Almighty God, you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Embracing the Mystery
by Fr. Robert Ard
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.(Matthew 28:19a)
This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday. The impenetrable mystery that sits at the center of Christianity is the Trinity or the Triune God. I can give you a very metaphysical answer leaning heavily on the catagories of essence, substance, and energies, but I cannot dissolve with words the unspeakable mystery that is YHWH, the Triune God. I would love to fully untie the mystery of the Trinity with words and fancy Greek metaphysical language, but that would make God small and an idol of our minds. That understandable and small God is not worth our time and is not the God whom we worship or we encounter in Scripture.
The word YHWH is in fact a non-word. It is a placeholder for that which cannot and should not be spoken. YHWH is a tetragrammaton that stands for "I am who I am," which is the non-answer answer that God gives to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asks God's name. God's self revelation to Moses and the other patriarchs and prophets is never a full revelation. Mystery always surrounds God's revelation to God's people. The cloud at the top of Mt. Sinai does not just reveal God's presence; rather, it also signals to us that we cannot see, know, and comprehend God fully. This is why idolatry is one of the Ten Commandments. If we try to know God and skirt the mystery of God, we will create an idol and wind up worshipping our own creation. It is no wonder that the golden calf was created and worshiped at the base of Mt. Sinai while the Ten Commandments were being written by YHWH.
The mystery of God is not dissolved with Jesus; rather, Jesus both reveals God even more fully and obscures God more fully. Yes, Jesus shows us more fully the nature of God's self-sacrificial love for all of humanity and ultimately for all of creation. Jesus invites us into the household of God and shows us what the household of God looks like, and yet we are left with even more questions than before Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. We hear from Jesus that he and the Father are one, but Jesus never dissolves the language of identity between him and the Father. Jesus never dissolves any of the language of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even as he draws us into the divine unity and the household of God. The unknowable aspect of YHWH remains with Jesus, whose very name in Hebrew means "YHWH Saves."
We can know Jesus intimately and profoundly, and we can know God in and through Jesus intimately and profoundly, but we cannot capture, and comprehend the totality of God in a mental box or with a name. The Trinity is the Christian way of naming the divine paradox of identity and unity in YHWH, the divine revelation and hiddeness of YHWH, and the divine encounter with humanity through the incarnation, love, faithfulness, and salvation in and through Jesus, "YHWH Saves." Amen!
Episcopal Visit
Our bishop, The Rt. Rev. José McLoughlin, will be making his episcopal visit to Holy Cross on Sunday, July 19. This will be Bishop José's last visit before he takes his new position.
Please contact us . . .
If you are baptized and want to be confirmed.
If you wish to be received into the Episcopal Church.
If you wish to reaffirm your faith during the bishop's visit.
If anyone wants to attend the 26 Healing Miracles course for the first time or take the course again, the next 3 online classes for our time zone for the three month course are:
1. 5/28/26-8/27/26, Thursdays, 1-3pm
2. 6/16/26-9/22/26, Tuesdays, 7-9 pm
3. 9/14/26-12/14/26, Mondays, 7-9 pm
This course is required for OSL membership. Current OSL members do not have to pay for the course. Otherwise, it is $50.00.
The 2nd Friday Book Club is on summer vacation! They are ready to resume reading and fellowship again in September. Happy summer!
Music Matters
From the beginning of June until the end of August, the regular adult choir at Holy Cross will be out of session and replaced by the summerchoir. Anyone age 16 and up is invited to join to be a part of this choir simply show up in the chancel area at 9:30 on any given Sunday to learn a simple anthem before the 10:30 service. The choir doesn't vest nor does it process. No regular commitment is required; just a desire to make a joyful noise!
Rutherford Chamber Consort - On Wings of Joy - Music of Mozart and Dvořák - Sun. 5/31 @ 2:30 p.m. (Sanctuary - Free Admission)
Outreach
Please help us fill the Outreach food pantry shopping cart this summer. It's located downstairs by the elevator.. Click the button to print a shopping list. Bring an item every Sunday! Volunteers take the donations to Outreach in Columbus every week.
Neal and I want to thank all our Holy Cross family who contributed meals for Neal while I was in the hospital and spent time with him during the day and took care of my little dogs and cleaned my house, sent cards and went food shopping and all who made meals for both of us for several weeks after I returned home from the hospital. You definitely are our family and we are so thankful to all of you. God bless you all.
Love,
Eileen and Neal Barton
Decades Gift
Click the button below to go to the Decades Gift page on our website. It includes the letter from your Decades Gift Committee with all the details, as well as options to donate and to pledge.
Writing any history about the Church of the Holy Cross is a tricky business. There is a distinct lack of what one would call scholarly work. A lot of the written history seems to be oral history written down much later than the events occurred. For example, depending on which source (published by the parish) you chose to read, the church that contained our current chapel was either built in 1903, 1908, or 1912. Nevertheless, I think I can convey what I want about the history and importance of the rectory without the benefit of absolute historical accuracy.
