This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, and for the first time I have been invited to preach at St Margaret’s Church in South Wonston.

Along with many others, last weekend I found myself caught up not just in the celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but in the church festival of Pentecost too. In our churches we gave thanks for the faithfulness of the Queen, her 70 years of service to the crown, and a lifetime of service to the King of Kings. We also welcomed the Holy Spirit, God’s presence amongst us, now that Jesus has returned to heaven, and the third member of the Holy Trinity.

One of the highlights of the Jubilee celebrations was the concert on Saturday evening, hosted by the Queen and opened by her Guest of Honour, Paddington Bear. As the two esteemed personages shared tea together, we finally learned just what Her Majesty kept within her handbag: a marmalade sandwich! Friends of Paddington have long known that the beloved bear keeps just such a snack in his hat for emergencies, and now we know that Elizabeth keeps one about her personage too.

The Bible readings for this Sunday begin with a passage from one of the Wisdom books, Proverbs. In this ancient Hebrew text the Hoy Spirit is referred to as Wisdom, which in Greek is Sofia. Despite many years of Patriarchal Biblical scholarship, it would be accurate to describe the Holy Spirit as feminine. Wisdom, linguistically at least, definitely is. Which brings me back to Her Majesty and that afternoon tea she shared with a special guest.

Being the longest reigning British monarch, I am sure that Elizabeth could have chosen anyone to have tea with. She could have chosen the Dalai Lama, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Kenneth Brannagh, or anyone of her many subjects she has awarded a gong to over the years. She could have supped tea with Dame Judi Dench, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Dawn French with or without Jennifer Saunders. Instead she chose a bear, beloved of generations of children and their parents.

In her wisdom, we saw our Queen positively sparkle at the playful antics of the bear, a refugee who had made his home in the UK. We saw the Queen display her playful side, and we witnessed her Christian faith: in her handbag the Queen keeps not just an emergency snack, but the Holy Trinity at work.

Just like the Trinity of God, the trusty marmalade sandwich consists of three elements: 2 slices of bread and the golden marmalade. Perhaps we could think of the bread as Father and Son? In today’s gospel reading from John, Jesus speaks of the unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but previously in this passage he talks of the Father and the Son as being one. The two slices of bread are very much the same substance, and yet two individual slices. The Marmalade though, is a little different: not only is it golden, but it glues the two slices together. The marmalade is zingy and brings a spark of life to all who partake of the sandwich, awakening us to its wholesome goodness, and brings us joy.

The faith and wisdom of the Queen is shared by Paddington, both of whom make sure that they always keep a marmalade sandwich about their persons, they are never more than a tip of the hat or dip into the handbag away from the Holy Trinity of bread and marmalade. Is this a lesson that we can learn from our nation’s matriarch and most esteemed national? Too often we keep the Holy Trinity at arm’s reach: one God in three persons is far too complicated to understand so we don’t try, or if we do we reduce God to a shamrock, or a triangle, or some beautifully chaotic Celtic knot. And because we don’t understand, or have oversimplified God, we not only lose our sense of awe and wonder, but we also lose the intimacy of the Holy Trinity.

God as parent watches over us as we are knitted together in our mother’s womb; brother Jesus comes to share a meal with us; the Holy Spirit, Sofia, breathes life and wisdom through our very souls, guiding us in all our ways. The Holy Trinity also works together as one, dancing in perfect harmony, loving and being love to each other, an overflow of love to each of us. The Holy Trinity draws us into that loving embrace, awakening a sense of joy and belonging in us all.

You can read more of today’s Bible passages here.