Gift  Wrapped Trinity

2 Cor 13:11-13   Matt 28:16-20

Even when God was young he understood that you don’t give a present without first wrapping it up. That the untying of ribbons, the tearing open of paper and the task of unravelling it all, is part of the wonder, part of the experience of receiving a gift.

So when God made the world, he decided to wrap himself up in it, so that as we unravel the gift, we might find Him.

He wrapped himself up in the vast expanse of the sun and the moon and the stars, amidst hills in the distance and the way of a country path beneath our feet. He wrapped himself up in this way so that we might receive him as father.

He wrapped himself up everyday life. The places we work and the people we meet. In the experiences of being human, there he hid himself, In every expression of joy and in every outcry of pain. He wrapped himself up in this way that we might receive him as Son.

He wrapped himself up in the feelings we get. Those moments of peace and wholeness. In the things we do that come from within us and that we are able to share with another. In those parts of our character that others have come to love. He wrapped himself up in this way that we might receive him as Spirit.

He wrapped himself up, because he knew that it would be in our searching for him, our opening up of his presence that we would do our growing, that we would start becoming who we are.

So it is that the Trinity is not some obscure doctrine but rather the way we are called to know God and we can make this real if we take the attributes of Father, Son and Holy Spirit into our prayer.

To pray daily for the gift of creation and give thanks for it and so encounter the Father.

To pray daily for the work we do and the people we meet and so come to know the Son.

To pray daily in silence, giving space for our feelings and spiritual character to come alive and be touched by the Spirit.

Our Epistle reading gives us the place in the bible where we find that wonderful prayer with which meetings are called to an end and worship gets brought to a close.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”

A custom in recent years has been not to pray this with our heads bowed and eyes shut tight, but by daring to look round at each other as we say the words.

This can make some feel awkward, but there can be real depth to the exchange, if its part of our search for the places where God has wrapped himself.

As I look at you as I pray I am looking for Him.

As I look at you as I pray, I am blessing you in your task of unravelling the gift.

That you may find Him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the places where you will go as you leave the circle of prayer.

This gift wrapped Trinity is a marvellous present to be given.

Some are walking around without ever knowing it is for them and just how much it cost.

RH 18.5.08