Rain on Trinity / means a harvest of bread and a warm summer

Sunday After Pentecost: Trinity Sunday

Rain on the Trinity
means a harvest of bread and a warm summer

Ukrainian weather proverb

As you wander…

• find this month’s schedule of events in the Village Green

• send me a note!

In an effort to think more about the sustainability in this space for both readers and myself as a writer, I’m experimenting with some different formats! You’ll notice that here - a bit more succinct, letting the paintings and photographs speak for themselves. I’ll be playing with this as the summer months go by!

TRINITY SUNDAY PRINTABLES

A Book of Hours helps us to graft liturgical traditions into our own sacred days - and each month, I offer some additions intended to spark curiosity as we re-discover these seasonal patterns together.

This month, you’ll find:

• a cover page (with original art featuring the Triple-Hare - a Trinity depiction in some old English churches - and Herb-Trinity, this feast’s flower)

• a summary (with artwork) of history, traditions, flora, & fauna that give shape to the holiday

• a whimsical coloring page (featuring an old English Trinity Sunday tradition…)

Paid members can find Trinity Sunday art & resources (as well as my whole archive of printables) in the Scriptorium:

Creator, Saviour, Strengthening Guide

The busy world a thousand ways
Is hurrying by, nor ever stays
To catch a note of Thy dear praise.

Why tarries not her chariot wheel,
That o’er her with no vain appeal
One gust of heavenly song might steal?

Alas! for her Thy opening flowers
Unheeded breathe to summer showers,
Unheard the music of Thy bowers.

What echoes from the sacred dome
The selfish spirit may o’ercome
That will not hear of love or home!

The heart that scorn’d a father’s care,
How can it rise in filial prayer?
How an all-seeing Guardian bear?

Or how shall envious brethren own
A Brother on th’ eternal throne,
Their Father’s joy, their hope alone?

How shall Thy Spirit’s gracious wile
The sullen brow of gloom beguile,
That’ frowns on sweet Affection’s smile?

Eternal One, Almighty Trine!
(Since Thou art ours, and we are Thine,)
By all Thy love did once resign,

By all the grace Thy heavens still hide,
We pray Thee, keep us at Thy side,
Creator, Saviour, strengthening Guide!

John Keble, excerpt from “Trinity Sunday”

Eastertide led us through fifty days of joyfully soaking in the fulfillment of salvation, and Pentecost’s fiery tongues - revealing the mystery of our Triune God - ushered in the Church’s mission.

In that week after Pentecost (historically, the great feast’s octave), we move toward Trinity Sunday...a summertime fruiting of everything we’ve just experienced blooming during those springtime cycles. We affirm the truth so mystically encapsulated in the Trinity, celebrating a theological concept rather than a particular event or witness.

And, from here, we’re propelled forth into our time of great pilgrimage...the beautifully difficult work of daily discipleship practiced throughout a fresh season of Ordinary Time.

Trinity Sunday - this threshold between our salvation and our missionary pilgrimage - has an ancient lineage within the Church. Though every Sunday hailed & affirmed the mystery of the Trinity, a celebratory emphasis of the Trinity grew and deepened in response to confusion and false teaching. It became incredibly popular in the Middle Ages, remaining a cornerstone in our annual cycle of rehearsing the truth of our faith.

Tethered to Pentecost (and, therefore, Easter), Trinity Sunday aligns our faith journey with the abundance of summertime and the coming harvest: as God’s nature is loving communion, we’re called to bloom and bear fruit in image of his character...directing our love toward God and neighbor, allowing ourselves to embody - however imperfectly - the legacy to which we’re called.

In popular celebration - that beautiful intersection between Church theology and the devotion of lay people - we find customs that so beautifully encapsulate all of this theology.

Church fairs, wakes, and ales were held, drawing the people of the parish together for a shared meal with early summer herbs and flowers. Trinitarian blossoms - like the three-colored Herb Trinity (the wild pansy) - adorned garlands and wreaths, placed over the heads of young ladies & men as Trinitarian prayers were offered.

Both churches and homes would be greened for this holiday, like a summertime Christmas: birch trees were taken from the woods and brought indoors, ferns and moss adorning the aisle, hay strewn on the pews…turning the church, for our threshold holiday of Trinity Sunday, into something of a threshold between architecture and nature.

Many Eastern European regions considered this one of their “Green” Holidays, in which the church came alive with the abundance of early summer greenery…flourishing and growing, just as we’re called to do during Ordinary Time.

A timeline of Trinity Sunday’s history, Scripture verses, details about the flora and fauna tied to this feast, tidbits about traditional meals and celebrations, & more can be found in this month’s printable:

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BENEDICTION

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before thee,
Who was and is and evermore shall be.

Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.

Reginald Heber (1823)

Last night, our liturgical living group celebrated Trinity Sunday with some wreath-making - I’ll be sharing more details on that soon!

In the meantime, remember: though Trinity Sunday is marked on a day, its celebration was never limited to that day alone: traditions and gatherings pointed toward this great solemnity in the days leading up to Sunday, and a plethora of customs continue celebrating it all week long afterward.

…so, keep the party going as we head into Ordinary Time!

Pax et bonum,
Kristin