As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People. 
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.     

Call to Worship:  

 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole world is full of his glory.  

Isaiah 6.3

O Come, Let Us Worship

Collect: 
Father, we praise you:
Through your Word and Holy Spirit, you created all things.
You reveal your salvation in all the world
by sending to us Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
Through your Holy Spirit
you give us a share in your life and love.
Fill us with the vision of your glory,
that we may always serve and praise you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever.  Amen.

The Proclamation of the Gospel:

John 16. 12 - 15

Sermon:  The Venerable Brian Evans  

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
our hearts be ever acceptable to you, O Lord.  Amen.

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, blessèd Trinity!

“Discovering The Mystery”

Just when you think—or just when we think—we have learned all there is to know about God, the God of surprises, as I often say, has a new idea. Or places a new twist on something new.

Now a bit of advice that clergy often receive or read over, and over again, is that to try and preach and teach exactly what the Holy Spirit or the Trinity is, pardon me, is really to do something that is inexplainable. 

A sermon for today could be in the form of a few short words:

Let The Mystery of God Discover You.
Let The Mystery of God Discover You.

Do you ever think about how God might discover us in our lives?

I fully understand how some of us may not be comforted in this idea or comforted in the idea that God knows what we are doing. God knows where we are. God knows what is in our hearts, what is in our spirits within us.

In some ways, it’s what we hope for when we take a retreat, though, is to discover, or let God discover the mystery that is in us.

Two weeks ago, the Diocesan Cursillo Community held their annual Cursillo.

Cursillo, in Christianity, is a movement which, by its own Method, attempts from within the Church, to give life to the essential Christian truths in spirituality originally, and creatively of the person.
In discovering their potential and accepting their limitations, they will direct their freedom with their conviction, and reinforce their will with decisiveness, and direct their friendship with the virtue of constancy in their day-to-day life, personally and with others.

In other words: when you go on a retreat, it is that opportunity that you have to allow God to discover you. And when you allow God to discover you, then you may be able to respond—or will respond—to the gospel message that God is calling you to carry in the world.

Now, at the same time, some would argue that Cursillo is not a retreat. But, I believe, it is a retreat IF the program is followed as originally designed.

For generations, we have marked this Sunday after Pentecost as 'Trinity Sunday.' Some will be celebrating the First Sunday after Pentecost. But for us, in our Anglican tradition, Trinity Sunday is today.

Trinity Sunday begins the season that is the longest of the Church year: the Season After Pentecost. The colour in Pentecost is green. The colour for our celebrations today though, is white, in respect of the Trinity.

The colour, and that long green season for us here on Vancouver Island, is so appropriate, as you know, we can have green grass year-round, which, from the part of the world where I was raised, that was not so. In fact, maybe, we could have kept white, for winter!

It is appropriate then to begin, or begin with, an understanding of the nature of God.

God, a three-letter word with a treasure box of identities. Reading the Scriptures, we find many different identities for God, or descriptions.

Let us consider a few:

1. Our first lesson today from Proverbs tells us something of how God is Wisdom. And in Proverbs, Wisdom or in the Wisdom liturgy, God is seen as the feminine. For myself, when I think of God as Father, I am reminded of the many wisdom tidbits learned at the side of my parents.

2. God is truth. How many times, as a child, have we all been reminded to tell the truth, and how important the truth is? God comes to us, and gives us truth and shares with us the truth of creation; the truth of God’s love for the world.

   At the same time, we might say, it’s Ok to talk about God as truth, while we could say, that we are living in “post-truth” world. And when we suggest that, it’s sort of scary to think that we may be living in a post-truth world.

3. The word of God, the Holy Scriptures, tells us that Jesus gives us a message of peace, and joy and love, and justice for all people. So, we come to that understanding of the inclusivity of God. And our challenge, to be inclusive of all people. When we live by truth though, then we can become kingdom building.

4. Of course, we must not overlook Jesus. Jesus tells us, ‘The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.’ I would go so far as to say that by our baptism we have been welcomed into that same truth.

5. God is also Spirit. In time with the children, I would invite them to take a deep breath and hold that breath in and then gradually let it out, and how they could feel that sense of Spirit, that sense of “Ruah,” coming out of us—a big Hebrew word for little children to understand! But breath is something they fully can feel and understand.

6. In most recent times, we may hear the blessing at the conclusion of worship in words like: Creator God, Jesus Sanctifier, Holy Spirit Redeemer.

   In other words, the God who creates, who redeems and sanctifies us; the God who made us; the God who blesses us; the Holy Spirit who redeems us, who gives us forgiveness and freedom.

7. Of course, the last is God as Father. In the secular world, today is Father’s Day. It just so happens this year.

   At the same time, for many people, this can be complicated as they have possibly had negative experiences of father. In this instance, God is a good God. God is a good father. God is a god who is compassionate, who is caring, who is patient, and who is loving.

   Hopefully, this is what we all may remember about our fathers.

God comes to us then as a comforter and as an assurance of life everlasting. When we can see our own father as a protector, and then see God as our protector, as our comforter, our one who gives us assurance in life, and encourages us.

God comes to us as life everlasting.

At the same time, to be perfectly clear though, the word “trinity” is not mentioned in anytime in the Holy Scriptures—references to three persons, but never the word “trinity.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, we encounter Jesus’ command sending us out to the world, and invite people to the community of faith, and be baptized in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

For us as Anglicans, we have a common greeting that comes from the Apostle Paul which he shared when visiting the church in Corinth: The of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

For Christians, this formula of the Trinity continues to be one of those pieces of our faith which we have claimed and hold onto with a tight grip.

The celebration today then is in thanksgiving for our lived experiences of the person of God, or the persons of God in One.

On Tuesday night, Flo and I joined Carol Gill in attending the 100^th Anniversary celebration of the creation of the United Church of Canada.

It was a joy to attend a ‘vesper service’ at St. Andrews United Church, to be with our neighbours down the street. And the opening hymn for the service filled my heart with joy, as those wonderful notes rang out from their church musician, and as the congregation began to sing those opening words that I shared at the beginning of our service this morning ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.’

That hymn is rooted in my very fabric of an understanding of God, a God that is with me, a God that lives within me. As a child, those familiar words were the introit on nearly every Sunday for worship.

And so, it’s kind of part of my fabric, part of who I am.

So, today, we give thanks, and we give blessings to all the expressions of God in our lives.

Thanks be to God,

AMEN. https://vimeo.com/1092928889?share=copy

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let Us Pray

Drawn into the embrace of the holy Trinity, we lift our prayers for the wholeness of the church, the world, and all creation.

Abiding God, your love pours into your whole church, creating faith and bestowing hope.
Fill all the baptized with these good gifts in our various callings. Gather up your church in every place and expression into the unity of your Spirit.

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Creating God, your name is majestic in all the earth, and we are filled with awe at your creation.
Renew this planet and all its wonders: springs abounding with water, earth and soil, beasts of the field, birds of the air, and fish of the sea.

And, in particular, at this time in our own country, we pray for rain. We pray for those who are working on the front lines in our forest fires. We pray for rain and cooler weather to give them an opportunity to get a hold of controlling the fire. We pray for those who have been displaced. We pray for the souls of those who died in the rage of fire.

And so, God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Sovereign God, you delight in the whole human race.
On this week of Juneteenth, bring an end to racial oppression and heal the wounds of racial trauma. Grant us your wisdom, so that all people, especially those in authority, work for the life and freedom of others.

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Compassionate God, your mindful care for us is everlasting. 
Give peace to all who are troubled, endurance to all who suffer, deliverance to all who are afflicted, and healing to all who are sick. We continue to pray for Sheila, John, Geoff, and Gail, and those on our hearts.

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Living God, your glory appears in our shared life.
On this Father’s Day, give to all fathers and father figures gentle hearts and strong spirits, heal the wounds in our families, and comfort those for whom this day brings sadness and pain.

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Eternal God, your hope does not disappoint.
We give you thanks for all who have died in the hope of the resurrection. Hold us in our grief, and bring us at last to fullness of life in you.

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Gather all our prayers in your mercy, O God, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. 

Creator God, ever-living  and true,
you have revealed your love for us
through Word and Spirit.
Hear our prayers, and guide us in right paths to the
glory you share with the Son, and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.  Amen. 

As our Saviour taught us,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses we forgive those who tresspass against us.
And lead us  not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.

Almighty God,
As we have come to worship today, and offered our thanksgiving for You in Three Persons, One God, may we be reunited in our commitment to proclaim the glory of your majesty in the world. We give thanks for the generations that have gone before us and those who will follow.

The Blessing

The peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and
love of God, and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you, and remain with you, always. 
Amen.