what happened internally. 

They began to understand that the Spirit was within, and working in them, to bring that commission into action that Jesus had left them with. Left us with. To take the message home and to the whole world.

This morning we receive a new member into our midst, a new Christian, a new person, a new human being. One of God’s own delight. Evelyn. Our duty to her as to all new Christians is to remind them of their baptism. What it means. 

And it means, among other things, that you are God’s delight. You are loved by God. And we try to show that in how we welcome you into our company. We are the company of God’s delight: the creatures he has made and in whom is his joy. 

We show God’s delight in us, God’s love for us, in part in how we are together as one; one people, called together in faith by our own baptisms. We too, Evelyn, have had water splashed on our heads, oil spread on our foreheads, and our names proclaimed as God’s own. 

Together as one family, one people, with one God father of all. Christ prayed for us, that we might be one. 

You are one of us. You are one of us, now, and forever.

A visible sign of that unity will be our prayer together, in the Eucharist and in the Lord’s Prayer, as we all together say those words that our Savior taught us.

Simple words; but they cover everything. 

They begin with praise for God and prayer that the will of God will happen – among us, and in part through us. As we pray, we are called to help bring into visible being that kingdom of God, reign of God, that we pray will become realized here. And we pray for our daily needs. And we pray for forgiveness, as we surely know we need it. But forgiveness as we forgive others and ourselves. And again we pray, acknowledging that that kingdom is already here; already real. Glory. 

Watermelon seeds - and grandmothers. 

When I was young Grandma Maxine came to visit.

She taught us two things on that visit. One was how to spit watermelon seeds. We were eating watermelon, the four boys, out on the back lawn, and she asked, do you know how to spit watermelon seeds? No. Well, let me teach you. She lined us up at the edge of the lawn. Just past it was a place my father had put down rich soil for a new garden. We ate - and got the seeds into our mouths - and we spat.

The seeds launched out into th new soil beyond the lawn's edge - and disappeared. But six weeks later - watermelon. First the vines, then the melons.

The other thing she taught me was the Lord's Prayer. It took a little longer for that to bear fruit.

And now, using the exact same words my grandmother taught me, the traditional words, let us pray.  

As our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say,

Our Father, who art in heaven,     hallowed be thy Name,     thy kingdom come,     thy will be done,         on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,     as we forgive those         who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,     but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,     and the power, and the glory,     for ever and ever. Amen.

***

• Acts 1:6-14
• 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
• John 17:1-11
• Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36

https://sermonoats.blogspot.com/2012/04/seeds.html

For St Michael's Episcopal Church, Coolidge, Ariz. May 17th 2026. JRL+

© 2026 John Leech

AEaster3 a friend and not a stranger

 Walking through San Francisco from my office in the Financial District up into Chinatown and North Beach was a favorite lunch break for me. One day returning from Caffe Trieste or Molinari’s Deli, as I waited at the stop light at Columbus and Broadway, I heard someone quietly walk up next to me. 

First I saw the tennis shoes. A little oversized. Then, looking up, I found myself looking into twinkling blue eyes of– what at first appeared to be a middle-aged woman– but it was a man! 

Not a man in drag, like my old neighbors on Lily Street, but a man impeccably made to look like a woman. A man in drag I could’ve understood, but this was something else. It freaked me out.

Years later I found out: an actor, during a break from filming, had left the film set, and gone on his own lunchtime walk, still in full makeup and costume. He was playing a middle-aged woman. 

Mrs. Doubtfire.

And so he had a little fun seeing people’s reactions, like mine, to see if the illusion would hold up. 

[Apparently Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon did the same thing, when they tried out their wigs and dresses (and heels) for “Some Like it Hot”.]

So I did not recognize him. 

Have you had that experience? Of not recognizing someone, of not seeing?

I feel a little sympathy for Cleopas and the other disciple. Who would be the last person they would expect to see, on the road to Emmaus? – besides Robin Williams. 

The master. 

The one crucified just three days ago. Sure there were rumors, crazy stories. But now?

It was all too real. You could excuse them for freaking out. But they did not. At first they did not see Jesus, they saw a stranger. Then a companion on the way. And by time they invited him to dinner, he had walked them through what had happened, what had to happen, according to all the Scriptures.

Only these truths were not so strange, and he was no stranger. He was their teacher.

***

• Acts 2:14a,36-41
• 1 Peter 1:17-23
• Luke 24:13-35
• Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17

***

Kitchen Scene with Supper at Emmaus, Rijck, 1605 http://edgeofenclosure.org/emmausrijck.html

AEaster3 bread and strangers

Velazquez’ “Kitchen Maid With Supper at Emmaus”

https://www.nationalgallery.ie/sites/default/files/2017-04/w1500-Vel%C3%A1zquez-Kitchen-Maid.jpg

Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread. (Luke 24:35)

We were walking along the road talking about everything that had happened in the last few days. We spoke about how Jesus had come to Jerusalem. 

We welcomed him with branches strewn in the road and cloaks spread across the path where he passed. Hosannas were in the air. 

Then he went into the temple and taught. Even as he left for the day he had healed people. His words and his deeds were powerful. Everyone could tell that he was a mighty prophet.

But then our chief priests and the elders themselves handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. 

Here we had hoped and had hoped. All our hopes were in him that he would be the one: the savior, the Messiah, the one to redeem Israel. 

All these things had happened just three days before.

But then, we recalled what had happened earlier that day. Some of the women had gone to the tomb in the morning and found an empty tomb, and angels who said that Jesus had risen. and when Peter went to check, he found no one there at all.

It was strange and disturbing to hear these things and we had left town. We were on our way away from all this when a stranger came alongside us and became our companion on the way and we told him what was in our minds and on our hearts.

Somehow, he was someone you could trust. So we told him.

He surprised us, though, by rebuking us, saying we were foolish and had not understood.

We were going the wrong way in what we were thinking and what we were feeling.

We thought it was all over, but he said, this is something that had to happen. 

I wish we had taken notes. He told us from the beginning of the scriptures all that the prophets had to say about the Messiah.

The miles passed more quickly and we found ourselves at the village as evening was drawing in.

We did not want the conversation to end. We wanted to hear more. He seemed to be ready to walk on alone, but we pressed an invitation on him to stay with us. It was after all drawing on to night and it was not a time for travelers to walk alone.

So he came in with us to the Inn and at the table he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to us.  

And that is when we recognized him.

It had only been three days after all since we had last broken bread with him.

And here he was breaking the bread again and sharing it. Alive, as always alive. More than always. He shared the bread with us, and then as our eyes were opened he – disappeared.

On the way as he had told us what was happening, our hearts were warmed. Our minds were opened so that we understood 

that 

what had happened and 

what was happening 

was not the end, 

was not cause for despair, 

but that in it, 

even in the worst of it, 

was hope 

and that now a new hope was beginning: 

for he has risen. 

So we could not help but turn around and run back up the hill to Jerusalem to tell our friends.

***

They were there, they told the story. But did they understand it? Weren’t they headed the wrong way, thinking that all was over, when in fact all was only beginning?

When they are most despondent or at least baffled, the holy one appears…but he is transformed and unfamiliar.  

He meets them where they are. He joins them on their journey. 

They admit to this stranger, this unexpected companion on the way, that they are discouraged and uncertain how to proceed… except, apparently, to head away from the center of action. 

He invites them to reveal their thoughts, wonderings – to tell their own story of what had happened these last days.

He encourages them to share their perceptions, hopes, questions, disappointments. 

They take him for a foreign visitor, and a particularly clueless one, as even those seem to have been aware… but he is not offended.

Jesus never takes his interlocutors for granted. He gives them the dignity of supplying their own answers, as he did when he asked the blind beggar Bartimaeus “what do you want me to do for you?” 

(Of course this enhances the storytelling quality of the narrative, drawing us further in, as the dialogue continues.) 

The other disciple is unnamed - could it be us?

There was a common understanding of Jesus as a prophet. 

Everybody, it seems, knows what to expect and what it meant – except this stranger.

Then: It looks like it’s all over….. but he is risen.

How could this possibly be?

As if they were blind and needed their eyes, and their hearts, to be opened, just as the blind and the lame and the deaf needed healing, beyond the physical, to the spiritual, so these need the ‘opening’ of their minds, the healing of hearts.  

From the beginning until now, he taught them, Christ was coming.

(heightened tension) He explained what the Christ is, on the road, but they wanted to know, who is he? “Where can I find this living water?”

In the great Middle Eastern tradition, they show hospitality … and find themselves entertaining more than an angel, unawares. 

They fully recognized him in the breaking and sharing of the bread, rather than only in the exposition of Scripture. Now he is real. 

This is the one who only three days before had last broken bread with his disciples. Now he is transfigured in the resurrection.

It was in the ‘opening’ to them of the scriptures that they first became inspired, and left behind their ‘folly’ and disconsolate past. 

But: this is their moment of illumination. They recall, only now, after his glory is revealed, all that he had taught them – on the road to Emmaus that day, and on all those roads they had travelled before his death.

He has turned them around –  from despair to hope.

They encountered him on the road; he opened their minds through his teaching. In the action of communion, he opened their hearts. 

In the bread, in the wine,  of Eucharist, when we are in the presence of each other in communion, we may truly perceive his presence, in the Spirit, in our midst.

Open our eyes, that we may see… beyond our own preconceptions and preferences. Perhaps the Christ we need to see comes to us similarly veiled.

Do our eyes need to be opened? Our hearts? Our understanding? Do we need to be healed, as the blind were healed, but in our souls?

 

Who or what has prevented us from recognizing Jesus? Our fear? Anxiety? Preconceptions of the Messiah? Preoccupations?

I wonder: Do we truly know him in the breaking of the bread? In the communion we share? Do we see the stamp of Christ in each other?  

When do we fully see Jesus for who he is? When do we see each other in fullness? And then, as we go out into the world to spread the word and serve the world in its breathless need, do we see its goodness, the love of Christ reflected in his care? 

Lord Jesus, be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (from A Collect for the Presence of Christ)

• Acts 2:14a,36-41
• 1 Peter 1:17-23
• Luke 24:13-35
• Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17

https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEaster3_RCL.html

http://edgeofenclosure.org/easter3a.html

Kitchen Scene with Supper at Emmaus, Rijck, 1605 http://edgeofenclosure.org/emmausrijck.html   Velazquez’ “Kitchen Maid With Supper at Emmaus” https://www.nationalgallery.ie/sites/default/files/2017-04/w1500-Vel%C3%A1zquez-Kitchen-Maid.jpg