Blessed Trinity

As far back as my mind will take me, I remember singing that song, "Holy, Holy, Holy."  Looking back I was probably more captivated by the singing part of the song than the its theology.  "Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty!  Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.  Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity!"  This first verse is full of exclamation points which probably means it should be sung strongly.  Unfortunately, the church has too often sung it with a wimpy spirit!

Over the years I did not do a lot of preaching about the Trinity.  Of course, there is a Sunday on the Church calendar celebrated as Trinity Sunday, but even on that Sunday most preachers will choose another topic.  Perhaps, we do not quite know what to do with this theological understanding of God.  We stay so focused on worshiping one God that we do not quite know what to do with the idea that God is known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And when we do deal with these three dimensions of divine revelation, we usually do so in such a way that the distinctiveness of each one is affirmed without speaking of the three in a wholistic manner. 

What I have been too slow to learn is that it is not heresy to address prayers to Christ or the Holy Spirit even as I do when I begin my prayers with the "Our Father."  Doing this has been a discipline of  reacquainting myself with the multi dimensioned nature and work of God.   It has always been a struggle to stay out of ruts of the routine when praying.  When congregations can anticipate the prayers of their pastor before he prays them, or when folks like us end up praying prayers filled with a sameness, there might be some questions to be asked about our praying.  What I have learned is that praying with the Trinity in mind brings something new and fresh to a spiritual discipline that has been practiced a life time.