The Praise of His Glory
Vol. 57 No. 27 Trinity Sunday May 31, 2026
On Whitsunday, or Pentecost, the Church commemorated the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples for the sake of their mission in the world. Today, on Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the end toward which that mission is directed: that we may “see” and “enter the kingdom of God,” as Jesus says to Nicodemus.
In the Revelation to St. John, the vision and entrance into that kingdom is unveiled in the worship that is offered in heaven: “Behold, a door was opened in heaven … and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.” Around that throne, the powers of heaven “rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The saints fall down before him, casting their crowns before the throne, and crying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
The mission of the Son and of the Spirit has this end: the worship of God — the praise of his glory. On Trinity Sunday, we praise God as he has revealed himself to us: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a Trinity of Persons in Unity of Substance. For the purpose of knowing God is to love him, and the fulfillment of doctrine is doxology. As the Presbyterians teach, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”
When we witness something of surpassing excellence — a sunset, a great work of music, a feat of courage or skill — we instinctively say, “That was glorious.” We mean that something beautiful or excellent has revealed itself in a way that fills us with delight and wonder; and in acknowledging that excellence, we enjoy it all the more.
So too with God. His glory is the manifestation and acknowledgment of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness — disclosed in works of creation, judgment, redemption, and above all in the person and work of Jesus Christ. When his holiness shines forth and his love is revealed, our natural response is amazement and delight, in thankfulness for his gifts and praise for the giver.
It is precisely into “the praise of the glory of his grace” that the service of Choral Mattins is meant to lead us. The underlying logic of the service is designed to move us, by grace, from guilt into gratitude, and from gratitude into glory. Again and again, the Prayer Book leads us in a movement from repentance, through faith, to the thankful praise of his glory. It begins where we are — in the misery of our alienation from God, in our sorrow and shame — and it ends where he is, in the endless and inexhaustible enjoyment of eternal glory.
The movement begins in penitence. Confessing our sins and receiving the assurance of God’s mercy, we pray that we may “hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name”, “so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy”. His glory — our joy.
From there, the service rises into proclamation and praise. In psalms, canticles, and Scripture lessons, we rehearse the mighty acts of God in creation and redemption. The Gloria Patri — “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost” — sounds again and again like a refrain, gathering all things into the praise of the Holy Trinity.
The service concludes in prayer and intercession, as those who have received grace now ask that God’s kingdom may come more fully among us and within us. It is in gratitude for his gracious promises, that we claim them for ourselves and for all his church and people — and we do so, as the General Thanksgiving notes, “through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen”.
And when Mattins is joined, as today, with sermon, anthem, procession, offering, and final prayers, these do not alter the pattern so much as extend it: proclamation leading to praise, and praise overflowing into thanksgiving and petition.
In this way, earthly worship becomes a participation — however partial now — in the worship of heaven itself: “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”