Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, * ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; * worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; * the Lord is upon the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; * the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; * the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, * and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; * the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe * and strips the forests bare.

9 And in the temple of the Lord * all are crying, "Glory!"

10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; * the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.

11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; * the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

This Sunday we will observe the fourth of seven principal feasts in the Church. These four feast days, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity occur in quick succession. We won’t see another one until All Saints’ Day in November. That’s a lot of feasting in just over fifty days, so the Church calendar gives us a summer break, and we enter the long, green season after Pentecost. It’s almost as if taking some sabbatical time is on the calendar!

Take some time this week to reflect on the words from Psalm 29. While this psalm does not directly mention the Trinity, it does describe a Triune God of profound power and mystery. Only when we take some time of rest can we contemplate and know that we can never domesticate our fierce and wild Almighty God. Mere words of doctrine cannot define God. Any sermon preached on the Trinity is only a frail attempt at defining God.

Last week I spent time resting at the edge of the ocean. It’s a place where I am powerfully aware of God’s presence, God’s immanence. While a week of rest is not an option for everyone, a day each week can be and is commanded by God. And if that seems impossible for us, we can start smaller with a half day, or an hour a day. Finding these moments to be with God will sustain us.

I’m convinced that while theologians might ponder the Trinity by reading, thinking, or explaining it with words, the most effective way to get a glimpse of our Triune God is by experiencing God in our lives. Being in God’s creation and experiencing it with our five senses can fill us with wonder and helps us begin to see a constant flowing back and forth, a mutual relationship and sharing of all things. God giving and receiving love, God creating and nurturing creation with an ever-flowing fountain of provision. When we can see the world around us through the lens of the Trinity, we see that we are all connected, we all need one another, and that our lives are enriched by our relationships.

At the edge of the ocean this Trinitarian flow can be seen everywhere, as the waves come in and out, changing by the hour in height and color and strength. I see it in the sky, the color ever changing in the way the clouds build up high and billowing white or low and dark, threatening rain. I see it in the marine life, birds, crabs, and in the windblown dune grasses which are a microcosm of their own. All of this is a powerful reminder of our interdependence with one another, with creation, with God.

Take time to be still with God in a way that works for you. Notice what God is up to in your life and in the world around you. How is the glory of God being revealed here at St. John’s? Do we hear God’s voice as the psalmist did in Psalm 29, thundering, breaking, splitting, shaking? Where do we hear its strength, beauty, splendor, and blessing? Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!