On Trinity Sunday we confess what is known as the Athanasian Creed. We proclaim the mystery of our faith in our God who is Triune: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One-in-Three and Three-in-One. Unlike other festivals in the church’s liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday centers on a doctrine of the church, rather than an event. It celebrates the unfathomable mystery of God’s being as Holy Trinity. It is a day of adoration and praise of the one, eternal, incomprehensible God.
Trinity Sunday, in a sense, synthesizes all we have celebrated over the past months which have centered on God’s mighty acts: Advent-Christmas-Epiphany celebrating God’s taking flesh and dwelling among us in Jesus Christ; Lent-Easter celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection for us; Pentecost celebrating God the Holy Spirit and His work as our Sanctifier, Guide and Teacher. It is, therefore, a fitting transition to that part of the year when Sunday by Sunday the work of God among us is unfolded in a more general way.
The Triune God is the basis of all we are and do as Christians. In the name of this Triune God we are baptized. As the baptized we bear the name of the Triune God in our being. We affirm this when, in reciting the creeds, we say what we believe. Our discipleship is rooted in the mighty acts of this Triune God who is active in redeeming the world. The Triune God is the basis of all our prayers — we pray to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity holds a central place in our faith and life.
In celebrating Trinity Sunday, remember that every Lord’s Day is consecrated to the Triune God. On the first day of the week, God began creation. On the first day of the week, God raised Jesus from the grave. On the first day of the week, the Holy Spirit was poured out and descended on the newly born church. Every Sunday is special. Every Sunday we worship “the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.”
Blessings,
Pastor Drebes
Rev. Bryan Drebes is Pastor at Pacific Hills Lutheran Church in Omaha NebraskaPastor Drebes attended Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, beginning in 1997. He spent the summer of 1999 teaching English to Chinese middle school teachers in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. He served a four-month vicarage at St. John Lutheran Church, Plymouth, Wisconsin, followed by eight months at Bethany Lutheran Church, Overland Park, Kansas. Pastor Drebes was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry at Zion Lutheran Church, Palmyra, Missouri on August 19, 2001, and installed as Associate Pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, Overland Park, Kansas on September 9, 2001. He served Bethany for 14 years. Pastor Drebes accepted a Divine Call to be Senior Pastor at Pacific Hills Lutheran Church in November, 2015.
