Clergy Comment article

Here is my article published in the May 26, 2016 Camrose Canadian Clergy Comment column.

   Last Sunday, Christians who follow the church calendar year, celebrated The Holy Trinity. It is a Sunday where we focus our worship on the Triune God.

   Although you cannot find the word Trinity in the Bible, there are however references to God the Holy Trinity. For example, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel 28:19, the risen Jesus, speaking to his eleven disciples, gives them what is referred to as the Great Commission: “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 apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:13, concludes his letter with the following benediction: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” This verse is also included at the beginning of Sunday liturgies in some denominations, and known as the apostolic greeting.

   After four centuries of what were regarded as controversial and erroneous teachings and beliefs; and much debate, dialogue, study, prayer and reflection, the theologians of the church formulated the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine remains widely accepted by most mainline Christian churches today, as confessed in the three ecumenical creeds: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.       Although God is much greater than our imperfect, limited, human capacities to define in tidy categories—the doctrine endeavours to focus on the nature, unity, equality, distinctiveness, functioning, and inner relationships of the One God in Three Persons. In some denominations, Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday in the church year when the Athanasian Creed is confessed.

   Who then is this God the Holy Trinity? God is the Creator of heaven and earth who, through an intricately designed and ordered creation, provides for the basic needs of all living things, including humankind. God is the Redeemer who, through Jesus became a human being, like us, except without sin, and came to live among us as the Perfect Exemplar showing us how to live, and as the Saviour and Messiah, God’s Son, he paid for the sins of humankind and offers the gift of eternal salvation. God is the One who makes humankind holy, the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens and makes human beings holy with gifts and fruit to live lives of service in the church and the world by spreading the message of God’s love in thought, word and deed.

   A favourite Holy Trinity hymn perhaps says it best: “Holy Father, holy Son, Holy Spirit, three we name you, though in essence only one; undivided God we claim you and, adoring, bend the knee while we own the mystery.”

Day of Pentecost

A Brief Movie Review: Unfinished Song

We recently watched the 2012 film, Unfinished Song, written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams, starring

Terence Stamp as Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Marion.

   Marion is dying of cancer and wants to live life to the fullest by singing in a senior’s community choir. Her husband, Arthur, comes across as a curmudgeon, not at all supportive of Marion’s passion for music.

   However, after Marion dies, Arthur, to honour Marion and process his grief, joins the choir.

   Arthur and his son James are alienated from one another. Eventually, through Arthur’s involvement with the choir, they are reconciled.

   One of the brilliant, thought-provoking lines in the movie, spoken by Marion is: “What makes a song beautiful is not always the quality of the voice but the distance that voice has had to travel.”

   I appreciated this film because it is, simultaneously: a love story, a spiritually edifying tale of marital and family dynamics and relationships, confession, forgiveness and reconciliation, a realistic portrayal of death and grief, the joy and healing potential of music, and the significant contribution that seniors make to society. This film should be of interest to seniors and those who care for them.