Bring on the Music: Living in the Trinity

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31  Romans 5:1–5; John 16:12–15 -Trinity Sunday

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday—a day that invites us not to solve the mystery of the Holy Trinity, but to enter into it with wonder. I was surprised to find that theologians, poets, and even saints have thought of the Trinity in musical terms.  Music is something that is experienced, something that we live through, something that can transport and change us. Also, music is something that cannot be explained.  Anaylzed yes, but who can explain why the music of Bach and Beethoven and the Beatles reaches us?        We know we are drawn into it, but we can’t fully explain why.   I kinda get it.

Talking about the Trinity for me is like emerging from quicksand.  I can’t do it by myself.  Thankfully we have scripture, and Biblical scholars to help. Let’s hear what the Bible says about God, the Spirit, and Jesus, starting with the Old Testament, the Torah.

Exodus 3:13-14

13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

And in the synoptic gospel Matthew 3:16

16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.

Finally, in John 8:58

Jesus said to them, the Jewish leaders, when describing himself, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

To sum this up, Jesus was given the Holy Spirit by God at his baptism, and later says “I am,” apparently saying he is God, which is why he was stoned, for blasphemy. Would we say in Jesus here, we are witnessing three in one?

Paul in his letter to the Romans, chapter 5, writes,

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He’s not speaking abstract theology—he’s sharing the lived experience of grace. He goes on: ““Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us”

Listen to this. We are justified and have peace with God through Christ, and hope and love through the Spirit. Did you recognize the Trinity there? God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit—they’re all present working together to bring us into peace and hope.

Jesus continues to educate us.  In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will come—not speaking on his own, but glorifying the Son, who reveals the Father. It’s a sacred movement: the Spirit glorifies the Son, the Son reveals the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit.

The church father St. Augustine, a favorite of mine and Pope Leo, described this Trinity relationship as one of eternal love: the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the Love shared between them¹.

Martin Luther, the father of Lutheranism, as you know, insisted that the Trinity was not for speculation, a problem to be solved, but for comfort. In his sermon on John 3, he wrote, “We must not investigate too curiously, but adhere to the Word,” trusting the Spirit who is poured into our hearts². For Luther, the Trinity was the very heart of the gospel³.

And finally, there is the living Bishop N. T. Wright, who reminds us that Trinitarian life is about relationship: “Being drawn into the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit through Jesus, so that we can become more fully human, more fully alive.”⁴ In other words, the Trinity isn’t an idea we affirm—it’s a life we live.

Let’s turn briefly back to Paul.  He speaks of a peace we can now have with God.  This is a restored relationship that was broken by Adam and now made possible through Christ.

Again, this peace is not a theory—it is experienced through the Spirit.  And now for me.

I can say this, because I know this to be true.  I have lived this.

Peace with God.  Not every moment of every day.

But in those moments of need, of revelation,

and when I am still, with God, the Spirit comes.

And I am absolutely surprised.

Miracles of peace can happen in Savannah, Georgia, like Joy shared with us on Memorial Day Sunday.

Believe it.  I felt the Spirit during last weekend, Pentecost, confirmation, and graduation.

Peace like a river flowing through me.

That Spirit, poured into our hearts like living water,

does not come later, or as an abstract thought;

it comes now, as we live, as we are being saved.

We feel it. How? Why?

It is a mystery that sweeps us up and envelops us.

This “peace” invites us into divinity,

to stand in what Paul calls “this grace in which we stand.”

We do not drift into grace.

We do not fall backward into God’s love like a trust exercise.

We stand in it. Rooted. Claimed. Secured.

In John 16:12 Jesus tells his disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  These disciples had no idea what was in store for them.  But, Jesus assures them, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (16:13)

The disciples are not ready, and frankly, neither are we.

If I had known what I would have to face in my life,

I would have run and hid under the covers.  Maybe you have similar experiences.

But the promise is this: the Spirit will come to guide us, to hold us up, and not let us falter.

The Power and Strength of the Trinity does not conform with most people think of power.

Most view power, as domination, and authority as control.

The Trinity offers a radically different image: mutuality.

Jesus wants us to be one with him, God and the Holy Spirit.

Their power comes from Love. Giving and receiving.

It is a divine dance—with the choreography created by the Trinity.

So what does all this mean—for us, and for our church?

It means, first, that God is not distant.

God is not confined in heaven waiting for our prayers to rise like the mist.

God is already present. God is already reaching out. God is here in Jesus,

the Son who walks among us. In the Spirit,

God is still breathing within us.

Second, it means that love is the very essence of reality.

Not just a feeling. Not just a virtue, but the very heartbeat of God’s creation.

The basic rhythm of our existence.

When we forgive, we echo God’s mercy.

When we serve, we live out the Jesus’ humility.

When we speak truth in love,

we follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

We aren’t  just supposed to believe in the Trinity—

we are called to live in the Trinity,

in self-giving, joyful, and enduring love.

And finally, it means that we don’t need to be afraid to hope. Paul says “hope does not disappoint us.” Why? Because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”  The Trinity is not a problem to explain—I don’t have to be nervous any more because the Trinity is a life to enter.

Go forward today and be courageous, not merely knowing about the Trinity,

but living in the Trinity. Turn up the music and join the divine dance

that began before the world’s creation and will last forever.   In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, AMEN.