ACE FOR JUNE 3, 2007

The first Sunday of Pentecost is called

A. Trinity Sunday
B. Holy Spirit Sunday
C. The first Sunday of Pentecost
D. Nicene Creed Sunday

The answer is A. I have provided you with some observations by some of the leading theologians of the Christian faith who have offered their thoughts on the Trinity. Perhaps one of these writers will strike a responsive chord in your heart. Bob+

The Christian response is contained in these two fundamental dogmas: that of the Trinity and that of the Incarnation. In the trinitarian dogma God is one, good, true, and beautiful because he is essentially Love, and Love supposes the one, the other, and their unity.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

The Doctrine of the Trinity teaches that within the unity of the one Godhead there are three separate persons who are coequal in power, nature, and eternity.

Walter Martin


"O Lord God almighty...I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever" (n. 14, ed. Funk; PG 5.1040).

Polycarp (70-155/160). Bishop of Smyrna. Disciple of John the Apostle.


"For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water" (First Apol., LXI).

Justin Martyr (100?-165?). He was a Christian apologist and martyr.


"The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: ...one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father ‘to gather all things in one,' and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ‘every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess; to him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all...'" (Against Heresies X.l)

Irenaeus (115-190). As a boy he listened to Polycarp, the disciple of John. He became Bishop of Lyons.


"We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern of salvation...[which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three, not in dignity, but in degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind. They are of one substance and power, because there is one God from whom these degrees, forms and kinds devolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit." (Adv. Prax. 23; PL 2.156-7).

Tertullian (160-215). African apologist and theologian. He wrote much in defense of Christianity.

"If anyone would say that the Word of God or the Wisdom of God had a beginning, let him beware lest he direct his impiety rather against the unbegotten Father, since he denies that he was always Father, and that he has always begotten the Word, and that he always had wisdom in all previous times or ages or whatever can be imagined in priority...There can be no more ancient title of almighty God than that of Father, and it is through the Son that he is Father" (De Princ. 1.2.; PG 11.132).


Origen (185-254). Alexandrian theologian. Defended Christianity and wrote much about Christianity.

Pentecost Sunday Celebrates_____________?

ACE FOR MAY 27, 2007

Pentecost is a celebration of

A. Jesus' 50th birthday.
B. The coming of the Advocate (AKA The Holy Spirit)
C. Jesus' 50 days of temptation in the wilderness.
D. The second coming of Jesus.

The answer to this week's ACE is B. The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the Advocate or legal defense for those who are accused. The Holy Spirit is the attorney you want on your side. Jesus revealed a world whose way of maintaining peace and unity depended upon accusing someone or a group of someones of a crime or an act of aggression and then rallying those not accused into a new unified body to take action against the accused. Once the accused were eliminated, the newly formed majority experienced a momentary peace that could only be renewed by yet another accusation.

In John's Gospel, Jesus says he will send another advocate into the world. In other words, Jesus was the first advocate who speaks on behalf of the accused, but then he seems to see himself as being in a long line of advocates which include the prophets of Israel who were filled with the Spirit of God. The Advocate works from the inside out, helping those of us who find ourselves part of an accusing majority to see with God's eyes the evil behind such behavior and to repent and stand up for those who are being accused.

Since Jesus was treated this way by the religious and political leadership of his day, it could be said that to allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts and to allow the Advocate to direct our actions is to speak up for Jesus and to seek another way of creating peace and unity in our world. If someone has to be expelled for people to achieve temporary peace and unity, then it probably is not the result of the Holy Spirit's presence and guidance.