Trinity Sunday

It was wonderful to have the Rev. Judith Toffey lead our worship last Sunday, Trinity Sunday. She shared how difficult it can be to preach on the Trinity without oversimplifying or getting to theological technicalities that the listeners may not follow. She pointed out how the Nicene Creed is one of the four things that the Episcopal Church considers too basic to our faith to ever give up, as stated in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. The Rev. Toffey also pointed out the structure of the Nicene Creed where the largest section of text deals with Jesus, since as God and Human he is the most describable. The Father and the Holy Spirit are much harder for us humans to describe or attempt to explain.

The Rev. Toffey brought an icon that she got in Jerusalem. The image is of the three angels who visited Abraham, but the three figures are meant to represent the three Persons of God. She explained how icon writers fast and pray for 30 days on the subject of the icon before creating it. And then when you pray with an icon, the intent is to carry you beyond the picture that you see into the spiritual truth that it represents.

Icons and Prayer: Notes from an online exhibition of icons on The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts site

Writing (creating) icons: From a PBS interview with a modern iconographer