Today we have the opportunity to celebrate the baptism of members of our church.

There are three children talking together about which of their parents had the most important job. One had a father who was a novelist, one a pop star and one a vicar. The son of the novelist spoke first. He said, "My Daddy/Mummy is very important. She writes a lot of words down on pieces of paper and people read everything that he has written". The child of the pop star then speaks. He says, "My Dad is very important. He writes words down on a pieces of paper and people come and listen to him and give him lots of money." Finally the son of the vicar spoke. He said, "I am sure that my father is the most important of all. He writes his words down on a piece of paper. People come to hear him speak and then it takes three people to collect up all the money at the end!"

I am sure that all of our visitors will be pleased to know how seriously we take our religion in Shepherds Bush. If a person's God is that which gives meaning to their life, upon which their sense of identity is grounded, which determines their behavior and around which their life revolves, then a religion is a corporate institutional expression of such a thing. In these terms this is quite clearly football.

This Sunday we look at the doctrine of the Trinity. This is the idea of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, jokingly referred to as two men and a bird. Analogies used to explain the idea of God being three separate and distinct parts and yet of the same essence are water, steam and ice or different musical notes together in harmony. We are made in God's image and so exploring the Trinity is a project of self-discovery; it tells me something about who I am.

Augustine explained it thus. There are three separate parts to my day-to-day living. These are: I (as myself), another person (whom I love), and the love itself (between the two of us). It is through living out this trilogy that I become fully and authentically human. If I become too self-centered and focus entirely on myself then the three become two and I am only a part of the person that I am able to be. So go on then, in the words of the song, "Don't you want somebody to love, don't you need somebody to love, wouldn't you love somebody to love, you'd better find somebody to love."

Three is a crowd only when you want to be exclusive. In a group of three there is always one person listening in on the conversation; one person will be observing what the other two are doing. The two people have to make a decision whether to include or exclude the third person. In the game 'Piggy in the Middle' they decide to exclude; two players deliberately keep the ball away from the third person. The decision to include is a conscious outward looking inclusive action. Families often behave better, lighter, more carefully when there is a guest at the table. They can not presume on each other but need to consciously include the other person.

Someone described, as a third-party is a negotiator, a go-between, intermediary, and arbiter. When the Bible talks about us being made in the image of God (Gen 1:26) it is describing a way of relating to the world rather than a physiology of your physical, emotional, spiritual identity. In a group of three, you participate rather than simply belong. Other than a few examples, such as solitaire or a yo-yo, most games involve someone else either to play with or against. Genuine free-spirited playfulness is a serious whole-hearted endeavour that takes energy and concentration and draws us out of ourselves. It is here that God stands alongside us as someone to copy, respect and learn from and then ultimately to worship and adore. This is the unpredictable, untidy, unencumbered nature of grace from an intriguing playful frightening God.

It is the way in which God asks us to live and so it will be with great joy that I baptise today into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

• Occasionally we can glimpse this skittish, flexible, playful, experimental nature of grace that beckons to David, now ordained as priest. For a number of years I have had recurring snaps of epilepsy - an absence is when you zone out, quite suddenly and momentarily. Shapes remain the same but you lose any sense of who people are, where you might be and how everything fits together. You don't lose your motor-skills and so if you are walking you keep on walking and if you are running you keep on running. A few days ago, I was running moving in and out of these periods of absence. I was running in Hyde Park and as I turned round the Serpentine everything became sharp and crystal clear - a collage of sun, light, sound, sense and feeling.


• David's ordination is an invitation to participate in God's dance with the world. It is an invitation that we, his biological family share willingly with you his spiritual family. I do have one bone of contention with you all though and that is that David looks just as thin as he did when he came here a year ago / he needs fattening up a bit