Living Within the Triune God

Devotional Reflection, Monday, April 8, 2024

The Second Week after Easter

The Rev. David W. Perkins,Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

15 ’If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 959)

Psalms  AM  1, 2, 3 PM  4, 7

Exod. 14:21-31 1 Pet. 1:1-12 John 14:(1-7)8-17

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of Jesus. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

Jürgen Moltmann, a German theologian, came to faith while a prisoner of war in Great Britain after World War II.  British Christians gave Bibles to German POW’s and his reading of the Bible awakened his faith. In Studies in Theology he says: "The New Testament talks about God by proclaiming in narrative the relationships of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, which are relationships of fellowship and are open to the world."*

(Note:  The Father image does raise problems for many in the area of gender-based language about God.  Father is one of our root metaphors for God, an attempt to capture something of God’s uniqueness in the way God relates to us without inferring that God is masculine.  The Bible does use mother images for God, and those find their way into my devotional language when I address God as “Father and Mother.”)

The New Testament gives us theology about God in the narratives.  At the scene of Christ’s baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove and the voice of God speaks with approval, “You are my Son, the beloved.  In you I am well pleased.”  (Mark 1:11).  Moltmann says that the relationships of Father, Son, and Spirit are open to the world.  Today’s Gospel says exactly that. Jesus’ discourse in John makes explicit what the stories reveal implicitly about God.

In John’s Gospel account, Jesus promises his followers on the night of his arrest that after his departure the Holy Spirit would come to them and bring his presence to them.  He assured them that he would ask the Father to send the Spirit. In John’s account, Jesus keeps that promise by breathing on the disciples in his first post-resurrection appearance and giving them the Spirit.

At the time John’s Gospel was written, in the late First Century, the church was worshipping Jesus and praying through Jesus to God.  Even though the word “trinity” does not occur in the New Testament, the author of this Gospel and his community were doing early trinitarian thinking, reflecting on the relationships within God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and their relationships to us as believers.

Reread this passage.  Do you not hear Jesus saying that he and God are present with you?  The Holy Spirit is God, fully present and active with us, bringing to us the same presence that the early disciples knew in Jesus himself.  Some passages refer to the Spirit as the Spirit of Jesus and some, as the Spirit of the Father. (See Romans 8 for a classic example of that oscillation among terms.)

To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to be invited into the divine fellowship that exists among God as Father/Mother, Jesus as God’s beloved and our brother and Holy Spirit.  According to John 14-16, God invites us into the same relationship with God that Jesus shares.  It is to be embraced within the grace and love that flows among God as Father/Mother, Beloved Christ, and Holy Spirit.

* Jürgen Moltmann, Experiences in Theology:  Ways and Forms of Christian Theology, trans. Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis:  Fortress, 2000), p. 144.

Collect of the Day, Second Sunday of Easter

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 224)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of Jesus

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Annunciation.htm

Collect of the Feast of the Annunciation

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord; that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen,

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 99)

For a Birthday

Watch over your child, O Lord, as her/his days increase; bless and guide her/him wherever she/he may be. Strengthen her/him when she/he stands; comfort her/him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her/him up if she/he falls; and in her/his heart may your peace which passes understanding abide all the days of her/his life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen  (BCP, 830)

A Prayer for Light

Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100, 257)

Daily Office Gospel, John 14:8-17

8Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

15 ’If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer