IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Nearly every service at Our Saviour begins with this invocation. It is the name in which we wash new Christians, and when we hear it, many of us make the sign of the Cross in remembrance of our baptism.
Yet, when we pray, how rarely do we address our prayers to the Trinity? How rarely do we call God by this full, revealed name?
For many Christians, the Trinity seems more like a doctrine than a name for God – and a stale, pedantic doctrine at that.
But as St John’s first letter says, “God is love” – and C.S. Lewis pointed out that love requires a beloved. Whom did the Father love before the Creation? The Son! And together, their mutual love takes on a life of its own – the Spirit.
So, it is a beautiful way to recognize the active, loving nature of God by praying in the name Jesus taught us, the name of the Holy Trinity.