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THE TRINITY

Sister Doreen’s Reflections

At choir practice this week we practiced a new hymn for Trinity Sunday that we had never sung before.  I found the hymn so moving personally, with imagery that caused some profound reflections, that I thought I would share it as one of the Saturday Reflections. On the opposite page in the hymn book was another hymn which likewise I found helpful and so I share these two hymns for Trinity Sunday.

The Hymns comes from a hymn book called GATHER put out by GIA Publications.  One  hymn is written by Mary Louise Bringle to the tune Bedford Park and is called

“The Play of the Godhead”.  The other hymn is written by Brian Wren to the tune Prospect (arranged by Marty Haugen) and is called “How Wonderful the Three-in-One.

The Play of the Godhead

The play of the God-head, the Trinity’s dance, embraces the earth in a sacred romance,
With God the Creator, and Christ the true Son, entwined with the Spirit,
A web daily spun in spangles of mystery, the great Three-in-One.

The warm mists of summer, cool waters that flow, turn crystal  as ice when the wintry winds blow.
The tap-root that nurtures, the shoot growing free, the life-giving fruit full and ripe on the tree:
More mystic and wondrous, the great One-in-Three.

In God’s gracious image of coequal parts, we gather as dancers, uniting our hearts.
Men, women, and children, and all living things, we join in the round of bright nature that rings
With rapture and rhythm: Creation now sings!

How Wonderful the Three-in-One

How wonderful the Three-in-One, whose energies of dancing light
Are undivided, pure and good, communing love in shared delight.

Before the flow of dawn and dark, creation’s Lover dreamed of earth,
And with a caring deep and wise, all things conceived and brought to birth.

The Lover’s own Beloved, in time, between a cradle and a cross,
At home in flesh, gave love and life to heal our brokenness and loss.

Their equal Friend all life sustains with greening power and loving care,
And calls us, born again by grace, in Love’s communing life to share.

How wonderful the Living God: Divine Beloved Empowering Friend,
Eternal Love, Three-in-One, our hope’s beginning, way and end.

And so there is for me as I reflect on the Trinity something that stirs up the imagery of a dance – one that joins me in what Joyce Rupp calls “The Cosmic Dance”.  It is a glimpse of the harmony and unity that is stronger than the present state of the world:  the wars, the anger, the murders and the brokenness.  It enables my trust that good shall endure, my joy of experiencing beauty is strengthened, my commitment to try to continually reach out beyond my own small walls is renewed. 

As I look forward to tomorrow I find myself drawn into and longing to be part of:

The play of the God-head, the Trinity’s dance, embraces the earth in a sacred romance,
With God the Creator, and Christ the true Son, entwined with the Spirit,
A web daily spun in spangles of mystery, the great Three-in-One.

It is true that we are all part of the limitless love that connects us all, that at home in God, in compassion and tenderness, I know that I am never alone.