Wyndham Hobsons Bay
Lutheran Church

Last week Christian churches around the world celebrated Trinity Sunday, which focuses on the mystery of God’s essence or being – namely that God is both three and yet one at the same time. Trinity = Tri-unity.

Now this is a deep mystery that we can never fully understand, and yet there are ways in which the Trinity can be explained by analogy. So for example, one analogy of the trinity is three-dimensional space. There are three dimensions (length, breadth, and height), and yet one physical universe in which all matter exists. Another analogy is matter itself – matter is one and yet we find it in three different states – as a solid, a liquid, or a gas – depending on the form of the particles that make it up. Another analogy is that of time – while time is a universal reality, yet we divide time into three aspects or tenses along a continuum – past, present, and future.

These analogies may or may not help us understand the nature of God, but there is one analogy that I have found even more helpful because it is not merely an intellectual analogy. The distinctive Christian claim is that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In other words, we say that love is not just something God does but that it is who he is; it is his very essence and being. And it is this truth – that God is love – that is the foundation for the Christian teaching of the Trinity.

For love to be true love it requires three things: a lover (one who loves), a beloved (one who is loved), and the act of love between them. And so for God to be love he must somehow be all three: lover, beloved, and love. And that’s precisely how the Bible describes the Trinity: God the Father has perfect love from all eternity for his Son, and God the Son also loves his Father. And the Holy Spirit – the third person in the Holy Trinity – eternally proceeds or emanates or flows from this loving interchange between Father and Son. In fact, we might say that the Holy Spirit is the love between them personified, who takes what belongs to the Father and Son and makes it known to us (John 16:15). The apostle John explains in his first letter: 

God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

(1 John 4:13-17)

What John is saying is that the reality of the Trinity is our invitation into the divine life and the love that is both the source and the goal of this life. This is in part what it means to be made in God’s image, whereby we reflect this eternal love of Father, Son and Spirit.

This beautiful icon depicted above was painted by a Russian monk by the name of Andrei Rublev. It depicts the three Persons of the Trinity sitting at a table. A dish of food lies on the table. But the thing that is striking is that at the front of the table, there is a vacant space. That vacant space is meant for each of us, signifying God’s invitation to us to share in the life of the Trinity. God invites everyone to come and sit at his table of love. He is our Father who cares deeply for us; He is our Brother, who willingly laid down his life for us; he is our Comforter, who dwells within us and guides us along the path of love and life. 

May you know this God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and may his love be yours, 

today and always, for Jesus’ sake.

Blessings, Pastor Mark

Please note that on February 23, 2025 we held a closing and thanksgiving service at our Martin Luther worship centre in Altona North as we will no longer be holding regular worship services here. You can view the closing service at Martin Luther in the 2025 Archive of the Listen tab of the website, or on our YouTube channel.

You are most welcome to continue to join us at 9:30am, each, and every Sunday , for worship at our St Philips worship centre in Tarneit.