Trinity Sunday Yr A
And it was good

Eye Candy: Russian orthodox icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev; “The Trinity” (1378), Theophanes the Greek fresco at The Church of Our Savior in Russia; “Trinity“, contemporary by Fr. Bob Gilroy

Ear Worm: “Holy, holy, holy“, sung by Morman Tabernacle Choir; “Trinity Song“, kid song to explain concept; “Go forth in his name” by Graham Kendrick; "Children, go where I send thee?", spiritual sung by Kenny Rogers (VERY nice)

Brain Food: “The Commissioned“, poem by Andrew King; “Strange Trinity“, commentary from The River of Life weblog; "Long discourse" from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Parables: “X-men: Days of Future Past” (2014, PG-13), with theme of being called and being sent, Review; “Babbette’s Feast” (1987, G), a Parisian refugee Babbette cooks for pious family, Review; “Angela’s Ashes” (1999, R), story of immigrants returning to Ireland following the death of their 7 year old daughter, Review; “The Matrix” (1999, R) (of course), sci-fi thriller, Review

Hymn Notes: "Children, go where I send thee" is a delightful "spiritual" for me (reference above) as I never heard it any other way. Yet, as explained in Wikipedia, it likely had its beginnings in an English folk song. Here's a bit more from Wikipedia: ". . . its nearest known relative is the English folk song "The Twelve Apostles." Both songs are listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #133. Parallel features in the two songs' cumulative structure and lyrics (cumulating to 12 loosely biblical references) make this connection apparent. . . . In 1934, folklorists John Avery Lomax and Alan Lomax travelled to Bellwood Labor Camp in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of a field recording trip. This trip produced the earliest known version of "Children" to be recorded in North America. Sung by an unidentified group of African-American convicts, the recording presents a number of notable elements that begin to distinguish the song from its English ancestor. . . . "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" became further distanced from its English ancestor with The Golden Gate Quartet's 1937 commercial recording of the song for RCA Victor's Bluebird label.[8] This recording features further lyrical and stylistic developments worth noting. The lines for the numbers three and two are: "Three was the Hebrew children; two was Paul and Silas." As with many spirituals, these references to imprisoned biblical figures are analogues for the enslavement of African Americans. Coupled with the recording's rhythmically driven jubilee quartet style, these features make the song a distinctly American folk tune.

While the Golden Gate Quartet were largely responsible for popularizing the song, theirs was only one of many contemporary versions. The Golden Gate Quartet themselves learned the song from another jubilee quartet, the Heavenly Gospel Singers."

The First Sunday after Pentecost is a celebration of the Holy Trinity. This is not, however, a celebration of a doctrine, but the celebration of the God whose self-revelation is as an interaction of love between Persons. The doctrine came about as the Christian attempt in human language to express our experience of God: an experience that we are God’s children, we are the brothers and sisters of God incarnate, and we are people who find the Spirit of God living in us. Thus, the names given to God’s action toward us and God’s own being are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The first account of creation is our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures. While the original writers had no idea of God as the Holy Trinity, Christians have noted that in the act of creating, God, God’s Word, and the Spirit or Wind of God are used as terms for God’s action. In the New Testament reading, we hear in its concluding Grace the earliest Christian formulary of the Trinity, a passage familiar from the closing of Morning and Evening Prayer.

God is most clearly revealed as the Trinity of Persons in Unity of Being in baptism. It is there that we are adopted as children, thus made brothers and sisters of God’s Son, and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. As we celebrate the Eucharist, we find our lives as a community drawn into the community of love that we name the Holy Trinity.