Welcome (2 Corinthians 13:12, 13)
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Preparation O let the Son of God enfold you
Call to Worship (Psalm 8)
O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Faithful One
Prayer
Oh gracious and merciful God, on this Trinity Sunday we come in thanksgiving. Your love was manifested as the Son who came into the world in order to call us to yourself through him. Your Son’s love for us moved you to send your Spirit to us in ways that we are not alone, but always with you. What a grace! What an amazing love!
On this day we come to worship and give you thanks. Come and be present with us. May your Spirit never leave us, but lead us in all that we do to glorify and enjoy you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Scripture (Matthew 28:16-20)
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Sermon: A small left out detail
Usually when we receive a gift, we expect to enjoy it immediately. We call it the out of a box experience. Yes, when we unwrap gifts, we like to see things work right away as intended. If I receive a phone, it should work right away. At least, after charging its battery, I should be able to call or connect to the internet right away. We do not need to fiddle with it. If we receive a kettle, we can boil water as soon as we are ready for tea. If I am given a cake, I can eat it. If we can help it, we do not give unfinished or half finished gifts.
We tend to put aside or usually forget about gifts that we need to put time and energy into in order to enjoy them fully. We are too involved or busy in our everyday living to worry about gifts that demand our attention and effort. These gifts are easily neglected and soon forgotten. When we come across them by chance, we may actually re-gift them, sell them at garage sales or get rid of them as discreetly as we can. Sometimes we do not even remember who gave us these gifts.
Gift giving is a tricky business for most of us. Since many of us spend lots of time picking gifts for someone we care for, we expect others will also appreciate the time and effort we spend on choosing special gifts for them. Usually we tend to go overboard with gift-giving. We look forward to receiving gifts from people to whom we have given gifts or from those who are close to us. We also like to reciprocate by giving gifts when we receive them from others. We think it is rude not to return their kind gestures.
Gift giving may be a social convention that we follow, however, giving gifts does not mean that gifts we give will be received, appreciated or enjoyed. In fact, people can refuse to receive gifts from anyone whom they choose. They also do not have to like them. Yes, they can reject them right away or neglect them after receiving them. We ought not forget that gifts are given and received without condition. True gifts do not expect anything in return. Act of giving gifts is not transactional. In giving gifts we should not demand or desire to receive anything back in spite of how our social conventions dictate this reciprocity.
In a way, this world of instant gratification demands that everything is ready for immediate use without effort. This is why we have to rethink about telling people that faith is a gift. It is important to tell those who are receiving the news of faith in God as a gift that the gift they receive is God’s presence with them in all matters throughout their lives and that faith in God matures as they engage with the world. In a way the new life that one is to live in Christ is the gift people receive when they are given the gift of faith. Again the reminder is that not everyone has to accept the gift of faith that is being given to them.
We see an interesting way the disciples reacted when the resurrected Jesus appeared to them. This passage from Gospel Matthew tells us that some of the disciples did not believe that it was Jesus who came and stood among them. Others, on the other hand, believed that the risen Jesus came to them in this resurrected form. This resurrection of Jesus as God’s gift is given freely and without condition. Yet, some chose not to believe and receive it as God’s promise being fulfilled, while others accepted the gift of the resurrection and believed. We continue to see the same thing today. Some Christians believe that the resurrection was a historical event that was enacted by God. Other Christians do not.
Why am I discussing gifts on Trinity Sunday? Because 1. We are now very accustomed to talk in terms of the greatest gift God has given to us–God’s own Son, and 2. We subscribe to the notion that faith itself is a gift from God to us. If we are to understand correctly, God’s gifts are straight forward gifts. That means as gifts they are given freely without any strings attached or requiring certain obligations. Yes, you heard it right. God sent Son as a gift or grace. There is no obligation for anyone to respond in any particular way.
If indeed faith in Jesus or Jesus as God’s gift to us has no obligation, requirement, or condition, why do we always talk about being good in life and following Christ’s command? Are we not told to be good Christians in response to these gifts? Why do we have to participate in Bible studies, discipleship courses and so on? Why are we asked to be members of a church and support mission work of a church? Why do we have to obey the command to love God and neighbours? Why are there so many things we need to worry about when we want to be good Christians?
It is worth emphasizing that faith as a gift, as we mentioned earlier, does not have to be accepted or received. It is freely given by God. It is freely and willingly received in thanksgiving, received as a curiosity, or not received at all. In many cases, like all other gifts we receive, some of us cherish and become good stewards of these gifts. Some of us are glad to receive, but soon forget and neglect them as we see many children do with the gifts we give at their birthdays. Some simply reject the gifts altogether. They are not interested in receiving them.
There is another thing about Jesus, faith or our lives as a gift to us. As mentioned at the beginning of this discussion, we like to receive gifts that work out of a box immediately. But what if faith as a gift is not like those gifts that offer us instant gratification? What if it is like those other gifts that change our habits, ways of thinking and modes of living? What if faith starts us into a new life course leading us to a new purpose? Once we think of gifts as that can affect the way we are, we can begin appreciating gifts for more than things that give us immediate pleasure and enjoyment.
Thinking of faith as God’s gift that offers us a new start in God’s new creation changes our ways of thinking and understanding. This gift of faith breaks up our thoughts and knowledge that are formed by social and cultural wisdom and by our education system. If we receive faith as a gift from God our perspectives change. In faith we come to know all things in a new way. Because we know all things in a new way, we live our lives differently than from the time when we were without faith.
This gift of faith in Christ, once received, changes us. The receiver begins life of being patient and kind; not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude, not insisting on its own way; not irritable or resentful; not rejoicing in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth; and bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. It is true that this love does not come packaged in ways that we immediately are able to do all these things. Instead, it takes a long time to actually be kind and gentle just to begin with. There is no out of a box way of loving as God loves. Loving enemies is the way of the people who cherish the gift of faith from God.
What about the passage from Matthew 28? The command Jesus gave his disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them. Those who received the gift of faith have been doing this. This is not an obligation or a transactional cost for receiving the faith. Rather, it is a way of new life. In faith, we overflow with love for God and neighbours. Living the life to love one’s neighbours is to fully offer the gift of faith on Christ’s behalf to our neighbours. Our life in faith gets expressed in the way we share this love with others.
Those who are in faith hear Jesus’ command to go and make disciples of all nations in ways that we offer a gift to everyone with an understanding that many will refuse to receive it. Indeed, after so many centuries, we continue to discover that most people do not care to accept this gift no matter how good it is for their spirits. As we can read in this passage, there is no condemnation or judgement given against those who reject the gift. On this Trinity Sunday we remind ourselves that our attitude of humility is to present this gift of faith in the same way one beggar shares with another where her food is found. Sharing the source of our spiritual food is our way of gifting faith in Christ Jesus to those who are without it.
Prayer
O Lord, hear our prayer. On this Trinity Sunday, we thank you for your steadfast love for us. As your children who are called through Jesus, we come with our concerns.
We pray that your ear is open to all those who suffer pain and anguish in this world due to violence. In places like Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and many other places, people are hiding from bombs and bullets. Many are being killed for no other reason than human evil being unleashed upon another. Be with all those who are in fear. Be with all those who lost their loved ones. Be with all those families who are broken up. Love them. Give us courage to love them in ways that we do not forget about these people to whom you gave life.
We pray that your heart is open to all those who are facing disasters. Many people in our world are suffering because of drought, forest fires, earthquakes and other climate catastrophes. As millions of people struggle with these disasters today, we also remember those who are still not recovered from these disasters that hurt them many months ago. Be with them all. As they try to re-establish and find ways to rebuild their lives, bless them. It is not easy for them to return to life as before. Guard and protect them. Give compassion to those of us who have been spared of these disasters. Give us courage of love to help.
We pray for people who are searching for better lives everywhere. Some are homeless. Some are jobless. Some are without status in other countries. Some are lost. Walk with them, O God. Be their guide and bless them with faith and hope.
We pray that your spirit is open to all those who are sick among us. So many are losing hope as they suffer diseases without cure, medications or medical procedures in short supply. They suffer needlessly. Soften the hearts of those who can help. Give us compassion to be with them in their struggles. Instruct us ways to walk with them in their pain and anguish.
We pray for your church. We come as your church every Sunday. Faithfully we live in faith, hope and love. Yet, we find ourselves in a small number to carry out your ministry. Help us to see your way. Focus us on discovering your will in order to witness your love to this world by proclaiming the Gospel given through your Son our Lord. Give us strength and fortitude to follow you as we move into the future.
All these and more, we pray in your Son’s name. Amen.
Offering/Offering Prayer
Announcements
Thank you for joining us and partaking in communion. Receiving communion is essential for our spiritual health.
After the service today, join us for June Birthday Lunch. Again, on this first Sunday of the month, we are celebrating everyone whose birthday is in June. Join us.
Seeing that there are so few who are coming to our Cinnamon Bun Tuesday, we will stop this fellowship. We thank those who came out. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of preparation and cleaning up. Also hot weather will make it more difficult to continue. We thank Gail and Linda for hosting. Perhaps we will plan again for the fall.
Please remember that we will be having our BBQ Potluck on Friday, June 16. We will begin to gather at 5 pm. Please come and join us for this 2022-2023 school year ending BBQ Potluck and our transition to summer schedule.
Glory be to God the Father
Benediction
