Reflections for

Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2015

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17

Century Blogs

Send me

May 19, 2011 by Bromleigh McCleneghan

My parents' marriage began with a betrayal. My maternal grandfather was in the army, so my mom's family moved around a lot. She was shy and introverted, and she struggled to make friends and establish roots. As an adult, all she wanted was a single place to call home.

On Art

Holy Trinity

Mar 10, 2011 reviewed by Lil Copan

How to comprehend the Holy Trinity? Reflecting on her woodblock and linoleum print, Holly Meade writes, "Well, there is no comprehending the Holy Trinity. And picturing the Holy Trinity? That's not to be either. On the other hand, we've all been given imagination, and a sense of wonder and play. And so here they are, as colorful, holy personalities compelled forward on our behalf—lovely, watchful, tireless." Best known for illustrating children's books (she was awarded a Caldecott Honor), Meade has recently turned to printmaking. "Printing with woodblocks is a somewhat indirect path to take to arrive at an image. In spite of this, it frequently results in images of great immediacy." This indirect path and great immediacy meet in Holy Trinity, which unites artistic medium and an energetic sense of spirit, presence, being and the personhood of God.

  —Lil Copan

Living by the Word

God the troublemaker

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29

Jun 02, 2009 by Peter S. Hawkins

At a meeting of church musicians and worship leaders, the phrase comfort zone was cropping up everywhere. This was the drift of the discussion: People should feel at home in worship, especially in times like these when everything moves so quickly and nothing (including our daily bread) can be taken for granted.

Blogging Toward Sunday

A mind-body partnership

Exodus 3:1-6; John 3:1-16; Romans 8:12-17

Jun 01, 2009 by Donna Schaper

We could accuse this week's texts of setting up dichotomies: Romans wants us to live by the spirit, not the flesh. Nicodemus and Jesus trade stories about being born from above rather than below. A bush burns and life changes; unnatural things abound. Everyone knows that when bushes burn, they are consumed. Everybody knows where babies come from, and it's not from "up there."

Living by the Word

The beginner's Gospel

John 3:14-21

Mar 10, 2009 by John Stendahl

Some years back, I was surprised to hear John called the beginner’s Gospel. Surely the Gospel to begin with was Mark, the shortest and most likely the oldest, or Luke, with all those wonderful stories. John seemed to me a second-semester topic—or a graduate-level course. I saw it as an astonishing theological elaboration and re-presentation of the person of Jesus of Nazareth seen in the other books. The testimony of those sources needed to be heard first, I thought, before John’s majestically self-describing Christ could be understood.There was an additional reason that I thought it a mistake to hand the fourth Gospel over to “baby Christians.” I thought the book dangerous.

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Revised Common Lectionary © 1992 the Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission.