St Mary's Church, Dymock

The church divides the year into eight main Seasons, each with one or more Major Festivals, that remind us of the important times in the life and work of God and Jesus, and consequently have major significance for his followers, so are usually observed by most Christians.

As well as the Seasons and Major Festivals, the church celebrates several 'Special Days' throughout the year to remember, honour or support our work in God's world. Celebration of the Special Days is usually optional, Christians chose which they want to include. Click here to view the 'Special Days'.

Trinity

The season of Trinity is by far the longest in the Christian year. It begins with the Festival of 'Trinity Sunday' one week after Pentecost and runs for the rest of the year (some 25 weeks) until the start of the next year's cycle begins with Advent again. The exact number of 'Weeks after Trinity' in any given year depends on the date of Pentecost, which is itself dependent on the date of Easter, a 'movable feast' determined by the phases of the moon.
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The word Trinity comes from the Latin 'Trinitas' which itself comes from the Latin 'Trinus' meaning 'threefold' and refers to the essence of the one and only God as having three 'parts' (see below). The idea of God as Trinity is unique to the Christian faith and can be one of the most difficult things for some people to understand.

What is God Like?

The word 'Trinity' is not found in the Bible, but early Christian thinkers had to make sense of the teaching that the Bible does contain - they therefore had to balance several concepts: (1) There is one, and only one, God yet (2) God is described as 'Father', eg: on several occasions Jesus refers to his 'Father in Heaven' (3) Jesus is described as God's Son, eg: when he was baptised and came up out of the water a voice was heard from heaven saying 'This is my Son' (4) God's Spirit is described separately, eg: when God created the universe, his Spirit was said to 'Hover over the face of the waters' and Jesus said he had to return to heaven in order to send God's Spirit, who would 'Lead you into all truth'. In addition, Jesus said that he is "In the Father and the Father is in me", "If you have seen me you have seen the Father".
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Immediately after Jesus had ascended back to heaven, the Christian church began to be formed; first by the Apostles going out into the world as Jesus had intended and then by their successors. For the first three centuries, several theories were put forward to define how God could be one but at the same time three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but each theory was found to have a flaw that failed to take into account all the concepts, so each was declared a heresy (at odds with conventional belief) until, at a great Council in Nicaea in 325AD when all the bishops were represented and a formula was agreed that satisfies all the facts - the concept of the Trinity. This states that there is only one God who has only one 'substance' but that he comprises three separate 'parts' who are in perfect relationship with each other - a great example to humanity of mutual love and respect. (Return to top)

Christians believe that God has always existed and always will - he has no beginning and no end - and that he made the infinitely large universe and everything in it before he made humanity wo he wants us to live in his universe and to be in relationship with him. Clever human scientists can now create new elements in minute quantities in an Atomic Particle Accelerator, but they need that large machine and huge amounts of energy to do it, and they still can't create something from nothing, as God did when he created the universe.

It's clear from this argument that God is infinitely more clever than humans - he's not human, he's God - but we have to use our limited human brainpower and language to describe him. It doesn't seem right to describe God as 'it' or 'thing', the highest intelligence in the human language is the 'person', so God is described as three persons in one God - a 'Trinity'.

Artists down the ages have attempted to draw or paint many aspects of the Christian faith, not least the concept of the Trinity. One of the most famous is by Andrei Rublev, a medieval Russian icon painter who lived in the 14th century. His figures are always peaceful - this one is reckoned to show God the Father in the centre, God the Son on the left, and God the Holy Spirit on the right. The shape in the centre of the picture formed by the bodies of the two side figure's is that of a chalice which holds the wine that represents the blood of Jesus.

The problem for all artists is that they can depict three persons but it's very difficult to depict three persons in one unity! Depiction of three persons like this sometimes leads others to think Christians believe in three Gods. That's not true - Christians definitely believe that there is one and only one God

One way to think of the Trinity is to consider water which can be ice, liquid, and steam. Three modes but one substance - H2O. Although this seems a useful example, it's actually a heresy as the three 'modes' can only exist at different times, whereas God is three parts of a single substance all at the same time. The better example is the 'Triquetra' figure shown above which has three separate arcs, but all are necessary to make a single whole. (Return to top)