I am a huge fan of the rock band U2…it would not be an exaggeration to say they are my favorite Rock band ever. Several years ago they had a song that was playing everywhere called “Vertigo”. In the beginning of the song, the band’s front man Bono counts off in Spanish saying, “uno, dos, trés, catorce!” Which translated means “one, two, three, fourteen”. Now neither my Spanish nor my math are very good but even I know that 4 comes after 3, and that cuatro comes after trés. But for whatever reason on this song the expected is not what happens. When Bruce Springsteen inducted U2 into the rock and roll Hall of fame in 2005 he explained it as the proper math for a rock and roll band. The proper math for a rock and roll band isn’t like other math and doesn’t really make sense to the casual observer. Bruce says that rock and roll math works because the sum of the parts have to add up to something much greater than the whole; and that a “great rock band searches for the same kind of combustible force that fueled the expansion of the universe after the big bang. You want the earth to shake and spit fire. You want the sky to split apart and for God to pour out.” And Bruce concludes by saying that “uno, dos, tres catorce” is indeed the correct math for rock and roll.
I love Bruce’s passion about music, especially music that has become the soundtrack to my life. One of the things that he praises this rock band for is the relationship that exists between them as musicians who could never function quite the same without each other, and also praises them for their relationships as close friends. You have to admit, to make music together for now going on 50 years, and to spend that kind of time together, you have to really, really, like each other… and be willing to put up with all sorts of things, not unlike a marriage or life in community.
So, the rock and roll math thing got me thinking about the Trinity. There again, we have a mathematical impossibility; Three persons, one God; One God in three persons… Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I am not going to try to explain that with numbers; I have already told you that my math isn’t great; and any sermon that tries to explain the Trinity that’s longer than three minutes is likely to contain at least one, if not several heresies…and besides, the Trinity, is much more than a mathematical dilemma waiting to be solved; and I believe that the Trinity really is a “combustible force that fueled the expansion of the universe;” but what’s important for us today I think, the aspect of the Trinity that we can grasp at least a little is that of relationship.
There is a relationship that is at work in the life of the Trinity; the basis of that relationship, is love. There are some who would say that the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. I can live with that. That makes some sense to me, so long as we understand that love is not simply an emotional response. It is that, but like rock and roll math, it is so much more than that. Love that exists within God’s life exists in relationship and it exists as an active force in the life of the Trinity; it exists as an active force in our lives as well. I am also fairly certain that when you and I love anyone the way that God loves us, there is an active force present in relationship, in community that helps all of us become the people that God has intended for us to become. The more we love, the more active that love is, the closer we become to our Creator.
There was something else Bishop Doyle said in his sermon; he said the kingdom of God has no nationalities. Think about that; he isn’t saying that in the kingdom we all look alike or act alike. Rather, we recognize that the Body of Christ needs all of us; that the things that we use to separate ourselves from each other, are the very things that shape us into the people we are. Our God celebrates the ways we are different. We are created to be in community. As I said to a friend a few days ago, even God lives in community.
Its community that helps us grow closer to God. I would go so far as to say that most of us crave community. That’s what made covid isolation so hard; we need each other, and it is in our gatherings together as a community that we learn more about ourselves, each other, and God who is in the midst of our togetherness.
However, we have to be careful of the idols that we create in community. So much in our world right now is asking us to pick sides. We are out yelling each other so loudly that we cannot hear the still small voice of God let alone hear each other. I’m not sure what it is that seems such a deep part of who we are, but we always seem to want to make anyone we perceive as some kind of threat, into a scapegoat for our anger and fear. God help us if we don’t figure out how to live together in some sort of peace and acceptance, the consequences will be dire. They already are.
Beloved, God the Father continues to create, Jesus has been raised from the dead and is alive, the Holy Spirit burns within us to compel us to act in love towards God and towards each other. There is so much that is happening that is of the empire, and not of the kingdom of God. We all need to examine our actions and our motives and ask ourselves, “does this thing that I am doing further the work of Jesus or is it an action of the empire? The empire loves when we are fighting each other because it can control things. We know better than that. We LOVE better than that, at least on our good days. We all have good days, and we all have bad days. May the Spirit always push us to our better selves, so that the kingdom of God might flourish.
Uno, dos, tres, catorce… Three in one, one in three… perfect math for rock and roll… perfect math for the beloved people of God who know that when they work together for the kingdom, that the whole most certainly is greater than the sum of its parts. May our love for each other and for God create the kind of community that splits the earth so that God might pour out…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
