As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional, unceded 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 earth is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6.3

O Come. Let Us Worship. 

As tradition often dictates for us, we love a number of hymns, and one of those favourites is often number 1 in our hymn books is:

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!

Gathering

Almighty God,
to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hidden.
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the
inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

Collect for Today

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, now and forever.  Amen. 

(I like this Collect because it suggests to us that prayer can also be praise. I am not sure that we always think of prayer as praise. We often think of prayer as asking rather than celebrating.)

The Proclamation of the Gospel:

John 3.1-17

Sermon:  The Ven.  Brian Evans

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

       “Ascribing to The Beauty of God"

What does your summer look like? Thursday morning the journalists on CBC talked about “Summer Creepers.” 

As I heard them talk about this I thought, "What do they mean by Summer Creepers?" And then, in their discussion it is like winter creepers, or “Christmas Creepers”.

So, what are Christmas Creepers? Christmas creepers are those who start at least a month before Advent to prepare for Christmas. Summer Creepers, then, are those who start at least a month before the official beginning of summer in June to prepare for summer, or start with summer traditions.         

Today, Trinity Sunday, which by the way I have a sort of love-hatred here. Being clergy, I should explain first, I have every respect for the Trinity and I abhor those who have attempted to drift away from the Trinity, particularly in Christian baptism, to find other simple names or other more modern names about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and I am a steadfast celebrant in baptism that we celebrate in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

My “hatred” though, with quotation marks, is that from each year on Trinity Sunday arriving at the sermon time, and I know, and I fully see people thinking, “Well, now how is he going to explain the Trinity?"

What I discover is that the difficult part is: is about describing the Trinity or explaining something which in many ways is inexplainable, yet at the same time is experiential.         

So, arriving at Trinity Sunday in the western hemisphere is beginning that entry into summer. How quickly we move from talk of Easter to questions about what our summer plans are.          

In theological terms, as we have observed Christmas and Easter, focusing on the person and work of Christ. Now, for many weeks, months about 6 months, we focus on the implications of those events, the implications of how we live as faithful Christians.          

Now it is summer, technically not until June 20^th, when the church turns from “the person of Christ” to us.         

The Season after Pentecost is our opportunity to (another trinitarian formula) proclaim, bear witness to, and live out God’s ongoing will for the world. 

I think of this season as the season for deacons. 

From the Ordinal, one line: “You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world—ending with these words “At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people, that in serving the helpless, they are serving Christ himself.” 

I share this with you, not to remind our deacon (Trish) of her ordinal vows but rather to remind us—our work to be part of this ministry—of the witness and work we are to be part of, with our deacon. As I understand it, to challenge us not only as a community but individually having witnessed to the ministry of Christ—now it is our turn to pattern our lives after him.          

As some of my reading this week reminded me, for Christians there is no escaping from the world. 

I believe today is a perfect opportunity for us to reflect on the beauty of God, in our attempt to ascribe to the Trinity. Rather than attempting to explain something inexplainable, to stop and reflect on the words and reflections of the Trinity, or how God is in our lives.
And so, in the Psalm (29) today, it says we will discover:

• God in the waters.
  In other words, the voice of the Lord over the waters (to hear the thundering voice of God in the mighty rushing waters).

• The voice of the Lord in all its power, and how its majesty reigns in our lives.

• To experience how God even breaks into the cedars of our lives,
  in other words, breaks into the wood that can become so solid and dense, and yet can be open to God.

• And as described in Scripture, how within the discovery of God, we can discover and experience Lebanon skipping like calves.

• The voice of Lord, the Psalmist says, flashes flames of fire, shakes the wilderness, causes oaks to whirl, strips the forest bare, … and in his temple the people cry out GLORY, Glory, glory. 

All of this with a backdrop from the Gospel today. 

I chose the clip art on the front of our bulletin today with this in mind. It depicts Nicodemus and Jesus sitting in the evening candlelight in their discussion. 

Within that, we see this backdrop—the backdrop speaks to us the words of the Gospel. Here we have two people in discussion, Nicodemus has come to Jesus in the night. In other words, Nicodemus came because he was afraid that if the authorities had seen that he was visiting Jesus, his life would be at risk.

Then, and I love the imagery in this artwork: we know that Nicodemus has come asking, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God…. (for myself there appears to be missing line or two, the writer-John does not tell us if Nicodemus asks directly about faith).

Then Jesus’ response tells us something, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

[Here’s the picture – Jesus with his index finger pointing as in making a significant point to Nicodemus—no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. And Nicodemus’ response as in this picture is with his hand to his chest as if saying, “Do you mean, I need to experience God to be able to understand the way of the gospel—this new way—in the world?        

Jesus goes straight to the heart of the matter, as Jesus so often does.          

Herbert O’Driscoll shares:

The kingdom of God in one’s relationships is a deep sense of fulfillment, trust, affection, and mutual respect. (That is a personal trust. And then O’Driscoll goes on to say:)

The kingdom of God in one’s world (so takes it from the heart out into the world) is wherever peace, justice, integrity, and community is forged, even if lasts only for a passing time before our humanity wrecks it again. 

O’Driscoll reminds us to not lose faith, even though we may only see that glimpse of peace and that glimpse of that caring humanity in a very short few moments. But, don’t lose faith, and don’t discount the power of it.         

In the midst of that which is inexplainable, in the world in which we want concrete certainty, Jesus comes back to Nicodemus with these words:

"Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 

The problem is, like so many in the world, Nicodemus has attended the very best of the very best of universities, he still can not understand this concept of being born again.          

I believe what Jesus desires of Nicodemus is to see beyond the textbooks, and simply discover the beauty of God. We love to find theories and prove them, while at the same time--is it about the proof?—textbooks? or is it about the reality of God in our lives?          

This is part of what Herb O’Driscoll is sharing with us when he writes: The kingdom of God in one’s world is wherever peace, justice, integrity, community is forged, even if lasts only for a passing time before our humanity wrecks it again” but it recurs over and over.          

In other words, to discover not so much doing church work, but be the church in the world. Bringing us back again to the gift of a deacon in our midst. One who will draw us out of our comfortable pew into world to be church in its greatest sense.          

Discovering the beauty of God, moves us from seeing ministry as a profession to a calling.

Those are two very different things.

It is reported one of the best photographs from the WWII-era is a photo of King George the VI inspecting a bombed-out section of London. In the midst of the rubble is the King, kneeling on one knee and looking into the eyes of a young boy dressed as if he had just come out of the rubble.

It is said the look of compassion on the face of the King was overwhelming. The incident was one of those moments in life when the beauty of God--in all its magnitude—in the sense of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, taken together is truly found. 

It is when we see God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Let Us Pray

We come before the triune God to pray for our communities, ourselves, and our world. 

Abba God, you have brought us into your family, claiming us as beloved children. Bless your family of faith with gifts of cooperation and graciousness. Increase our hospitality toward all expressions of faith and teach us to honour our shared humanity.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.

Your love and power burst forth in the flashes of lightening, the dance of the wind, and the deeply rooted trees of the forest. Sustain fragile and interconnected ecosystems, that they flourish for generations to come.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.

Give your blessings of peace to the nations. Shelter all who risk life and livelihood to protect others from violence, conflict, and injustice.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.

You are a God of love and not of condemnation. Quiet the hearts of all who struggle with shame, regret, or questions of self-worth. Teach us to forgive ourselves and one another. Restore wholeness to all who seek hope and healing.

In our parish this week, we especially pray for: Gail; Sue; John; Sheila; Tina & Mike; Diana; Blake; and those on our hearts, naming them now aloud, or in the silence of our hearts.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.

Strengthen bonds between parents, children, and families of all varieties. We pray especially for adoptive and foster families, multi-generational households, and blended families. Grant gifts of nurture and patience to all caregivers. 
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer. 

The Spirit bears grateful witness to all children of God who have now come into their inheritance among the saints. As they lived in hope in your gift of eternal life, so strengthen us in faith, that we recognize your eternal presence even in this mortal life.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer. 

Receive our prayers, O God, and come quickly to our aid, through the power of the Spirit and the love of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As our Saviour taught us:
Our Father,
who art 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 as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us  not into temptation,
but deliver us fom evil.  
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory,
forever and ever.  Amen.

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.

May we go into the world giving thanks to God in all we do, and the challenges that He presents before us so that we may continually proclaim the glory of God. Amen.