When I was a youth my home congregation sang the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” at the beginning every service all summer long. Summer was the Trinity season, as it was called in those good old days, when every service every Sunday was pretty much the same. Since my family never missed a Sunday morning service, it was not long before I had memorized all four stanzas of the opening hymn. It begins “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed Trinity!” And it ends in verse four repeating that phrase “God in three persons, blessed Trinity!”
June 19 is Trinity Sunday this year, so in many of our churches we will be singing this old Trinitarian hymn. The word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, but the doctrine of the Trinity is found throughout the New Testament, especially in the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In John 16:12 Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” And so, the doctrine of the Trinity was gradually developed to explain what Jesus said about himself (the Son), the Father, and the Holy Spirit. It is reflected in the structure of the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds, and extensively developed in the Athanasian Creed. But its origin is in verses like Matthew 28:19 where we are instructed to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
The imagery for the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” is largely from Isaiah 6 where the prophet had a vision of God in all his majesty and glory. This threefold sanctus rang out as cherubim and seraphim and presumably ordinary angels, called out to one another. The voice of the Lord thundered, and when the foundations of the threshold shook, Isaiah’s knees buckled. This was truly shock and awe on a scale such as the prophet had never experienced before. His response was “Woe is me! For I am lost….for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” What a far cry this is from the common image of God as a kindly, old, and - dare I say - feeble grandfather figure. Yet this is the image of God in the Bible, right through to the Book of Revelation. He inspires awe-filled worship and reverence.
There are beautiful new songs that can bring us into a spirit of reverence and awe. Among my favorites are “Our God is an awesome God; he reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and love; our God is an awesome God” by Rich Mullins and “Majesty! worship his majesty! Unto Jesus be all glory, power and praise! Majesty, kingdom authority flow from his throne, unto his own, his anthem raise” by Jack Hayford.
In songs old and new, this Sunday will be a great day to worship the Lord God Almighty.
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