The late 1950`s was the era of the big bazous, those oversized flashy gas-guzzling automobiles. I remember one model in particular, the Chevy Impala, the ancestor of my present vehicle. It had long fin-like fenders out the back and it came in bright colours. At age 14 I thought it was the essence of modernity. It would not be possible, I thought, to produce a more beautiful automobile.

Well, some 40 years later that same automobile looks old fashioned and none of us would like to pay the tab at the gas pump for filing it up. Today my idea of fine car design is quite different.

It is impossible for me to think of the 1959 Chevy Impala as I did 44 years ago. I have changed. I changed when the world did. Without really even being aware of it, my idea of what 'modern' looks like changed largely because of the influence of the world`s car designers. I never even noticed it happening. External forces have changed me inside and they have changed my world. Much as I hate to admit it the multi-billion dollar advertising industry has reshaped my tastes in car design.

More than we know we are shaped by the social environment in which we live. As Anglicans we are shaped in our understanding of God by the language of worship, the architecture of our place of worship, and by the kinds of ministries which our church holds up to us as valuable. There is a maxim within Anglicanism which well describes the core ethos and influence of our kind of Christianity: lex orandi lex credendi. That is to say What we pray is what we believe. In other words if you really want to know what Anglican Christians believe then examine what we say in public worship. While this may be true for all religions, it is especially true of Anglicanism because among Christian churches we impose the fewest doctrinal requirements.

So, for example. If you carefully compare the old Book of Common Prayer with the new Book of Alternative Services ( or even more so the St John`s Rite) you will see that they embody very different positions regarding the nature of church, to name but one aspect. About who is church, about the relationship of clergy and laity, and about the way in which authority is exercised. Over time, this new language will change us all, little by little, imperceptibly. And this new language will have its greatest impact on the three generations of Christians who have grow up in this church with no knowledge of the old Book of Common Prayer. If those of you who are new to Anglican worship wonder why we make such a fuss about the books we use in worship this is the answer: our prayer book embodies our self-understanding.

So there you have it. I am changed by the world. It is also true that the world changes when I do. My world is a small world, of course. It is the world of my relationships both personal and professional. I change and through that others are changed; others change and through that I am changed. I am both actor and reactor.

How change occurs is a fascinating study and the object of much discussion and planning wherever people are in the business of influencing others. All such people, in some measure, want to manage change to attain certain goals, some noble and some not. Managing change within an institution is a complex process-just ask any member of St John's Architectural Renewal Committee!

As parents we take delight in watching the changes in the lives of our children and we know that we have a great influence as agents of change in their lives. As Christians we believe in change. We implement programs to change people`s lives and we see the church as having the task of changing people, specifically, of turning self-centredness into God centredness. We are commissioned to change the world.

Change can be for the better or for the worse, it happens slowly -usually- but not always. Crisis often provokes rapid change. Some crises are painful and some are not; but all have a change effect upon us. The entry of a child into the lives of a couple, especially a first child, changes dramatically the family life style. The loss of employment or of a relationship can cause us to change quickly, to assess our priorities and attitudes. What is always true is the fact that we are both changer and changee.

I have taken time this morning to state the obvious in order to prepare you to think of God in terms of change. Much of our language for God robs of us this insight. We speak of God as eternal, almighty, omnipotent, a mighty fortress, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Why should God change? After all isn`t God perfect, all-knowing and all-powerful? Perfect needs no change. Yet these static images and concepts do not give us a sense of God as dynamic, God as changing, God as movement. And yet so much of scripture is about the divine on the move, present in the events of history, escaping bondage with the Hebrews and travelling with Paul in establishing churches throughout the world. Today's gospel says the God is like the wind blowing where it wills and out of our control.

In the New Testament the description of the coming of the Holy Spirit which we read from the Book of Acts, the one we read last Sunday on Pentecost, is one of a radical experience of that Spirit. And yet it is only one of many portrayals of the action of the Holy Spirit. However, for some churches and some Christians that depiction is regarded as the only legitimate one. Unless you are bowled over suddenly you have not received the Holy Spirit. But mainstream Anglicanism is fundamentally about the quiet and long-term action of the Holy Spirit. Our spirituality is more mystical than charismatic. Our worship centres on sacraments more than on personal radical experiences. Maybe this is why the average Anglican is suspicious of overly enthusiastic expressions of the experience of the Holy Spirit. Rightly or wrongly, many of us regard these outbursts as neurotic! But we are not afraid of the Holy Spirit here at St John's otherwise we would not be organizing our Spring Celebration 2003 event for June 28. If you are not afraid of the Holy Spirit sweeping into your life then you should come. If you are afraid then please stay at home!

Today is Trinity Sunday in celebration of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the idea of God as Three-in-One. It was born out of the experience of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit by the first believers. This teaching is to the Christian Church what blood is us. Without it we cannot live. One becomes a Christian by baptism with water and the invocation of the name of this Holy Trinity.

We believe that at the very core of God`s being is a dynamic relationship of modes of being which we call Father, Son and Holy Spirit (to use the traditional language). Or if prefer a more energetic portrayal, at the core of God's being is a three-way dance. As someone once pointed out, if three people were to join hands to form a circle and were capable of turning at several hundred revolutions per minute, all we would see is a blur. They would appear to be one and yet they would still be three distinct people- no doubt three very sick and dizzy people, but separate just the same.

This is what you and I are like inside. And the greater the integration of these three aspects of our being the closer we are to God and fuller our experience of life. This is true because we are made in the likeness of God. In the very first chapter of the very first book of the bible we are told that we are made in God's image.

In our likeness to the Father/Mother God, we can awaken ,preserve, and cherish new life. We can fashion, mold, and develop our physical environment. We are creators.

In our likeness to Jesus the Son, we can demonstrate acts of compassion, forgiveness, healing, and sacrifice, even redemption. We are reconcilers.

And in our likeness to the Spirit we formulate new ideas, we inspire, and we advance in knowledge and wisdom. We can be brilliant and imaginative. Do we not know, each and every one of us, this potential within us?

I hope that I have not lost you in this flight of abstraction. I want you to open your eyes to the potentially divine nature of change within you and this church. Isaiah`s vision of God first leads him to a deep sense of unworthiness, "Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." (Is 6:5). But the vision also enables him to move beyond that to commitment, "Here I am, send me" he is able to say when God asks him to be a messenger.

St Paul experiences the Spirit as liberation, he says to the Christians in Rome, "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into sin, but you have received a spirit of adoption" (Rom 8:15). The Spirit strives to draw us closer.

And Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus reminds us that God`s spirit is not one to be feared but celebrated; it is not sent to condemn us but to save us.

The fact of the matter is that when the Spirit moves we get upset because the spirit challenges us to go beyond who we presently are. That is precisely what Isaiah, Paul and Nicodemus experienced.

Even the doctrine of the Trinity was forged in the crucible of conflict within the early church. To speak of Jesus as God within Judaism, from which Christianity sprang, was impossible. It was blasphemy of the highest order and against everything in the tradition. And yet so powerful was this experience of Jesus and his Spirit his followers set aside the familiar and acceptable holy things of their faith and took at step out into something new. If they had not there would be no New Testament and no church. We would not be together here today.

The early believers had to find a place within their concept of the one God for Jesus the Christ and for the Spirit poured out upon them. Finally, the church formulated the formal doctrine of the Trinity, a definition of oneness in three which defies reason but enlivens faith. This teaching is the hallmark of Christianity.

From all this I must only assume that the dance of God continues and I must assume that God invites us into that dance. God has not ceased to be on the move and neither must we if we are to keep up.