SUNDAY Trinity Sunday DATE 11 June 2017 (Year A) PREACHER The Revd Gill Rookyard
When we encounter the Holy Trinity - our limited human imaginations are stretched to the point of incredulity; speechless amazement; baffled astonishment. One God, who is complete and whole and harmonious, in a way human comprehension fails to fully understand. And yet, God who is in three; revealing relationship and love as the defining force behind all of Creation. We are left grasping for words and images to express who this God is. Three in One; and One in Three. It is the unique Christian conception of who God is to us. The Russian Orthodox Church invented icons as a way of focusing on the deep truths behind our faith without the barrier of words, putting into colours and shapes what cannot be grasped by the intellect. Perhaps the most famous is the icon of The Trinity by Andrei Rublev. Rublev, a monk at the monastery of Zagorsk, near Moscow, offers an inspired vision of our remarkable God. He draws it from the account in Genesis 18 where Abram and Sarai encounter three mysterious visitors. They are angels in disguise, and what makes this moment holy is that these ordinary people welcome the Divine into their lives with open hearts and minds with generosity of spirit and with kindness. And in so doing they are blessed with grace and with wisdom. They catch a glimpse of the Divine life, which we now call Trinity. As we approach the ineffable Trinity we too draw from one man s vision of who this God might be and what the Trinity might encompass for us. In the words of Henri Nouwen, As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three divine angels and to join them around the table. The movement from the Father toward the Son and the movement of both Son and Spirit toward the Father become a movement in which the one who prays is lifted up and held secure We come to see with our inner eyes that all engagements in this world can bear fruit only when they take place within this divine circle the house of perfect love.
So there is no sermon today. There are simply thoughts, pointers, and an invitation to reflect upon and pray before this most remarkable icon, with the hope that, in doing so, we may come to see with the eyes of faith something of the mystery which is our Triune God, and the profound invitation offered to us to become the fourth person in the Holy Trinity of God. Let s unpack the scene. The three gold-winged figures, dressed in blue (the colour of eternity), are seated around a white table on which a golden, chalice-like bowl contains a roasted lamb, which reminds us inescapably of an altar at Communion. Reading the icon from left to right, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with their overlapping wings signifying the intimacy of their relationship. Rublev gives each person of the Trinity different clothing. The Father seems to wear all the colours in a kind of fabric that changes with the light, that seems transparent, that cannot be described or confined in words. And this is how it should be. No one has seen the Father, but the vision of him fills the universe. His blue robe covered with a translucent cloak, symbolises the eternal divine glory. The Son has the deepest colours; a thick heavy garment of the reddish-brown of earth and blood, symbolising, respectively, the incarnation and the crucifixion; and a cloak of the blue of heaven. In his person, he unites heaven and earth, the two natures are present in him. Over his right shoulder there is a band of gold shot through the earthly garment, as his divinity suffuses and transfigures his earthly being. On the right, the Holy Spirit has a garment of the clear blue of the sky, wrapped over with a robe of a fragile green - green, the colour of life, because the Holy Spirit (in the words of the Nicene Creed) is the Lord, the Giver of Life. So, the Spirit of creation moves in sky and water, breathes in heaven and earth. All living things owe their freshness to her touch.
The light that shines around their heads is white, pure light. Gold is not enough to express the glory of God. Only light will do, and that same white becomes the holy table, the place of offering. God is revealed and disclosed here, at the heart, in the whiteness of untouchable light. Now look closely again at the three figures. They are certainly three distinct figures. But look at the way they are sitting, angled towards each other. And look at the way they are gazing they seem to be giving themselves to each other, absorbed in each other, living in and for each other one-in-three, three-in-one, the perfect expression of love. Look too at the family resemblance they could almost be triplets which suggests not only their equality but also their indivisibility. And the Son is central why? Because he is the key that opens the door to the reality of God as Trinity, as it was by reflecting on his person and work that the early church came to understand and express that God is indeed Trinity. Let s spend a few moments with these figures in form and in colour and see them with the eyes of faith. The Father looks forward, raising his hand in blessing to the Son. It is impossible to tell whether he looks up at the Son or down to the chalice on the table, but his gesture expresses a movement towards the Son. This is my Son, listen to him The hand of the Son points on, around the circle, to the Spirit. In this simple array we see the movement of life towards the open space at the table. But it s not really open, is it? Do you notice that little rectangle opposite Christ, between the Father and the Spirit. Most people pass right over it, but some art historians believe the remaining rectangle of glue on the original icon indicates that there was perhaps once a mirror glued to the front of the table. It s stunning when you think about it there was room at this table for a fourth person. For the observer. For us. For YOU! Yes, you and us - and all of creation are invited to sit at the divine table. The mirror seems to have been lost over the centuries, but there is consensus among historians to believe it was there.
So, as the Father sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit, the life flows clockwise around the table and we are invited (and sent, as we heard in the Great Commission of our Gospel reading today) to complete the circle of the Godhead with our response. Let s spend a few moments considering the enormity of being offered a place in God, in the circle of love between Father, Son and Spirit; and with the eyes of faith see ourselves in that once glued-on mirror as the fourth person alongside all of God s creation - in the Holy Trinity of God. As the Father sends the Son, as the Son sends the Holy Spirit, so we respond to the movement of the Spirit who points us to Jesus. And he shows us the Father in whom all things come to fruition. This is the counter-clockwise movement of our lives, in response to the movement of God. And along the way are the three signs at the top of the picture: the hill, the tree, and the house. The Spirit touches us, calls to us, even though we do not always know who it is that is touching us. He leads us by ways we may not be aware of, up the hill of prayer. It may be steep and rocky, but the journeying God goes before us along the path. The path leads us to Jesus, the Son of God, and it leads to a tree. A great tree in the heat of the day spreads its shade. It is a place of security, a place of peace, a place where we begin to find out the possibilities of who we can be. But this is no ordinary tree. It stands above the Son in the picture, and stands above the altar-table where the lamb lies within the chalice. Because of the sacrifice this tree grows. The tree of death has been transformed into a tree of life for us. The tree is on the way to the house. Over the head of the Father is the house of the Father - the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. It is the goal of our journey. It is the beginning and end of our lives. It s roof is golden. It s door is always open for the traveller. It has a tower, and its window is always open so that the Father can incessantly scan the roads for a glimpse of a returning prodigal. Let s spend a few moments considering where we find ourselves along that journey today, conscious that as we mature in our faith, we move constantly between the hill, the tree and the house And finally, let s look at two of the objects in the icon the staffs and the table. Each person holds a staff, which is so long it cuts the picture into sections. Why should beings with wings, that can fly like the light, have need of a staff for their journey? Because we created humanity - are on a journey, and these three persons enter into our journey, our slow movement across the face of the earth. God is with us in the weariness of our human road. The traveller God sits down at our ordinary tables and spreads them with a hint of heaven
As such, the table or altar lies at the center of the picture. It is at once the place of Abraham's hospitality to the angels, and God's place of hospitality to us. That ambiguity lies at the heart of communion, at the heart of worship. As soon as we open a sacred place for God to enter, for God to be welcomed and adored, it becomes his place. And in turn it is we who are welcomed; it is we who must 'take off our shoes' because of the holiness of the ground. Contained in the center of the table, at the centre of the circle, a sign of death. The lamb, killed. The holy meal brought to the table. The entire icon points to this space, this mystery: within it, everything about God is summed up and expressed - his power, his glory, and above all his love. And it is expressed in such a way that, when we take our place in God, we can reach it. Let s spend a few moments considering the privileges of walking of earthly journey with God, and of partaking in the gift of God s greatest sacrifice of love for us. As the independent scholar, teacher, and fishing-lure designer C. Baxter Kruger puts it: The stunning truth is that this triune God, in amazing and lavish love, determined to open the circle and share the Trinitarian life with others. This is the one, eternal and abiding reason for the creation of the world and of human life. There is no other God, no other will of God, no second plan, no hidden agenda for human beings. Before the creation of the world, the Father, Son and Spirit set their love upon us and planned to bring us to share and know and experience the Trinitarian life itself. But notice this none of the figures is speaking. So let us, like them, be quiet for a final moment in silent, prayerful contemplation Amen.