Dear friends,
This week, we enter a season in the church often referred to as Ordinary Time. It is also called The Season after Pentecost, or, if you’re a Church of England oldie like me, “Trinitytide,” where we mark the Sundays and weeks of, and after Trinity Sunday which we celebrate this week.
Following the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the disciples at Pentecost, the life of the church now moves on from generation to generation. And we consider this during each year by observing a season where we continue to contemplate what it means to live a Christian life, in the days after Pentecost, the days after the Holy Trinity has been fully manifested to us, and indeed through the “ordinary” seasons of our lives. While there are saints’ days throughout the season, it is indeed a time for us to participate in a broader way in the life of the church and where there are no major festivals. In a way, it is life as it is, with God, day by day, though of course, still not always that ordinary.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Cohasset
And so, this Sunday we focus on the Trinity and contemplate what it means for us to believe in the great mystery which rests at the heart of our faith: one God yet who is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To help us prayerfully reflect on this theological and spiritual reality, I am excited to welcome a guest preacher this Sunday, the Rev. Marilee Comerford, who serves as Deacon to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset. Marilee will be joining us this week as part of our ongoing relationship with our sister parishes in our Deanery, and we are delighted to welcome her to St. John the Evangelist for the first time.
Indeed, contemplating the life of the Trinity, while being one of the greatest theological conundrums of our faith, is also one of the most essential, and, in a way, basic elements of our theology. That we really do believe in one God, yet who is triune, mysterious, and made known to us in ever new and beautiful ways, yet in the fabric of everyday lives. Again, there is nothing that ordinary about this; it is the heart of our faith, and which can become more beautiful and truer within our own lives, if we allow ourselves to see what God is already doing all around us.
I look forward to worshipping with you on Sunday!
Peace and blessings,
Ed.
The Rev. Edward Thornley
Rector of The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist