The Holy Trinity

25 Jul 2022 • Articles

The Church calls the summer the season of Trinity, and Sundays are set aside to consider the Holy Trinity, the whole nature of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The 1662 Prayer Book described God's threefold unity by saying, "the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit) is all one: the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal ... yet there are not three eternals but one eternal ... there are not three almighties but one almighty ... there are not three Gods but one God ... all three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal ... the Unity in Trinity."

That takes some thinking about, so perhaps another picture may be helpful. Think of a computer – it has a screen, a box hiding the mechanism, and an electricity supply. Without any one of these three it would not do its work and it would not be what we call a computer. The screen is like Jesus, showing the work of the computer to human beings; the box is like our heavenly Father, working silently and unseen to create and correct whatever is needed, and the power supply is like God's Holy Spirit, (who used to be called the Holy Ghost), linking the screen and the box, lighting up the screen and letting people see and benefit from their work.

When computers were first invented, a sceptic said that he thought no more than five of them would ever be sold, but now most people feel that their lives would not be the same without their computer. Computers are only human inventions: they can fail us or wear out; we can trust them up to a certain limit, but not for ever. Human beings need help from a wiser source than even the most powerful computer. God will never wear out, break down or suffer from a power cut. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit existed before time or space; God will last for ever without changing, failing us or needing an update. For real wisdom, try God, not google!

With every blessing for the Trinity season,

Ann