Thou art the King of glory, O Christ; thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. Te Deum (the language of 1662 is unsurpassably vivid and emphatic).

The fact that he is regnant not only elicits our adoring assent it comforts us beyond measure. The great and distressing evils of earth that vaunt themselves before heaven will be wiped out with one sweep of his mighty sword. Every enemy of righteousness will be laid low. The whole cosmos will be cleansed and all rebellious forces crushed. Sinners may rejoice now but they will rue the the judgment when their infamies will be exposed and their audacious speech and deeds justly rewarded. The one who rules will preserve us for the pleasures of his kingdom. Our hearts faint at the tide of wickedness that rises in our time. But the hand that governs all things will dispense justice and peace at the end of this life's ordeal.

Sunday 15th Pentecost. The descent of the Holy Spirit was the hope of the prophets and the promise of the Lord. Historically, the gift of the third person of the Trinity was granted to the people of God in varying measure, at various times, for various tasks and occasions. He performed the miracle of regeneration in countless believing souls down through the ages. At Pentecost the Spirit of God was sent in a particularly special and permanent way - an outpouring upon the church for its emboldened witness to Jesus, an indwelling in the lives of believers for their guidance and enabling in the cause of the gospel.

The Holy Spirit comes along side to teach, remind, encourage, and comfort the chosen of God. He is our unseen but often felt Companion. The basic truth is that he also gets inside us, and inwardly he strengthens, illuminates, prompts, purifies, and refreshes us. He is the life of God in the soul of man (Henry Scougal). Without him we could neither will to please God nor perform anything good (Article 10). We would be spiritually inert and implacably hostile to God. Our being been born from above requires the almighty power of God and the irresistible attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. Grace subdues us. Grace wonderfully woos us. When we have been gloriously won for Jesus and drawn to God the Spirit abides in us to sustain our new life, increase our personal righteousness for compatibility with the Father in heaven,
and protect us from fatally straying from our heavenward course. The Spirit is totally dependable; we are utterly dependant.

Strengthen us, we beseech thee, O Lord, with the Holy Spirit the Comforter, and daily increase in us thy manifold gifts of grace; the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and fill us, O Lord, with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and for ever. Adapted from Book of Common Prayer

Sunday 22nd Trinity Sunday. It is impossible to assign precedence to any of these occasions. The work of our rescue, the plan of salvation, is as seamless as the Saviour's garment. Each focuses on an equally central theme of the divine nature and the ways of God. Each thrills the heart beyond description and beyond limit. But the topic of the essential three-ness of the one true God is incalculably enthralling, engaging the highest flights of the human mind uplifted by divine revelation, the sweetest musings of the soul, and the keenest adoration of the heart. This is what it is to be truly human - to gaze wonderingly into the unsearchable mystery of the majesty of God. We gain glimpses and our comprehension is fleeting and fitful. We cannot fully capture what enraptures us but every insight into the triunity of God is a foretaste of heaven where we shall see so much that is hidden from our earthly eyes and marvel.

O Lord God Almighty, eternal, immortal, invisible, the mysteries of whose being are unsearchable: Accept, we beseech thee, our praises for the revelation which thou hast made of thyself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons and one God; and mercifully grant that ever holding fast this faith we may magnify thy glorious name; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Scottish Prayer Book

It is beyond our grasp to fully understand the privilege that is ours - to fellowship with the Society of the Holy Trinity. Words fail us. Our spirit wilts at the reality of our communion with the ineffable threefold Lord but at his gracious bidding we revel in his company and conversation with our souls.

The Father is overwhelmingly awesome in his excellent qualities of character and "perfection of perfection" to infinite goodness. In his absolute holiness and sovereignty he stoops to gather us to himself in utmost tenderness, compassion, and love. The blazing Fire tempers his flame to bring us the warmth of his mercy and preserve us from his consuming heat. His radiance is expressed in a beaming smile because of the obedience of his Son on our behalf.

The Lord Jesus is the expression of the divine mind and truth, God's Envoy to earth with his word, and man's deliverer from estrangement and eternal death. The God-man is our Lord and Lover, our sovereign Superior and dearest friend and brother. His glory is infinite, his relationship intimate.

The Holy Spirit is the Creator of our renovated nature, the Source of our new life and the Donor of divine love to the very centre and whole of our being. The Sustainer is the permanent resident within the purified soul. No explanation of the Trinity suffices but God reveals himself to us personally and in his plurality and plenitude, or, as someone suggests, his severalness. We discover the inexhaustible power of God in his works and ways, the loveliness of the Father, the lowly winsomeness of the Son, and the strong gentleness of the Spirit. We may lack the skill of adequate definition but we know that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit satisfy our deepest desire for the knowledge and friendship of God and we can only but joyfully exult "Glory be to to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.

The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church