Praying Together during the week beginning Sunday 7 June

Trinity Sunday

Gospel Matthew 28. 16-20

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.’

During this time of great anxiety and uncertainty, we want to stay in touch with our regular

worshippers and indeed with everyone who is associated with the Cathedral family.

This is particularly important to us at a time when, following the Church of England’s

instructions, public worship at the Cathedral has been suspended. The residential clergy are

still saying the Daily Offices at home or from church, and they are being live-streamed via the

cathedral website where there is a link that takes you to the Cathedral’s Facebook page (you

don’t need a Facebook account).

We hope that this pamphlet will provide you with important worship and prayer resources for

use at home as well as a reminder of how to keep in touch with us, especially if you have

particularly needs. Please be assured that you are firmly in our thoughts and prayers, and

please pray for us at this very difficult and worrying time.

2

Thought for the Day by the Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Dean of Durham

Matthew 28. 19

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.

On this Trinity Sunday, I am reminded of an icon of the Holy Trinity which I’ve

grown to love over the years. It’s printed on the inside front cover of the order of

service which you can download from the Cathedral website. Painted – or more

correctly in its religious context ‘written’ – by Andrej Rublev ‘The Holy Trinity’ was

completed around 1425 and now hangs in the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow.

Based on the story in the Book of Genesis about Abraham and Sarah entertaining

three Angels under the shade of an oak tree, Rublev is understood to have

interpreted this as an image of God the Holy Trinity. The icon depicts three heavenly

figures seated around a table: each one has a splash of blue representing the divine

nature of heaven.

God the Father seated on the left, whose divine presence is almost hidden in the

ethereal robe, the God who remains mysterious to us, but who prepares a mansion

where there are many rooms. In the centre is God the Son, the brown of earth

indicating his humanity but shot through with the royal stripe of gold. Two fingers

placed on the table point to the two natures of Christ, fully human, fully divine. And

finally, to the right is God the Holy Spirit, swathed in the green of new life: his finger

touching the table indicating his presence on earth.

Perhaps some of you will know the world of icons better than I do, but one thing I

have learnt is that an icon is an invitation to pray, to engage, to enter into a

relationship with the divine. It’s more like a window to look through towards God,

than an image to contemplate. The figures seated here, with the chalice set between

them, occupy three sides of a table. We – that is, the viewers - are seated on the

fourth and so are invited to join them, to sit at table, to sup with them and enjoy their

fellowship. This understanding of God is relational rather than transactional – it is

about being invited into a relationship with the living God, rather than an exchange

about what God does for us. Come and sit and eat with me, God says. A transaction

is when you go into a shop, you pay your money and you leave with the goods

you’ve bought. A relationship is when you give a gift to someone you care for with

no thought of reward or benefit to yourself. Simply for the pleasure of seeing their

delight.

3

And, of course, this is a picture of the whole of the Christian life. God the Holy

Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who we celebrate on this Trinity Sunday; that

God does not offer us a transaction. ‘Be good and you’ll get your reward in heaven’;

‘live morally and then God won’t be angry with you’. Rather, we’re being invited

into a living relationship; to come and join God at the table; to take part in a

conversation. To draw your chair up.

But that’s not all. The empty space, where the fourth chair should be, is an invitation,

but it is also a commission. We’re being invited to join in the meal, but then sent out

again at the end of it. The place will become empty again, so that it’s ready for the

next time we gather around the Lord’s Table. This was the disciples’ experience, as

we heard in the gospel reading from the end of St Matthew: ‘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.’ The purpose of the relationship with God the Holy Trinity is not

so that we can feel good, get comfortable, put our slippers on and draw up to the

fire. The purpose of the relationship is to draw us into God’s mission: a mission to

make disciples. And a mission with a promise: ‘And remember, I am with you

always, to the end of the age.’

The Trinity:

Andrei Rublev

(fifteenth century)

4

Prayers for Trinity Sunday

We come boldly to the throne of grace,

praying to the almighty God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

for mercy and grace.

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Father of heaven, whose love profound

a ransom for our souls has found:

We pray for the world, created by your love,

for its nations and governments.

Extend to them your peace, pardoning love, mercy and grace.

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Almighty Son, incarnate Word,

our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord:

We pray for the Church, created for your glory,

for its ministry to reflect those works of yours.

Extend to us your salvation, growth, mercy and grace.

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Eternal Spirit, by whose breath

the soul is raised from sin and death:

We pray for families and individuals, created in your image,

for the lonely, the bereaved, the sick and the dying.

Breathe on them the breath of life

and bring them to your mercy and grace.

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Thrice holy! Father, Spirit, Son,

Mysterious Godhead, Three in One:

We pray for ourselves,

for your Church, for all whom we remember before you.

Bring us all to bow before your throne in heaven,

to receive life and pardon, mercy and grace for all eternity,

as we worship you, saying:

5

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest. Amen.

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honour and power.

For you have created all things,

and by your will they have their being.

You are worthy, O Lamb, for you were slain,

and by your blood you ransomed us for God.

From every tribe and language and nation,

you have made us to be a kingdom and priests

serving our God.

To the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honour and glory and might

for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 4.11;5.9b,10,11

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts:

the whole earth is full of his glory.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength;

ascribe to the Lord the honour due to his name.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

The Lord shall give strength to his people;

the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts:

the whole earth is full of his glory.

6

Trinity Sunday: A Hymn and a Poem

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;

Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,

Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee,

Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,

Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee

Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!

All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;

Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Reginald Heber

In the Beginning, not in time or space,

But in the quick before both space and time,

In Life, in Love, in co-inherent Grace,

In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,

In music, in the whole creation story,

In His own image, His imagination,

The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,

And makes us each the other’s inspiration.

He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,

To improvise a music of our own,

To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,

Three notes resounding from a single tone,

To sing the End in whom we all begin;

Our God beyond, beside us and within.

Malcolm Guite

7

Dorothy L Sayers and the Trinity

In 1937, Dorothy L Sayers (1893-1957) was commissioned to write a play for the

Canterbury Festival, two years after T S Eliot had written ‘Murder in the Cathedral’

for the same festival. In the play she tells the story of the rebuilding of the Quire of the

Cathedral by William of Sens in 1170. Her exploration of the creativity of the artist

leads her to develop an analogy between human creativity and divine creativity

which she believes is threefold. At the end of the play, she gives the following speech

to the Archangel Michael who, with Gabriel and Raphael, has looked down on the

work of the architect in a chorus of reflection and response. The speech forms the

basis of her great work on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, ‘The Mind of the

Maker’ (1941) in which she develops her analogy and relates it to her own craft of

writing.

For every work of creation is threefold,

an earthly tri-unity to match the heavenly.

First, there is the Creative Idea, passionless, timeless,

beholding the whole work complete at once,

the end in the beginning:

and this is the image of the Father.

Second, there is the Creative Energy begotten of that idea,

and working in time from the beginning to the end,

with sweat and passion, being incarnate in the bonds of matter:

and this is the image of the Word.

Third, there is the Creative Power,

the meaning of the work and its response in the lively soul:

and this is the image of the indwelling Spirit.

And these three are one, each equally in itself the whole work,

whereof none can exist without other:

and this is the image of the Trinity.

Contact details for The Reverend Canon Michael Everitt

Address: 15 The College, Durham, DH1 3EQ

Email: michael.everitt@durhamcathedral.co.uk

Telephone: 0191 384 0164

A Prayer for use during the Coronavirus outbreak

Keep us, good Lord,

under the shadow of your mercy

in this time of uncertainty and distress.

Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,

and lift up all who are brought low;

that we may rejoice in your comfort

knowing that nothing can separate us from your love

in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

A Prayer of Caryl Micklem:

God the Father, God beyond us, we adore you.

You are the depth of all that is.

You are the ground of our being.

We can never grasp you, yet you grasp us.

The universe speaks of you to us,

and your love comes to us through Jesus.

God the Son, God beside us, we adore you.

You are the perfection of humanity.

You have shown us what human life should be like.

In you we see divine love

and human greatness combined.

God the Spirit, God around us, we adore you.

You draw us to Jesus, and the Father.

You are power within us.

You give abundant life and can make us

the men and women we are meant to be.

Father, Son, and Spirit,

God, beyond, beside and around us,

we adore you.

Amen.

The next issue of Praying Together

will be published on Monday 15 June