A Community of Love

O Trinity! O Unity!
Be present as we worship Thee,
And with the songs that angels sing
Unite the hymns of praise we bring.

Today we remember that we worship a God who exists as a community of love. 

That is probably the best way to understand what the Trinity is. We have a God who exists as Father, as Son, as Holy Spirit. 

A community which is diverse and yet equal, bound together by love and able to extend that love beyond itself to the whole world. A community that is generous and generative, a community that is a sign of love and inclusivity and gives us faith and hope that love is indeed the power which enlivens the universe itself. 

We perhaps need that message more than ever in our world today:

-a world fragmented by inequality, 

-a world broken by hatred, 

-a world cautious about sharing love and living in love with one another. 

Martin Luther King, said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. So today we look to a community of love, the Holy and undivided Trinity, to teach us of love. 

We look to the Holy and Undivided Trinity to teach us of Love which knows no boundaries, Love which seeks out the lost and lonely and gathers them in, Love which unites rather than divides, Love which creates and encourages and energizes, Love which is the engine oil of justice and the foundation of peace, Love which speaks the truth, Love which welcomes, Love which is not envious, or arrogant or boastful or rude, love which bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. We look to this community of Love, to teach us that love never ends…

and that Love always wins.

A Prayer by Brian Wren

Living Love, beginning and end, giver of food and drink, clothing and warmth, love and hope; life in all goodness- we praise and adore you. 

Jesus, Wisdom and Word, lover of outcasts, friend of the poor, one of us, and yet one with God, crucified and risen: life in the midst of death- we praise and adore you. 

Holy Spirit, storm and breath of love; bridge builder- eye opener, waker of the oppressed, unseen and unexpected, untamable energy of life, we praise and adore you.

Holy Trinity, forever one, whose nature is community, source of all sharing, in whom we love and meet, and know our neighbour: life in all its fullness, making all things new: we praise and adore you. 

A Prayer of William Temple (1881-1944)

O God of Love, we pray thee to give us love: Love in our thinking, love in our speaking, love in our doing, love in the hidden places of our souls; love of our neighbours near and far, love of our friends old and new, love of those with whom we find it hard to bear, and love of those who find it hard to bear with us; love of those with whom we live and work, and love of those with whom we take our ease, love in joy, love in sorrow, love in life and love in death, That so at length we may be worthy to dwell with thee, who art eternal love. 

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen.