Today is the day we celebrate the doctrine of the
Trinity. It is a “hot potato” kind of
day for preachers – saying much about the Trinity leads right into heresy. So I am going to boldly introduce you all to
a new heresy today – one I have made up.
The idea of the Trinity is not a math dilemma, but a
perceptual dilemma. We are not adding
one plus one plus one and declaring the answer as one, but instead asking: How
can this be? It is a Great Mystery. There are other great mysteries in the
church: the Annunciation, the Incarnation, the Epiphany, the Ascension; all of
the Sacraments are considered Great Mysteries.
We will never be able to completely box them into a definition. The best we can usually do is catch a glimpse
from our peripheral vision – we can almost
get it on our best days.
After seminary training and Bible study and life experience,
here’s what I know of the Trinity. The
Trinity is a wholly complete glimpse of God as three unique beings in perfect
communion at all times – all uncreated and eternal from before time.
God – the Father, Mother, Creator, Parent of us all – is
omnipotent, omnibenevolent, the source of all love and life – maybe the origin
of why we all long for relationships.
Jesus – the fully Man and fully God – the Incarnation of God
who fully died and rose again and ascended taking his humanity with him – is
the Word made flesh - The Word who dwelt among us and showed us how to be in
relationships to everyone around us as well as Creation itself.
The Holy Spirit – the most mysterious part of the mystery
and where I am going to focus my thoughts today. I believe (and I have a seminary professor
who liked this thought) that it is a primary attribute of the Holy Spirit to be
mysterious. The Holy Spirit can be
referred to as male or female – look at our reading this morning. In The
Shack, the Holy Spirit was a feminine shimmery being who intentionally
faded away if one stared too closely. I
believe that everything we experience of God is through the Holy Spirit
– the One who pours God’s love into our hearts and lives – maybe it is the Holy
Spirit who energizes us in relationships – and helps us to care for each
other’s well-being. The Holy Spirit is
always depicted as a form of movement: wind, fire, breath – maybe the Holy
Spirit inspires us to moves towards the “other” when we would not choose to do
that on our own.
I have another theory to run past you all here – it is
something I have been pondering for about 5 years now. Music is one of the mysteries in our daily
lives. I have been driving along and
hear a song I haven’t heard since my junior year of high school, yet I can
still sing every word. Freaky – isn’t
it? I always wonder how much math got
kicked out of my head, but those inane lyrics remain stuck there:
I
was working part time in a five-and-dime
My
boss was mr. mcgee
He
told me several times that he didn't like my kind
Cause
I was a bit 2 leisurely
Seems
that I was busy doing something close 2 nothing
But
different than the day before
That's
when I saw her, ooh, I saw her
She
walked in through the out door, out door
She
wore a
Raspberry
beret
The
kind u find in a second hand store
Raspberry
beret
And
if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more
Raspberry
beret
I think I love her Prince.
“Raspberry Beret,” 1985.
I read
an article about 5 years ago – an address given to music student and their
parents. A professor was talking to them
about the power of music in our lives.
He talked about the experience of listening to a piece of music – even
one you could swear you have never heard before – and being overwhelmed with
emotion. All of a sudden your heart
quickens and tears are falling out of your eyes, and you cannot even begin to
guess what just happened.
The
music professor went on to tell a story that I believe is particularly
appropriate for this Memorial Day weekend.
He talked about doing a concert and how he plays one song first, then
talks about that piece and the next piece before he continues with the
concert. He spoke about a concert in
which an older man sat in a wheelchair in the front row. During the first piece, the old man started
crying – the professor noted it but was not concerned – this sort of things
happens. When the professor explained
the piece of music, he talked about how the composer of the piece had dedicated
it to a pilot lost in the war. Once the
concert began again, the old man left.
After the concert was done, the old man went backstage and told the
professor that he had been overcome with emotion and could not stay there. He said that during the war, he had watched a
friend, another pilot get shot out of the sky – and during the first piece
(before the liner notes were explained) he had very vividly relived watching
his friend die. He had not thought of it
for years. This is part of the mystery
of music.*
I have
seen it over and over again at weddings, at funerals, at the Symphony. Music touches something very deep within us
that we cannot fathom. Music is a
Universal throughout all cultures and time.
Even in the most dire of circumstances – and maybe because of the dire
circumstances – music is essential to humans.
It seeps into our souls, below the words, below our defenses, and heals
hurts we don’t even realize are there.
And
here is where I wonder – and here is the new heresy I am introducing this
weekend: If God is Love – and is found in every relationship we have; If Jesus
is the Word – spoken, heard, written, told and shared; Could the Holy Spirit be
the Music – the relationship between sounds – some guttural and some beautiful
– in relationships that we hear beyond, around and sometimes in place of
words? I wonder. I would never presume to define the Holy
Spirit to only music – just as I would never presume to confine God to love or
Jesus to words - but I wonder if music is a way that the Holy Spirit speaks to
each of us directly to our souls?
It’s a
thought to ponder that I will leave you with today; maybe another way to think
of some of the work of the Trinity. As
we move through this life of worry and doubt and fear, may we continually see
how much we are loved by this Trinitarian God who calls us to share love.
May we
all be healed of the hurts in this world by the mysterious moving of Love, Word
and Music – in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit – One in Three and Three in
One. Amen.
*Text
of address from Karl Parlnauk here
