Trinity Sunday - 28 May 1961

Today is Trinity Sunday - the Sunday on which we affirm our faith in God as ‘God in Three Persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy spirit’. The hymn that we sang at the opening of worship, ‘Holy, holy, holy!………’ is Bishop Heber’s hymn. It is a hymn associated with Trinity Sunday. Though its language vaguely suggests the doctrine of the Trinity, it draws its inspiration not from the doctrine of the Trinity as we know it, but from the vision of Isaiah, which is described in Isaiah Chapter 6 which was our first lesson this evening: “I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up.” The vision of the greatness and holiness of God made a deep impression on Isaiah. He bowed in wonder and adoration and worshipped.

The doctrine of the Trinity, no doubt, presents difficulties to our minds. It is not something that our minds can easily grasp. The doctrine found its place in the church as a result of the experience of early Christians. This is one thing we must keep in mind always when we think about this doctrine. It did not come into being as a result of argument and discussion. It is the only conclusion early Christians could arrive at when they pooled together their Christian experiences. So it is true that it is only through our religious experience that we can grasp to some extent the truth of the doctrine. It is by giving our reverent obedience to our Master that we can come to realise the truth contained in the Christian Creed. The doctrine, we must remember, is no barren formula, but a Gospel which speaks of God revealing Himself as Creator, Redeemer and Inward Spirit. The Prayer Book rightly lays stress on Trinity Sunday on man’s response to the vision of God. The Collect remembers with thanksgiving that Christian people can ‘acknowledge the glory of the Eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine majesty can worship the unity.’

Trinity Sunday brings before us the majesty of God, and our response to such a vision is worship. We bow down before our Maker in all humility, realising our unworthiness and offering our obedience to Him. Let us consider for a few moments what Isaiah’s experience was in the Temple, and what his response was.

Isaiah had taken part in the Temple services many a time, but one day he had a vision of God as he had never seen before. “I saw the Lord,” he was able to say. He saw the throne of God high and lifted up. Above the throne were hovering, radiant winged figures. Isaiah calls them Seraphim. Isaiah heard them chanting, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.” It was just a passing glimpse and the vision faded. None of the people standing around him had noticed anything unusual, but Isaiah knew that he was standing in the actual presence of God. Isaiah had a vision of God. When we come to worship God in the church we too must become aware of his presence. We must have a vision of God. We know that God is present whenever his people meet to worship Him. What a difference it would make to our services if we always remembered this. At every worship we must become aware of His presence.

What was Isaiah’s response to the vision of God? His first instinct was to shrink back in terror. “Woe is me for I am undone,” he cried. The contrast between God and himself seemed too tremendous. He felt utterly unworthy to stand in the presence of God. The Chinese have a legend that after death each soul is handed a mirror, in which it sees itself exactly as it is; and is then invited to pass judgment on itself, and to say what it observes.

Isaiah saw himself clearly that day in the Temple and bowed to the ground in horror. The special sin of which his conscience spoke was the sin of unclean lips. “I am man of unclean lips,” he cried. He had made some use of his lips, which caused him to feel ashamed to stand in the presence of God. But as soon as he repented and confessed his fault his sin was purged away. In his vision he saw one of the Seraphs bringing to him from the altar a red hot stone and laying it upon his lips. The Seraph said, “Lo this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is done away and thy sin is purged.” Of course he had always known that sacrifice was offered for the forgiveness of sin, but he had never thought of connecting that ceremony of his religion with his own faults. Now God gave him this vision to make him feel that his sin was, not only forgiven, but gone, burnt out. He would never be likely to sin in that way again. The vision of God brought to Isaiah a sense of sin and the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.

The vision of God also made Isaiah believe that God wanted his help. “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ “ God had a hundred things that He wanted done in Jerusalem, but He could not get enough helpers. Thousands came to the Temple courts to bow their heads for a few moments in prayer, but hardly any were willing to work to get God’s will done. Isaiah at once volunteered for service. “Here am I, send me.” God is still calling for volunteers. Isaiah had climbed the hill as a young noble, not very different from scores of our wealthy young men in the city. But that morning service changed his whole life. He went home a Prophet, some one pledged to speak God’s message till life should end.

We go to church. Our church services should mean to us what the Temple service meant to Isaiah. There are three things that we notice about the vision of Isaiah:

1. Isaiah had a vision of God. He was certain that he was in the presence of God. Our church services should give us the same experiences. We may not come to have an experience and a vision exactly the same as that of Isaiah. Nevertheless, we must come to a consciousness of God’s presence when we meet for public worship.
2. Our worship must bring us to a sense of sin. We must realise how far we fall short of the conduct that has been placed before us. We must repent of our sins and get God’s forgiveness.
3. They ought to make us eager to offer to do something to help God to overthrow His enemies and establish His kingdom. Our response to God’s vision must be service.

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I; send me.''