Trinity Sunday C (John 16:12-15)

The following poem is Meryl Stratford’s “Helen Keller at Niagara Falls.” 

“She could not see the avalanche cascade / from foam-flecked marble rapids, being blind, / but torrents of egrets and apple blossoms played / whirlpools of nebulous beauty in her mind. / She could not hear, tumultuous mystery, / the thunderous plunge, a sea’s storm-breaking crests, / crescendo of a choral symphony, / only the silence when the music rests. / But the earth beneath her trembled. She could feel / a power like perseverance, truth, or love, / the joyous lifting of a bridal veil, / a thirst fulfilled, the mist, the memory of / her teacher’s cool, wet fingers like a brand, / burning that first word water in her hand.” 

In this poem, the poet imagines how Hellen Keller would experience Niagara Falls differently from hers and many of our own. But this seemingly common experience of the poet and ours is not universally shared and is indeed limited to only those who have been to Niagara Falls. The best way to fully grasp this poem is probably to read it at Niagara Falls. My point in sharing this poem is to expose the limitation of the use of our language to fully capture one’s experience, and the keyword here is experience. The success of a poem then mostly depends on how it helps its readers to visualize its subject matter so that there’s some common experience with which both the poet and her readers can resonate.

Similarly, we want to take an experiential approach to Trinity Sunday this morning. As we can never conceptualize the beauty of Niagara Falls, our intellectual attempt to understand the Trinity without any experience is bound to fail. God is to be experienced first and then in our practice of making sense of it we gain wisdom and insight. This is a prayerful process. So where should we start to experience God in a trinitarian way? 

Close your eyes, and imagine that you are standing in the Jordan River. You see two people. One looks like St. John the Baptizer, and the other Jesus. As Jesus is immersed in the river and rises again above the water, you can see the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon Jesus. You hear the voice from heaven speaking to Jesus, “You are my Son, the Beloved.” (Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22) 

Now, John looks at you. It’s your turn. Jesus stands right next to you. He looks excited for you. John gently immerses you into the Jordan River. The water temperature is strikingly cold, waking up every cell of your body. Quite far from your everyday warm shower. As you rise above the water, you try to take a breath of fresh air, as if a newborn baby’s breathing reflex kicks in. When that Breath, descending like a dove, enters through your nostrils to the lungs and the whole body, you hear the same voice from heaven that spoke to Jesus, “You are my Beloved.” That Breath of love flows into you the Beloved who hears the voice of the Lover.

This is one of the ways to experience God the Trinity. Father-Son-Holy Spirit can be experienced as Lover-Beloved-Love Overflowing. We start with Jesus and stand together in his place through the symbol or sacrament of baptism. He becomes our entry point to the life of the Trinity, Lover-Beloved-Love Overflowing. Let’s then re-read today’s gospel lesson according to the Lover-Beloved-Love Overflowing experience: 

"When Love overflows, that Love will guide you into all the truth of love itself; for Love Overflowing will not speak on her own but will speak whatever is heard, which is from Lover to Beloved, and Love Overflowing will declare to you the things that are to come. Love will glorify Beloved, because Love will take what is Beloved’s and declare to you. All that Lover has is Beloved’s. For this reason, Love Overflowing will take what is Beloved’s and declare it to you."

So would you share your experience of the Trinity with me or your neighbors? This sharing is in and of itself the gospel proclamation. 
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