Lesson From The Shamrock
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series II Cycle B
Shar was worried. She was in charge of the children's sermon this Sunday. And it was Holy Trinity Sunday! She had read for weeks about the meaning of Trinity Sunday and had learned much from it. But which image would speak to the little ones who would come forward?
She considered the classic example of the apple cut in half. Shar had seen it in a children's sermon book. She could show that although the apple had three parts, skin, fruit, and seed, it was still called an apple.
Or was the illustration of the newborn more apt to catch their attention? The baby is brother, son, and grandson all in one, yet still named John. Shar wondered about what she would say. Maybe the apple illustration would be better. It was Saturday evening and she was growing more nervous.
Her mind wandered to the past week. Shar was a third grade teacher at the elementary school downtown. She loved to see the eager young learners as they studied different things. This month was Irish month and the children heard Irish music, watched Irish dancing, saw the beautiful countryside, learned about the terrible wars, and ate Irish food. They had great fun. The students even tried to speak English with an Irish brogue.
Though it wasn't March, Shar included a study on Saint Patrick, the man who was sold at age sixteen to be a laborer only later to become the patron saint of Ireland. When Patrick escaped from his slavery, he became a monk. One of the objects he used as he taught the concept of the Holy Trinity was the shamrock.
That's it! Shar would use a shamrock, with its three leaves, to illustrate the Trinity. She could explain how the shamrock had three even sides, yet each part was important. Each side represented a part of the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each side was a mystery to understand, but each side represented a powerful part of the Christian faith. As the shamrock's leaves protect the ground underneath, so God protects us with the three parts of the Trinity.
Relief flooded her as Shar prepared her talk. She gathered up several shamrocks from the garlands left over from class. She would have enough for each child to take one home. It would be a fun little reminder of the children's sermon. Shar was getting excited. And in her excitement, the little poem her mother used to say every morning when Shar went off to school repeated in her head:
The sacred Three
Be over me;
The blessing of
The Trinity.
She considered the classic example of the apple cut in half. Shar had seen it in a children's sermon book. She could show that although the apple had three parts, skin, fruit, and seed, it was still called an apple.
Or was the illustration of the newborn more apt to catch their attention? The baby is brother, son, and grandson all in one, yet still named John. Shar wondered about what she would say. Maybe the apple illustration would be better. It was Saturday evening and she was growing more nervous.
Her mind wandered to the past week. Shar was a third grade teacher at the elementary school downtown. She loved to see the eager young learners as they studied different things. This month was Irish month and the children heard Irish music, watched Irish dancing, saw the beautiful countryside, learned about the terrible wars, and ate Irish food. They had great fun. The students even tried to speak English with an Irish brogue.
Though it wasn't March, Shar included a study on Saint Patrick, the man who was sold at age sixteen to be a laborer only later to become the patron saint of Ireland. When Patrick escaped from his slavery, he became a monk. One of the objects he used as he taught the concept of the Holy Trinity was the shamrock.
That's it! Shar would use a shamrock, with its three leaves, to illustrate the Trinity. She could explain how the shamrock had three even sides, yet each part was important. Each side represented a part of the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each side was a mystery to understand, but each side represented a powerful part of the Christian faith. As the shamrock's leaves protect the ground underneath, so God protects us with the three parts of the Trinity.
Relief flooded her as Shar prepared her talk. She gathered up several shamrocks from the garlands left over from class. She would have enough for each child to take one home. It would be a fun little reminder of the children's sermon. Shar was getting excited. And in her excitement, the little poem her mother used to say every morning when Shar went off to school repeated in her head:
The sacred Three
Be over me;
The blessing of
The Trinity.
