09WK17 -CHURCH FESTIVALS- WHAT IS TRINITY SUNDAY?

CHURCH FESTIVALS- WHAT IS TRINITY SUNDAY?
KEY VERSE: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

SCRIPTURE LESSSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

THE FESTIVAL
The first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday. This feast is different from all others on the Christian calendar because it does not celebrate a historical event from the life of Christ or the Apostles. Instead, it celebrates the theological doctrine, or religious truth, of the Trinity: that the one God is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday lasts only one day, which is symbolic of the unity of the Trinity.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
The Trinity is best described in the Nicene Creed. Essentially the Trinity is the belief that God is one in essence, but distinct in person. Therefore we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are somehow distinct from one another (not divided though), yet completely united in will and essence. The Son is said o be eternally begotten of the Father, while the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father and the Son.




The doctrine of the Trinity has been one of the most bitterly contested of all the Christian doctrines in the Christians Church. It has also been the Christian doctrine least understood and misrepresented by the people from other faiths. The doctrine has always been easily expressed in symbols than in words.

In their search for symbols of the Christians have been inspired by nature as well as by their own designs. The Greek word ‘trinity’ was first used in the third century by Tertullian, one of the early Church’s greatest theologians. He gave the example of a tree to illustrate the mystery that God is three persons. Tertullian suggested that, while a tree is al one substance, God the Father can be compared to its root, the Son to its branches, and the Spirit to its fruit. This image of a tree was meant to show how God is not divided but extended into three persons. One of the best-known natural symbols of the Trinity comes from Ireland. It is the shamrock. Like the three-leafed clover, the shamrock is a family of wild plants, which is easily identified by its three leaves extending from a single stem. For centuries, ordinary people have found that this simple plant illustrates the Trinity more clearly than the many lofty words of theologians.

People have also used geometry and architecture to represent the mystery of the Trinity. A common symbol of the Trinity is a triangle, sometimes with a single eye in the middle of it and surrounded by gold rays. The lines of the triangle illustrate the equal relation of the three persons of the Trinity while the eye symbolizes omniscience and the rays represent divinity.





BIBLICAL BASIS OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRINITY
The Trinity, although the word does not appear in Scripture, is taught in Matthew 28:18-20, 20 Corinthians 13:14 and many other Biblical passages. It is appropriate that this mystery is celebrated the first Sunday after Pentecost when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit first occurred because faith comes through the work of the Holy Spirit.

On Trinity Sunday the Christian Church ponders with joy and thanksgiving what the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done to accomplish the salvation of sinful humanity. We remember how Christians should respond to the love God has shown us, praising him and giving him glory. We remember the Father as our Creator, the Son as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. Scriptural readings for the Trinity Sunday ceremony may include Psalm 8, beginning and ending with, “O Lord, or Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, “2 Corinthians 13:11-13 appealing to believers to aim for perfection and live in peace, and ending with the prayer that the grace of Christ Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all. The readings may include also the commission Jesus left for believers in Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission).

The fact that Trinity Sunday is not tied to a specific historical event is refreshing. This is a day when we don’t have to remember any particular stories or rituals. Instead, it is a day when we can simply put all our energies into celebrating God. Like the birthday of a friend or relation, Trinity Sunday is a day which is dedicated to rejoicing, purely and simply, in a person’s very being. But on this day, that person is God. As we rejoice, we praise the diversity of God’s person as we have come to know it – as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.


The Trinity, three persons in one God, is the basic mystery of our faith far beyond human understanding. Trinity Sunday is to explain, to the best of human ability, the clues written in scripture to guide us to a fuller understanding of who God is.

The Father is God from the beginning (Jn 1:1); Jesus revealed himself as equal to the Father in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” Together they sent the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26). The Trinitarian nature of God is actually reflected in every celebration of the liturgical year, at Christmas, for example, we remember the Holy Spirit’s work in Jesus conception (LK 1:35). At Easter, we celebrate the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead (Ac 4:10). At Pentecost, we read New Testament texts that assert that the Father and the Son send the Spirit to us (Jn14:16;15:26).

INSTITUTION OF THE FESTIVAL
The Church has been celebrating the Trinity in its life and worship since the earliest days of the Church, as evidenced by the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The earliest know liturgies include many references to the persons of the Trinity, including prayers that end with Trinitarian doxologies. However, there was no general feast of the Trinity in the early Church. Over time, dioceses and churches began celebrating feasts of the Trinity locally, perhaps in response to Arianism (after Arius of Alexandria; died 335). Arianism is the false idea that Jesus was just a man, not God at all. Those who believe this agree that Jesus was a great moral teacher, and that God blessed him, but they deny that Jesus was God.

Initially local churches celebrated the feast either on the first Sunday after Pentecost, or the first Sunday before Adyent. Celebrating the feast after Pentecost symbolized that the Church celebrates the Trinity as tech final celebration of the Church Year, after Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Pope John XXII established the feast day for universal observance in the Western Church in Ad 1334 on the present date. In addition to the yearly observance of Trinity Sunday, the Church’s weekly, daily, and hourly worship is strongly Trintarian in nature.

ISSUES TO BE HIGHLIGHTED DURING THE PERIOD
Trinity Sunday is about praising God in the highest, an uninhibited glorying in the absolute greatness of God. so far during the Christian Year, we have celebrated God as he has drawn near to us in the events of Christ’s life on earth. On this day we praise the majesty and eternity of God who is the God of heaven as well as the God who acts within it. It is a day to offer praise as far as the very limits of our minds and imagination can take us.

The colour of the day is White or God and the duration is one Sunday.

PROGRAMMES THAT CAN BE DRAWN TO CELEBRATE THIS FESTIVAL
Since the feast of the Trinity is celebrated on only one day (Sunday), the day could be set aside for

1 Sermons
2 Teaching Services

HOW TO MAKE THE CELEBRATION OF TRINITY SUNDAY MORE RELEVANT TODAY
To make the observance of Trinity Sunday more relevant today themes on the almanac need to be made more practical and down-to-earth to enable Church members to reflect on the following and be assisted to make them practical in their lives.
1. The God who has revealed himself to us is a loving communion of Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. The church: a loving communion of persons who are sons and daughters of the Father through baptism.
3. The family: husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children – a loving communion of persons.
4. Our friends, our acquaintances, our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities, our country, our world –they all supposed to be a loving communion of persons in God.
5. Unity in diversity

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. a. Read Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. How do these passages show that the Holy Spirit of God?
c. Read John 14:5-9; 10:30. How do these passages show that Jesus is God?
d. Read Deuteronomy 6:4. What do you learn about God from this passage? The relate to God. Will you agree with the designation that God is Trinity?
2. How does the Trinity enable you understand the nature of the God we worship
3. Christians are invited now into being part of that loving communion that is the inner life of God, and not just after we die and go to heaven. Discuss.
4. In what ways can you local church celebrate the feast of the Trinity in a more practical way?




BIBLE LESSON APPLICATION
This week, meditate on the truth that God is Trinity and spend some time in adoration of God in consequence.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Monday Psalm 2:1-12 You are my Son
Tuesday Genesis 2:26-27 The Creative activity of the Trinity
Wednesday John 14:8-17 The Father and the Son are one
Thursday Proverbs 8:22-31 I was the Craftsman at his side
Friday 1 John 5:7-11 The testimony of three
Saturday Matthew 28:16-20 Three in one

Trinity Sunday this year falls on the 7th June 2009.
Use the lessons of this study to ensure a fruitful celebration.