We believe that God knows about and sees everything that happens in the universe and is always there for us. It is hard for us to imagine such a powerful and wise Creator.  So we make it simpler for ourselves by breaking things down and representing God as a triune God - that means there are three separate parts to God.  One we call Father, the Creator of everything in the universe.  The second part of the triune God is Jesus, and the third part is the Holy Spirit.

On Trinity Sunday we think about the connections between God, Jesus, and all of us.  How does it happen?  Martin Luther explained our relationship with the triune God this way:

Word Alone - We come to God through Jesus, the Word of God

Faith Alone - Faith in the power of God the Father opens our hearts to God's love and redemption

Grace Alone - The power of the Holy Spirit brings us God's grace in return for our faith

God the Father speaks to us through Jesus.  The Gospel of John begins by saying "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." John is talking about Jesus.  Jesus is the Word of God.   The Word of God became a person, so we could understand God's message of love.

The Holy Spirit is the "glue" that ties us to God through Jesus, and it holds the Body of Christ (the royal priesthood of believers, in the words of Martin Luther) together.  Think of someone whom you know loves you, and the feeling you get when you are with that person. Does that person have to say the words for you to know they care about you, or can you just feel it?  The Holy Spirit is how God comes to all Christians and binds them together, and makes each of us feel loved and safe.  We believe that on Pentecost the Holy Spirit filled the disciples with the strength and courage to bring the Good News of Jesus to the world.  The Apostle Paul described what happened in Acts, chapter 2: "When the day of Pentecost ... all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit."

So that is the triune God - God as the Father of all living things; the Word of God embodied in Jesus, and the Grace of God that comes to us through the Holy Spirit.