Grace and love for Trinity Sunday

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Ninety-Ninth Psalm
Dominus regnavit.
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THE LORD is King, be the people never so impatient; * he sitteth between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.

The LORD is great in Sion, * and high above all people.

They shall give thanks unto thy Name, * which is great, wonderful, and holy.

The King's power loveth judgment; thou hast prepared equity, * thou hast executed judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

O magnify the LORD our God, and fall down before his footstool; * for he is holy.

Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among such as call upon his Name: * these called upon the LORD, and he heard them.

He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar; * for they kept his testimonies, and the law that he gave them.

Thou heardest them, O LORD our God; * thou forgavest them, O God, though thou didst punish their wicked doings.

O magnify the LORD our God, and worship him upon his holy hill; * for the LORD our God is holy.


The First Lesson (First Set of Propers)

*Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.


The Epistle
Revelation iv. 1.
AFTER this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first was like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.



The Gospel
St. John iii. 1.
THERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Daily Dig for June 4
The Didache
Be gentle-minded, for those of a gentle mind shall possess the earth. Be patient and have a loving heart. Be guileless. Be quiet and good, trembling in all things at the words you have heard. You shall not exalt yourself or allow your heart to be bold and presumptuous. Your heart shall not cling to the high and mighty, but turn to the good and humble folk. Accept as good whatever happens to you or affects you, knowing that nothing happens without God.
Source: The Early Christians

áris (another feminine noun from xar-, "favor, disposed to, inclined, favorable towards, leaning towards to share benefit") – properly, grace. 5485 (xáris) is preeminently used of the Lord's favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is "always leaning toward them").
5485 /xáris ("grace") answers directly to the Hebrew (OT) term 2580 /Kaná ("grace, extension-toward"). Both refer to God freely extending Himself (His favor, grace), reaching (inclining) to people because He is disposed to bless (be near) them.
[5485 (xáris) is sometimes rendered "thanks" but the core-idea is "favor, grace" ("extension towards").]
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
a prim. word
Definition
grace, kindness
NASB Translation
blessing (1), concession (1), credit (3), favor (11), gift (1), grace (122), gracious (2), gracious work (3), gratitude (1), thank (3), thankfulness (2), thanks (6).

We receive the gift of grace through faith as we heard in the Gospel of John. If we have believed in the only begotten Son of God, we have eternal life now and in the life to come.
2. Our question is how / who helped us to receive it? Who showed you the Lord’s favor through Christ in the Gospel and how did this happen for you? The unmerited love and grace of God comes to us through hearing the Word of Christ but that is usually given to us through someone who helped us along the way.
Our perspective on our own lives changes through the work of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.
“One Letter Makes A Big Difference

An Illinois man left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel he decided to send his wife a quick email. Unfortunately, when typing her address, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: Dearest Wife,
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. P.S. Sure is hot down here.”
3. Lastly how do we speak and show grace /love to others?
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 25:11
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth 2 Timothy 2:24
Who has showed graceful speech/actions to you recently even though you did not deserve it?
Moses doubted God at every turn, yet God graciously guided him.

https://livingbydesign.org/gods-grace-in-the-old-testament/
“But Moses said, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else’ (Ex 4: 13).”
Moses was as flawed as they come—arrogant, stubborn, doubtful. Yet God faithfully walked with him, and as time passed, Moses’ learned how to faithfully obey. God used this blemished shepherd to lead his wayward sheep out of captivity. God chose to listen to and walk with a man who, in his youth, killed another with his bare hands….God’s grace for Joseph gave him strength to persevere.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Gen 50:20).
As Joseph’s story unfolds, it’s difficult to see God’s grace in it all—despised by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused, left to rot in prison. But that’s not at all how Joseph saw things. He reveals his perspective in Gen. 45:7, “ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” God used difficult and trying circumstances to position Joseph as the savior of his people. That’s grace!
That’s grace!
God’s grace endures in spite of Abraham and Sarah’s unbelief.
“And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3b).
Did you know that Abraham’s fear and sense of self-preservation led him to distort the truth by saying Sarah was his sister (to save his own hide)? Did you know that Sarah laughed at God when he said she would give birth to a son in her old age? And then, after laughing at God, she encouraged her husband to sleep with another woman to fulfill the promise? Abraham and Sarah’s lives were marked with disbelief and disobedience, yet God remained faithful to His promise. That’s grace!