Rambling Rector
This coming Sunday is Volunteer Recognition Sunday at St Martin's. This Sunday, being also Trinity Sunday, marks the one-year anniversary of my ministry at St Martin's. Perception of time is multi-layered. It feels like only yesterday that I arrived in the parish, yet, the last 12 months have been so full of exciting challenge and gratifying fulfillment that it feels to me that I have been here for much longer. Among many impressions, one that stands-out for me during the last year is the important contribution that all our volunteers make in sustaining our community life.
St Martin's is operating at the upper critical edge of capacity. We have no slack anywhere in the system. Both paid staff and volunteers carry a very full load, indeed. At times we all experience frustration because we don't have the numbers we need to maintain momentum at a more comfortable pace. Yet, tension is a fruitful place to be because it is gritty and at times uncomfortable. Ever mindful of the danger of asking individuals to over extend, straining sinews also prime us for growth!
I can't tell you what a joy it will be to formally thank all our members for the time and talent each brings and generously shares to enable us to be an every member volunteer force. Because of this we continue grow into the community God is already dreaming us into becoming. There is no more appropriate time to celebrate our volunteers than on Trinity Sunday.
Christianity is a historical rather than a cosmic religion. This means that we believe that God actually enters into human history and is active among us beginning with the Incarnation we celebrate at Christmas all the way through to the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Trinity Sunday marks the end of the historical cycle as it were, with a mighty affirmation of the nature of God. In celebrating the Holy Trinity, Christians loudly affirm that God is by nature relational and communal. Although, we tend to talk as if God is a solitary individual, the Trinity reveals God as a community emerging from a relationship between three persons.
So is God one or three? The Early Church answered this question in language that seems pretty incomprehensible to many of today. For me, the easiest way through this confusing theological complexity is simply to say that God is one, i.e. a single community or relationship comprising three participants. If you want to know more about how all of this works then you will have to be in Church this Sunday!
What I do want to stress is this - there is a profound point to celebrating the diversity of our community of volunteers on the Sunday the Church honors the nature of God as a divine community.
Mark+
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