Holy Trinity Sunday

Holy Trinity Sunday

June 15, 2014

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, a celebration in the liturgical calendar that falls on the Sunday after Pentecost.  It is one of the few liturgical celebrations of a church doctrine, rather than an event.  Perhaps this explains why wide spread  observance of this Sunday in liturgical churches has only gained traction in the past century.  Attitudes about setting aside a special day for the Holy Trinity have been complex. 

Theological conflicts in the patristic period (about the 3^rd and 4^th centuries) such as the Arian controversy, led to a desire by the prevailing church leaders to emphasize the triune nature of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  (I can’t do justice to the nature of the Arian conflict here, but in essence, a church leader named Arius asserted an unequal relationship between God the Father and Christ, in that Christ did not always exist but was created by the Father and is thus subordinate.)  From these conflicts emerged the creeds we hold today, with some phrases that don’t necessarily trip off the tongue, but state essential beliefs about the relationship between the three members of the Trinity.  (Some of you who remember the liturgical fervor of the later twentieth-century ecumenism might have a place in your heart for the Athanasian Creed, which is the first creed to specifically name the equal relationship of the three persons of the Trinity.  It is also very long!  Historically, Lutherans have given it special place on Trinity Sunday.)

Some church leaders resisted designated a special observance of the Trinity in worship, claiming that the essence of the Trinity is celebrated each time the doxology is sung: “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.”  Others created a special Office for the observance of the Holy Trinity; this was in essence a special set of prayers, readings, and hymns designated for use in daily prayer. 

Some questions that you might have (or at least, could be topics for another blog):  What is a liturgical church? What is a daily Office?  What is the Athanasian Creed – I’ve never heard of it!?  And, what about hymn tune names – part two?  The good news is that, in terms of liturgical calendar, from here on until late October, we will be in the long period of the “Sundays after Pentecost,” during which blog entries can explore many topics!)